Chapters My Fire Warriors: Mont'ka is Magic
Dal'ra: Wake up*
Commander Shas'O Var, leader of the fire warriors of the sept of the world T'ros, was sleeping. His head hurt from the battle previous, but after some much needed rest, he would be fine.
"Do y'all think it’s dead?" A very squeaky, small voice asked. The commander raised an eyebrow and decided to listen to the very human sounding voice.
"Don't be silly, it can't be dead Applebloom. Otherwise it wouldn't be moving." Another, more annoying voice replied. Wait, did they say Applebloom? Var was no expert but that didn't sound like an average human name. A couple of questions came into his mind, one being. Why were there humans in his quarters? The only human aboard the Tau ship were the two twin Gue'vesa in his personal squad. And they didn't know anyone called 'Applebloom'. Var ignored it and tried to sleep again, before feeling a poke in his ribs.
"Scootaloo stop poking it! We won't get our Cutie Marks in Alien discovery if you keep poking it to death!" The first voice, Applebloom shouted. There was a strange noise, it sounded like a stick hitting dirt, but. Var was on a ship, there was no dirt here. He opened his eyes.
"Hey mister, you shouldn't get up so quickly. Are you okay?" A new voice asked, Var turned toward the very annoying voices and paused. In front of him, were three, very colourful, and very small, ponies. As in, horses. But not horses.
"What are you?" Var asked, master of speech as always. The ponies looked confused.
"We were gonna ask you the same mister? How come you know Equestrian?" One asked. There was an orange one, with. With wings? A normal pony in the middle, then a white one with a horn on its head.
"My name is Shas'O Var. Commander of the T'ros and personal captain of a squad of twelve Shas and Gue'vesa. Do you know where my team are?" Var replied, standing up completely, he noticed his grenade belt was still attached, the weight of a pulse carbine was on his back and the bonding knife was at his belt. Why was he armoured, and armed? He had certainly gone to sleep without armour.
"That's a pretty funny name mister. I'm Scootaloo, this is Applebloom-" The normal pony bowed. "-And Sweetie Belle." The horned creature bowed.
"I see, where is my team? Where am I, and why am I in my armour?" Var asked, getting more confused by the second.
"You're team? Oh I think they're at Twilights. She told nopony to go in til she had spoken to the princess. But we came out and found you. Guess that means there are more still out there somewhere. And what's armour?" The middle filly replied. Var smiled under his helmet and reached a gloved hand up to his helmet, the ponies flinched and stepped back. Clicking onto the release Var began to twist the helmet off. After a stream of steam, it came off in his hand, instantly he felt the warmth of the planets sun and the fresh air he was so unused to after so long in space. He closed his grey eyes and smiled at the warmth. One of the ponies gasped.
"One of my cousins is that shade of blue." Applebloom commented. Var looked down at the time ponies.
"Tell me, what are you?" Var asked.
"What kinda question is that? We're ponies, from Equestria!" The horned one, Sweetie Belle replied, slightly offended. Var nodded.
"Ponies? Like, horses?" A few nods. "I see, there aren't many left where I'm from, let alone ones that talk."
"Where are you from mister?" Var nodded again, they obviously aren't from my galaxy, they would know about the war if so. But even if they don't know about the Greater Good, lesser beings can be taught. Var thought. He put a four fingered glove to his chin and looked to the ponies again.
"I am taking this surprising well, waking up in a land far from the war. With talking horses and in full armour. Can you show me to my team?" Var asked. This was so weird, but the sooner he regrouped with his team, the sooner they could leave, or at least spread the word of the Greater Good. Var had heard mention of a princess. So they had Aun's here? Celestials? Perhaps they could help the Tau warriors. They had done before.
"I don't think Twi will be happy, she seems scared about the last batch, I dunno what her reaction to a 'co-man-duh' would be like." Applebloom replied. Wait.
"Who is this Twi?" Var asked.
"Oh, Twilight Sparkle, most people call her Twilight, or Twi for short. She is the town librarian and the one looking after your friends." Sweetie Belle replied. Ah, so they had nicknames following Tau lore. This would be fairly easy. If Twi is the common one, or at least a high ranking one, it would probably be respectful to call these ponies the same . Var thought and nodded again. He thought to himself like that a lot.
"Come then Twi'Sweetie Belle, Twi'Applebloom, Twi'Scootaoo. Lead the way." Var ordered, the ponies looked confused for a moment, Var thought about asking if they were higher ranking than Twi level, but thought nothing of it when the trio lead on. Something hit him again. Twi'Light is the librarian? Librarians Var had fought before and their unnatural powers were not something he wanted his team around, especially if they're were being held captive. Var grabbed the gun on his back and charged it.
"If this Twi'Light is the Librarian you say she is. My team may need me quickly. Librarians are twisted, evil creatures of the Gue'la race, and not to be underestimated." Var said and picked up the pace, the ponies did to.
As they neared what now seemed to be a small, temporary colony, more and more, larger horses began to appear, giving Var some strange glances at first, but nothing more. Var looked to the three ponies in front of him, who were constantly looking behind them to see if the commander still followed. I guess it is either these three ponies that the other members of this sept deem me nonthreatening, or they have already seem my race, which means they aren't lying. Var thought.
Rather quickly, Var noticed a rather large tree in front of him, which seemed to be where the ponies were leading him. It looked so fresh and clean, completely unalike to the horrific sights he was so used to. Var hadn't seen a tree since the holograms back on T'ros. Never a real one. The commander paused and put his helmet on quickly, after a few pictures he took the helmet off, with some confused looks from the three Twi's, they continued.
They are all here. This better be a dream . He thought before passing out completely.
Author's Note
So here we meet the first Tau of the group, Commander Shas'O Var (Bright sword). He believes himself to be fairly intelligent, and rightly so, but sometimes misses out the obvious points. I don't really know how well I've put the Tau in Equestria right now, but next chapter will have some real reactions. When Var figures this isn't a dream.
My Fire Warriors: Mont'ka is Magic
Fa'l: Dreams*
The sergeant of this band of warriors; Shas'vre Aloh looked at his downed commander with a gloved hand on his chest. Shas'O Var would be fine. Hopefully.
"Apple Bloom! What did I tell you about these aliens?" Twilight asked, almost shouting at the small ponies. Aloh continued to check the breathing of the commander and looked to the team around him. Each had their armour on, with weapons either in hands or ready to use, the T'ros Tau may be renowned for their war experiences, but that doesn't mean they were going to shoot up a room full of talking ponies.
"Ta not to talk to them without an adult." The orange pony muttered looking down, its voice was considerably younger than Twilight's, with a completely different accent. Aloh decided to ask on that.
"You seem to have different vocal ranges? Are you two from different septs?" Aloh asked, crossing his arms.
"Sorry?" Twilight asked, looking at the fire warrior.
"Right, you aren't used to the Greater Good yet. Hold on." Aloh replied quietly, somewhat disappointed by the answer. He walked over to the two human Gue'vesa's of the team and they both saluted.
"Do you have need of us, Shas'vre." One of the humans said, his accent was much like Twilight's.
"Yes Gue'vesa'la. What is the human term considered by different vocal ranges?" The fire warrior asked. The older of the two brothers was quick to reply.
"Aloh, it is like this on most Terran worlds, different parts of the world, after a while, cause different accents which mean two people may be of the same world, but will speak differently. Much like the septs do of the Empire." The human replied. Aloh nodded.
"Thank you Sven." The sergeant said, then nodded to the second. "Tyrion." The humans saluted again and the Tau walked back to the ponies, still looking over the commander.
"Sorry, what I meant to ask, how come you have different, accents." Aloh said this new word with some slowness and decided to check records for any Tau word linking to that later.
"What does that mean?" Apple Bloom sounded offended, Aloh actually took a step back.
"I meant no offense Saal." Aloh replied, raising his arms, through the private comm link each of the members had, Aloh heard a laugh come from Sven.
"What's a Saal?" The pony asked, more laughing from Sven.
"Where I am from, it is the trainee rank we give to those not gone in a real fight yet." Aloh replied.
"You have been in a fight?" Apple Bloom asked, tilting her head, before the sergeant could answer, Twilight spoke up.
"Hey, Aloh, I believe." Twilight asked, the Tau turned to her, arms still crossed. Twilight was holding up Var's helmet with her magic with a strange look.
"What is this?" She asked.
"That, young Librarian, is a helmet. We wear them to you know, protect our heads." It wasn't Aloh who replied, he looked up to see Sven standing near the pony, the other Tau were all sitting down, relaxing. Various Private comm links were popping up where the groups broke into personal conversations.
"So what, you can take these off?" Twilight asked, a nod from both Aloh and Sven. She looked up higher at the two warriors. "Please?" She asked, Aloh felt a smile under his helmet, if they had wanted to harm the group, they could have done so. And from the looks of the infrastructure outside, it didn't look like they could particularly harm the Tau if they tried. Aloh nodded to the group in front of him, they all stood and made a line, before each reaching up to pull their grey helmets off. Aloh did the same, followed by Sven and Tyrion.
"You look so, different." She muttered.
"Yes, we are different races. I am a Tau, my friend and warrior here; Sven, is a human. He joined our side when he believed in the Greater Good." Aloh replied. Twilight nodded.
"I have so many questions, but I must speak to the Princess first." She muttered, but didn't move.
"Excuse me, librarian, but, what are you waiting for?" One warrior asked, sitting on a bed looking down on the group, a few warriors noticed the stairs the other had used and followed him up. Spreading the squad out even more. Aloh looked at the bed and smiled, seeing three warriors sitting on it and looking down made the sergeant smile for whatever reason. The pony looked at the fire warrior with a confused look.
"Well I can't send the message myself, but my assistant Spike the dragon can." She replied. Aloh nodded and looked to the other warriors. Still idly sitting and staring, one walked over to a random book shelf and pointed. Giving Aloh a questioning stare. The sergeant just shrugged and pointed at Twilight.
"It's her place. Don't ask me." The fire warrior shrugged and sat down, Aloh hit himself in the face with a gloved hand. "Twilight, would it be okay if one of my warriors read something." That actually seemed to confuse the pony and she half blushed.
"Sorry? Oh yes, of course, read what you want." Twilight replied, stuttering a little. As if on cue every fire warrior in the room stood up and picked up a book at random and began to read. Aloh laughed again, Twilight just stared.
"It is probably a bit late, but, you don't mean us any harm. Do you?" Twilight asked after a pause. Aloh blinked a few times, he hadn't actually thought about that, the, along with the others, had woken up in this tree and had been very friendly towards the ponies that arrived to see them, likewise they had been open to the Tau. Aloh hadn't thought about war, let alone the spread of the Greater Good, but if these ponies had a Celestial like they said, there probably was no need.
"I honestly hadn't thought about that, final judgment will go to both our commanders, but I have a feeling neither side here wants war. We just want to get home, spread our message and travel like we always have." Aloh replied, Twilight looked a bit scared toward the start of that sentence but calmed a bit when he finished, nodding at the somewhat flawed logic. There was a noise from the door opening and a very loud gasp from a male voice. Aloh looked down to see a small, creature standing before him. The Tau knelt down to inspect the creature, the only barrier between them was Var's body lying across the wooden floor.
"Is this you're, assistant you spoke of?" Aloh asked carefully, one hand on his bonding knife. Twilight stepped forward and the purple creature continued to stare at the warrior.
"Yes, Spike. Say hello, then write a message to the princess informing her of our new guests." Twilight said, the creature gulped and moved forward, the sergeant stood again, none of the other Tau had even flinched, let alone looked up from their books.
"Hi. I'm Spike, the dragon." The creature said, very cautiously and slowly. Aloh smiled and pointed at the dragon, then turned to Twilight.
"Where I'm from, we don't keep pets that can talk. Anything that does is either an ally or a foe. We don't keep them for domestic slavery." Aloh pointed out, Twilight blushed again.
"Slave?" Spike asked. "No I just help out, I'm her number one assistant, yeah I have to do some things that I would rather not, but I get to stay here with Twilight, and in Ponyville I can see Rarity all day. If I'm not busy that is." Spike trailed off at that last sentence and Aloh knelt down to the dragon again.
"This, Rarity. You like her?" Aloh asked. Spike instantly nodded then thought about it and began shaking his head furiously.
"Well, yeah I like her. And it feels great to help her out, but like like? No. Spike is a one dragon show." Spike said, pointing to himself, smiling with pride. Aloh laughed.
"Women are the bane of your life Spike, and always will be. There are few women in the fire caste, none of which I partially get alone with. Now Kroot women-" Aloh stopped himself and stood, faking a cough. He turned to Twilight. "Message to the princess?" He asked, Twilight nodded and began telling Spike what to do, he began to write stuff down on paper with an inked feather. Below everyone, Var groaned and opened his eyes.
"Good morning commander, how was your sleep?" Aloh asked, putting a hand out, the commander took it slowly and stood up.
"Very, strange. I dreamt I was in a very colourful world, with talking equines." Var replied, then took in his surroundings. None of the Tau looked up from what they were doing, Var hadn't ordered them to stop reading, so they didn't. All but Tyrion, whose book was lying randomly on the floor, the human had a complete straight face and was holding a salute. Var noticed the dragon writing a note, who seemed uncaring at the Tau's sudden movement. And a purple horned pony staring at him.
"You must be Twi'Light. I is an honour to know a Librarian such as yourself would protect my men, even after all our. Differences." Var said and saluted. Aloh pulled the commander away before Twilight reacted.
"Okay, she is just called Twilight, no rank. And by librarian she means, peaceful, knowledgeable ones, not war faring like the human ones," Aloh said quietly. Var nodded and looked at Twilight, before looking back at Aloh.
"Shas'vre. Tell me we aren't in a world full of talking ponies. In full armour and weapons with no means of getting home?" Var asked. Aloh looked at the commander dead in the eyes.
"My old friend, I believe we are." Commander Var swore. Loudly.
Author's Note
So next characters met:
My Fire Warriors: Mont'ka is Magic
Tui: Trapped*
"So what are you telling me here Aloh?" The Shas'o asked. Poking into the other Tau's armour. Aloh wasn't really sure himself, they had woken up on a world that clearly wasn't T'ros, let alone had the capabilities to get the Tau home.
"Well commander. It would appear that us twelve have woken up in armour and holding arms, on an unfamiliar alien planet covered in talking, colourful horses, ponies, and apparently dragons too." Aloh replied finally. "We have no Orca's to get us off this planet to get home." He added, Var looked to the other Tau who were still content with reading the horse lore.
"So, Shas'vre ." The commander replied, something similar to hatred dripping from his voice. The purple horse looked genuinely scared, either for the sergeant or scared of the bulking figures of the Tau before her. "What is it you suggest?" Var added finally, his voice lowering a little. He wasn't exactly happy with what he and the squad now face, but he wasn't about to upset their hosts.
"I suggest we wait for the reply from this planet's Aun and possibly met him, or more likely, she. And explain what has happened and see if we can expect aid." Aloh replied quickly. One thing he had noticed from the various life signs he was picking up around the town that most appeared to be female, it was hard to tell since a lot had clumped up together outside of the tree the Tau reside in.
"And if she gives no aid, given the fact this planet doesn't seem capable of interstellar flight just yet, thinking logically we may be truly stuck here." Var replied, then looking down at Twilight he said. "When will we expect a reply from your Aun?" As if on cue the small dragon burped a flame and a rolled up piece of parchment appeared in the air. A few Tau looked up from their books but otherwise were unfazed. Var smiled at that, they may be relaxing and looking bored, but as soon as something they deem a threat walks through those wooden doors of the library, no amount of horses will be able to protect it from the amount of plasma fire they would unleash.
"Well, what does it say Spike?" Twilight asked impatiently. Spike unrolled it and coughed.
"Dear Twilight, thank you for warning me of these aliens, but you really should have told me sooner. I request that you and your new, friends, come to Canterlot straight away so we may discuss things properly. You may bring a few of your friends, but if these aliens look as dangerous as you described then I wouldn't recommend it. Yours sincerely, Princess Celestia." Spike read and handed the parchment to Twilight, who read it again and nodded. Looking to Aloh and Var who were staring at Spike still.
"Well you heard her, we are off to Canterlot. The train station isn't too far off." Twilight said after a moment of awkward staring. She paused when she reached the door, none of the Tau had moved, either still reading or looking to Var for orders. "Oh and erm, try to not to break anything." She added and left, being greeted by around half of the town asking various questions, whilst she answered them, Var looked to Aloh, who looked to Spike, who shrugged.
"Alright then, Shas' on me!" Var ordered, there were a few grunts as Tau put their books down and Var face palmed. "We are going on a train, bring a damn book with you." He added, a few quiet cheers and everyone picked them up and placed a palm on the page, then closed the book and grabbed any weapons laying around, putting helmets back on, they made a line. Var looked to his helmet still laying on the floor of the library and ignored it, hopefully they would come back here to get it.
"Follow Twi'Light. No, just Twilight. Follow the purple horse and don't break anything." Var ordered and the group moved out after Twilight who was slowly pushing her way through the crowd, who doubled their efforts to see the Tau as they left the building. Most had to crouch down to avoid the low door. As they walked a small Tau caught up with Var who was staying close to Twilight, gently pushing through the swarm of horses. He had a blue strip down his helmet and on the icon of the Tau home world on his shoulder pad, his armour was thinner and the Tau only had a small side arm as a weapon, showing off the fact this was a Water Caste Member.
"What is it Por'el?" Var asked, not giving the other Tau a second glance.
"Well commander, since we are meeting with this planets Aun, mayhaps it is in everybody's best interest that I do the talking. I am the only real diplomat here. Sir." The Water Caste Tau replied, his voice was a lot more educated sounding than Var's, lighter too.
"How did you manage to get to this peaceful world with us Por'el?" Var replied, meaning to be offensive.
"I would prefer it if you called me by my name, commander." The Tau replied.
"I will when you do Por'el." Was all Var said, Twilight thankfully intervened.
"You keep saying Aun whenever talking about the princess. What does it mean?" She asked, Var smiled and thought of an answer before Por'el Valar did.
"For us, it means Ethereal, or Celestial the leaders of our race." Var replied, quickly. The water caste member made an annoyed sound and wondered back to the squad, who were still deep in their books. All but Aloh and Tyrion.
"Celestial eh?" Twilight asked, the commander nodded. "Fitting." She added.
"So this Princess of yours? What is she like?" Var asked, looking to his squad for a second.
"Celestia? Oh she is great, friendly, wise, smart-" She was cut off by Var.
"I mean, how will she be like towards. Us?" Var asked. Twilight paused and nodded.
"Oh right, well you don't seem like you want to hurt us. If i put in a good word the best that can happen is she will let you stay in Equestria, asking occasional jobs and the like."
"And the worst?" Var asked, raising an eyebrow muscle.
"Well, she won't harm you or your friends, if that's what you mean. She might, if worried for pony-kind's safety, send you to the moon." Twilight replied. Wise and Friendly, sure. Var shrugged.
"Could be worse. We could survive for a while, food and liquid would be an issue though." He replied.
"You could survive on the moon?" Twilight asked, somewhat confused, Var looked at her. If this Aun is certain not to harm us, why did Twilight sound confused by the fact we could survive on the moon, following that logic, it would mean we couldn't, hence. Die . Var waved an arm at that thought and answered Twilight's question.
"Our helmets produce oxygen for us, also expelling any, unneeded waste. That said, we would starve before emergency oxygen ran out." Var explained, not that anyone could open a ration pack in the depths of space anyway.
"They produce oxygen? What kind of magic is that? I must study them when we return to Ponyville." Twilight said, somewhat excited.
"It's not magic, it's science. We Tau don't have any magic, those that do, are usually our enemies." Var replied. Twilight nodded and slowed her pace, in front of the group was a small building with a rather long train sitting on the tracks, waiting.
"That is nowhere near tall enough for us." One warrior commented, another replied with: "We could sit on the top, although I'm sure someone will find something wrong with that." Var face palmed.
"I'm afraid my squad members are correct, we couldn't fit in that." He pointed out, Twilight smiled.
"Can't you sit down?" She asked. Another face palm from Var if you please. The team managed to fit into one carriage, emptying it of ponies almost instantly. Each fire warrior sat, with their helmets almost touching the roof of the carriage. They instantly started reading again. Var looked at the twelve Tau around him and noticed Twilight looking at him.
"What?" He asked. She smiled.
"You are pretty proud of your friends aren't you?" She asked, a few Tau put their books down to this, Var looked away and just stared at Twilight.
"What does that mean?" He asked. She smiled deeper and a few Tau lent in to the conversation.
"I've seen my brother have that look so many times when he around guardsponies he has trained. It’s pride don't deny it." Twilight replied.
"I'm not your brother though." Var replied, and looked out the window before anything else was said, just then, the train began to move. The purple horse didn't say anything and despite the smiles of the other Tau, they didn't push the subject either.
Author's Note
So now you have all met Por'El Valar, one of the last major members of the team, there will be a few others but so far those introduced are the main characters among the team. If I can get round to painting them I will do a photo shoot of the 13 of them, but no promises.
Hope you are enjoying this!
Side note: Last exam was finished today :D
My Fire Warriors: Mont'ka is Magic
Kor'doi: Air city*
The train journey was boring and uncomfortable, even with the Tau sitting or even lying down, there was much room for them to move, a few had actually opened a window and climbed onto the roof as previously planned but as soon as a tunnel was spotted, that idea was quickly dropped, Twilight Sparkle was sitting between Var and Aloh, who had been fairly silent the entire trip, most of the others had as well, besides the occasional question to Var about their books, he would quickly point at Twilight and she would answer as best she could. Most of the train was silent and Twilight was still the only pony on board the carriage. Possibly the entire train, no one had made a move to check. The driver hadn't seemed to care and nothing had come into the carriage. Sven made his annoyance about that very clear without minutes.
"Aren't there usually drones, or in your case Twilight, horses, who walk around and give out food and liquid?" He asked, the purple horse looked up at the human, holding his helmet in one hand and a grenade in the other. Throwing the grenade up into the air slightly and catching it.
"Sometimes, but Canterlot isn't that far from Ponyville, so I doubt they would." Twilight replied, Sven nodded and looked out of the window for a moment.
"I don't suppose you brought any food with you commander?" Sven asked without looking at the older Tau. Var grunted and felt around his body for anything.
"Do I look like I have any food, I'm sure the Aun will give us some if you ask, I doubt food will be a problem here, just not what we are used to." Var replied. Twilight peaked up with interest.
"What is it you are used to?" She asked.
"Well the planet we are from, T'ros, is a mining colony, the small amounts of food they have is processed, crap meat. But I doubt a world full of ponies and horses will have much on them. During our space flights we are used to rations of condensed proteins and the like, so no real food as it were." Sven explained. Twilight went a bit pale at the mention of meat but said nothing.
"Well you are right about us not eating meat, but I'm sure you could survive on the various fruits and vegetables we grow here. I doubt you would eat flowers or grass like we do. And please, we are all ponies here, the only horses are miles north." Twilight eventually said, then looked to Var with a light bulb above her head, figuratively speaking of course.
"You said you didn't have any magic and that those you knew were considered your enemies, why is that?" She asked, obviously trying to avoid any talk toward meat or the reasoning behind the Tau eating it, not that she didn't know of races eating meat, dragons mostly did, as well as the griffins. Aloh spoke up first.
"Well Twilight, us Tau never did find the magics of the warp worthy of being used for The Greater Good, so we ignored it, to some extent, yes we used some jump points to get our fleets around quickly, but nothing more than that, we have no warriors capable of casting such spells as we don't have the means the other races do. With no way to officially make a standing alliance with the humans, and most other races with that capability out of the picture, we survive without it. The only race we could gain some knowledge from without an unnecessary firefight would be the elder, but their numbers dwindle everyday and I highly doubt without a trained diplomat of the water caste, we would be missing out ofpn any knowledgeable gains." Aloh explained, looking at the skinny Po'el sitting on his own at the back of the carriage.
"You could try to learn some here, if you are allowed to stay, which from your actions so far, is very likely." Twilight replied. Aloh was shaking his head with a half smile.
"From what I have seen it is you horned ponies that cast magic, noticing it from you and a few of the townsfolk with horns. As you can see.-" Aloh stopped and pointed to his forehead. "-No horns." He added. Leaning back on the seat that clearly wasn't made for a Tau.
"Also, you keep mentioning these different races like they were nothing, and these 'castes' of yours, and the Greater Good. What do they all mean, I wish you could explain." Twilight replied quickly, hopefully. Var and Aloh shared a glance and Sven just smiled and grunted.
"I fear we may have to sit you down and talk about this in the near future, unless I am guessing wrong, that is our destination." Var said quickly, pointing out the window at the glowing white mountain city. Twilight almost pressed her face against it and stared, after a few minutes of this, she came back and looked at the Tau.
"Now, you may expect some, hostilities from the ponies here, they are a lot more, uptight than those of Ponyville and we have recently discovered a threat to our land so ponies may be on the alert for the enemy. Don't expect to see ponies tackle you in the street however, that being said. Same rules apply, no matter how much a pony threatens you or what not, let me deal with it. I can take the fall for any crimes. I feel like you all being new here, and about to see the princess no less, will just mean a warning bell to go off for Celestia about your stay here." Twilight said. Var nodded.
"We understand Twilight, lead the way to your Celestial. We shall follow, Tau, fall in." Shas'O Var replied and made a fist gesture, the Tau folded the pages of their books and stood, either holding the pony books or putting them in their packs they wore. One fire warrior opened a protein bar and began to crunch on it. Svn glared at the warrior.
"I thought no one had any food." The human grunted. The Tau gulped down and turned to him.
"Si, but you only asked commando Var for food. Not me." The warrior replied, clearly not from T'ros from the accent, one of the secondary expansion planets most likely.
"Fine, who has any food?" Sven asked the warriors, he was silenced as eight fire warriors simultaneously opened up their packs and threw various food items at the bewildered human. Who swore in response with: "Fuck you guys." The Tau began to pick up their food, someone had thrown a gun for some reason.
As the train haltered the doors opened and Twilight stepped out into the autumn air of Canterlot, much colder and much thinner this high up than the lowlands where Ponyville resides, she trotted towards the large white castle with the thirteen Tau slowly following behind, the ponies awaiting to board the train began to trot backwards away from the train, staring, mouths agap at the gray warriors before them. The group made their way through the city fairly easily, gaining some glances from ponies but not too much, getting onto the castle grounds was a little harder as Twilight had to explain why such menacing figures were walking into the castle. They passed security with no worries and Aloh began to wonder why the guards hadn't asked for them to hand their weapons in. Var guess it was because the only recognizably one would be the sheathed bonding knives each fire warrior had, the pulse guns didn't look at all scary unless one knew what they were and the side arms were hidden or holstered as well, based on the technology levels he had seen thus far They reached some wooden double doors with a white pony standing guard, horn glowing.
"Twily, how are you, they didn't harm you did they?" The pony ran to Twilight and they hugged for a moment.
"No no, they are rather friendly actually, Shining Armour, met Var, Var this is my brother." Twilight replied smiling. Var lent down and put a hand out.
"Pleasure to meet you." Var said, the pony nodded and stepped back, Var stood back how he had been and the white pony opened the doors.
A few comments followed that.
"Is that.. A..?"
Var face palmed.
Author's Note
So timing was discovered today, Season four is when this is based, just before the finale. Why Twilight doesn't have wings is solely because of me not deciding on timing. I may put her alicorn-ing in for plot or may keep it out, yet to decide.
My Fire Warriors: Mont'ka is Magic
Aun'Celest: Sun Ethereal*
Aun'Celest: Sun Ethereal*
The Tau squad stared at the landed Hammerhead with wonder, it wasn't their colours, but it was still usable, from what the group could see, a few began to walk towards it and looked at the two shut down missile drones on either side of the tank. The huge railgun atop the tank was lowered and unpowered, none of the fire warriors were particularly pilots, but each had been given some training in flying a tank such as a Hammerhead, and driving such a powerful vehicle outside of the air caste was stuff of legend, a few Tau had been in the pilot seat once or twice, but never actually flown one of these. Aloh had a huge grin on his face and walked over to one of the drones and attempted to unstrap it, it appeared stuck at first, as if someone had physically glued down the drone to the side of the tank. The sergeant did notice that some of the paint work had faded, presumably from all the usage the tank had gone through, the lettering on the side read out 'The Farseer' and a few other markings of the Tau home world were placed at random around the tank. Twilight was just gaping at the vehicle and darted her eyes between Aloh, who was still exploring the sides of the tank, and the tank itself. She sat down and just stared. Var decided to finally join in and try to open up the back, after a gentle tap failed, the commander kicked the door, eventually, it fell down with a clank, the fast opening, heavy door probably damaging the marble flooring. Inside was something no Tau wants to ever see, there was a lone, green fire warrior holding a side arm down the side of his body, a huge plasma made bullet hole in his helmet. It takes a lot to make a fire warrior kill himself, let alone in the back of an armoured tank, he must have been incredibly worried about being captured by something like the dark elder, or Necrons. Not that he would survive long with either race. Var saluted and made a note to take back the body and bury it somewhere, it wasn't T'au, but circumstances dictate that he be buried on this world. A few Tau also nodded their acknowledgement at the fallen warrior and one even walked into the tank to move the body to a more natural position. Var nodded when the Tau exited the tank. Power was definitely out, as no emergency lights had come on when the door was kicked down, Var was somewhat disappointed by that news, as there was nowhere on this planet that would be able to power the Hammerhead, magic was one option but it was very unlikely to work.
After almost a full ten minutes of exploring the dead tank, Var noticed there were ponies in the room, with what looked like spears at the ready; a very tall, and very white, horned and winged pony was standing on the far end of the hall. Valar also noticed this and stepped forward, Var got there first flanked by a helmeted Aloh, and a smiling Sven. Holding his helmet under his right arm, holding a grenade in the other. This would end well.
"May I remind you commander, I am the diplomat here." Valar said through comma, Var ignored it, Aloh didn't.
"Well when we screw this up, be a diplomat and cut in. Not until we say though, don't want you ruining what reputation we have on this planet." The sergeant said, he knew the water caste member hating taking orders from Aloh, due to technically Valar being a higher rank, but with Var most likely backing that idea, Valar had no say in the matter. He was genuinely just there to talk to the, richer, caste of the human civilization, anyone below a planet owner was nothing in Valar's eyes.
"I believe you are the Aun of this world, allow me to be the first to thank you for your hospitality, Twilight here has made an excellent host." Var began, Aloh almost clapped at the commander's acting skills, yeah he was being sincere, but he wouldn't normally say it that way. Usually adding in a few Terran swears or curses.
"That's princess Celestia to you, alien." One pony grunted from somewhere, Var just looked around and aimed his reply at the most pissed off looking one.
"Didn't I just say that, Aun means Ethereal for us, it is a very high honour." Var replied, thinking about winking but thought best of it, the white pony stood and walked forward, another pony. Wings and horns like her counterpart, only blue, also stepped forward.
"Thank you sir, I don't have the pleasure of knowing your name?" The horse, pony, asked.
"I am commander Shas'O Var, my men before you is Shas'vre Aloh, and Gue'vesa'ui Sven. I noticed the tank." Var replied, going back to his normal self slightly. Celestia looked past the Tau and toward the tank.
"That thing?" She asked, Var nodded, she just gave a blank expression. "I see, scouts found it two days ago, close to where you and your men awoke. It was more trouble than it is worth getting it up here, but we managed. At least you recognize it, maybe you could share some light." Celestia added, Var looked to the tank then back to the pony.
"Yes as a matter of fact, it’s one of ours. Not the same sept obviously, different colours. But still, it is a Tau tank, named a Hammerhead, very powerful, that weapon on top could level a city like this easily." Var replied, Aloh just looked down and put his hand between his eyes in frustration.
"Really now?" Celestia began, Var saw what he had done.
"Yes, but it is out of power, I doubt much on this world could start it up again, but there is something in there we would like, if you intend on keeping it. Two things actually." Var replied hastily.
"Which are?" Celestia asked. Looking at the tank again, the other Tau were randomly perched on top of the thing, looking down. One was on the edge of the gun and staring from the back of the room.
"There is a dead fire warrior in the back of that thing, we would be honoured if you allowed us to bury him. And the two drones we may be able to either salvage or restart, despite them being for war, I am sure someone here can reprogram them to help out. We may need a new attachment, but again, there are two. We would only need one." Var replied, he wasn't overly keen on the drones, but the chips they had inside them could come in handy if any of the Tau weapons jammed here. Not that Var thought they would need them, ponies whose best weapon was a spear wasn't much of a threat.
"Of course, the, fire warrior, as you put it, may be taken back with you to Ponyville when you return. As for the drones, you can take them but only for purposes that will help standings between you and my ponies. I fear you may be here a while." Celestia replied after a pause, not that she was thinking about letting them bury one of their kin, just the tank looked dangerous enough with no power, she almost feared whatever part of the tank these aliens wanted to try to fix.
"Thank you, and when you say back to Ponyville?" Var asked, he had heard Twilight mention it earlier so just presumed that's where she lived.
"Yes, you are welcome to stay in my country if you so wish, but I may have need of you, if every pony could leave the room." Celestia said, shouting the last bit, the guards were a bit hesitant at first, but soon left. Twilight exited and a few Tau got up to leave.
"Not you, you idiots." Var shouted, the three fire warriors holding the door opened left it and walked back.
"Okay, I have heard rumours that there is a sleeping dragon somewhere near Ponyville, it isn't an issue now but when it starts snoring, it will cover much of the land with its smoke. My little ponies had to send it away before, but it appears not to have found the message. If you are willing, could you please find this dragon and, dispose of it, I don't suppose you have to kill it, but you all seem capable of that." Celestia said, her face grew darker when mentioning death and the Tau commander grew concerned for this Aun. The silence was filled by a fire warrior rummaging around in the cock pit of the Hammerhead.
"Hey commander. Look." The fire warrior called out. Var looked toward the fire warrior who was holding a Tau metal circular bucket.
"This is a bucket, sir," The fire warrior stated, Var face palmed and some other warrior took the bait instead.
"By the Ethereals."
"There's more in here."
"No." A few laughs were picked up but not many, Celestia just had a blank face on again. Var turned back to her.
"Yes, we will accept this job. I suppose this is how we will gain trust?" Var asked, Celestia nodded.
"I see, now before we leave. Do you have a moment to talk about the one true ideal, The Greater Good?" Var asked, smiling. Celestia stared at him.
"I fear you do not have time to explain such a concept, you have dragon slaying to do, amps well as gathering your dead and your 'drones' and I have Princess duties to do." Celestia asked, she barked something and the guards began to pour back in, some looking shocked at something, probably the fact the Princess was still alive, or everyone was alive for that matter. Var nodded and turned to leave, ordering two fire warriors to pick up the green one in the tank, after cleaning as much blood off as possible, they began to leave. Twilight let out a gasp but said nothing more. Just as they were about to leave. Valar fucked it up.
"Princess. One more thing my colleague here forgot to mention." He began, here we go. Celestia peaked her ears up and turned.
"Oh?" She asked.
"Yes, for relations to every truly stand between those of the Greater Good and ponykind, I suggest an embassy in this fine capital you have." Rule 101 with Valar, if he ever says 'your fine' in the same sentence as a description, he hate the place. "Maybe I could stay here, set up an embassy and begin talks with the Nobel's of your race?" Valar asked.
"As much as that sounds like a good idea, I believe you will need all the help you can get in this task, perhaps another time though." Celestia replied, Var audibly let out some held in air with relief. Smiling, Aloh looked happy as well, if Valar was left alone to talk to Nobel's and such for any longer than a day, he would have the entire planet under his banner. There would be nothing wrong with that, but that literally meant, Valar's banner, they held loyalties to him, not the Tau. With a final goodbye the Tau, along with Twilight, left for the train.
Author's Note
Okay, better timing, probably just before Twilight became an Alicorn, she may become one in this, just to have the Tau react to her suddenly having wings, but I don't know yet, trying to think of a pony enemy that would fit that Tims, I have one idea in mind, but would still like an Equestrian threat from an Equestrian race.
Also, due to technical issues right now I am being forced to use my tablet for these so may be some typos and such, if you could be so kind, do point them out and I will edit what I can.
If you spot the really forced reference you win a mustache.
My Fire Warriors: Mont'ka is Magic
Kauyon: Patient Hunter*
Leaving Canterlot was a lot more interesting than coming in, carrying a green, dead fire warrior though the streets, as well as two dead drones gave the Tau more awkward looks than before, Twilight was again leading the way and carried the two drones with her magic, saving four fire warriors having to carry anything. Aloh had the dead warrior. Twilight didn't look back but decided to break the silence first.
"So what did Princess Celestia want?" She asked, Var looked to Aloh who shrugged.
"She wants us to hunt down a dragon that is supposedly sleeping on some mountain. To earn her trust or some shab like that." Var replied, Sven turned when the Tau used that curse, it was one of the few Terran curses the Tau decided to translate, it was a rarity to hear a Tau, especially one so high ranking as Var, to swear. Let alone in his own language. Twilight paused for a moment before thinking of something to say.
"And how exactly are you going to kill it?" She asked, when nobody answered she added. "No point hiding it, we had to send it away once already, it isn't normal for Celestia to order a death, but when she suddenly has beings such as yourselves at her disposal she can get darker deeds completed without it looking like pony kind started a war or something."
"She controls other beings like us?" Var asked.
"Well not entirely, you are the only alien thing that has come to Equestria, besides your tank. But from time to time a war torn adventurer will arrive or a band of mercenaries. Equestria is incredibly peaceful, but outside of these lands the world is edging for war. Has been for years." Twilight explained. Now Var did stop.
"That seems a bit, strange. For all you ponies to just accept something like that." He muttered, Twilight stopped and turned, lowering the drones.
"Well it’s not as bad as I make it out, ponies, and the other races outside these lands, fight. It’s the way of life, we just happen to be peaceful of mind. Doesn't mean everything else has to be." Twilight said, Var nodded but said nothing, clicking the safety off the rifle. "Anyway, you didn't answer the question, how are you going to 'deal' with this dragon? It will most likely be pretty big." She added, beginning to walk towards the train again, that was for whatever reason still here.
"Well, we don't have the numbers or the fire power to create a full on frontal assault, but a tactic us Tau like to use, the Kauyon, or 'Patient Hunter' may actually work, we would draw it out of the mountain, probably onto a cliff face or something, because no doubt its fortress is in some cave or whatever. Then fill it with plasma fire. Our EMP grenades won't work against it, but they will still stun it enough. And if we get at least one of these drones working again we will have the fire power to take it down." Var replied.
"You seem very certain of yourselves, if one drone can kill a dragon and a tank like that could 'level a city' as you said, it’s surprising you haven't won this war you fight." Twilight muttered back, shots fired much.
"That is mainly because, the Tau don't instantly go for war. Whatever our past is with the other races, we will offer peace and for them to join the Greater Good. We have lost so many water caste diplomats because of that. And so many ambushes." Var replied, his voice going quiet.
"Then why offer peace if the enemy is just going to stab you in the back?"
"It’s like you said, ponies are peaceful in nature, but nothing else is. The same with us, our races goal is to unite the Universe into one, the Greater Good. We offer the race we happen to be fighting to join us, and then destroy them if they refuse or begin to shoot. We then offer the same choice to the survivors, if the race happens to surrender, and we offer the citizens of the planet a fresh start if they allow us access to their planet. There are very few races out there that we refuse to talk to. And that is only because they either don't talk, or are breed for war, and nothing else. The bug creatures we call Tyranids, and the mutants we call Orks are such races."
"I see." Was all Twilight said, Aloh replied with:
"Aur'ocy shath'r'i tskan sh Tau'va." He smiled and Sven repeated it in a whisper, as did a few others, then saluted to the fallen warrior again.
"What does that mean?" Twilight asked after a long pause, either thinking about something else to say or allowing the Tau to mourn their fellow warrior.
"Unity comes to all things, in time. It basically sums up the goals of the Greater Good. Unity to all. Under the same banner." Aloh replied, Twilight nodded again.
"Well most of Equestria is already unified so you would be hard pressed to bring this ideal of yours here, it would just be swapping out one peaceful life for another, sure ponies would react to different rulers, especially aliens, but you wouldn't find much resistance." Var nodded but Sven got where the pony was going.
"We have no plan to take over this world, nor would we want to, yes it would be easy to sway the people under the banner of peace, but your Aun seems, reasonable and a colony on a planet so arrogant towards the knowledge of our war would be no help to the Empire other than a last base to fall back too should that need ever arise, we don't even know where this place is in comparison to T'ros, or any planet we know of." He replied, Twilight nodded, her horn glowed for a second then stopped. None of the warriors thought anything of it.
"Well, now you are officially welcome in Equestria, I suppose not only will you need somewhere to stay, but I will have to show you to every pony in Ponyville." Twilight said as the group arrived at the station, there were less train carts this time so less ponies fled when the group boarded.
"And where, pray tell, would ones such as ourselves be staying? As, homely, as your house is purple one, I doubt you would be able to fit all twelve of us inside, and as you mentioned before. You , don't eat meat, but we do." Valar asked, a few fire warriors made a gesture to slap him, and everyone knew no one was going to complain if anyone did. Twilight looked at Aloh confused, she obviously felt most comfortable talking with the sergeant, anyone else either didn't talk to her because they were reading, were the commander who clearly was already beginning to hate this experience, or Valar. Just, no.
"What the nonfirecastesonothingtodowithus, is trying to say, is where would we be staying, you home seemed large, but not large enough to hold twelve fire warriors and a cunt." Sven muttered the last bit and Valar just hmmphed a few Tau laughed. Var just nodded.
"Well, I suppose you have a point, a few could stay with me, but most of you may have to stay with my friend Applejack at her farm, I could probably take three or four of you. I don't know about her though, we would have to meet her and ask first though. If not I'll talk with Celestia." Twilight replied eventually. Var looked to his team.
"What do you think squad, we could all stay at this farmstead or we can split up? What do you think?" Var asked. Valar of all people spoke up first.
"I for one wish to stay with the purple one, I don't want to stay on an awful farm with labour ponies." The water caste grunted. Var was ready for this.
"Which is why you will be going onto the farm, it'll do you good to blend in with the everyday life beings of this world to get practice for all kinds of diplomacy, plus one such as yourself should certainly boost our standings." Var replied, Aloh had a smile on his face but Valar was outright pissed off. But said nothing.
"Anyone else?" Var asked, the off world Tau spoke up next.
"Hey Senjour Var, I think that, to boost standings with the ponies si? The high ranking ones should stay with Twilight, whilst the rest of us stay with the ponies, it'll show we are organized in rank and not some monster I believe they think us to be." He said, Var nodded.
"Very good Tito, is everyone in agreement?" A few nods, Valar still sulked but everyone else seemed okay with it. Var nodded and looked to Twilight.
"So you say three can stay with you?" A nod. "What about food?" She looked puzzled then realized what he meant and opened her mouth, before thinking again.
"Well I suppose you can go hunting in the Everfree, the monsters out there shouldn't be a threat as as long as you tell me what animal it is you've killed first, so I can say whether it is poisonous or not, then you should be fine. I'll do a brief about the forest at a later date. Also, DO. NOT. Cut up the animal in the library and please, please. Please . Don't give Spike any, I know dragons do eat meat, but I don't really know what kind of effects it would have on him." Twilight replied, Var nodded but said nothing.
"Okay, Shas'vre Aloh, Gue'vesa'ui Sven and myself shall stay with you as long as we are welcome, or on this planet." Var eventually said after a moment of think, the two fire warriors nodded. Valar grunted and the rest didn't care. Tito looked a bit upset though. The group got on the train, four instantly going onto the roof and pulling books and food out from their bags. Giving the pony conductor evil glares when he asked them to come down.
Sitting on the train, Twilight looked a bit nervous, after yelling at the warriors to come down from the roof, Var noticed.
"Is there a problem Twilight?" Var asked, she looked up.
"No, no problem as such, just when you meet my friends, mainly, no, just Pinkie. When you meet Pinkie Pie, promise not to freak out. She is a bit, special." Var nodded and Aloh looked to the pony.
"When you say special?" Aloh asked, he got punched lightly in the arm by the warrior next to him.
"She-, she tends to screw around with physics a lot, a lot of the stuff she will do will make no sense so when she eventually does meet you a few things will happen. One, she will want to throw you a party, if you try to escape them or avoid them, she WILL hunt you down and make you go to it. I know. Two, she will want to be your best friend ever. And Three, she WILL appear in places that make little to no sense and she only appears when she wants to see you. But please know, she means you no harm." Twilight explained, Aloh actually saw a few concerned faces on the other Tau, but no one said anything, if this pony was that insane, and its friend was warning them about it, how bad could the rest be?
Aloh was genuinely afraid to find out. What if.
That was a scary thought.
Author's Note
So yeah, not an overly important character but another fire warrior added today, Tito the (Spanish) Tau that is also another reference!
My Fire Warriors: Mont'ka is Magic
Gu'for: Party time (Part I)
The Tau quickly learnt that there was a pony much like Valar, and much. Much worse. A few were fine but the main group of friends Twilight had were, different. Upon arriving back into Ponyville, the Tau agreed to drop off the body outside of the forest where they had appeared and bury him at a later date, more appropriately, right after this party they were supposedly having. The lights in the library were off when they walked in, but the sun was still out, setting as it was, and it was easy to see the ponies all standing around preparing to start the party, nor did it help the fact these ponies appeared to have glowing eyes, on top of the fact many gasped when the Tau walked in before Twilight. The lights flickered on and all anyone saw was a pink blur and a very hyper and pink pony appeared in front of Aloh, who stared at the pony who spoke incredibly fast, no one got what she said, Aloh did pick up words like 'welcome' and 'gray', presumably about his dull armour he wore. But for all he knew that was the only thing she had said, the rest being some long forgotten language, and it was quite possibly so. Aloh attempted to block up the pink creature as the other Tau walked around the library, swapping out their books or wondering around the inside of the tree, there were quite a few other ponies here but none made any attempt to speak to the aliens, nor did the Tau speak to them, the ponies just talking in hushed groups or listening to the music that seemed to be coming from, well, everywhere. Even though there was nothing obvious it would come from.
"Sooooo?" The pink thing asked, it sounded female, which Aloh really wasn't surprised about.
"So?" The sergeant asked, voice muffled through his helmet. The pink thing tilted her head a little, keeping the creepy smile she had. Then looked to the warriors legs.
"Why do you guys have hooves? Any why are their no females in your race?" It asked, Aloh was going to guess her name was something to do with her sept mark all the ponies seem to have but a few small ones. None of the royal guards seemed to have any which seemed odd, being such high rank Aloh would have thought they'd belong to some sept or another. I shall call her.. Ah screw it, her name is now Terrace, that's a human name right?
"We do have females, just not many in the fire caste. And none with us now." Aloh paused, looking around to spot the water cast member sitting on some chair in the corner ignoring anything that went to talk to him. Aloh smiled. "Except her over there." Aloh said and pointed.
"She doesn't look very female Mr alien man. She looks just like you." Terrace pointed out.
"Well that's incredibly xenophobic of you to say, but trust me. She may not look very feminine, but she is. Just needs someone. Or some-pony." Terrace's face lit up when Aloh said that and looked at Valar with a face of nightmare. "To help her show her true colours." Doing something like this isn't usually a Tau thing, but still. It is Valar though, the little shab deserves it. Terrace quickly disappeared and appeared next to some marshmellow looking pony with purple hair, they spoke a little, Terrace pointing hooves at Aloh and then Valar. Marshmellow nodded and the two disappeared. Aloh laughed to himself, stopping only when he heard a voice behind him.
"That wasn't very nice." Aloh heard. The sergeant turned to see a flying cyan coloured pony with medium cut rainbow hair. She had two hooves crossed but didn't look very angry. "Even I can tell that alien isn't a girl. And he seemed awfully unhappy." The pony said, looking to Valar.
"That's because he isn't liked by anyone because he's an asshole who only likes royals, anything below is just scum to him." Aloh replied, folding his arms. He smiled slightly.
"Woah woah woah, what are you sayin' about royals?" Rainbow pony replied. Aloh raised an eyebrow.
"I take it you like royalty. I mean, yes I can see why, you're planets Aun is a very nice person, well. Horse. Pony. Thing. Just, the thing with Valar, his job as a diplomat is to make peace with the planets commander or governor and bring them peacefully into the Tau Empire, he has minor jobs as well, but that is the water castes main goal. Valar here, he would rather turn the planet against everything , make them loyal to just him. He is corrupt, manipulative and should never have been given the rank he has. How he managed to get here with us I will never know." Aloh replied.
"Of course I like the royals, Celestia and Luna are great ponies. Cadence is good too, but not as good. We're ponies by the way, try not to forget, although I'm a Pegasus. See, wings." Rainbow Pony twisted at an awkward angle to show Aloh her wings. They were flapping at what seemed to be a very random speed, sometimes fast, sometimes slower. As much as you don't like him, you shouldn't say that about one of your friends." She added after staring at her wings. Wait, there were two, no three Auns on this world? Interesting Aloh could feel himself try to make notes, only without the paper, or pen to use.
"I'll tell you one thing Rainbow Pony, he is about as far from a friend as he can get. i won't class him as an enemy since he is still Tau, much to my knowledge anyway." Aloh muttered, pointing a gloved hand at the pony.
"It's Rainbow Dash, not 'Rainbow Pony' that was my aunt. why wouldn't he be what you call Tau?"Aloh smiled at that, so far he really had be right about his first glances at this world. Most of them were female and most had names to do with their sept markings. Convenient, too convenient. Aloh just nodded and turned to Valar, he was currently fighting off Marshmellow and Terrace. He still deserved it.
"Of course, sorry about that Rainbow Dash. I don't have any evidence that he isn't one of us, but there is always hope yes?" Aloh asked. Sven walked out from the crowd. He had some weird painting on his chest plate over the Tau sign. It looked like four green hearts all on a different angle to the next, making swirl pattern.
"What in all names Tau is that Sven." Aloh asked, pointing at the already dried paintwork, it looked pretty good, all things considered.
"Me and a few others were talking to some pony by the name of Art Work and he offered to give us a, 'cutie mark'. Some of use agreed and after having a quick conversation with us, he agreed what they would be. I got this clover thing, he didn't say what it meant, just that it fits me." Sven replied.
"You got a, cutie mark? Like those weird marks the ponies have?" Aloh asked, Sven looked around and smiled.
"Of course, we gotta fit in haven't we?" Sven said, Aloh face palmed.
"Var will kill you when he sees that you know." Aloh muttered, Sven just laughed and looked around, not picking out Var straight off.
"Oh he knows. He was about to get one to, just because he could. But Twilight wanted to talk to him, probably about the dragon." Sven replied. Aloh's mouth dropped.
"Shas'O Var Brightsword, of the T'ros sept." Aloh paused. "HE. Got a painted cutie mark?!" Aloh asked, almost shouting, a few ponies looked Aloh's way, but his outburst didn't disrupt the party too much. Sven just smiled again.
"Find, fuck it." Aloh shouted, Sven flinched, as the same with Var, it wasn't like Aloh to swear. But a few did drop, more than Var. "I'll get myself a fucking cutie mark." Aloh said, storming off in a random direction. Sven laughed as another fire warrior with a grenade cutie mark appeared.
"What's got him all angry?" The warrior asked, he had a piece of food the ponies seemed to be eating. Biting into it, the fire warrior spat multicoloured crumbs everywhere. Staring at the sergeant walk toward a red coated pony with a paint brush in his mouth.
"He is pissed at the cutie marks. He's going to get one. What on T'au is that?" Sven replied, then staring at the food.
"Ah. What this thing? It's what the ponies are calling a 'cupcake' pretty good. Better than the meat rations we get in space anyway. Very sweet though." The warrior replied, taking another bite. Sven shrugged and walked off to get one. Then paused and turned to the warrior again.
"That's not the right pony is it, the one Aloh is with?" Sven asked, the other fire warrior just barked a laugh.
"Of course not, she's over there." He said, pointing toward three other fire warriors lined up with a pink pony painting on their chest plates. Sven just smiled and walked off, to try to talk to some of these equines.
Author's Note
So Sven got a 4chan cutie mark.. Not much else to report. If you guys think of a good idea for this, or find a good cover art, do share
My Fire Warriors: Mont'ka is Magic
Gu'for: Party time (Part II)
Shas’O Var noticed a couple things when he first entered Twilight’s library, one of the obvious points is that besides the few glares the Tau received when they entered, these equines didn’t seem to care that there were obvious aliens in their mix. Sure a few gave the Tau strange looks when they walked past to swap books, but neither faction seemed particularly bothered about the other. Var also noticed Twilight rush over to some very, unique, looking ponies and apart from give strange looks and a few hoof gestures toward the commander, the six just broke into some conversation. Probably directed at him and the other Tau present. Valar had found some corner on his own and was presently telling some interested looking pony-horse to go away. After a pause, it did but looked rather upset. Var found himself drawn to this pony for some reason, it looked more, well, real. Than the other ponies, she seemed like she noticed the Tau more than the other ponies did. It had a mint green looking coat with the same colour hair, only with one white strip in her hair. The mark above its leg was some sort of bow thing. When she noticed Var was watching her drift away from Valar, she looked to the commander. He quickly looked away. The pony quickly bounced toward the commander as he looked for a fire warrior to run to. None seemed to be in running distance. Var was trapped.
“Hi! My name’s Lyre! What’s your name?” The mint pony asked. Var could feel his breathing pick up, he had been through so many wars and killed so many. He had nearly died a few times. He had seen the eye of the warp on Tyranious VI against the Chaos legions and had survived years of torture from Dark Elder. HE hadn’t faltered, hadn’t fallen after all that. But this, pony. Scared him. Before he could even think of an answer, the pony began a bombardment of questions. One she seemed to repeat a lot was:
“Can I see your hands?” Var looked questionably toward the mint equine and then back to the party, a few ponies were looking at the couple but still no fire warriors seemed present.
“I see no harm in that.” Var replied, that was a mistake and he knew it. He put a hand up and pulled the black glove of and unstrapped the wrist guard he had on and let it drop to the ground. Noticing that, he still hadn’t retrieved his helmet, none of the others had either from what he could see. Looking around he did find the lost helmets pretty quickly, they were piled up in a line near the top floor where the fire warriors had sat when Var first arrived in the library. Holding up his free hand the pony looked at the blue skinned four fingered hand before her. She instantly smiled with her mouth wide open and her pupils growing considerably larger. Var flinched and began praying. What too? He didn’t know. Just anything that would listen. When he got to Khorne, he realised he should stop. Var found out quickly that his entire arm had been forced down and the mint pony had climbed onto it and was inspecting his hand and moving his fingers around with magic.
“Why do you only have four fingers?” Lyre asked. Var tried to move his arm back but the pony forced it back.
“That’s how Tau are born, are you disappointed?” Var asked, screaming inside, looking drastically for another fire warrior. When he noticed one appear from a stairway going down that Var hadn’t noticed before. He saw something unsettling. The fire warrior had what looked like a plasma ball painted on his chest. Var pulled his arm back quickly, probably pulling something and began to walk over to the other Tau, not seeing the mint coated pony follow, staring at Var’s hand.
“What is? That ?” Var asked, pointing at the paintwork. The fire warrior just shrugged and pointed down the stairs he had come down. Of course, the only fire warrior Var is saved by had had his tongue cut out. The commander smiled.
“Hey, Lyre.” Var asked, feeling a weight on his arm, the pony looked up with bright eyes.why ’ to the commander.
“Don’t disgrace your armour without my consent next time.” Var replied and walked down into the basement.
“Ah it is ze great commander zes aliens have been speaking of. Have you come for ze cutie mark?” The pony asked.
“Ah no, a word with my officers if you would. EVERYONE OUT!” Var said, voice raising toward the end. The pony basically ran out of the room, and the other Tau followed, one asking: “Can we do this upstairs?” Followed by a: “Ya”. Eventually, it was only Sven and Tito left.
“Commander-“ Sven began, Var raised his gloved hand, hiding the other.
“What’s a Cutie Mark?” Var began, his voice low. Sven stepped back, Tito folded his arms, it was Tito who replied.
“Si commando, a Cutie Mark is what these ponies have on their flanks, showing of their skills si? It is like a sept, but, personal.” Tito said, his accent strong as ever.
“So you thought it would be a good idea to get one yourselves?” Var asked, Sven just looked down, Tito looked happy and proud. Looking at his. “What is your’s anyway Tito?” Var asked, the Tau looked up.
“I dunno senor, that nice pony said it suited me, called it a taco si?” Tito replied. Var nodded. Sven was still backing up against a wall, looking down in shame. Var smiled a bit.
“What do you think mine would be Sven?” Var asked. The human looked to the commander and opened his mouth to speak, before a cough caught everyone off guard. Var shrugged and turned seeing Twilight. She looked upset.
“A word please. Commander?” She asked, Var nodded and the other two left the room. Then an orange pony with some strange hat on walked in, she had three apples as her, ‘cutie mark’.
“Howdy.” The pony said, nodding her head. Twilight spoke up.
“This is Applejack, the owner of the farm your squad will be staying at. I just thought we should have a conversation together, thought you would like to meet the pony who will be looking after your troops.” Twilight said.
“Yes I would, thank you Twilight.” Var replied, the horned pony made no move to leave.
“So. You’re Applejack, Twilight has said a lot about you.” Var said after a pause, crossing his arms.
“That ay am partner. So, how many of you aliens will I be expecting?” Applejack replied, straight to the point. I like her , Var thought.
“Well there are thirteen of us altogether, three will be staying with Twilight here, so. Ten.” Var replied, Applejack nodded.
“I can hold that many, now, they will need to work on the farm like everypony else on mah farm. To pay off their stay, you understand?” Applejack replied. That accent though.
“I can agree to those terms. Now, food will be interesting, since we eat meat. I have made an agreement with Twilight here where we will hunt. I don’t suppose you would feel too happy with us storing it so most of it will be done where we hunt. About the working though, there is one in our number by the name of Valar, keep an eye on him because he WILL try to get out of work, he’s a pure diplomat and very, very, corrupt. So don’t hold back with getting him to work. The others should be no trouble.” Var said. Applejack nodded.
“I guess I shall be seeing them later tonight then, I better get back to mah farm to prepare. They can start work tomorro’.” Applejack said, turning to leave.
“We can’t do much of tomorrow, it seems your Aun found one of our tanks which also appeared in this world with us. It doesn't work, but we found a dead pilot and a couple of her helper drones. I would rather us get at least a drone working and bury the dead pilot before anything else. Then the day after we have a dragon to fight.” Var replied. Applejack looked confused but nodded eventually.
“Ah understand, where do you wanna bury him, or her?” Applejack asked.
“He, and we were hoping to do it where we landed, outside that forest nearby. Don’t take this the wrong way, but Tau burials are usually attended either by the squad the Tau belongs to, with family. Or just left on the field like so many others. Since he has no family nearby and we aren't technically his squad, it will have to be use doing it. Just us though.” Var replied.
“Ah see, but what do ya’ll mean, ‘leave them on the field’?” Applejack asked.
“You see Applejack, we come from a universe torn apart by war, sometimes we have to retreat and don’t get to bury our dead, and the amount that die each fight it would take years to sort the dead and bury our own.” Var said, Applejack suddenly looked unsure about something. “But the Tau, we, try to be a peaceful race. You will have no trouble with my warriors I promise you, if they do, come straight to me." Var added quickly, Applejack nodded and left. Twilight looked to Var.
"That were pretty well actually." She muttered.
"Yes, I believe it did." Was all Var said back.
"Is that true, do you really leave your dead sometimes?" Twilight asked. Var nodded.
"Sometimes we have to, remember, most of the races are a lot more cruel and evil than us. Your world is lucky it was us who came here, any other race would start killing everything on sight. Thinking about it, ironically it would only be Chaos who would be fairly peaceful, only when they realized they had no escape. And eventually they would destroy this world. Maybe the Elder would be fine here, but they are untrusting at the best of times." Var replied, Twilight nodded, then opened her mouth to speak again, but Var got there first. "I was also telling the truth when I said it is best that only us attend this burial. For honours sake if nothing else. Do you mind if a couple fire warriors borrow this, lab, down here tomorrow as well. Those drones can make a lot of noise and I would rather them be down here, safe. So if we do get them working again we can program them to not alert us to pony presence every time they see one. Or worse."
"Worse?"
"Well, shot at you. Obviously." Var grunted, Twilight just nodded.
"Of course, if you need help, just call me. Good luck with them as well." Twilight said eventually. Var didn't know if she replied 'of course' to letting them borrow the lab, or was trying to be sarcastic to the shooting thing.
"We will probably need that luck, none of us are engineers. But we can try at least." Var replied, Twilight nodded and went up to the party. Var decided to follow. The music had obviously changed since and he caught sight of Aloh near some random pony and most of the Tau now walking around with Cutie Marks. Tito was eating something that looked like his Cutie Mark, a 'taco' and a few others had rainbow circle food items. The fire warriors actually looked to be enjoying themselves. The mute fire warrior could easily be seen running from Lyre with absolute fear on his face, she was laughing with her horn glowing. What looked like a whip of some kind in her magical grasp. Var didn't want to know.
My Fire Warriors: Mont'ka is Magic
The party went on far into the night and into early morning before the ponies began to walk home. Most of the Tau went back when Applejack did, since they were staying there. Leaving just Var, Aloh and Sven with Twilight. Her dragon pet-brother Spike had gone to bed early into the party from what the warriors had seen, but Spike was young and going to bed so early could mean anything.
"Why do you hate Valar so much?" Twilight asked. Var wasn't expecting that question, anything but that question really.
"I told he." He replied with a grunt. "He is corrupt and would happily turn this planet against The Greater Good. Like he would any planet he is in command of the diplomacy of." Var added. Twilight's horn began to glow in the dim light and she looked at Var with concern.
"That's not it is it?" She asked. Var grunted again and folded his arms, looking at Twilight then the stairs. Eventually however, Var nodded and huffed.
“This happened years ago, just as I earned my commander rank and becoming a Shas’O. I was honoured to finally reach that rank after so many long years of training and fighting. We happened to be taking a small colony, not a planet. The force we had couldn’t handle a fight on that scale, we were regaining our numbers from a long battle with the Necrons, a mechanical race with no moral or mercy, and had been forced to retreat from the field. But we received an order dispatch from another Tau commander, asking us to take this planet, well, more of a moon. Anyway, we found ourselves over this moon base, three Tau ships orbiting. We seemed like we were there to destroy the moon. We had the fire power. But to stop the moon’s population from panicking, as well as set up a Tau base this far out in the galaxy, we planned to send down a diplomat. Valar. He had been a bit, strange from the moment he joined my force but never had he done something this drastic. My old sergeant doubted him and so was I, but went down he did. Followed by myself, my sergeant and four other fire warrior shas’els. Valar quickly made very private, very long talks with the planets own ambassador, not allowing any other Tau into the meeting room, but humans went in and out as much as they pleased. Now, members of the Fire Caste, warriors, aren’t exactly known for their shining diplomatic skills, so for a few days found nothing wrong with that. But Valar dragged on negotiations for over three months before we stepped in. Baring in mind we only had food enough for two of those months we were running low, on the ground and in space. As well as the fact, the longer we were outside of friendly territory, the higher the chances were that we were attacked. Which everyone knew, including, Valar. So eventually, after these three months we got a call from our capital ship. Saying it had detected a superior class of Imperial ship coming in through the warp. We planned and evacuation because honestly, we would have trouble defeating it. Even three on one. If it was only one that was. The day, no, night it was. The night this happened us fire warriors stormed into the room Valar was holding a meeting and he began cursing us when we told him we had to leave, the humans. Of course, went to Valar’s aid when we dragged him out kicking and screaming. The standoff that happened next was bloody and long. For six days five fire warriors held off an entire moon’s worth of population. We, we lost a few. One being my sergeant. Shot whilst he rested by a sniper. I had my theories that it was an execution ordered by Valar, but could never prove it. Thankfully, the Tau above sent the Imperial ship fleeing, so sent ships to pick us up. Things hadn’t fared well up in space either, one ship being utterly destroyed along with most of its crew. And another being so crippled it had to stay behind. The only thing that stopped me from killing Valar on the spot was Aloh and Sven. Sven was just a mere recruit back then, and Aloh only a Shas’vre. They were grunts. But both of them stopped me, telling me he wasn’t worth it.
After the story, Twilight just sat there. Staring at the commander with shock and, awe? She didn't say anything for a good ten minutes, but when she did. It was exactly what he expected.
"Why wasn't he sent to prison or something? He clearly betrayed your race and was behind your sergeants death." She said, she sounded unsure of her wording but stuck to it.
"I tried to get him executed, but the Ethereals of T'ros are soft, no experience from war. Or Valar. They believed I didn't have any evidence of his betrayal, so they pardoned any crimes he was being accused of and put me on ground duty for sixteen months. By that time, he had been moved around to so many planets and we lost so much land because of it. The Ethereals believed he should be put with me, so I could control him. They knew he was a traitor. But did nothing. " Var punched his leg at that last word and glared at Twilight. "As much as I hate him, he is still Tau, a traitor, but a Tau. And any spilled Tau blood is a scar to any of us."
"Indeed, it is the same with us ponies. There hasn't been a war or execution since after the Nightmare Moon issue just under a thousand years ago. Times were supposedly darker then. But Celestia kept the peace." Twilight replied. Var nodded.
"Your Aun is a thousand years old?" Var asked. Twilight nodded.
"Over. She and her sister, Luna. Became the rulers of Equestria after an entity called Discord was defeated, and they held a lot of power of the three tribes before then to. Being Alicorns."
"Alicorns?" Var asked, blinking a few times.
"Yeah, a pony with both wings and a horn." Twilight explained.
"I see, so what does that make you, a Horicorn?" Var asked, that made Twilight laugh for some reason, which in turn made Var smile slightly.
"No silly, I'm a unicorn." Twilight said, Var 'ahh'd' and lent up off the wall.
"So what about the winged ponies. Or those without anything special?" Var asked. Twilight's horn emitted light again and an image of Twilight and two other ponies who looked like Twilight appeared on the wall next to Var, he turned to look. One had a horn, illuminated by a white glow, another had wings, again illuminated by a glow, and the other had nothing, but the four legs were glowing.
"This, is a unicorn. Like me. We can use our horns to channel magic and conjure spells, like this one. We are the only race of ponies that can cast spells, to an extent. Besides the Alicorns though, and only the princesses are Alicorns." Twilight said, next she pointed a hoof to the winged pony. "This is a Pegasus, they have the ability of flight, weather manipulation and cloud walking." She said, pointing the same hoof at the last illusion on the wall. "And this, is an Earth Pony. They are usually farmers or basic builders. They have strong strength and are much faster on the ground than a unicorn or Pegasus pony is. But can't cast any sort of spell or fly. Unless a unicorn casts some sort of manipulation spell on them, giving them false wings or a horn."
"So how do you become a certain caste? And why are there only two Alicorns?" Var asked.
"By caste I presume you mean pony type?" Twilight asked, Var shrugged. "In any case, one doesn't choose to be a unicorn, Pegasus or Earth pony. You are born like it. Earth ponies are more common, but it depends on the parents genres really." Twilight explained. "And there aren't two Princesses, there are three. Princess of the Sun, the Moon and of Love." Var snorted at that. "What's wrong with being Princess of Love?" She asked. Var smiled.
"No I meant Princess of the Sun, what kind of role would that be?" Var asked, using some thing Sven used quite a lot, sarcasm or something like that. Twilight either ignored it or missed it.
"Well, Celestia raises the sun every morning. Not much to it really. She is also the co-ruler of Equestria, but in the context of your question, that's what she does. Whilst Luna raises the moon every evening and sets out the stars." She said, proudly.
"You know stars are just other suns right? If your Aun can really control your sun, she should be able to control the other stars too. Unless this 'Luna' is the stronger Alicorn, being able to control objects of that mass, en masse, must take a lot of your magic." Twilight actually flinched at that. Maybe she looked up to the other Aun? "Also, your Aun's have very convenient names. Celesita for the sun, and Luna for the moon. Not overly original." Another flinch. Followed by a long silence. Var could just make out Twilight count to ten.
"What do you mean, the stars are just other stars?" She asked finally.
"Well, your sun is a star. One of infinite amount. All suns are stars, but not all stars are suns. Some are much bigger and much hotter, or smaller than suns." Var explained. Twilight nodded.
"So your theory is that because the stars are suns, or more. And Luna can control things so far away in perfect control, she is stronger than Celestia?" Twilight asked.
"That's not my theory, if this Luna can really control the stars, then she is stronger than this other Aun. Hands, or hooves, down." Var replied, another pause. "Is there an issue with that?" He asked. Twilight looked up, before running to her bed after saying. "Ihavetogo."Is that the right phrase? 'Dragon ass kicking'? It sounded right. Var thought before going to sleep.
Author's Note
All hail the (W)Horicorn! The Princess of Clop has arisen!
/)
My Fire Warriors: Mont'ka is Magic
Ca'dam Ja'stor: Calm of the Storm
The next morning Var woke up with everyone missing, Aloh and Sven were nowhere to be found and Twilight wasn't around the library either. Just with a note saying 'Gone out, find Spike if need me' With the word 'Spike' in bold and underlined a lot. Had Var annoyed the lavender pony. No, lavender unicorn somehow? If the two Auns really did have that kind of power to move stars and moons. Then surely the Luna Princess with her star moving ability would be stronger, its science. Well, magical science. Var just shrugged and opened up a pack of rations and found something to drink before heading outside. The sun was already up at this point and a lot of ponies of different shapes and sizes could be seen wondering the streets. A lot giving galnces at Twilight's abode. And no, it wasn't just because of Var stepping into the sun. It was the eleven fire warriors all standing at attention wearing helmets and holding their weapons. Valar was no where to be seen. Aloh saluted and the other warriors followed.
"What is this?" Var asked. Being fair, the commander knew what they were doing. Every morning the lower ranking Tau would make sure to get up before their commander in full arms and present themselves outside of the commanders room. But the squad hadn't done it in a while because of Car's reaction, which was usually to groan and go back to bed, leaving them outside his room for another couple hours. The commander didn't necessarily sleep, nor did he stay in his quarters. Being commander meant there was more than one door he could exit from.
"I know we haven't done this in a while, for good reason. But we scouted the place, Twilight's only has one exit and we do need to get things done today. Shas'O." It was Tyrion who answered, being the only one to call Var by rank and not his name or just commander.
"Aloh what are you doing?" Var asked, looking to the sergeant.
"Well since we are now away from the Greater Good and the rest of our fleet. I suggested we make amends for this strange anomaly." Aloh replied, as blank as an expression on his face as possible. Probably trying to act like Var.
"You think this is your fault we are on this pony world?" Var asked, no one answered by Tito shrugged. Meaning someone had mentioned that. "Step forward whoever thought it was your fault we are here." Var said, folding his arms. After a brief pause one fire warrior did step forward, breaking rank. He saluted and nodded.
"Please can someone explain how the mute one thought it was his or your fault." Var asked. Calling the ire warrior 'the mute one' probably wasn't the best idea. But he had never told Var his name.
"Señor Var. He can write si? In the dirt." Tito said. Var looked at the mute fire warrior, who nodded and knelt down. Writing something. After a few seconds it was eaily seen.
'I feel like it was something either we / another squad did. Tamper maybe? We did have that Imperial teleporter on board.'
"And how do you think a teleporter, a stolen, dead, Imperial teleporter get us. Here?" Var asked. The mute Tau shrugged. Then rubbed out his sentence best he could and wrote again.
"'Unknown. Variables 2 many.'
"I see. Why did you not think to write something down in the past? Rather than shrugging or staring at someone when asked a question?" Var asked. The mute Tau just tilted his helmet toward Var and the commander could only guess the fire warrior was staring at him. Then, a message in the dirt arrived.
'Never thought of it. Can I have a pen or something?'
"Do any of us look like we have anything for you to use to write. If I Caz cool Twilight down enough, I'm sure she will give you something." Var replied. The Tau nodded and rewrote his message.
'Why'd you piss Twilight off?' It asked.
"I may have shot down any theories she had on her Sun Aun we met. I explained how the one controlling the stars and moon, would be more powerful than just the sun." Now Sven joined in.
"Their Sun's can control the apsun and moon in this galaxy?" He asked.
"Apparently." Var replied shrugging. Sven just nodded and bit his lip a little.
"So. Now that is out of the way. We have a burial, and the repairing of the drones." Aloh said after a brief pause, Var nodded and nobody moved.
"First off, fuck you. Secondly, once we get back all of you are getting an hour extra in the pit." Var said. Pointing a gloved hand at the group, a few grunted but none were overly verbal about the punishment. "And don't relieve yourselves in it this time. Where is Valar?"
"He went of into the forest sometime last night, coming back tpfrom the party amigo." Tito replied. Var turned to the Tau.
"And you didn't think to go after him?" Var asked. Tito shrugged.
"The ponies think that forest is dangerous, that Applejack horse said it was full of monsters and danger. If he wants to go in and kill himself, I don't think anyone here will complain." Sven said quickly. And few murmurs of agreement.
"Still, as nice as it is that Valar is gone. I don't really want him alone. Ethereals know what would happen if he found a place of power." Var said eventually. He swore he saw Aloh flinch at that. "Come on, let's do this then we can put everyone in the Air and Earth Caste to shame. Fire Caste warriors can repair drones no matter what planet they are on." Var added, the group began moving toward the forest where the body had been dumped. Covered in leaves to avoid attention.
"You four, find some rocks. You two, go into town and find shovels no one is using." Var ordrered quickly, pointing at random fire warriors. Tito stepped forward, a weapon in hand. Var stepped back. "Don't." Was all he said. Tito looked to some fire warriors and they went to move the body backwards.
"But señor, it will create a hole for us si?" Tito said, Var looked at Tito and back to Aloh, who also had a grenade out. "My guess is dos grenades and the hole will be big enough to bury the body. If it is deep enough some leaves and rocks will cover him. As well as any dirt or shrapnel left over from the blast." Tito added, looking at the commander, most of the Tau had already backed up and Tito now held his own and one of Aloh's grenades. Var nodded and stepped back. The other fire warrior primed a grenade and placed it on the floor, before doing some combat roll and diving away just as the twin blast struck. There were a lot of shouts from the pony town after the smoke cleared and the newly built crater looked big enough to place the body.
"Well Tito. I'll give it to you that it actually worked. Huh." One fire warrior muttered. A few suddenly walked off to gather rocks and another warrior placed the body in the hole. Var, Aloh and Tito watched whilst everyone else began to gather. After a couple minutes of this, a very pissed off looking Twilight and five other ponies, a few Var knew from what Aloh had told him before Car's talk with Twilight. There was a yellow Pegasus named Fluttershy, a pink pony named Terrace, Twilight obviously, Rainbow Dash, a white unicorn called Marshmallow and Applejack. Twilight seemed to be wearing some sort of crown and the others were wearing gem infused necklaces. Var waved down the two fire warriors currently aiming their weapons at the oncoming group and the commander began walking forwards.
"Twilight, I'm afraid the burial isn't over yet, so unless it is something important, could you please leave?" Var asked, Twilight growled at the commander.
"What in the bucking Tartarus was that!" Twilight shouted, Var stepped back. The other ponies looked confused.
"We needed to dig a hole, so we used our weapons." Var calmly replied.
"Why were they so. Loud? You scared every pony in Ponyville. The princess was summoned, we were asked to put the Elements of Harmony on. All because you couldn't find a shoevl!" Twilight asked.
"If their Aun was already alerted and a military presence is in their town, that is remarkable response time." Someone muttered before Var could answer, both Twilight and Var face palmed.
"You can blame the idea on one of my fire warriors, Tito. He thought that it would be quicker and easier to use grenades for a hole." Var replied eventually, Twilight glared at some random fire warrior. It wasn't Tito.
"What's ah grenade?" Applejack asked. Twilight turned and stared at her.
"Its the thing they used for that explosion." Twilight said, completely calm when facing her friends. Then the stare of death returned when she looked back at Var.
"Ah know that, I jus' wanna see what it looked like is all." Applejack muttered. Var reached down to his belt and unclipped one. Holding it up so Applejack could see.
"Something so small could cause such a blast?" She asked. Var nodded. "Ya'll weren't joking when ya said you were dangerous." She added. Fluttershy whimpered.
"Not to ponies, you have been no threat to us nor have you attacked us. You have ideals, primitive as they are, which follow the Greater Good, so you are more potential allies than enemies. That said, I doubt you could handle yourselves in a fight against another race." Var said when he released that the Tau being powerful on this world, could upset someone.
"Are you saying we aren't powerful? Celestia moves our sun! She could handle anything." Twilight shouted, stepping closer to the commander. A few Tau raised weapons.
"I didn't say that, I'm sure she could. But this world seems very primitive compared to ones we have seen. Where a normal colony would have guns the size of your moon for defensive purposes. This world hasn't shown any potential for combat on the ground, aside from magic, let alone any weapons that might destroy a titan class ship." Var said quickly.
"Then teach us how to defend ourselves." Twilight said quietly.
"What?" Var asked, taken aback by the request. Or order.
"You seem so worried about the fact we can't defend ourselves. Build one of these moon weapons! Help us defend ourselves from other aliens." Twilight replied, raising her voice a little.
"We couldn't. Not like this. This group before you are all warriors, combat troops. Valar is a diplomat, to an extent. We have no engineers, let alone supplies to even begin to build constructions here. Anyway. The T'ros Tau are more aggressive. Not defensive. The few engineer Earth or Air caste members we had, were for ship maintaince. Nothing more. Maybe we could pick some volunteers up, but as you can see-" Var waved his arms around the general area. "-we are without a ship to get back." He said, Twilight was silent for a while before nodding.
"It was worth a shot, sorry for interrupting. Just, warn me, or anypony here, when you are about to use your. 'Grenades' again." She said, before turning and leaving. Var just caught:
"He wasn't overly polite, but I can see why Celestia let such. Unfashionable, aliens stay here." Marshmallow said. Followed by: "I think they look funny, Maud would love the color. Maybe we could have another party, they got Cutie Marks that time. Maybe we can paint the rest of their skin!" From the pony Aloh called Terrace. Var flinched and turned back for the burial, a decent amount of rocks had been gathered and the Tau were looking to their commander for orders. Var nodded and the burial began.
It was a fairly simple task, put the body in the ground, cover it with rocks and put the helmet on some metal post or stick nearby. It was similar to some ancient Terran custom long forgotten, but it worked. After that was done the group split up, some to find Applejack to help with the farm, some to attempt to repair the drones. Obviously those who had no idea where to begin, were sent off to Applejack. Which left Aloh, Var (he didn't want to help out on the farm), Tito and two other fire warriors. The five had gone down into Twilight's basement carrying between them the two gun drones. Tito was the only real engineer, his father being part of the Earth caste, he was taught a lot before his military training, the others present were either avoiding manual labour or had just picked bits up from others.
"How do you want me to focus señor? Get uno drone running properly? Or attempt the both of them. Si cuz I don't think we can get two online with what we have. The second can always be scrapped for repairs on th first?" Tito asked, Var looked at the two missile drones and folded his arms. Staring at the green painted metal.
"Get one as repaired as you can with the materials down here, if it isn't repaired then scrap the second." Var declared after a moment, Tito nodded and gently pulled the lid off the first drone, showing all the compartments and wires beneath. Tito, who had swapped out his helmet for some glass eye binoculars of some kind, zommed in into the drones components looking at the damage, nothing seemed amiss to Var, but he was no engineer.
"Problem señor." Tito said after a couple minutes of examining.
"Yes?" Var asked, leaning in.
"This drone has a crap battery señor. No power. But that's the only thing wrong, probably the same with the other and the Hammerhead. We couldn't repair these if we tried. I'm sorry señor." Tito replied, pointing at the power cell, instead of the blue streams near wires and metal components, the streams were black and dead. Var looked at the drones insides, not overly understanding much of it, but still seeing the fact the drone was dead. Eventually, he nodded slowly. Then patted Tito's shoulder and stepped away from the table.
"At least you tried Tito. It was a long run to get then working anyway." Var said after a pause. "Right. I'll go tell Twilight we're done here, go pick up the others and get ready to go." Var added.
"Or wait, yes the others will be pissed at having to work, but Valar.." Aloh muttered.
"He's still missing señor. I checked in on the vox chat before we started here. The others are pretty happy he's gone. " Tito replied. Aloh nodded. Followed by: "Alright. We good?" The group turned to see a purple unicorn standing at the top of the stairs, looking down with bewilderment. She jumped back when the Tau looked at her. Blushing, she began to speak.
"You're just going to give up?" She asked.
"I told you, we aren't engineers, we aren't trained or equipped for this." Var replied.
"Señorita, there is nothing we can do without a way to power it si? Nothing is broken on either, just no power." Tito added, the unicorn nodded. Then sheepishly said:
"Can I try?" She asked. Tito looked to Var who shrugged. Aloh nodded slowly.
"Go on then." Var replied, Twilight gave a huge smile and rushed forward, before correcting her posture and slowly walking down the stairs toward the first drone. Her horn began to glow after a moment and the Tau leant in to watch. The black streams began to glow a purple light, slowly filling up. Var watched emotionlessly, but Tito's jaw dropped. The streams slowly filled in purple and the drones generator began to him. Twilights horn was lighting up a lot more and she seemed to be strupurple. Aloh put a hand on the ponies ear and scratched her a little, that seemed to calm her down a little. Until she made some sexual moan. Aloh quickly jerked his hand back, Twilight then blushed but continued to pour magic into the drone.
"It should be safe around ponies, but I suggest I stay close to it when we leave. I'll have to do it to the other one if Twilight can power it." Tito said, looking to the unicorn, who looked rather out of breath and was audibly panting. "Maybe tomorrow yes?" Tito asked, Twilight nodded before sitting down.
"Alright. Let's go get the others. Warriors, on me." Var said, raising a fist. The Tau began to walk out of Twilights with missile drone in check.
Author's Note
More references, more Tau'ing about. Action next chapter, I promise.
The mute Tau's lines were meant to be grammatically incorrect. Would you have perfect grammer if you had about thirty seconds to tell a whole story in dirt?
Not very edited this time, computer has been fucking up recently so I'm having to get it repaired, so sorry for any errors.
My Fire Warriors: Mont'ka is Magic
Mount'Dra: Dragon Mountain
The group of twelve fire warriors all stood outside of Twilight's tree house, rifles ready and all armour on. The green missile drone hoovered next to Var who was facing his warriors. Arms folded, his pulse rifle in one hand, the other laying idly by his side. Clenching a grenade. The commander had his helmet on. But the white strips on his armour showed him to be an officer. Although without his battelsuit, another veteran could just mistake him for a shas'vre. Without hearing the commanders name. Var had been thinking about some speech or what not, but it was twelve very powerfu,l, armed fire warriors and an anit tank drone against a single. Ponyland dragon. And from what Var had learnt from Celestia and what Aloh had shared from his guessing is that the dragon wouldn't be much of a threat, if they planned it right the drone could probably end the dragon before any foot soldiers would be needed to join the fight. Not that any of the other warriors would follow that plan, it had been a while since their last real fight and a good deal of them were still young. Aloh, Sven and possibly Tito or Tyrion would stay back if Var ordered it. But the armour the Tau had was reinforced to protect them from most mortar shells. From a distance anyway. So a few blasts of dragon fire point blank would be fine right? They would have to test it on Valar if he ever appeared again.
"I have been thinking of some inspirational speech for you. But honestly. Fuck it. Do this to spite Valar or something. I don't care. Let's go." Var said, a few of the Tau nodded and Tito and the mute Tau actually turned to each other and Tito handed the other warrior a food ration pack. How in T'au the mute Tau had made any kind of beat with Tito was beyong the logic of a mere mortal. None of the dirt around them looked disturbed.
"Aloh!" Var shouted to the sergeant. He turned, looking away from Tyrion who was,laughing slightly.
"Yes Commander?" Aloh replied, a slight bit of impatience in his voice. Var also noticed the other Tau flinch slightly at the call.
"First off, in your infinite wisdom, have you noticed a store that sells chalkboards and such. Secondly. You alright?" Var asked. The sergeant smiled slightly and flinched again.
"Yeah, Tito and a few others found some Ky'husa in their packs last night, so much happened at that party it's unreal. I'm a bit tender." Aloh replied honestly.
"And you're about to walk into a fight, plasma rifles and explosions everywhere?" Var asked, Aloh just nodded. "You are not getting any pity from me. In fact, you can lead the charge, followed by whoever else is hungover."
"Its just me. And no, I haven't. I'll look when we get back." Aloh replied, moving back to the original question. Var nodded and folded his arms as he walked. The others either close behind or just ahead. None were too far away, which was a nice change from when Valar was with them. Where he was, everyone else wasn't . The walk was mainly in silence. After a couple minutes of silence a few of the fire warriors got books and snacks out of their packs and began eating cupcakes and the like. How the treats had stayed so, preserved after at least a bight then all the chaos of getting up in the morning, was anyone's guess. Var noticed a distinct lack of cupcake in his pack when he went to check. Noticing Tito eating a muffin, the commander began an inquiry.
"Not that I care, but why don't I have any cupcakes? Where did you all get them from?" Var asked the Tau. After chewing a bit of pink frosting, the warrior began a reply.
"That pink pony Terrace gave them too us whilst we were waiting for you to wake up señor. She was also talking about a party after we kill the Dra but stopped when we told her we were going to kill it si?" Tito replied, his voice growing sad towards the end. The helmeted Tau looked at the commander, staring intently at the older Tau. "Do we have to kill it señor. The ponies si? They don't seem too happy we are doing this." Tito added.
"For T'au's sake Tito. We are fire warriors." Var replied, Tito nodded. Var paused. "But I suppose we can try to reason with it. This Dra has done nothing to us." Var replied after a pause.
"We could always just level the mountain. Then the dragon wouldn't have anywhere to sleep." One fire warrior said as they walked. Var smiled but Tito looked less than pleased.
"As much as I'd love to blow something up here. I have a feeling that not only are we at a distinct disadvantage of fire power here. Without the Hammerhead I mean, but I'm pretty sure Twilight would have some words for us if we did blow one up." Var replied. "Her and the Aun." He added quietly. So that quickly stopped any mountain explosion plans. The walk didn't take much longer before they reached the mountain side and the Tau could see a convenient pathway of cobble leading up the nearly vertical cliff face. The longer the walk took, the more in awe Var was at how the missile drone was still flying and being powered by Twilight's magic. After the reprogramming it was given in Twilight's the drone hadn't prepared or worse, started firing on the random ponies all walking around the town. They still tried their best to avoid the Tau, but were already getting accustom to the aliens. Since the only threatening thing besides their getup was the grenade, far away from Ponykind.
Walking up the slope didn't take too long, for a mountain of the size this one was, the group took the best part of an hour to climb it. The only obstacles they encountered along the way was first of, a large pile of rubble from an avalanche, and the second, a small 'jump' with the Tau easily stepped over. The closer they got to the top, the louder the sound of breathing. And snoring got, smoke was also beginning to emit from the top of the mountain and it seemed the Tau had arrived at the right time. A couple more minutes passed and they were outside a large, dark cave. The drone making all kinds of noise as it detected a life sign inside. With marker lights now turned on, the other warriors could just make out the dragons body. It seemed big but still was of minimal threat.
"How should we proceed señor? It looks big." Tito asked, looking down the scope of his rifle into the cave beyond. Var put his gun down and folded his arms, thinking on that question. A couple Tau had moved off into cover behind a broken rock and a single tree. Flies buzzing around it. Aloh was on his knees aiming into the cave next to the drone that was waiting for either side to start doing something.
"Honestly I just say shoot the fucker." Tyrion muttered, from somewhere next to his brother. The two Gue'vesa had taken residence next to a couple other Tau behind a rather large boulder, with a crack low enough and wide enough for the Tau to aim their guns through. Var actually nodded at that.
"Seems like a good enough plan, everyone. Helmets on, listen to comms in case plans change. But for now, open fire." Var ordered and threw a grenade into the cave, this was followed by a barrage of missiles, plasma fire and after a couple seconds, an explosion. A roar soon followed that.
With the continuous volley of fire power the dragon should have easily died, but instead it charged through the cave knocking over bits of rock pillars and sending dust and smoke everywhere. It ran out of the cave and roared again. The dragon, as large as it was, was covered in burns and blood. One long, red, wing torn apart by missile fire. The Tau increased their volley when the dragon ran out of the cave and it was surely feeling pain by now, with every shot causing a loud roar or cry. The mountain at this point was shaking and explosions were going off left and right. After a few seconds of pain, the dragon aimed at a random fire warrior and let leash a burst of fire.
"I think the mute one deserves a name now." It was Aloh who broke the silence, all the Tau now holding their guns and helmets, looking at the dead beast with mouths agape.
"Something like Dra'uyon . Dragon Hunter." Tyrion replied, a couple Tau nodded and they began the descent down the mountain back to Ponyville. Dra'uyon was waiting for them halfway down. Below was written.
'I preferred the mute one. But alright.'
Author's Note
So found some time to write :D
Also, is Valar a little more villainised than he probably should be? I feel like I've made him an asshole just cuz I wanted an asshole in the fic. But still, the history kinda works. Just tell me what you think
My Fire Warriors: Mont'ka is Magic
Six ponies, those who usually followed Twilight around, were all standing at the beginning of the path the Tau had used on their trip to the mountain when the group returned. They all looked rather worried, but somewhat lit up when they saw the fire warriors walking home. A few looked down or looked away when they saw a fire warrior carrying the burned remains of one warrior. Var was in front as usual flanked closely by Aloh and Tyrion. When the commander spotted the ponies sitting and waiting, all showing mixed emotions. He waved the others off and simply said.
"Bury him like before and meet back at Twilight's place when you are done." Var said, a few Tau nodded and went off toward the previously dug grave. None were overly happy with their victory, none of them should have been killed by that dragon. They had such an advantage over it.
"We heard the fight from all the way from Ponyville! The Princess was sending in reports that some ponies could see the battle from Canterlot!" Twilight shouted, she didn't seem overly happy on the Tau victory, but she had been one who had openly questioned the Tau methods. They should have tried speaking with it first.
"We lost a warrior in that fight." Var muttered, folding his arms.
"Some would call that justice. You brutes just outright murdered a dragon!" Marshmellow added. Also unimpressed.
"Look. I won't lie, we didn't try talking with it like you all suggested. But our orders were to get rid of the dragon, we come from a very dark and war torn place, and if you don't like our methods. Well I'm sorry, it's just how we work sometimes." Var said, his voice raising a little. The yellow Pegasus pony with the sex backed away and whimpered quietly.
"Well on Equestria, we don't go around killing things!" Twilight shouted, Var actually took a step backwards away from the lavender pony. Her horn glowing slightly. "Now, show me this world you come from!" Twilight added. Var took another step back.
"What?" He asked, raising his hands in surrender. "What do you mean?" He added.
"You keep talking about how 'where you come from is so dark and dangerous' show me how you are so scarred, that even one of the 'more peaceful' races will outright murder something!" She shouted at Var, her voice changing slightly on certain words.
"How would I do that?" Var asked, the galaxy Var came from wasn't something anyone should see. Let alone a peaceful pony.
"I will simply look into your memories and see everything you have seen. I can then jump to others and see everything. I'll see your entire life and more. It will ware me down magically, and will take hours for me. But mere moments for you." Twilight explained, still angry but lowering her voice.
"I wouldn't do that Twilight. No one should see the stuff I have. Let alone one such as yourself." Var replied. A couple of the other ponies looked worryingly at Twilight.
"Ah agree with Var here. Twi. We ain't seen no wars here. This won't be liak a book or something'" Applejack said, Marshmallow and Terrace nodded. The pink puffy pony about as sane as she would ever get.
"No. I will do this. Var hold still." Twilight said, determined. If that was all Twilight needed of Var, he booked it. Running down the street and into Ponyville somewhere was the plan. But when Var found he wasn't actually going anywhere. He began to panic, when he noticed how he was surrounded by a purple ball and floating in the sky. He began to hyperventilate. Magic was bad enough in Car's time and place. Here. They seemed to abuse that power. Twilight leaped forward suddenly when no one was talking her down and touched Var with her horn. Instantly she dropped to the ground, actually forming from the mouth and crying out. A few ponies stepped forward but the dragon Spike just raised his arms.
"We can't help her. She's done this before. It has to take its course." Spike declared. The ponies backed down, slowly. But didn't look too happy. Twilight thrashing and screaming Var began stepping away, in case anyone thought that was his doing. Which it kind of was. But they didn't need to know that. After about a minute of this, Spike added. "But she wasn't this bad." He now began to look genuinely concerned for the lavender pony. Even Var looked a bit concerned, not too much, and under the helmet the ponies didn't see that. Another minute passed, then a second. And third, toward the end Twilight actually vomited. But after that, there was one last spasm from the pony before she stopped. Lay still, opened her eyes and looked up to Var.
Whilst all this was happening, Aloh and the other fire warriors had buried the burned Tau and began their walk back to Twilight's. Aloh and Sven were leading the pact. The two in idol conversation.
"-that's my evaluation of whether the rail gun or the ion gun are better. What about you sergeant?" Sven said finishing his explanation. The sergeant thought about that question before giving up. Answering it, the sergeant then thought up another topic to ask.
"Enough of guns. How would you feel about staying here?" Aloh asked the Terran. He began to think for a moment, slowling in his stride a little.
"What, like we are? I've felt mixed emotions. Why?" Sven replied, looking down at his cutie mark. Then back to the general area of the two graves the Tau had now had to dig.
"No. I mean permanently. Here, in Equestria. Forever, we could make a good living here." Aloh said after a short pause. Again, Sven thought on this, then shook his head.
"Yeah I love the peace here. But we've already been called up by the Princess to do her dirty work once. And we lost a warrior to that calling. And we outmatched it in every way. It was a mistake, but they can cost a life. Like it did. So I'm not sure. If we were here forever it wouldn't be as bad as back home. But here the peace would get dull, it isn't what we are used to. Plus, we don't know how long we are here yet. Could be a week, could be forever." Sven replied. Aloh nodded, he was certainly thinking about staying if they had the choice. And bringing it up with Var when and if they returned to T'ros.
"So merits either way?" Aloh asked, the Terran just nodded. There was silence for a moment before Tito caught up with the pair. They were now back in Ponyville and very close to Twilights. A few ponies very non-discreetly screamed and ran away, a couple just nodded and kept going. Most however did just glare at the Tau and continue to trot down the pathways of Ponyville.
"I'd like to stay in Equestria señors. It is nice here and no other race seems to know about it si? Peace will get dull yes. But it is better than dying in war si?" The Tau explained. Aloh nodded by Sven was unfazed.
"We shall all be staying at Applejack's for a few days. Twilight is a bit, unwell." He declared and stormed off. The Tau shared a few looks and after a phase_ followed the commander.
Meanwhile, just out of view from the Tau, watching the town of Ponyville with great intent. Were the glowing eyes of an enemy to the Tau, and to the ponies. There was a tall figure in gray leading them. Smiling to himself and gripping his weapon. The red eyes blinked and the figure nodded. Three looming soldiers ran out of the Everfree Forest and charged toward the town.
Author's Note
I have planned another four chapters after this one. But with as much filler as there was between the actual plan and the dragon fight. This could go on a while longer. Shit, one of the few Tau fics around is gonna ends soon. I might do a fucking sequel..
My Fire Warriors: Mont'ka is Magic
Gun fire was what the Tau warriors noticed first. Tau gunfire. And with all eleven survivors all together, that only left one Tau on Equestria, and the thought of Valar not only back, but firing at something scared the Tau. Genuinely worried the group. They had been on their way to Applejack's farm when the gun shots had fired and Var instantly counted the Tau present, seeing that everyone was together the realism hit the commander like a brick wall. Turning toward the gun fire the commander began to run, picking up his rifle and aiming down the sight as he ran the others began to do the same. Some taking up side arms rather than their main weapons. Tito was gripping one of the last grenades the Tau had. They ran through Ponyville and could see the shots coming from where the road the Tau had come down coming back from the mountain. But it wasn't Valar holding the gun, it was a massive dog creature. It had a small Ork-like helmet on and a chest plate of similar metal. It was gripping the rifle with expert precision and shooting dat any pony in range. A few dead already lay on the ground. Var counted at least four. There were two other dog creatures running around the outskirts of Ponyville, both had swords in their hands and were cutting down ponies as they got close. There were at least a dozen dead or dying ponies laying on the ground of Ponyville. There weren't many around anymore, but a couple were watching in horror, some small ponies were crying over a couple dead ponies and some were screaming and shouting at the dogs. Instinctively, Var began to fire. Downing a sword wielding dog straight away. The gun dog turned quickly and shot.
Aloh had watched Var fall, and he had been the first to fire on the dogs. Besides Var himself. He quickly downed the gun dog and turned just in time to see the final one running right at the Tau.
"Down!" Someone shouted from behind the sergeant. He ducked and saw ten blue lights shoot over his head. The dog didn't even get a scream out before he was torn to pieces. A minute passed before anyone moved. Aloh broke the silence.
"Tito! Get Twilight!" He shouted, when no one moved he added. "NOW!" The named Tau then sprinted towards Twilight's abode. Aloh then ran to Car's downed body. Blood pouring from the open wound. He wasn't moving. Aloh slipped when he reached Var and fell down on one knee. Covering the commander with his own body. He aimed the rifle up and aimed around. Checking the area. One thing caught Aloh's scope. Just outside the forest. Unarmed, and without his helmet. Stood Valar, a huge grin on his face and slowly clapping to himself. Aloh turned and already saw Dra'uyon walking forward, gun raised. When the Tau reached Aloh he nodded and the sergeant knew that Dra would cover Var whilst Aloh dealt with this. This, Traitor .
"If anything heads this way that isn't me. Shoot to kill." Aloh ordered. He didn't see it, but Dra nodded again. And aimed his gun on Valar. The others formed a semi circle around the downed commander as Aloh walked forward.
"You!" The Tau shouted, pointing his knife at the traitor. Valar stepped forward, still unarmed. Very close to the forest, not out yet. This could be a trap. Aloh stepped forward some more, fury in his eyes and kept his eyes locked on Valar. The other alien didn't move, just continued to smile and outstretched his arms.
"You wouldn't kill an unarmed combatant, let alone a simple diplomat." He said to the sergeant. Not looking away, but not looking at his eyes. The sergeant inched closer. Eager to end this.
"No. I wouldn't." Aloh said, not lowering his arm. Valar smiled and opened his mouth to say more. But Aloh continued. "But I will kill you." Valar's smile dropped.
"Come now brother. We both know it wasn't me that shot our dear commander. You dealt with that, beast." Valar calmly said, pointing first to the laying commander, Twilight now over him. Tears in her eyes and horn glowing. When Valar pointed to the Tau, they all aimed their weapons. Valar then pointed to the dead dog, wit a single burning shot tearing apart much of his chest. A small puddle of blood growing beneath. Aloh inched closer, as did Valar.
"You are not my brother. You are not of T'ros and you are not of T'au. You are. Fucking. Scum." The sergeant shouted, face red with rage.
"How very educated your vocabulary is sergeant." Was all Valar said in response.
"I'm going to kill you traitor!" Aloh shouted. "This knife will go right through your fucking mouth. I'll tear out your fucking tongue!" Aloh screamed and ran forward. Valar didn't move. He did however, aim a small pulse pistol toward Aloh just in the last second and shot.
Again, silence reined for a few seconds. Aloh was right on top of Valar, neither moved. The pistol smoking slightly from the shot and the ten fire warriors all staring. Not knowing whether to take the shot they had. Eventually, someone moved.
It was Aloh. He had known the shot was coming and moved the last second. Then stabbed the traitor through the mouth. Breaking teeth and cutting the tongue badly. The blade was coming out of the back of Valar's neck. His body hadn't registered it was dead yet. And just stood. Gun arm raised and fear in the traitor's eyes. Eventually, Aloh pulled the knife out of his neck and the limp body fell. The free arm moving up to hold it's throat, before going limp and collapsing. It fell into a ditch, where it would remain. Aloh spat on the corpse and began to walk back toward the group. Twilight ran toward the sergeant.
"Will he live?" Aloh asked. Twilight looked up at Aloh, looked back to the Tau who had lowered their weapons a little. Then back to Aloh. Twilight nodded.
"He will have a missing leg obviously, and will have to be sent to Canterlot hospital where they can properly treat him. Celestia will most likely be helping in the healing. But some of the burn marks may have to be cut off. Which will be incredibly painful. Equestria has never dealt with aliens before. Let alone wounded ones from such weapons. I can't be sure what will happen to him. But he will live. For now." Twilight said after a long pause. Aloh UST nodded and began to walk toward the group, a few saluted but none spoke. Not even Tito. Everyone was just in silence.
Three days passed and Var was still in hospital. The Tau had stayed with their commander from the moment he went down togetting him onto a royal carriage, and all the way to the hospital. The the operation on his leg and from the moment he was put in his room. A nurse had come in to tell them to leave at one point, but a show of knives and pulse rifles quickly stopped any requests for them to leave. None had eaten much and at this point Var had been feed more than the ten had eaten together. They all just sat and watched dtheir commander. It was one thing for a Tau to die, it was another for a commander to be wounded and close to death. Twilight had come in and out during the days, but cleanup had been issued in Ponyville to bury the dead, get rid of the dog bodies and tidy any remaining blood or damage the dogs had done. No more had invaded since the death of Valar.
The next morning Aloh was awoken to coughing. He opened one eye and saw Var coughing up some rationed food. A smiled crept on his face and the sergeant sat up and watched. Var stopped after a time and looked to the sergeant, the two were the only ones awake.
"I'll have to get one of those bionic legs now." Was all Var said. Aloh laughed slightly.
"Or be confined to a battlesuit for the rest of your life." Aloh muttered back. Var shook his head.
"I always hated those things. Anyway_ how would the ponies react to a Xv104 walking around Ponyville." Var muttered,tilting his head away from the sergeant.
"So you wish to stay?" Aloh asked.
"Aloh." Var muttered, the sergeant said nothing. Just waited. It was a full three minutes before the commander continued. "I have been more wounded here than I ever was in our war back home." Again another pause. Aloh thought Var had stopped breathing at one point. "That said. Yes. If we ever wake back up on our ship. I would like to try and find this place again. It needs defending and it needs the Greater Good. Admit it. At home that idea of unity is a lost cause. Here though?" Var said. Aloh had to agree with him. Equestria needed heroes, but the Tau weren't saints. They were merely soldiers with a purpose.
"How we will find this place again I will never know. But we will, I'm sure." Aloh replied. He had had his doubt's about this place. But it wouldn't seem right to leave. Or leave and not return. Even to say goodbye. Aloh liked Equestria.
"You'll find it." Var muttered suddenly, his voice weak and low. Aloh looked at the commanders eyes. They were tired.
"Me? No. You are the commander, you will get us back to this world." Aloh said, his voice raising in panic.
"I'm done Aloh. You are commander now." Var muttered, eyes closing for a second. The two sat in silence before Aloh stood.
"Your humour never was very good Var." Aloh declared, the commander opened his eyes fully and smiled.
"Fine. Fuck you then, you could've been a Shas'O. What's the plan?" Var said, his voice fine now. Aloh let out a smile, glad his commander was alright.
"We wait for you to get better. Then restart repairs on the Hammerhead. Now we know how to power it. It'll be just a matter of getting a horned pony to power it like Twilight did. It'll take a lot more than the drone did though and just one nearly drained her." Aloh replied, Var nodded and looked out the one window he had in his room. The moon was out and stars were shining brightly. It was nice to be able to see stars and not worry that most would be planets dying or great Imperial cruisers. Var felt at ease for once.
"I'm sure the Aun will help out. After the dragon and then, Valar. We should be in her good books enough now. Speaking of which, what of Valar?" Var asked. Aloh looked away, out the window and drew his bonding knife. It had specks of dried blood all over the blade still, it would need to be cleaned properly eventually.
"Dead, he tried to shoot me. But missed. So I cut his tongue out." Aloh muttered, Var smiled.
"He deserved to die. Long ago in fact." Aloh nodded again and stepped back. He picked up the chart on the end of Car's bed, that was conveniently just large enough for the bulking solider.
"You are tasked to be bed ridden for another two days. Then they will have a wooden leg for you to use until we get home. Then a bionic one will be used. Know that you'll have to use a stick or something to help walk, because this leg the ponies have isn't exactly our level of technology so don't expect much movement." Var nodded this time. Leaning up a little. He wasn't armed but his weapons were laying under his bed, none of the doctor ponies dared to touch those alien weapons.
"I'm going to be so bored." Var muttered. Aloh laughed.
"I sent Tito and Dra back to Ponyville to get you some books from Twilight's. She seems awfully upset about something." Aloh replied, Var's face dropped. Either at the mention of books for two days or at Twilight being upset. Either way Var said nothing. "Anyway. I'll leave you to your rest. We shall see you in two days sir." Aloh added and got up, leaving the room. As soon as he reached the door. He threw Var some rations. The commander caught them and began to eat. Thinking on the coming days.
Author's Note
Holy crap! We reached 20 likes!!! This is now my most up voted, and biggest gap between likes to dislikes.
They will most likely be about Tau though. Tau or Imperials. Those are the only two I really know lore about. Although I might do an Eldar one in memory of Robin Williams. RIP..
My Fire Warriors: Mont'ka is Magic
Gu'ui'on: Rest and Recover
Two days later. Aloh wasn't present to see Var come out of his room. Instead, he had been called by Princess Celestia in the throne room. He was standing there accompanied by Tito and the two Tau were standing still looking at Celestia, Luna, and some pink pony with wings and a horn. No one had spoken yet but it was clear the princess(es?) wanted to talk to them about something important. Maybe Celestia hadn't actually expected them to kill the dragon? Aloh's fears were answered very quickly.
"What happened with the dragon sergeant?" Celestia asked. Aloh and Tito shared a glance and Aloh stepped forward.
"Princess.-" Aloh began, Celestia raised a hoof.
"Spare me the courtesy, alien. What happened on the mountain?" Celestia asked again. Aloh thought back to the first conversation they had had and thought up an answer.
"We disposed of it. Like you asked." Aloh said, for a moment, Celestia looked pissed, then her face changed to a more relaxed state. Why did all the ponies here have such extreme emotions? Twilight had seemed like that as well, maybe she was just taking after the Aun.
"I'm not upset that you killed the dragon. That is what I asked for. I just wanted to know how." Celestia said, her voice calming and motherly. Aloh stepped back to where Tito was standing. The other Tau was just staring at the pink pony. It was up to Aloh then.
"What do you want to know. Our tactics? The fight was pretty short and I will admit, being in the mist of the fight, I didn't see a lot of it. I know, enough, I suppose." That wasn't exactly a lie, Aloh hadn't seen a lot. But more than he would say, he could see where this was going. Celestia still didn't trust them. She wanted to know how to beat the Tau if it came to that. And unless the ponies started the fight, it wouldn't.
"Anything you are willing to share sergeant." Celestia grunted, her forced smile fading, even Luna looked rather unhappy. Something deeper was going on here.
"Alright. Well we thought we had the advantage over this creature, this dragon. With such fire power compared to what this world has shown." Aloh started. Luna stepped forward.
"Was that a threat, alien." She practically shouted. Aloh looked at the blue pony.
"You would know if we, or I was threatening you Ethereal." Aloh said, his voice sharp and loud. The princess sat down again, silent. Next it was Celestia to speak.
"You thought you had an advantage?" Celestia asked. Confused clearly. Aloh looked to Tito again, who was absent. Looking around quickly he was in the back of the Hammerhead. Emergency lights were now on, so at least emergency power was on. Something deeper was certainly going on.
"Yes. We were mistaken. The idea was, to actually try to talk to it first, hoping it was sapient. That idea was dropped after the walk we had to endure getting to the thing. We shot volleys of our weapons at the cave it was sleeping in and after a minute or so. It charged. Everyone was in cover so any attacks it had would be blocked by rocks and rubble. Apparently. One fire warrior broke cover, possibly to throw a grenade and was caught by the dragon. He was killed. The commander and myself were caught by rage and charged the creature. Another Tau, previously with no known name, then charged the dragon. And practically single handedly killed this dragon. He is now know as Dra'uyon. Or, Dragon Hunter. A fete unknown where we are from. Unless any Imperial or Dathen dragons are forced on us." Aloh explained, after the very short story, everyone was silent again. Celestia nodded and Luna spoke up again.
"How much, damage, did your weapons do against the dragon?" She asked.
"To begin with just minor burns and wounds. But the force of the guns were weakening it, even if it was bleeding a lot. However, three or four shots in the same place, as Dra'uyon showed, will break through the scales. And a grenade, it is a weapon you have yet to seem, we have also ran out of them, will also break the scales, and it is was ultimately killed the thing." Aloh explained, Luna nodded. Looking, disappointed?
"So you couldn't fight another one, or something of that power?" Celestia asked after a long pause. Too long.
"Being a hardened warrior who has seen things nobody should? Yes. We could fight something much stronger if need be with these supplies. As a sergeant who cares about his troops. Accounting the fact his commander has recently been wounded. Badly. I would say possibly. With just rifles we wouldn't break much armour as strong as dragon scales. We would need to resupply the drone with the other one. And possibly more. But if you can get the Hammerhead online. Which, from what I can see. You have, we could easily destroy any threat that comes." Aloh said, there was another pause and Celestia nodded.
"I have been meaning to ask about Var. But first. What lead to his wound?" Celestia asked. Tito walked out of the tank and put a hand on Aloh's shoulder.
"I'll take this one señor." Tito muttered, Aloh nodded and stepped back. Checking the sight of his gun, making sure to aim away from any Princess of guard. A few looked worried either way, especially the pink pony who had yet to speak. "You see. When we returned to Ponyville si? These creatures, dog-like people we believe. Were attacking the ponies of the town. One had one of our weapons.-" Celestia made a rather angry looking face but said nothing. "-Our commander managed to take one out before we even saw fully what was happening, only that. They were bad si. But we failed to take out the gun wielding dog in time and they took Shas'O Var's leg. Aloh and Dra covered his body and the rest of us took out the two dogs. Then the other Tau. Valar, who you met when we arrived, who had also been missing since we got back to Ponyville. Obviously talking with these invaders. He came out of that bad forest si. And Aloh here killed him. He wasa traitor and had given those dogs his gun. And taught them how to fire it. Believe me señoritas when I say. This was none of our doing. Only, Valar." Another pause. Celestia just nodded, not any happier, or angrier though.
"Twelve of my ponies were killed." Was all she said, looking sad finally. Rather than angry. Of course she would blame the Tau, but they would accept blame.
"And without Var. Or the rest of the fire warriors. More could have died." Aloh said back, coming out of the tank. Celestia nodded.
"And for that I am thankful. But it was still by your weapon that some died. I understand that it isn't your fault you are here. Nor is it you have the, background. You have, but it was still a weapon I do not want my ponies around." Celestia said. Paused, then continued. "By the way, I now know why you are here. Well more so, who brought you here." Celestia added. "Which is why I brought you here. The thing that brought you here is something of a twisted form of evil, I banished him over a thousand years ago. There is evidence that he was the one who corrupted my sister. All that time ago." Another pause, Luna looked down. "The elements could defeat him. But at what cost I wouldn't know. Let alone if he has the power to drag entities such as yourselves here."
"What do you want us to do?" Aloh asked, now the questions of being able to kill something stronger have been explained.
"I want you to destroy his being completely. There must be a balance between good or evil. As always, but the balance has been maintained for so long without him. It will continue with his death." Celestia said. Aloh nodded.
"Alright. A few questions. Will this guarantee our safe return. And when you say him? Who are we fighting? If Var will allow it. And if he is healed enough." Aloh asked after a few seconds of though. Tito just nodded.
"I don't know about your return. But it is worth a shot. If not, I have a few theories on how to get you back. And when I say him. This creature is at least in a male form. But I do not know if he was also so. This creature you will fight is the embodiment of Chaos for this world. He goes by the name of Discord and is extremely powerful when need be." Celestia said.
"Fucking wonderful. We are killing a pony equivalent of the God of Chaos." Aloh muttered.
"Hey at least it isn't Krone or Nurgle señor. Even in pony form." Tito said. Aloh nodded.
My Fire Warriors: Mont'ka is Magic
Author's Note
Next chapter is the finale guys. So enjoy this one!
As'fale: Chaos reins
Whilst the Tau aliens were talking with the Princess, a certain being of Chaos was slowly waking from his slumber, three fillies had broken out in argument and had given Discord enough power to finally break fully from his stone prison. He laughed at himself as the stone cracked and he was able to seep through into the outside world. Everything was coming into place, the Tau had gained the Princess' trust and the dragon sleeping on top of Discords throne was now dead. All that was left in his otherwise perfect plan, was to corrupt the Tau into attacking the ponies, thus, bringing Chaos onto the world. As Discord broke out of his prison completely. He felt, something. A disturbance, as if not only did the Tau know of him. But they had the means to even. Challenge him. Something was wrong, but Discord was free at last.
Aloh was staring at the Princesses, at least two of the ponies were staring back. And Tito was eating, something . What it was and where he had gotten it from. Was a complete mystery. The uneasy looks the ponies and Tau were sharing lasted almost a minute before a pony guard, panting and sweating, barged into the throne room. Everyone turned their gaze and looked at the pony, he said nothing for a moment, catching his breath.
"Speak guard!" Luna eventually demanded, Aloh and Celestia both looked at the princess. One look of anger, one of shock.
"Princess. Es." The guard panted, nodding to Luna and the pink pony, bowing to Celestia. Shots fired to the other Princesses. "Dis-Discord is free! Roaming the castle." The guard said. Celestia stood and Luna ran forward, the pink pony screamed.
"Thank you guard, go to your brothers and prepare for a battle." Celestia said, the guard nodded and ran out. Aloh stared at the closing door, how surreal that had been. No alarms started, no extra guards rushed in. Just one warning, then. Nothing. If a chaos god was wondering an Orca free. Every Tau in the glaxy would be aware of that fact. And possibly more. Celestia then turned to Aloh, who had just looked back at the princess. "Alien, will you fight for us? Defeat Discord and you may return home. If you do not, you would be in debt to Equestria and would live in a life of luxury for as long as you wish." Celestia asked. Aloh thought for a split second before nodding.
"Get the tank powered, Tito. You drive." Aloh said and prepared to run out. Tito dropped his food and squealed like a woman. Running into the Hammerhead and preparing. Aloh caught sight of the Princesses all begin to cast the spell that had powered the drone. Surrounding the Hammerhead with yellow, blue and pink glows. Tito was cheering.
Aloh was running through the castle, a few guards were posted holding various weapons but nothing major had been changed in the castles protection, Aloh though. Had his rifle powered and it was crying alerts of every life sign that wasn't Tau. It was annoying but it would show a different colour for an unknown entity, it had gotten used to the peace of the ponies and showed them in an orange glow, not exactly allies, but close. Anything else would be red. Or even black if it was a real threat. Aloh had no idea where he was running, just heading to the various green dots on his H.U.D. and gun sight. He ran round a corner and caught sight of the other fire warriors, all relaxed and standing outside of Var's room. The commander himself, was standing outside with a wooden stump where his missing leg was, and he was leaning on what looked like a wooden stick. Var nodded to Aloh and limped forward, aided by Sven. Aloh nodded back to the commander.
"Problem sergeant. I thought you would be more happy to see me, wounded and degraded as I am." Var muttered, voice gruff as always. Aloh let out a smile but said nothing for a few seconds.
"We beat leave the castle. The pony equivalent to a Chaos God has become free and is roaming the castle. They are powering the tank. Tito's driving." There were actually some minor gasps at the mention at the Godling, and a few groans of disappointment at the mention of Tito driving the Hammerhead. Var face palmed at the groans but listened to what Aloh said.
"So what, the ponies want us to shoot a God?" Var asked. Aloh nodded.
"Something like that." Aloh replied, Var grunted.
"Alright. Do we have a chance against it without the tank?" Var asked, Aloh shook his head. "Well, we better fucking hope this thing can talk. And will talk, we'll need to distract it." Var added. A nod from Aloh.
"We also have no grenades left. And the drone is back in Ponyville, yet to be resupplied with missiles." Aloh muttered. Var nodded.
"Of course." He grunted. "Certainty of death, small chance of success. What are we waiting for?" Var declared and unhooked a pulse pistol and began to limp forward. The others just shrugged and followed, weapons up. Aloh began to follow. Looking on his radar desperately. Nothing was coming up. Until..
"Sir. Red target, outside, north bound. Six hundred meters." Aloh declared. Var grunted again.
"Alright. Carry on. Tyrion on me. The rest of you, move out. Double time!" Var said after a pause, the remaining Tau saluted and ran, following Aloh. The commander leant on the younger human and they began to limp forward. Var was grunting profanities all the way.
Outside was, well, Chaos. Plain and simple, but not the kind the Tau were used to. It was, a childish kind. Instead of purple skies with storm clouds and daemonds flying out of warp points, the sky was blue. The sane as usual, only with pink clouds flying around with brown rain falling out of the every now and again. None of the Tau dared try the brown rain in fear of what it was. The green grass outside was now a square pattern, some bits of grass white, some yellow. One building, a gazebo of some sort was floating up into the sky upside down and bobbing on the spot like it was floating on water. A dozen or so rabbits ran past the very bewildered Tau, only with incredibly long legs and a dust cloud forming behind them. At best there were only five of them though. Aloh wasn't sure how to process what he was seeing here. Everything was just, surreal. Not like the Chaos he was ready for. He had his rifle aimed and scenarios of different cover he would dive into the moment he stepped outside, instead. He just stood, watching what was happening. Lowering his rifle. He even ignored the red dot heading their way. What is this?
"Ah, glad you could step into my little world of Chaos. Just in time as well." A strange voice said from somewhere. Aloh raised his gun and looked, there. Before the Tau, was the reason all this was happening. A strange, snake-like creature of mis-matched origins, two different horns and wings. One clawed hand, and one lion paw. A dragon foot and a goats hoof. Finished with a long, red tail that was whipping round his body like it had it's own mind. Aloh shot the thing.
Nothing happened, as he shot the creature opened it's mouth and actually ate the shot. Gulping down and burping out a blue flame, Aloh lowered his gun, they would wait for the commander. Then the tank.
"Now now alien. That is no way to act towards your host." Discord said, waving his clawed hand about. Aloh knew he had to distract the Godling, for how long he didn't know. How, he had a few ideas. None to pleasant for himself. One idea kept coming up, he was going to play diplomat.
"Apologies Great one. Your sight is not something I have seen before." Aloh said, his voice obviously fake, but the creature brought it.
"Great one you say? Oh well. I do try." Discord replied. "I completely understand, these ponies don't hold much imagination, so this is the best form I can muster. Anything else will have them running to the hills." Discord added, before finishing with. "Although, this form usually does too." He muttered the last bit in a much deeper voice than what he had been using. His face growing darker.
"Well believe me when I say, Great Chaos God. We have seen a lot, be in which ever form you desire." Aloh said, lowering his gun, the others didn't. For that, Aloh was glad.
"I am great aren't I? Form changing can wait, I believe we have business to discuss, I didn't bring you here for you to flatter me." Discord said. Snapping his fingers and appearing next to Aloh, a hand on the Tau's shoulder. The sergeant didn't move a muscle. Just stared straight ahead.
"Indeed Chaotic one. What is it you wish to discuss with us?" Aloh asked.
"Well you see alien. These ponies have been a dominate force in Equestria for far too long and kept me locked up in my stone prison for again, far too long. I brought something, you, from what I felt was a very chaotic galaxy. You arrived and now I'm free. You can begin your purpose. You reason to be in Equestria." Discord explained. Aloh nodded, and continued to do so for a while. Discord eventually went back to his normal position and Aloh shuddered. Letting out a breath.
"Well, as nice as it would be to fight the ponies. There are a few problems with that." Aloh replied. Discord looked confused.
"Oh?" Was all he said. Stepping closer to the Tau. A very big dot appeared on Aloh's radar suddenly. Three hundred meters
"Yes. You see. In our time here without your, influence. We have made an uneasy truce with the ponies. As well as the fact.-" Aloh paused for a second. There was a low rubble of something very familiar behind the sergeant. A couple loud crashes could also be heard. "-We don't normally work with Chaos. In fact, we have weapons that deal with those." Aloh added finally. The noise got much louder, two hundred meters. A couple windows could be heard smashing and something even shouted something that sounded like "my cabbages". But no one could be sure.
"What!" Discord shouted, sounding genuinely angry. The Tau powered their weapons and aimed at the creatures head, or what looked like his head. Following his movements. "I brought you here as a way to overthrow the ponies! You are MY pawns! My forces of Chaos! You will submit!" Discord screamed, pink clouds forming over him and raining down brown liquid. It was in that moment, that the wall to the castle exploded in debris and a green Hammerhead flew out of the ruin. It continued forward toward the Tau and Aloh saw a face of fear on Discord. The tank slowled in front of the Tau and stopped.
After a moment, the roof opened and out came Tito. Eating a cupcake. He had the control panel to the gun in his hand, connected to the cockpit by wires.
"That's a cool story bro. Needs more ponies." Tito muttered between bites. Discord was about to say something, he moved forward with lion paw outstretched. Tito fired the rail gun. Almost point blank.
"Boom. Headshot." One Tau muttered behind Aloh. As nice as it would have been. It wasn't a headshot. But the Godling didn't stand a chance either way.
My Fire Warriors: Mont'ka is Magic
"Well shit." Was the first thing Aloh heard when he came back into consciousness, Aloh was uncertain who had said it, but after what Aloh saw when he opened his eyes, it summed up his thoughts. The land was slowly regenerating back into its original state, the pink clouds were vanishing, the God of Chaos Discord himself was nothing but a smoking pile of ash and a single goat leg, bleeding out bright pink blood. The Hammerhead railgun was smoking and the yellow light of the gun was lowering down. Why the light or the shot was yellow-white was anyone's guess. Maybe since Celestia had charged the tank?
The sergeant slowly began to lift himself off the ground and pulled his helmet off, there had been some minor damage to it from the blast, but nothing to be concerned about. Everyone seemed accounted for, including the Royal Pony Guard that were amassing around the Tau. A few fire warriors lifted weapons, but most didn't. The guards did likewise.
"You destroyed part of the castle alien." One guard muttered. Pointing a spear at Tito who simply flipped the guard off whilst he stared into the distance. "You will all be held responsible when Celestia hears about this!" The guard shouted, stamping his spear down. Just as he did, Var and the Tau tasked in helping the commander stepped through the rubble.
"I'm sure we will and I'm sure Celestia will hear about this. But without the acts from my men Discord would still be around and tearing your world apart. Now, run along to Celestia, tell her Discord destroyed this wall. Or you can go tell her we did it and I will personally tell her how not one of you tried to fight Discord or even aid in evacuating the loyal population from this threat. Do we have an understanding?" Var said, his voice rather sharp. Pointing a hand at the pony. Any dominance the guard had beforehand he quickly lost and gulped, before running off down the corridor, what he was going to say to Celestia? No one really cared. They had killed a Chaos God, a minor one for sure. But still. Dead.
"Now, Tito." Var muttered once the remaining guards left, all glaring at Var. "Why did you destroy the wall?" Var asked, calmly. Tito then gulped. Var calm was never a good thing.
"Well you see señor, a tank this size was never going to fit through any of the doors, unless I went through the main doors. It was lucky I could get this through any of the corridors at all si. I followed the radar of where Aloh was, and simply. Drove. It was the only idea I had at the time. Even if I had more time señor, there is no way through to the back of the castle, here, unless I go through that door." Tito said very fast, then pointed at a wooden door, laying on top of some rubble in three pieces. Locked most likely.
"I see. Well good job on quick thinking Tito." Var said, making everyone double back.
"Sorry, señor?" Tito asked. Var stuck his finger up to Tito much like he had to the guard.
"I said, well done. I don't tell you all this enough, but well done today. You did well." Var said, Aloh smiled and Sven laughed a little. Var let the corner of his mouth smile a little, showing a little bit of an old scar. But he dropped it soon enough. "Don't get used to it. I may be getting soft staying in Ponyland." He added, before finishing under his breath with: "Even with all the threats."
"Señor." Tito muttered suddenly. At looked to the other Tau.
"What is it Tito?" He asked.
"You're glowing señor." Tito replied, pointing. Var looked down slowly and saw he had a soft yellow glow around him. He looked back to Tito who just stared at the glowing(ness?).
"What is it?" Var asked.
"Maybe its your soul reentering your body?" One Tau said. No one admitted to who. Var grunted slightly and saw Sven glowing, then Dra'uyon. Tito also joined in and slowly more and more of the Tau began to glow. Tito nodded in the tank and pressed a button. The glowing lasted about a minute, before Var's vision was clouded in darkness. Var didn't feel himself hitting the floor.
Somewhere above T'ros Mining Colony, Tau and Gue'vesa Colony.The Do'li .
Var opened his eyes, they were bloodshot and heavy, but the commander still managed to open them, the metal walls of his cabin was not what the commander expected. But what had he expected? Ponies, those colourful, happy balls of fluff that had claimed the life of a warrior and peace at the price of his leg?
Valar's was still alive.
Var leant up from his bed, hearing a hiss of steam. Looking down he saw nothing, and continued to get up. There was a strange noise when he stood. Metal on metal, but nothing more after that and he walked toward his cabin door. Bewildered by the events of this dream. Var couldn't find his helmet or rifle as he got closer to the door but thought nothing of it. Then, releasing the lock to his door. Came face to face with his sergeant.
"Ah commander, you are awake. The men were getting worried." Aloh muttered, neutral voice and helmet on. Var looked around and the sergeant obviously noticed that.
"Something the matter Shas'O?" Aloh asked. Staring at the commander under his helmet. Tito appeared from the corridor followed by Sven, Tyrion and Dra'uyon. Or the mute one as he would be called again.
"Sorry?" Var asked, the shook his head. "Oh no nothing. Just had a strange dream is all." Var admitted. Aloh nodded but due to the helmet, Var couldn't read his facial expressions.
"Yes you would have. After your operation anyway. All we have on board are Terran drugs, being over T'ros again." Aloh replied. Var inched forward.
"What was that sergeant? Operation. And why are we over T'ros?" Var asked.
"Well, your leg sir. Can't you remember, that fucker Valar's shot it off. We all woke before you, back on the ship as planned, and some drones repaired your leg. Its mechanical now thank Ethereals, better than that wooden thing the ponies gave you. And we're over T'ros because we are picking up some Earth Caste, as requested if we are to be returning to Equestria." Aloh muttered. Var was lost now.
"So you're saying-?" Var began.
"Terrace is a real pony señor!" Tito shouted, lifting up a cupcake. Var face palmed.
"Alright. Take me to the bridge. Do we have any way of finding Equestria?" Var asked. Aloh shook his head and the group began to walk toward the front of the Orca. The remaining squad members catching up and other Tau on board saluting as Var passed.
"Actually. I may have been able to help there." Tito muttered. Var turned to look at him. "I activated the distress beacon when we began to glow. If it still has power then if we search for any distresses from that sept. We should find it. No matter how far it is." Tito added. Var just nodded and kept walking.
A moment later they had reached the bridge. All the Air caste members stood and saluted and instantly got back to work. The main screen was online so Var could stare out into the expanse of space. Var walked over the the communications relay board and picked up the microphone. Everyone was silent.
"This is your commander speaking from the bridge. Some of you may know that I mysteriously lost my leg between yesterday and now. Well I am going to tell you all why." Var began, Aloh looked around and nodded. "Myself and my elite team were transported somehow to a strange world named Equestria by a Chaos God. The world was fairly peaceful, if inexperienced in the ways of war and technology, it had lush trees and fields, tall mountains and a brilliant blue sky much like our home world. The citizens there were small, miniature horses all with caring levels of magic. Not warp magic, good magic. They took us in whilst we were trapped and let us stay in their land. Their leader, a rather large horse. Tasked us with defeating a dragon. We did, but lost a member.-" Var began to tell everyone on board the story of everything that happened whilst the team were on Equestria, nobody spoke in the bridge. And nobody moved. Finally when he was done he paused.
"My team and I, have declared we will be returning to Equestria and retire from this war. The planet is in tuned with the Greater Good and are no threat to us. Nor are we to them. Now. I am giving every single man and woman on board this ship a choice. Come with us, and be branded as traitors. To live your life in safety and peace. Or stay here on T'ros, you won't know where we are. Nor will we ever return. But you may all leave if you so wish. You have an hour to make up your minds. That is all." Var said finally and stepped away. Almost instantly most Tau on the bridge got up, nodded to Var, and left. Only a handful of pilots and engineers stayed. A lot of drop ships were already warming up to leave and from the numbers, only around a fifth of the Manta's numbers would remain. But so they did.
Forty five minutes passed and everyone was sitting on the bridge. There were around a hundred Tau remaining either on the bridge or in their rooms. A few had come to Var to ask questions before staying or leaving. And everyone on board understood why they left. Eventually, even the team defected. It was Tyrion of all people to stand.
"I was on Equestria like anyone else. But the Tau saved my life and I made my choice to serve them. So I am sorry commander, I am leaving." Tyrion declared, then left. Sven made no move to comfort his brother, just sat in silence staring out of the window of the ship. And so he sat for fifteen more minutes. Var then picked up the communications again.
"For all those still on board, thank you. You are spreading the Greater Good more than you will ever know. All shuttle bays are being closed now. So prepare for a long journey." Var said, closing the comms again. "How many Earth Caste do we have?" Var asked Aloh. He looked at a scan quickly and looked to Var.
"Sixteen. And enough parts to build a small city. A large one if we scrap the Orca." Aloh replied.
"What about other members on board? Arms? Armour? Supplies." Var asked.
"Another hundred and six not counting the Earth Caste, forty drones, twenty in building, ten in medical and ten in combat. We have enough supplies to last us around six years. Especially with such low numbers, we have three times the amount of battle suits as we do men. And six riptides to go with that. Hundreds of grenades, generators and spare armour aplenty. We are over prepared for this trip. But under prepared if our numbers had stayed up." Aloh replied. Var nodded again. Then stood. The few pilots left also stood.
"Get to your posts. Tito, do you have the coordinates for the Hammerhead?" Var asked. The pilots ran around getting to their jobs and the jobs most needed, preparing for launch. Tito also ran forward and types something into the command board. A small 'x' then appearing on the map on the window screen.
"Estimated time señor. Two weeks warp flight. But one month, Two weeks, eight days by our flying." Tito replied. Var nodded.
"I hope you are ready, this will take over a month so do try and relax." Var muttered into the ship comms.
"We are ready when you command sir." One pilot said. Var nodded.
"What are you waiting for. Punch it." Var said, and the Do'li set sail to Equestria....
The end
Author's Note
This chapter was pretty hard for me to write strangely. I've been meaning to post this whilst I was still in Spain, which was a good few weeks ago. Any hype this had has died down as well which is convinent since this is indeed the final chapter to this fic.
..
I am so sorry I wrote that..