Bullets and Blades

Bullets and Blades

Chapter Three: Breaking Down

Written by: The Solitary Man and Smexy Sombra

Edited by: Smexy Sombra and The Solitary Man

“Flutters, you in there?” Rainbow Dash asked, waving a hoof in front of the butter pegasus. The poor pony was shell shocked, her eyes the size of pinpricks and face of terror evident. She stared into one of the numerous fires, obviously scared of something that had passed through it. Deep prints were left in the snow, undoubtedly belonging to whatever had frightened the yellow mare.

“What in tarnation do ya think sent her into such a state? I mean, I know she gets scared easily, but not to this extent!” Applejack stated as she scratched her head in confusion. They had found the poor pegasus frozen in place in front of the wreckage. Twilight Sparkle approached her friend and poked her a few times, there was no response.

“Fluttershy… Did you see something?” She asked, the pegasus responded with a nod. “Was it tall?” Another nod. “Did it have two legs?” There was another nod. “Did it have armor?” A third nod.”

“Twilight, darling, if you know something I’m sure we’d love to hear it.” Rarity interjected, noting the specific questions being asked. Twilight looked to her friends, taking several breaths. When she thought she was calm enough to speak, she opened her mouth.

“TherewerealiensinthatshipandtheywearbigmetalsuitsofarmorandtheycrashedandIthinkFluttershysawone!” Twilight panted for a moment, her friends stared at her. They were used to deciphering such rapid messages, but they were not prepared for what the message conveyed.

“It-It-It had armor, l-l-like a guard’s.” Fluttershy finally stammered. “And-And a blade... A very b-b-big blade.”

“Like how big was this big blade?” Pinkie asked, leaning forward with curious eyes.

“B-Bigger than Princess Celestia...”

“Oh fuck…” Rarity muttered, her friends stared at her. “What! That’s a huge sword!” Twilight ignored her comment.

“The creature I saw was far more advanced, it’s armor was in links that hugged its body rather than covered it.” She said, looking thoughtful. “The entire vehicle was advanced like that, what Fluttershy is describing doesn’t make sense…”

“H-H-He formed from the fire…” Fluttershy said, still staring at the flames.

“Wait, wait, wait.” Rainbow Dash spoke up, waving her hooves in front of her. “You’re telling me that a weird alien thing carrying a sword twice the size of you and me, just popped out of that fire and walked away?” Fluttershy wilted slightly, but nodded. “Fluttershy, that’s-”

“She’s tellin’ the truth, Rainbow. Whatever it was that she saw, she ain’t lying about it. Even Pinkie couldn’t come up with something that ridiculous.” Applejack stated as she warily eyed the direction the large footprints went off into. “And whatever she and Twilight saw, those things are still out there.”

“Oh, oh! Maybe we could chase after them and be all like ‘We mean you no harm, let’s hug and be friends and-’” Pinkie began before her muzzle was shut by a purple aura.

“They can’t understand us.” Twilight said plainly. “I tried speaking to one, but it looked at me as if I was speaking gibberish.” Pinkie spoke something out, the words only muffled and incoherent as she spoke from her impromptu muzzle. Twilight released her mouth, raising an eyebrow at the odd pony. “What was that, Pinkie?”

“But we can’t just leave them out in the cold! They’ll freeze!” Pinkie started, bouncing in place with a worried expression. “And from what you two have said, they didn’t seem mean, just scared and lost!”

“And if we do not find them, who knows what trouble they could get into! They could have some sort of disease, they could be injured.” Rarity said, looking at Twilight. The alicorn was going to retort, but she remembered the dripping blood. “We have to find them.”

“You’re… You’re right.” Twilight said, thinking about what to do. “We need to get guards here, and the other princesses.” The princess began trotting back to the train, her friends following behind her. “Rainbow Dash, you’re our best flyer, I need you to get to the princesses in Canterlot. Pinkie, Rarity, and Applejack, start searching. Use magic to mark their trails, but don’t go more than a mile away from the train. Fluttershy, see if you can get any information from whatever animals are still here. I’ll deal with the ponies on the train.” The ponies looked reluctant. “Look, once we’re done with this we can spend time with our families and maybe some new friends, okay?”

“Okay.” Replied Rarity, Fluttershy nodded. “Gotcha!” Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie all replied as they began to go off and do their respective jobs. Twilight took a deep breath as she gazed over at the smoldering wreckage of what remained from the large metallic object.

(^*^)

Isabella sat in the cave, her arms clutched around her body to try and conserve her heat and energy. Her knightly companion had told her to stay put and he would go to retrieve some wood for a fire. It had been nearly twenty minutes before he came back, his large sword strapped to his back with his shield, an arm full of logs, and kindling. Isabella sighed and stripped out of her engineering suit, she had to repair the heating coils and the helmet before they went back out into the wilderness. She shivered, her under armor did barely anything to stop the cold.

Alexander stacked the wood onto the ground and began to make the fire, stabbing his spare blade into the ground to use as a firepole. As he placed the logs and kindling against the steel blade, his eyes wandered to the odd uniform the woman held.

“Maiden, if I may ask... Where did you acquire such an oddity of armor?” He asked, making sure the logs wouldn’t fall. Isabella looked at him for a moment, then went back to tinkering with her armor.

“I… uh… I’m not from around here.” She said, looking to the stars. “The odds of this happening are, jesus, like a billion to one! Another planet, with humans, and weird fucking horses!”

Alexander stopped a moment and stood up, his gaze snapping to Isabella. “Thou speaks of the stars? Thou... Came from the sky?” He asked, unsure whether to accept her words or not. Isabella nodded and brought up her RIG, a picture of the shuttle appeared in front of her and she showed it to Alexander. The knight leaned forward towards the image with interest in his eyes.

“Yeah, that’s what I was flying before the whole…” She made several explosion noises and used her hands to depict what happened. “I thought you would have seen it, you live here after all.”

Alexander stopped a moment before letting out a hearty chuckle and shaking his head. “Nay, maiden. I do not live within this realm. I arrived not moments ago before I found you. I am as new to this world as an infant.” He spoke softly.

He gently hovered his hand above the collection of wood before the palm of his gauntlet glowed brightly. A moment later the fire ignited and a crackling flame was born, allowing the tired knight a moment’s respite. Isabella stared at him for a moment, she had seen monsters that killed everything, survived an impossible crash on an inhabited alien planet, and found another human that spoke english, wearing knight armor, and carrying a sword bigger than she was. But that was the last straw.

“Sure! Fine! Whatever!” She tittered, raising her hands in surrender. “Fuck it! Fuck the laws of physics! Fuck the laws of time and space! FUCK EVERYTHING! I DON’T FUCKING CARE ANYMORE!” The woman started laughing, falling backwards and rolling on the floor. “FUCK YOU EINSTEIN! FUCK YOU ISAAC NEWTON! FUCK YOU STEPHEN HAWKING! YOU’RE ALL FUCKING WRONG! NONE OF IT APPLIES ANYMORE!”

Alexander blinked behind his mask, unsure as to what he was witnessing. He had seen a man wail in horror at the sights of demons, watched as witches tore apart creatures of the unnatural, but never in his existence had he ever seen a woman of the stars cackling a like a king’s jester. “Maiden?.... Are you alright?” He asked cautiously.

“MY NAME IS NOT MAIDEN!” Isabella roared. “IT’S FUCKING ISABELLA! BUT IT DOESN’T FUCKING MATTER! NONE OF IT DOES! LOGIC HAS BAILED OUT OF THIS WORLD!”

“Mai-... Isabella, all I did was a bit of pyromancy. Very easy magic for anyone worth their sword.” Alexander stated calmly, gesturing to the fire.

“MAGIC?!” Isabella asked, leaning forwards. She laughed loudly again. “MAGIC! MAGIC! OF FUCKING COURSE! IT’S FUCKING MAGIC! THAT’S WHAT SUNK! MAGIC! THERE’S NO LOGIC! ONLY MAGIC!” She stood up and started pacing back and forth. “It doesn’t matter…! IT DOESN’T MATTER!”

“Isabella, I pray that you calm down. We do not know if the creatures are still following us.” Alexander said nervously, raising a hand in mild defense.

“WHAT DOES IT MATTER!” Isabella screamed, her face contorting into one of rage. “EVERYONE I KNOW HAS TURNED INTO A FUCKING BLOOD THIRSTY MONSTER! THERE ARE VOICES IN MY HEAD! I’VE BEEN MAROONED ON A PLANET OF SMALL EQUINES WITH A LARPING MAGIC WIELDER AND ALL LOGIC HAS LEFT ME! THIS IS THE WORST THING! *pant* A HUMAN BEING! *pant* COULD POSSIBLY! *pant* GO THROUGH! GGGGAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!” The woman fell to her knees, she curled up into a ball and began to sob. “I-I-I’m all alone…”

Alexander could only sit in wonder. He had absolutely no experience in the realm of comfort other than a warm fire. He awkwardly shifted in place a moment before looking into the satchels on his hips. He rummaged around inside of them a moment, looking for something to help the poor woman but instead found a moment of joy. Inside was a single black sprite, flowing in the wind. He brought the small sprite into his hand, watching the cascading beauty of the creature in his palm. He brought it into the light almost smiling behind his mask. In one swift motion he crushed the being to dust, then watched as the essence of the being flowed into his own soul.

As the watched the dust fade from his hand, he turned to the fire and once more held his hand over the flame. He felt as the essence of the creature was taken from his body and poured into the fire, flinching as he felt his body begin to renew back to its former appearance. His skin turned back to the slightly pale shade it once was and his body morphed back to its normal form.

Letting out a sigh of relief, he sat back down and removed his helm from his head and set it by his side. Isabella shot him a brief glance, then went back to her sobbing. Alexander held the appearance of a worn and tired man, his his black hair hanging to his shoulders and his amber eyes showing exhaustion. He glanced to Isabella for a moment before awkwardly beginning to speak.

“Isabella. Mayhap you should get some rest. No doubt we will need to travel by the morn.” He received no response, but noticed the woman shivering on the floor. Alexander watched a moment before he reached to his neck, pulling off the old and tattered blue cloth. He held it in his hand a moment before holding it out. “Here... It may not be much, but it is all I have.” Isabella took the scarf and wrapped in around her hands, she rubbed them together for warmth.

“T-Thank you…” She said through chattering teeth, scooching towards the fire. She used her suit as a makeshift pillow and soon her eyes closed. Her sleep was anything but peaceful though, her face would contort into horrorified expressions and she would mumble incoherently. Alexander could only watch her and the entrance to the cave, his undead curse allowing him very few comforts of his previous existence, sleep not being one of them. Though he could not rest in the same manner as his companion, he still remained ready, just incase. With his humanity regained, his purpose now held more grip upon his mind.

(^*^)

Guards were strewn across the snowy landscape, each searching tirelessly for clues to the creatures’ whereabouts. Celestia and Luna were at the scene of the crash helping figure out what exactly had entered their world, while Twilight was coordinating the search parties. After a moment of directing a few groups of guards, Twilight trotted up to the Princesses.

“Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, have you discovered anything?” She asked, eying the wreckage that had almost claimed her life the night before. The diarchs of the celestial bodies both shook their heads.

“The wreckage has shown nothing that you have not already told us.” Celestia spoke out as she glanced back at the wreckage. Luna had taken a second glance towards the devastated machine.

“We did find one thing rather odd though. The machine, aside from the obvious damages, seemed to have sustained several large, almost puncturing, indents. Odd, considering that the metals it is comprised of are stronger than anything on our periodic table. Half of the compounds don’t seem possible, and yet, they exist.”

“Whatever the reason this creature came to our planet, we can only assume what its motives are. As for the second creature you have told us of, we have found nothing relating to it other than a set of deep hoofprints in the snow.” Celestia informed as she glanced to the forest. “Have  your friends found anything?”

“No, nothing aside from the prints, and the snow has covered almost all of them. Rainbow Dash has been trying to find them in the air, but this area is full of hiding places, they could be anywhere.” Twilight sighed, trotting towards the wreckage. There were large alien letters painted on the side, as well as a symbol of an eagle holding some sort of sword. “In the meantime, I would like to try and translate their alphabet.”

“Very well. Where shall we begin?” Luna spoke as she looked towards the odd writing, gazing at the smoldering piece of metal. “Not too much to use from the wreckage.”

“It’s better than nothing.” Twilight remarked, noting the four large letters that were a part of the symbol. “I think that it may be some sort of acronym, or maybe the name of the vessel?”

“It is a possibility. I am more concerned and the whereabouts of the rest of the crew.” Celestia spoke as she trotted next to twilight. “You spoke of only two creatures leaving this vessel, but the number of seats and space suggests more than two crewmembers should have been on this vessel.” Twilight touched a hoof to her chin and hummed in thought, then used her wings to hover upwards. When the crew cabin of the vessel was visible, she flew towards one of the chairs.

“Even with the intensity of the flames, there would be remains.” She said, landing inside the wreckage. She trotted into the cabin a bit, noting things she hadn’t seen before. A stray spark from one of the panels made her jump. She looked at the panel, one of the screens was surprisingly still intact. A few cracks ran across its surface, but it still flickered with life. “Princess Luna, you’ve been studying modern technology more than I have. Do you think you could help me with this?”

Luna fluttered her way inside, landing gracefully and carefully to avoid any flames that had yet to die or electrical wires. She gingerly stepped around the wires and smoking debris towards the console, taking a glance at the machine in front of her. Her eyes widened slightly at the holographic text that appeared before her. “I... I have never seen this level of technology since my return. The farthest I have seen has been the basic mobile computer. And even then, it was bulky and barely handled its processing power.” Twilight sighed, in desperation she poked a random picture on the screen.

“Uqfdnsl rnxxnts qtl.” The mechanical voice of the craft said, it was staticky and distorted. The screen changed to an image of what the ship had most likely looked like before it crashed. It sat in what looked like a massive room with strange creatures working around it. Luna and Twilight leaned in, looking at the screen with interest. They jumped slightly when one of the vents in the massive room was broken from the inside. Loud alarms began sounding and red lights began to flash. A deformed creature crawled from the air duct, immediately the normal creatures began to attack it with strange weapons.

”BFWSNSL! HTSYFNSRJSY GWJFHM! XHJSFWNT KNAJ NSNYNFYJI!” A mechanical voice within the recording announced, seconds later the deformed creature used its boney arms to stab one of the regular creatures. Even more horrifying was that now the normal creatures were killing each other as well as the deformed monsters that were charging out of the walls. Twilight wanted to look away, but the horrific scene was too captivating. She was thankful she continued watching a few seconds later, however.

“That’s the one I saw!” Twilight exclaimed, pointing at the creature that was making a dash for the ship. It picked up one of the strange weapons, it spat fire and seconds later one of the monsters killing everything fell to the floor. The camera switched views, instead displaying the inside of the cabin as the fighting raged outside. The audio cut out, but from the look on the creature’s expressive face the princesses could tell it was upset about something. It hung its head for a moment before speaking, outside the noise was silenced and they could see the air being sucked into a black empty void. Before anything else could be displayed, the screen gave up the ghost and stopped displaying the images. “MOTHER FUCKER!” Twilight growled.

“My my, such strong language.” Luna stated raising an eyebrow to Twilight. “I understand the images are horrifying, but that is not the usual reaction to witnessing such travesties.”

“No… No… It’s just, maybe if the video had lasted longer we could have learned more.” Twilight sighed, looking at the destroyed wreckage around them. “At least now we know what they were doing, they were fleeing.” The lavender alicorn trotted towards the seat where she had found the first creature strapped in. “We have to use caution now… If it’s still fleeing, then the last thing we want to do is-” She was interrupted by loud bangs in the distance. “Corner it.”