Chapters Collective Crossover Complexitites
Ponies in Fighter Jets. Why Not?
Author's Note
So somewhere between the time I spent on this sight and me playing Ace Combat, I thought to myself: "Ponies in fighter jets...I'm a sad person."
Anyway, the fantasy of seeing them fly planes got WAY too stuck in my head and I ended up writing this thing.
This is pretty much a play-by-play reenactment of the first mission of Ace Combat: Assault Horizon with some creative liberties taken and me somehow trying play to reality with the use of missiles despite the fact their being fired by multi-colored horses. Suffice to say, I have screwed up priorities. Also, borrowing a page from Lonewolf78's book, I placed a little something in the story for you to read to. You'll know it when you see it.
Note: No proofreading was done. Expect my idiocy to show.
Ponies in Fighter Jets. Why Not?
Blurs
That was all that could be seen. A hectic mix of bright blue and white splashing every which way, obscuring all vision. In a few places, there was charcoal that broke the repetitive motif, rising up from some unknown source. A bright light off in the distance further made the whole picture that much harder to comprehend. The world was a mess.
A weightless feeling carried itself. The feeling of suspension was there, as if someone had recreated gravity itself and made a new, alien form. There was nothing to hold the atmosphere in place. The air itself felt as if it was taken away. All forces that could have existed disappeared, left with nothing but this emptiness that consumed everything.
Then the brightness that was so blinding had suddenly sported a speck. This small, black, was the only conceivable item left the haze. It was starting to grow, but the brightness was still there, blinding as ever. Even as the dot began to dwarf it, there was still an unshakable feeling of helplessness against this terrifying new world.
Soon enough, something began to obscure this horror, and the world went dark.
A gloved hoof was raised to shield the sun from Twilight Sparkle’s face. Her eyes were in a squint, but they eventually adapted to the light. She looked out to the endless sea of clouds and sky that surrounded her.
She also saw her own reflection against a transparent background. Her mind registered what was adorned on her. A flight helmet was fastened tightly on her head, connected to a breathing mask that covered her snout. She looked down at herself and saw that she was wearing a flight suit, and that she was sitting. Around her, she saw various buttons and controls for all sorts of actions. She then realized that she was in a cockpit.
Suddenly, a flying object came into view. Upon closer inspection, she saw that it was an F-22 Raptor fighter jet. She looked to the other side of the cockpit and saw two more flanking her.
What was happening?
“Magic 1, please respond.”
A voice had suddenly crackled in her ear. She was caught off guard from the noise and flinched. The voice sounded like young, very young, in fact. Whatever it was, it sounded like someone familiar.
“Colonel, you alright?”
Twilight was surprised again, but quickly realized what was going on.
“Yeah,” she quickly managed to speak out. “Sorry there, Dash. Just zoned out, I guess.”
A snort of laughter was faint, but heard through the communications link. “And you’re the one telling me to stop getting distracted while flying.”
Twilight gave an amused smile.
“Magic squadron, you’re two minutes out from Manehatten,” the young voice came back over the comm. “You’re cleared engage any hostile fighters in the area.”
Twilight was confused by the statement before she looked in front of her.
The city of Manehatten looked like it was in chaos. Several stacks of smoke could be seen coming from the city. She looked to the skyline and saw several Raptors flying against several Mig-29 aircrafts. Smoke trails from missiles fired by both parties could be seen, and every now and again there was an explosion, followed by the sight of debris falling towards the already torn city.
Reality hit Twilight as she realized why she and the rest of Magic squadron were flying. She quickly responded to the voice’s previous statement, also now remembering who it was. “Copy that, Spike. ETA is now one minute.”
“Ready to see which one of us can take out more bandits today, Colonel?” The snarky competiveness in Rainbow Dash’s voice could be heard.
“Uhm,” a shy voice began. “Sorry, I didn’t know we were going to compete today.”
“A surprise kill count?” A hyperactive voice suddenly came over the comm, followed by a gasp. “Those are the best kind of surprises!”
Twilight could not help but smile at the banter between her friends. “Let’s try worrying about saving the city, girls,” she said.
Manehatten was coming up and the four fighter jets were readying for the upcoming fight. Twilight brought down her helmet’s goggles as they approached. They were thirty seconds out from the city.
A group of Mig’s saw the squadron and immediately scrambled.
Fifteen seconds.
The enemy planes had split up to take on one of the fighter’s at a time. Magic squadron accepted the challenge in turn.
Five seconds.
One of the Mig’s had its rear to twilight, its engines lit with exhaust. Twilight activated the afterburner of the Raptor and began to follow it, as her friends split to take on their own challengers.
Magic squadron had engaged the enemy.
The Mig’s acceleration was not enough to escape Twilight’s craft. The radar beeped as the hostile craft got within range of the Raptor’s gun. Twilight fired a rapid burst of fire at the plane’s tail. The engines of the Mig caught fire and the craft was soon plummeting to the city.
“Splash one,” Twilight said, announcing her first kill for today.
She then looked up to see another Mig explode in the sky above her, followed by Rainbow Dash’s raptor flying by.
“And that’s one for me,” exclaimed over the comm.
Twilight looked back in front to see another Mig flying. She followed it as it flew towards the city. It was a risky behavior on both their parts. Both planes weaved between the structures, with the Mig frantically trying to get away from Twilight’s machine fire. The Mig began flying up along the side of a building, hoping to get away from the raptor by doing a sudden forward descent at the top of the building.
That turned out to be a mistake as the Mig took the dive too early crashed into the side of the building. Twilight barely had enough time to ascend her plane before the explosion hit her. The plane was wobbling, but she soon regained control.
“Are you okay, Colonel,” Fluttershy’s concerned voice came over the comm.
“Yeah,” she replied. “Just caught some shrapnel from that last plane. It should be fine though.”
Spike’s voice came back on. “A flight of bandits is heading to your location. Prepare to intercept.”
“Magic,” Twilight said, confirming she received the message. “Magic squadron, status.”
“This is Magic 2,” replied Rainbow Dash. “Downed two bandits and looking for some action.”
“Magic 3,” Pinkie Pie chimed in next. “Ready Roger Wilco.” The statement did not make sense, but it served to confirm her status was green.
“Uhm, this is Magic 4,” Fluttershy came over the comm. “I’m ready the next objective. I mean, if that’s okay.”
Twilight continued. “We have a flight of bandits coming for us. Prepare to engage.”
Dash yawned. “More target practice? No sweat.”
The said flight of bandits had entered the Manehatten airspace and Magic soon began the attack. Twilight managed get right on the tail of one. She was about to fire the cannon when her radar informed her that she was being tailed herself. It informed her that a missile was locked onto her.
“Woah,” She exclaimed as she began performing evasive maneuvers. The plane was hot on her tail until Magic 3 began to tail it instead.
“Hey,” she began with an angered tone. “Do you sneak up on your mother like that?”
Soon enough, Twilight managed to break from the enemy craft’s pursuit, allowing Pinkie Pie to finish it off with a round of cannon fire.
“Thanks for the backup, Pinkie,” Twilight said over the comm.
With that settled, it was time to back on the trail of the Mig she was following. Soon enough she was back on its tail and Twilight, quick to not waste time on this pilot, fired a high accuracy missile. The nose of the missile collided with the rear of the Mig and soon more debris was falling from the sky.
Twilight would have celebrated but apparently another Mig managed to get behind her. She did not have the patience to deal with a reoccurrence like this, so she de-throttled her plane just enough so that the Mig was right behind her. Now that she had the jet in position, she quickly ascended the plane, turning the throttle down further. This caused the Mig to fly right past her, prompting Twilight to re-engage the throttle and tail the plane back.
“This isn’t your day.” She knew the enemy’s frequency would not pick up on her taunt, but she still felt good about it.
The Mig sent Twilight on a wild chase about the city. It flew past gaps between buildings, descended to a point where it was only a few hundred meters above the water, and led her right past a falling crane.
“This guy’s good,” she commented over the comm.
“Yeah,” Dash chimed in just before taking down another Mig she was chasing. “But good doesn’t cut it against Magic squadron.”
She was right. The pilot Twilight was chasing certainly had amazing control with his plane, but she and the rest of Magic were better than these fighters. She was about to prove it when three of the other fighter’s buddies made a formation with him right in front of Twilight’s raptor.
This was a mistake.
Twilight switched her firing control to her four air-to-air missiles. Each missile locked on to one target. Without hesitation, she fired them all, each on a direct course for their target. Within seconds, all four planes were shot out of the sky.
Twilight was proud.
The warning system beeped as it began to alert Twilight that a missile was in her way. But something was wrong. The system registered the threat but she could not tell where it was coming from. She looked about frantically in the hopes that maybe she could spot it herself, but the smoke from the down planes was shrouding her vision.
Then the mysterious threat came into view, right in front of her as made contact with the plane’s nose. The Raptor rocked and jumbled as the force from the impact sent Twilight astray. She tried all the controls in the cockpit that could to stabilize the plane, but it was evident that the missile had knocked out her systems. Now she was slowly plummeting to the ground.
Acting quickly, she grabbed hold of the eject lever at the base of her seat and pulled with all her might. Gravity betrayed her for a brief moment as the seat shot out of the cockpit. Twilight could feel the air around her. The forces of the winds blew around her and the once muted sound of the world came rushing back to her senses. The whole world rocketed around her as the only thing keeping her aloft was the momentum of the seat.
She detached herself from the seat and activated her parachute. The jerking motion it made as it built up air below it reminded Twilight of how much she wished these were made with wings in mind. She lifted her goggles, taking away the mute colors of the world and letting in its wave of vibrancy. All around her she could see the battle still raging. Planes left and right exploded in a rage of blaze.
One of the flying beasts came right by her. The close proximity and speed sent Twilight’s heart into a flutter. The force that it brought rocked her back and forth in air before she could finally get stabilized again. She looked about her in a panic to see if any other planes were heading for her. Her eyes eventually landed on what had originally jack knifed in front of her.
It was indescribable.
It did not look like any plane she had ever seen. The nose was sharp and jutted out from the cockpit, adorned with a stabilizer that gave it a look of the stinger of a bug. The body widened at the wings which looked like wicked blades that were turned back so that the sharp points were facing towards the nose. The back looked as if there were no engines to keep the monster aloft, yet its movements were swift, and it banked and turned sharply. Twilight was amazed that she was able to keep her eye on the black dot.
That was what scared her the most: The fact that, even in the brilliance of the sun, the jet could still retain such a pitch black color. If there was any form of cockpit, she could not see even the most smallest of glares from the glass. It was as if it was sucking in the very light around it.
This monstrosity was wrong. Its very existence seemed to be an affront. There was no way such a thing could possibly exist, yet it did. It was flying and tearing through ally jets like they were nothing.
And it was heading straight for her.
Twilight panicked. She flailed about in some vane hope that she could possibly veer the parachute away from the black craft. But it did not work. Nothing seemed to be able to save her from that black evil that was coming straight at her. Her eyes widened, her heart raced, her breathing intensified, and yet with such an active and frightened body, she could not help but look as the monster was now seconds away.
She raised her hoof up in terror and everything went black.
Twilight shot out of her bed with a start. Her breath was short and panicked, trickles of sweat covering her face. Her mane was frazzled from the pillow she laid on. She looked about and saw that she was in a room with a simple closet, mirror and nightstand. A window outside showed the bustling activity of an air force base.
Taking all of this into account, she gave a long sigh and fell back onto her bed, cursing the fact that she had the same nightmare again.
Collective Crossover Complexitites
Author's Note
This is what happens when you watch too much USA, A&E, and Ion Television cops shows and draw ponies in the middle of either one or all of them.
Forgive me for my sins.
Warning:
Arresting Ponies
Rainbow shook and sobbed on the table that she was forcibly strapped to as all she could do is stare in horror at Pinkie Pie, clothed in a fabric made from the sliced-up skins of other ponies’ cutie marks. The basement’s dim light made the hacksaw gleam, its sight menacing as the pink party-pony brought it up to her eyes, pondering its name with child-like fascination.
“P-please, don’t do this, Pinkie,” Rainbow Dash managed the feeble plea to her deranged friend.
“I’m sorry, Dash,” Pinkie replied, her voice still retaining its bubbly nature. “But like I said, you’re next. So I gotta do this.”
She brought the hacksaw’s blade to the base of one of Rainbow’s wings, readying to tear through flesh and bone.
Then a sudden crash was heard upstairs and soon two humans came into the base the basement, holding handguns pointed to the pink pony.
“FBI, hooves where I can see them,” one of them—dark skinned and with a shaven head―demanded Pinkie Pie to surrender.
Pinkie quickly put Rainbow Dash between them and herself, bringing the hacksaw to Rainbow’s neck. “Hey, what’s the big idea? Don’t any of you know you should knock first?”
The second human—thinly with light skin and brown hair—brought his wrist to his mouth as if to speak into it. “Guys, she has one of the ponies as a hostage.”
Outside of Sugar Cube Corner an entire SWAT team had surrounded the small bakery with three FBI issued SUVs. A perimeter of police tape and barricades had been set up. Outside of the perimeter were Twilight Sparkle, Rarity, and Applejack whom were standing alongside two other humans, one wearing sunglasses and speaking into his wrist.
“Understood, Reid,” he said as he brought his wrist back down. He spoke to the human with the goatee next to him. “Do you think she’ll get violent, try to fight her way out?”
The human shook his head. “Hotch, we’ve never seen a personality like hers. We have to be prepared for anything she does.”
“I still don’t believe this,” Twilight shook her head in disbelief. “I mean, where in the profile does she fit, Agent Rossi?”
The human with the goatee responded. “The profile suggested that the one behind all this was a sadist with no remorse or guilt. I don’t think any of us could have suspected that it be someone with an inability to feel sadness, disparity, fear…”
“Any emotion that conveys negativity is completely absent to her,” Hotch summed up the entirety of Pinkie’s psyche.
Rossi spoke into the wrist communicator. “J.J., Prentiss, Reid and Morgan have the basement covered, what about the rest of the bakery?”
A blonde haired woman was searching the bakery’s first floor with a SWAT team. “We’re securing the first floor, Prentiss went up stairs.”
A dark-haired woman was going up the stairs to the bakery’s housing rooms with a SWAT team following her. “We’re up the stairs,” she spoke into the communicator. “We’ll start searching now.”
Back in the basement, Pinkie began speaking to the agents. “If you two wanna help me get whose next, that’d great, but right now I have to do this by myself.” She began to panic, knowing that she was wasting time to finish what she stared. “So can you guys please leave and I Pinkie-Promise you can help out next time. Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake…”
“Pinkie, we understand that,” Reid spoke up. “And yeah, we would like to help you…”
“Reid, what are you doing,” Morgan looked to his partner in confusion.
“Trust me on this,” Reid whispered to him then spoke back up. “I mean helping you out would be great. But the problem is after your friend there and then the next one, then who is next?”
Pinkie looked at him, confused. “Wha? I don’t know that yet.”
“I mean, there may be a lot of people in the world, all that could be next, but then what happens when they’re all next. And when they’re all next, you have to get them, right?”
Pinkie adopted a contemplative look as the human continued.
“So when you finally get all of them, then who’s next after that?”
Rossi was listening in to the conversation. “What’s he doing,” he asked Hotchner. “Playing to her logic isn’t going to get her to give up. He knows that more than any of us.”
“Or maybe he’s not trying to get her to give up,” Hothcner replied.
“Then what in tarnation is he doing,” Applejack asked.
Pinkie’s face scrunched in concentration. “Hmm. If everyone else is next, then does that mean I’ll be?” She thought out loud, trying to figure out this hypothesis. “Or will I be?” In order to think about this, she had to turn away from the table and concentrate.
With Pinkie’s back turned, Reid and Morgan motioned for Rainbow to be quiet as they moved to free her of her restraints.
Prentiss had made it to the final room in the upper bakery. She slowly turned the handle and looked inside. The sight of what she found startled her but she was relieved the findings nonetheless.
On the bed was a shaken but unharmed Fluttershy, who was pleading for the FBI agent to free her.
“This is Prentiss, I’ve found Fluttershy. She’s uninjured.” She holstered her weapon and went to untie her bonds. Soon the pegasus was free and hugging the agent, thanking her profusely.
Reid and Morgan managed to get Rainbow Dash free while Pinkie still pondered Reid’s question. He took Dash back to the stairs while Morgan raised his gun to Pinkie.
“It’s over Pinkie,” he said with a commanding voice. “Hooves where I can see them, now.”
Pinkie turned around, shocked to see Dash freed. The pink pony only had one thing to say. “Aaaaw, you beat me.”
Suddenly, from the shadows popped out two men—one black, one white with a bald head―with sub machine guns and wearing tactical equipment with “police” written on their vests.
“Police! SRU! Drop your weapon!” A blonde man yelled at Prentiss and Fluttershy after he and a brunette woman crashed through the room window.
Prentiss was confused at this sudden incursion when Fluttershy, in a flash, skirted around the agent grabbed her gun, pointing it Prentiss’ head. “Don’t move or her head comes off,” she yelled at the two officers. She then whispered into Prentiss’ ear. “I’m sorry if that was loud.”
“Prentiss, what’s happening up there,” Hotchner demanded to know but no response came.
Just then, Rarity’s cell phone began to vibrate. Her friends and the agents looked to her as she answered it. “H-hello?”
“Rarity,” a voice came over the speaker. “This is Sergeant Greg Parker with the Strategic Response Unit. Do you know why were calling?”
“I’m not quite sure,” she responded over the phone.
Before Greg could respond, one of his teammates came over the headset communicator. “Boss, we got a problem.”
“Talk to me, Eddie.”
“We got a subject that’s now armed and is holding a hostage.”
“Don’t even think about taking another step or they get it!” Rainbow Dash had bucked Reid to the ground and took his revolver, now holding it to his head.
Ed, his friend and Morgan now had their gun drawn on her, with Pinkie Pie still pondering.
“Okay, we understand,” Ed began. “We don’t wanna hurt you or anyone else.
The black man spoke into his head set. “Subject is panicking and unstable. There’s a chance she might escalate.”
“Copy that,” Greg responded. “Sam, Jules, you get that?”
“Got it boss,” the brunette responded to the headset. “We have the same issue up here, subject with a hostage.”
“Okay, find out what they want, try to calm them down, keep them from getting violent.”
Greg turned to the man sitting next to him typing at a computer display. “Spike, how are we looking on the camera feeds?”
“Working on getting into the system,” Spike responded. “Should be another minute.”
“Okay, keep me posted.” He spoke back to Rarity. “Ms. Rarity, your friends are holding hostages in that bakery. Do you think you know why?”
Rarity gave pause to the question. “I-I have no idea what could compel them to do such a thing.”
“Oh sure you do,” A woman spoke up, approaching Rarity with a man following behind. “After all, you’re the one who forced them to be paranoid of police.”
The man spoke next. “Yeah, goading them into robbing jewelry stores, saying that they’d being doing there dear old friend a favor and then rewarding them for it.”
“Then you expected us to arrest only them when we caught the robberies on the tapes.”
“Too bad one of your other friends actually had a conscience.”
Rarity had her mouth agape, shocked at the accusations these two were giving. “Why I never! Who are you two to throw this slander?”
The two presented their badges. “Detectives Benson and Stabler, Special Victims Unit.”
The man then brought out cuffs and bent down to slap them onto her hooves. “Rarity, you’re under arrest for grand larceny and conspiracy to theft.”
As they read her Miranda Rights, Rarity looked to Twilight, knowing what she had done. “I should have known you’d say something.”
Twilight retorted. “You forced them to rob for you and take the fall for it! I mean what were thinking, Rarity?”
“That’s actually what we want to know,” a blonde woman spoke up as she walked towards Twilight with Puerto Rican man following.
“Except we wanted to ask you that, if you don’t mind us askin’,” The man said.
Before she could speak, the woman and man brought out their badges. “Detectives Rush and Valens, Homicide.”
Rush produced a chair from out of nowhere as did Valens, also bringing a table. They set it up in front of Twilight and began to interview her. “So tell us, Twilight,” Rush began, bringing her voice to stern level. “What were you thinking the night you killed Applejack’s parents?”
Twilight stuttered out her responses, trying to find the correct words. “I have no idea what you’re talking about. I-I never even met AJ’s parents.”
Valens chuckled sarcastically. “Well ain’t that ironic. Your friend is supposed the Element of Honesty, yet here you are lyin’ to our faces.”
Rush stepped in. “I wonder what she must be thinking now. Her best friend, the one that pulls the entire group together is now denying any responsibility for what she’s done?”
“Really makes you wonder what kind of friend does that.”
“Yeah, so much for friendship being magic, huh?”
Twilight finally slammed her hooves onto the table and shouted at the detectives. “They weren’t supposed to be there!” For a brief instant she flashed into the form of her filly self before flashing back. She simmered down before continuing. “They weren’t supposed to be there when the fire started.” She began to retrace steps on the events of that fateful day until yet another interruption came upon them.
“Alright, ya’ll don’t do anything hasty or I blow us all up sky high!”
Using the sudden distraction to her advantage, Twilight used her magic to lift the table and flip it into the detective’s faces made for the bakery. Seeing her catching the attention of everyone else, Rarity used the window of opportunity to detectives Benson and Stabler, steal the keys to her cuffs, and gallop for the bakery. Knowing that she was losing control of the situation, Applejack quickly ran into the bakery as well.
Every single officer who came for a specific suspect immediately followed suit, chasing down their suspects.
Hearing the commotion outside, Fluttershy threw agent Prentiss towards the SRU team and flew down the stairs, over J.J. Before she could make it out, she saw her friends and other police run inside and changed course for the basement, as did they when they saw Fluttershy almost crash into them. The entire group came tumbling down the stairs to the basement, knocking Dash and Reid to the ground and surprising everyone else. In the midst of the confusion, weapons were dropped and people were scattered every which way. After a brief scramble for their respective weapons, each person had gun drawn on someone else—save Pinkie Pie, still pondering—all barking orders and instructions for surrender.
“SRU, drop your weapons!”
“Back off, or I’m shooting everypony!”
“FBI, put your hands up!”
“There’s no way I‘m going to jail. Do you know how filthy it is in there?”
“NYPD, put down the gun!”
“This is the thanks I get for stopping thefts!?”
“PPD, don’t do anythin’ stupid!”
“I have this whole place rigged to blow!”
“Police! Give up, now!”
“Do undead become next, maybe?”
On and on the shouting match went on, no sign of anyone stopping even for a second to catch any breath. Each raised voice just another try to go higher and higher. Everything became muddled in a rage of noise and confusion. It seemed to never end.
That is until multiple smoke bombs were thrown into the basement and went off, quickly disabling everyone inside. Soon, countless of guardsponies came rushing, apprehending everyone, law enforcement or not, and had soon ended the situation in one motion.
Outside of Sugar Cube Corner, a guard stood in front of pony with a camera that was rolling on him.
“Yeah, we got multiple complaints from the neighbors in this area,” the guard pony spoke into the mounted microphone. “Something about loud noises and shouting. Once we arrived on the scene, we quickly got out our gear and destabilized the situation. This is a lot suspects were arresting here, so it’s probably gonna take awhile to get them through processing, but hopefully they go without much of a problem.”
Suddenly, one of the human women who came via police cruiser, ran up to the guard in cuffs. “You’re making a big mistake. I’m officer McNally, I work at the 15th division.” Before she could continue, two guards quickly re-restrained her and dragged her over to the cage chariot. “Don’t any of you see my badge?”
The guard turned back to the camera. “Yeah, hopefully most of them go without much of a problem. Its uh gonna be a long day at the dungeon, but hey, few more troublemakers off the streets is worth it.” He smiled before trotting back to his chariot and the camera turned off.
GUARDS
GUARDS is shot on location. All suspects are innocent until proven guilty.
Collective Crossover Complexitites
Changeling Espionage Action
The Changelings invaded Canterlot on the day of an important royal wedding. But the love of the couple repelled them and ended their siege. This marked the day known as the Liberation of Love.
White and grey.
From the endless plains to the cloud-covered sky above there was nothing but white and grey. A blanket of snow swept the expanse of the field, hiding any and all signs of green. Soft and deep, it covered all things that were underneath the cloudy sky. Betraying its softness was the both the cold and the harsh winds that blew from all around. It lapped swiftly over the snow-covered knolls and grass. Trees whose leaves all but fell away became overwhelmed by the element. On and on, this white and grey went.
Only until one came close enough to the correct place could one see what denied being a part of this repetitious landscape. A city that shined as bright as the most recent and polished diamond. In the center of it a spire dared to pierce the clouds above, a shining beacon for one and all to see. And even if one could not view the sight, the energy that radiated from it would be enough for anyone keen to such a force to be easily felt.
And so it stood as a place of warmth and guidance.
Travelling along the heavy snow a cloaked figure waded his way to the spire. Slowly but surely he marched to reach his destination.
“The Crystal Empire, the home of the empire’s royal couple, is hosting an event for the anniversary of their marriage and of our defeat. The festivities are nothing extravagant, but the finale features a grand event. At the height of dawn the Crystal Heart, a jewel statue that holds great measures of love, and the source of the city’s power, will disperse its energy on higher scale than average. This event is meant to recreate the shock wave that defeated us on that day.”
The figure’s cloak flapped about as the winds attempted to push him back. But he would not be deterred so easily. The journey may be long but the wait for this day was so much longer.
“You’ll have two objectives for this mission. The first is to locate both Princess Mi Amore Cadence and her husband, captain of the Royal Guard, Shining Armor, and make sure to incapacitate both before the festival can commence. The second is to find and retrieve the Crystal Heart and to get it out of the city as soon as you have it.”
The figure stopped for a moment to look at the horizon. At its edge, he could make the faint outline of the Crystal Spire. Then he returned to his pace.
“What’s the infiltration method?”
“You’ll board a train from the city of Hoofington at 10:00pm and ride it until you’re halfway to the empire, at which point you will have to dismount and make the rest of the journey on hoof. They’ll have some detection system to root out any suspicious magic at the Empire’s train station, so you’ll need to find another way in. You’ll be out in the middle of nowhere, so you should only be worrying about guards once you come within proximity of the city.”
The figure shook his back leg, trying to shake off whatever pain remained from the rough landing after he jumped off the train. He looked back to his target, getting closer to it.
“Despite the false sense of safety we gave them, the ponies still felt it appropriate to enact advanced security measures to make sure the anniversary goes off without a hitch. The security detail is led by none other than the Elements of Harmony themselves.”
“So they’re still worried after our attempt at the capitol.”
“They are six of these wretched ponies in total. Pinkie Pie, the Element of Laughter: A bubbling idiot with a dangerous knack for trickery. Rarity, the Element of Generosity: An obsessed little neat-freak with an eye that sees too much detail for her own good. Fluttershy, the Element of Kindness: A pathetically scared weakling who can be quite convincing and has a stare that can stop to you in your tracks. Applejack, the Element of Generosity: A lowly farmer out in a nowhere town and a very challenging opponent up close. And Rainbow Dash, the Element of Loyalty: An uneducated dimwit with a flight speed that can surely out rival any of our best flyers.”
The figure’s trek looked to continue forever until he finally came within throwing distance of the empire’s outer walls. As expected a row of tents were put up, surely to keep an extra eye out for intruders. He could easily improvise, after all it’s one of the reasons he was chosen for this mission.
“And finally, the leader of them, and now apparent princess, Twilight Sparkle.”
“Twilight Sparkle?”
“The same wretch who ruined what was surely to be the perfect day for all of us. She’s also the most dangerous element of all: Magic. We won’t have a full picture of the resistance you’ll face in there by the time you leave, so we’ll contact you by Mindec with intel reports.”
The cloaked one dropped to a crawl and inched his way forward. His objective was for the closest tent that seemed unoccupied.
“Any brethren coming along?”
“As of this circumstance this is a one changeling infiltration mission.”
“Self-determined COA (Course of Action)?”
“As far as it doesn’t go beyond my interests, yes. This op is too long in the making and high risk to afford an army. Expect no official support.”
The figure rested against the side of a tent, surveying the area ahead. The tents were arranged in three columns of four rows. There were four guards making patrols around each one, but there was sure to be more in the tents. Looking further he saw one guard talking to another pony. Not a guard, but someone obviously allowed there. Their conversation was barely audible above the sound of the winds, but his ears were able to pick up the ending of it.
“… Keep an eye out. You might be expecting a visitor. I’m going back to the spire to finish up the preparations for the festival.”
The guard gave a swift salute, to which the pony seemed to be oddly uncomfortable with if for just a moment. Either way, she continued through some kind of passage hidden in the side of the city walls.
He pulled back and twitched his thin, slit ears as if to activate something. Whatever it was it must have activated, as ringing began to play in his head and soon enough he began to speak.
“This is Swift. Your Highness, can you hear me.”
What responded back was the Queen of the Changelings. “Of course I can, you droll. What’s the situation?”
“Looks like they have a forward outpost with a secret passage into the city.”
“Just as I expected. Looks like that’s your way in, unless you want to give them early warning by flying over those walls. If you really must, contact me by Mindec. To use it, twitch your ears in the correct to pattern activate it. If we need to contact you, you’ll hear it beep. That’s when you—”
“I know.”
There’s a pause before the queen speaks. “What?”
“I-I know how the Mindec works, Queen Chrysalis. The gear was explained to me before I was shipped.”
“Swift…”
“The Mindec, the sneaking suit that’s supposed to improve my survival against harsh environments, the Larvamachines that were injected into my blood stream…”
“Swift…”
“Heck, I had to take additional physical training to increase my endurance. I’ve studied this mission and trained for it extensively, my queen. I wasn’t going to be an idiot and wait ‘til the last second for you to tell me about the gear that’s critical to my mission. I mean how stupid would I have—”
“SWIFT!”
Swift ears pined back in pain at the sudden outburst.
“Did you just interrupt your queen?” The question came at angered velocity.
Swift sighed. “Yes I did. It was unforgivable.”
Another pause. “Good, now that you’re reminded of your manners I can continue. As I was saying, the Mindec directly stimulates the shape of your inner ears. No one but you will be able to hear it.”
“Understood. I’m ready to commence—”
“The specially designed environmental sneaking suit is a state-of-the-art technology that we stole right from under these pony’s little noses. They won’t be expecting a changeling to be using their own equipment against them, much less a changeling infiltrating them on the very day of the anniversary of their defeat over us.”
“They won’t know what hit them, majesty, yes. But I have to.—”
“And of course the Larvamachines, an ingenious idea that none of them could have ever expected us to—”
“Queen Chrysalis, permission to speak,” Swift finally snapped over the Mindec.
“What? Of course you can speak, you mindless moron, just speak up.”
Swift’s eye twitched before he exhaled heavily. “Commencing Operation: Heart Taker, my queen.”
“Then why are you still speaking to me? Go!”
With that, the Mindec closed out and Swift was finally left to continue the mission in peace.
Suffice to say, it was hatchling’s play. The guards’ routes were practically programmed. They followed them mindlessly without deterring to the point where Swift didn’t even need to disguise himself as one of them. With quick maneuvering, he made it to the passage and moved his way in. Knowing that he won’t need the cloak so much anymore, he chose to take it off completely.
What it hid was a changeling wearing grey suit and black vest that combined to create a specially designed sneaking suit. He would have looked like the average changeling if it weren’t for his eye patch and bandana that wrapped behind his horn and around the base of his ears. With him now in his proper attire, he continued forward into the tunnel.
It was time for some changeling espionage action.
Collective Crossover Complexitites
“And as you can see, the whole crowd gathered here is very excited to see this amazing day. The energy here is filled with love, friendship and of course, anxiousness to see the wedding between Guard Captain Shining Armor and Princess Mi Amore Cadenza. We are about to witness history in the making and I, along with the Equestria National News team are honored to be able to view it, along with our fellow viewers at home.”
The computer window that held the live news minimized, revealing what it hid on the screen. A satellite view of Canterlot could be seen with a digital overlay that marked multiple blips about the city.
“Ma’am, Cloudsdale Air Traffic Control just reported in. They’ve confirmed sightings of an unknown presence two minutes ago. They lost sight after it went under the radar.”
“Could they determine an intercept trajectory?”
“No exact coordinates, but they did confirm that it’s heading North.”
“Tell them to ready their fighters and await further orders.” The display zoomed in onto the castle itself, highlighting multiple areas on the map. “Overmare to all teams: Be advised, possibility of an unknown presence heading for the capital. Hawkeye, what’s the status on the princesses?”
A window popped up showing live a video feed from the wedding coming from the helmet cam of a personal guard. “This is Hawkeye-actual. Princess Celestia and Mi Amore are attending the ceremony. Princess Luna is sleeping in her private quarters.”
“Copy that. Be ready to move them on my go once we have confirmation that the unknown presence is hostile. Until then, keep me updated on any changes.”
“Understood.” The feed window minimized. The screen had paned to view the castle gardens and its surrounding buildings.
“Knight-Guard, report in.”
“This is Knight-Guard-actual. We’re reinforcing security at all entrances into the castle area and have snipers posted on the castle ramparts and on rooftops throughout the city. We also have pegasus flyers patrolling the skyline. We’ll keep you posted.”
“Copy that. Overmare out.”
“Ma’am, we got back a status update on the barrier.” A new window popped up showing various numbers and variables relating to some kind of power output. “It’s holding, but magic readings show its power is draining some.”
“All I care if it can withstand an attack.”
“It can, but it won’t be able to take consecutive hits if there is one.”
The live feed of the wedding came back, showing all eyes of the crowd staring at a lavender unicorn who just burst through the doors.
“This is Hawkeye-actual to Overmare, we have a situation. Gasket Target has just entered the room and she’s causing another commotion like yesterday.”
“Roger that, Hawkeye. Move in to detain her and then secure the princesses. We’re not taking any chances right now.”
“Understood, Overmare. We’re moving too…”
“Sitrep, Hawkeye?”
“Ma’am… there’s two Princess Cadences.”
“Say again, Hawkeye?” Indeed, the video feed showed a duplicate Cadence staning behind the unicorn.
“I said I’m seeing two—”
A loud static cut off the conversation as the feed was abruptly ended.
“Hawkeye? Hawkeye-actual, do you read? Hello? Can anypony from Hawkeye team hear me?”
“This is zzzt –eye five, ma’am. We have a situation— zzzt princesses chambers. Hosti— zzzt.”
“Hawkeye five? Hawkeye team, report in!”
“Sir, forward scouts reporting multiple bogeys in the air.”
“Aircraft?”
“No, all pony sized sir. Scouts are saying there’s a whole force heading our way.”
The satellite image panned to a forward military post outside of Canterlot.
“This is the forward guard to Overmare, we have confirmation of hostile air.” Soon the sounds of gunfire could be heard on the other end. “We’re engaging them with anti-air, but there are a lot of them! Requesting immediate assistance.” The image showed multiple black dots obscuring the outpost. “They’re hitting our anti-air! We’re being overwhelmed out here! We need—” The transmission abruptly cut out.
“Ma’am… we just lost all contact with the forward defense.”
“What about our forces in the village outside the city?”
“Engaging, but they’re saying the enemy is ignoring them and heading straight for the city. They’re making a forward charge on the barrier.”
“…”
“Ma’am?”
Any windows that remained open minimized, revealing the original screen again. Soon the blue blips began to dot the screen, each beginning to move to areas marked with green.
“All ground forces. Confirmed: Unknown hostile forces are attacking. We have lost contact with Hawkeye team. Emergency Protocol: Hayreigner is in effect. Knight-Guard, send guardsmen into the castle to ensure the princesses safety. Emergency personnel, move to evacuate the city. Everyone else, get into battle positions and defend the capital at all costs. I repeat: Report to battle stations. We are being invaded.”
The satellite image panned back to the city, black dots beginning to obscure the barrier that surrounded it.
“May the Sun embrace us with her protective warmth.”
“Wedding Crashers” April 21st – 12:04:21 Sgt. Iron “Sharp Eyes” Sights 26th Royal Guard Division Canterlot, Equestria
Author's Note
Press A to Skip
Okay, no that won't actually take you to game, which I'm glad it doesn't.
Honestly, I hate what I was trying to write with this one. I tried to continue it past where it ends, but as I glanced back over it, I absolutely hated it. It's not that I hate modern Call of Duty, it's just that trying to emulate a level into a short story was an abysmal process. Really, I only wrote this so I could have an excuse to write what you just read, so my apologies if this ended really abruptly.
Also, this was left rotting away in my drive forever, so there's another reason why just wanted here and out of my mind. Now that this obsession is firmly ousted from my head, I can actually do stuff again.