The Fallby Dr PoxxChaptersChapter 1The MissionBrief ReprieveNightmares And Bad DreamsThe HatcheriesDeprivation of Obsession?Chapter 1The day started like any other, I ate a sandwich had a quick rinse and dawned my armor and reported in, so why does something feel off? For the life of me I couldn’t remember what happened yesterday, which meant I partied pretty hard. As I look around the room I spot my clock. “Oh Crap!!” I shouted as I bolted for the palace. I just remembered what happened yesterday; I was recognized for my dutiful service and valor and was promoted to General of the 17th Battalion. The ceremony is all well and done but I am going to miss the last transport to my new station; somewhere called Forgotten Sanctuary. Oh thank god I’m not late. This wouldn’t be a problem if I could fly, but no jetpacks are reserved for the recon ponies that also lack wings. Though there aren’t many of those and I guess I should have been more responsible, but it’s a freaking JETPACK. I can only do so much with the equipment I currently have. Oh hells yes front seat is MINE.*SLAM* “Owwww what the heck!” I screamed out hoping to shock whoever but its my first day as a general and I don’t want to mar by getting into a fig…ht. My thoughts slowed down as I saw one hell of a mare standing in front of me giving me the old evil eye but I was still in my party haze and misinterpreted that eye. “Can I ask why you are checking me out?” she basically growled at me but I am extremely stupid right now so I replied “Well when some pony falls from heaven just land in front of and partially on me I can’t help but stare at god’s gift to the world.” I thought that was pretty good but another smack to my face and that cleared up any delusions of mine. I got angry though “Well who are you anyways?” I said as politely as possible trying to keep my first day from incident. Another smack came just before what she said “Can you not recognize your princess?” and she said it with a haughty tone. “Forgive me Your Majesty your beauty blinded me.” I said as humbly now as I could manage still keeping an eye on the Omnicart. “But I must go before I miss my ordered duties and make a fool out of myself.” I added quickly. I darted off before she could reply but I didn’t get far. A sharp pain hit my back as I crashed on to the floor now. “I think your orders can wait for a Princess, don’t you.” she said so sharply that it cut. I simply stated “Princess Lunar though I wish that were true even princesses can’t stop a general from going to war.” Upon hearing this she quickly grew angry and bored for she saw no fun in teasing anyone with enough status to damage her reputation, at least that’s what I hoped would happen, but I have never been lucky and today wasn’t going to be the start of it. Damn missed my ride and the next cart won’t be here for another 6 hours. “Well Princess what can this lowly earth pony do for you now that my orders have been shifted?” I said trying to cool her down and well get some brownie points now that I’m stuck with her. “The first thing you can do is to lick my hooves clean. They are so dirty after stepping on some trash.” She said quite giddily now. That damn sadist making me submit to doing this. “If that is your highnesses wish then I could easily fetch some polish and water to properly perform grooming but if it is my tongue you seek. THEN MY TONGUE YOU SHALL GET” I couldn’t help but to say it. I have a very limited patience to such trivial acts that only endanger my life so if she wishes to tussle then I will break her scrawny legs for thinking she could beat me. I know that royalty has special privileges but I missed my transport and my Battalion could be in battle and I can’t help them fight. As I stood up she fell down and as she fell down the rest of the royal family showed up though they were watching the entire time. “Good show my boy. You were doing splendidly till you came into the palace. But I must say your current assignment is too easy for a man that thinks he can hurt my daughter. So I shall provide you with transport to your new assignment.” said the king. I don’t know why but the thought of getting the hell away from Canterlot. Just then I realized that I didn’t party last night I went to sleep. And the moment I stepped on the transport I woke up. It was still early enough to properly clean myself and get suited up before heading to the nearest hover car. I swear these things made living in the sky easier for everypony. As I looked out the window of it I saw the view of Cloud City the utopia in the sky. It was a very beautifully made city. In the center of it was the area every pony called Cloudsdale. Simply because it was the area the weather factory was. Though that was the center of scientific thinking on weather control, their next objective was to figure out how to paint rainbows across the sky at will. At another location there was an old castle made in old unicorn architecture. These were called the Castles of CanterLot . Due to its extravagance it was the hub of all wealthy ponies and royalty. The next view to cross my sight was the feeble attempt to appease earth ponies like myself by making some Basic straw roofed housing generically named ponyville. It was a great insult to me and many others when they revealed their homage to earth pony society when most technological advances were made by earth ponies because we needed to make up for the lack of wings and magic. Finally the great Mecca and floating Fortress of the Alicorns Horn Tower, the Alicorns assumed dominance for they were the most gifted and no one complained much. That was mostly because there magic had a powerful effect on their enemies and they didn’t do too bad in their rule so far. I still can’t believe I made that ridiculous scenario up in my dream. And what was with the name I gave her, I really need to watch what I well watch so that perverted cap doesn’t happen again. At least my name wasn’t wrong this time. I coasted my hover car into the docking bay of Horn Tower and headed towards the teleportation room. For all the fuss about magic one can’t deny that it’s damn useful. “General Poxx heading out to Star Screams Burrows, sir!” I reported in. “Very well General wait here while two others join you on your mission, and I will fill you all in at the same time.” The chief of all military endeavors Star Swirl stated. He wasn’t called The Bearded for nothing I thought to myself as I began to wonder around the tower. I worked here for 3 years and knew how to get to anywhere from anywhere in this tower. As I approached one of my friends I shouted out his name “Hey, Twilight Skies how has it been?” He was surprised and gave a little jump. “Didn’t sleep well last night Sky?” I asked. “SLEEP HA we Alicorns have a lot on our plate in this war. I have been dissecting the cadavers brought in here since yesterday morning. SO, NO, I DIDN’T SLEEP WELL!” he shouted at me. “Hey don’t let the work get t ya and don’t work too hard because we both know you can’t function well without rest. I can already see the dissections have gone badly long before now. And believe it or not it isn’t easy to take down those dragons. Now come on you have wasted enough bodies today get some rest.” I said. His reply was tired and depressingly exhausted “I cant take a break until Harmonia orders me to and you know this so please PLEASE let me be for now.” I said ok and went to find her. It didn’t take long because a lot of horny (giggle) unicorns followed her around taking pictures of her. I broke through and requested her to give Twilight a break. It didn’t go as well as I hoped but I got him 3 days of rest and me 5 more bodies to bring before the week is out. That means I have to sign up for one of the big battles and or sieges that were going to be launched. The worst part about this process is dealing with the organizer Pinkie Styles. It took about half an hour of dealing with the inane gibberish that flows from her mouth like a busted pipe to get it done and I was signed up for 2 battles, One near the breach which was a siege on Blotbeaks cave, the other was the battle was near the hatcheries and it has been going on for the last 40 yrs those mothers are fierce. Not one of the mothers has fallen since it started not even to the Ursa Majors that were sent in. There are easy enough dragons to slay but getting back from there is all chance if a mother comes out your chances dropped to slim, and if it was the purple and green one then they dropped to none. “Hey Skies” I called out. “Thanks man just got the order to take a 3 day break and heard that you need to get me 5 more bodies than your normal queue. I hope you can do it or it’s a much worse working place for me and much much longer hours.*sigh* sometimes I wish we could go back to the days where you and me would fight side to side but I wish even more so to go back to when we would play hide and seek.” He said with a look of thanks but it was more depraved thanks to his lack of sleep and blood smeared across his face. “We could hide from anyone or anything and never be found except by each other and it took weeks even then.” I said getting caught up in the nostalgia. I continued “But I have to get to work and you need to take a bath and go to sleep. Oh and hey if you see that griffon tell her she still owes my a drink from our bet. So long old pal.” I trotted away…well more of ran since I killed a lot of time but only one other pony was there and she was an Alicorn with the most er second most beautiful violet eyes I have ever seen but the only other ones that could compare was the most deadly dragon out there. Her nickname was Violet Death. I love that name cause it so close to violent death. “oh hello my name is General Poxx nice to meet you.”I said in greeting hoping she was on my squad today, because tomorrow I had to go to the hatcheries and fight and a pony of her visage would certainly perk me up in the battles. She returned the greeting but didn’t give her name. “Well it looks like our third member won’t be here for a while so I am going to see one of my other friends around the castle.” I said. “What friend are you going to meet Poxx?”She asked. At that moment her voice, I realized, was the sweetest voice I had heard. But I saw through the spell and managed not to fall for her, though I don’t know if there was any real magic used, and replied “I really am going to just wonder until I see some pony I know.” Resisted it perfectly, because I had a specific griffon to greet in the mess hall, or cafeteria, for drinks, after saying that I scuttled along the hallway because I was going to meet her again and collect on my bet. As I entered I saw that that Alicorn had followed me here but I didn’t give it any mind. Simply because my mind was preoccupied with seeing that griffon before she saw me. No. No. No. No. Hell yes there she is. I sprinted on over before she could run out again. I caught her by surprise as well, damn my friends are oblivious or I am just that good, and she gave out a shocked greeting that showed how awkward she felt “Oh… hey… yeah Poxx how have you been?” In reply I said “Well, Hawk, I have been trying to get that drink you owe me for a month now so I have been rather irritated but a cold one would sure make me happy and relaxed.” That Alicorn was about to give Hawk a chance to escape again but I didn’t let that happen. Nope she isn’t going to intrude on this. Hawk saw my tenacity through my eyes and finally said what I wanted to here. “Fiiiiinnne geez I give up you and me will share a drink” I interrupted “On YOU.” She continued “on me.” Hahahaha her defeat has been finalized by making her break the first promise she made to me and Twilight, and that was that she was never going to have a drink with any pony especially not ones that can’t fly. As we finished our drinks as quickly as we could for both of us had work and I knew she was assigned to my squad. That was 1/8 the reason I came to get her. Now we are finally going to get briefed on what we are actually going to do. Tonight is going to be jam packed full of awkward rivalry and me staring at Hawk and the Violet eyed on till something happens. The MissionThe mission was quite clear cut, 3 dragons had fled to Star Screams Burrows after killing 30 civilian ponies in the neighboring town of Trotsville. The ponies didn’t stand a chance in that back water town lacking current technology and spells. This information is given so anyone who might pity their prey thinks otherwise. The only thought I had upon hearing it was “Why are they so unprotected? They live right on the boundary of the war.” Soon after I think that protecting every pony is an unreasonable thing so we must maximize efforts to save/ protect the cities with more ponies in them. I shook myself from these thoughts I can no longer waste time thinking of frivolous things. It’s time for me to get to work and prove that I am not a General for nothing. As soon as the briefing finished a dark pony with a crescent mark on its side. She stumbled over her words “C-C-Celest are you s-s-sure about going out ... to fight these dragons? I don’t want to lose you to those savages please don’t leave me here alone.” Celest, the Violet eyed one, gave a sad look that showed she was going to go anyways but I spoke to the dark one. I said “You are not alone in this tower. And if it is that important to you I’ll give you my word that she won’t die on this run but in exchange you can’t cry. Deal?” she looked extremely frightened of me but simply nodded her head. I can understand her fear because I was suited up in some custom armor employing some of the newest technology. As it stands I look like one of the demonic ponies from ancient stories and legends. If she knew these tales she wouldn’t have made the deal so readily. Because if you broke a promise with a demonic pony, it got to carve you out of your body and take it for itself to live your life and ruin it. All systems are running, Check, allies both have flight one has magic, check, cool sweet awesome it is just so great to know nothing other than they are 3 dragons who fled to a dark shrouded plain like area. One by one we stepped through the portal. I was first and after every one was through I told hawk to keep an eye on the Alicorn I will scout ahead and see if I can’t kill one now. Before I could continue Celest broke in “I am not Here to be protected AND I am not called Alicorn my name is Celestia, and I am more powerful than you so don’t simply think you can just simply tell me to stay put here.” I replied “I am the General here and though I am not charge of this mission I am a higher rank than you otherwise we would have been notified by Star Swirl. Also you are not going to be SIMPLY sitting here if you don’t want to. You can sit as complex as you would like while I scout and possibly kill ONE you will have your chance on the other two but if it is alone I will strike it down if not I will return with their location if it takes longer than an hour set up camp and get ready. Try to stay on guard. Hawk I need you to fly up to about 3,000 ft every 30 minutes and look to see if the dragons took flight. If we find nothing after 3 days we pack up and leave.” as I wrapped up with my instructions the mare had more to say but I wasn’t going to listen and added “If you follow me or break the rules Hawk will notify Star Swirl and forcibly remove you. Is that clear?” “Yes General but know you have angered the wrong Mare today.” she said with a lot of attitude. The kind of attitude only females can manage to achieve but enough of that. I gave a final look to Hawk and saw that she understood everything and booked it through the brush until I reached the Burrows. Funny thing is there are not any burrows here it’s just a flat plain, but the grass here is tall about 6-8 feet tall but I saw some high ground in the distance and from there I could spot and disturbances that pushed the grass down. Like sleeping dragons, or running dragons, or anything to do with dragons in general. As I got closer to the hill I caught a whiff of musk on the air. This tells me that there is an old dragon, at least a hundred years, nearby. This put me on edge because that hill has starting to pulsate along with the sound of heavy breathing. As soon as I realized that hill was a dragon I started to circle round till I saw its face. Woo doggy that is one big face, it is bigger than I am but that’s normal. I pulled out my most useful tool of the trade, My syringe. The cartridge was already loaded with a chemical especially designed to kill a dragon as quickly and quietly as possible. The only thing about it is that it needs to be injected in the heart throat or tail. The throat is the easiest one for me to do. I just got to find that sweet spot and shove it right in. That injection shuts down the brain of the dragon leaving the body as intact as possible for dissection. Better mark this as my kill to. A simple liquid marker does the trick, now to find its sweet spot. There, a few feet above the collar bone is a discoloration spot, that’s where the scales are spread apart and now to jam it in. 3 … 2 … 1 … A slight puncture sound is all that rings through the air. The dragon’s size is its greatest weakness because they are quite insensitive to things of this size. It takes 30 minutes to take full effect but the first part will keep it knocked out near comatose. I Take advantage of that I slip my syringe back into its pocket and creep up the side of the dragon. It takes a few minutes to get up it because it its scales are so slippery. Wait something is off here if this truly was an old dragon it wouldn’t have left itself so defenseless. As I reached the top of the defeated dragon I realized what just happened. I screwed up big time. They were all old dragons but the one I was standing was the gravel class and since gravel class can’t fly they are the easiest to spot and finish when they are asleep. They were the perfect bait and I fell for it hook, line and sinker. As quickly as I could I dived back to the ground because those dragons were likely ruby or higher class. Son of a… That damn mare didn’t listen to a word I said. She was coming right to my mound but her face seemed shocked and horrified. Behind her Hawks flares went up. That decided it. I broke from any form of cover and went full tilt back to camp as I passed the mare she simply followed suit. The closer we got to the flare the louder the shrieks were. Please just be female dragons. After spotting one of the dragons flying up above I quickly worked to identify it. I was right it was definitely ruby class. “Quick set your armor in defense!” I said feeling the worry leek from my words like a wet rag. She was taking too long I had to do it myself. How is she even here she can’t even work private level armor. It was at this point Hawk fell through the light. Her white and black feathers were dripping a lot of red. I got my hoofs maximized. My armor was customized with pneumatic pumps that shot 3 foot blades out whenever I punched something in purple mode. They activate my stabilizers so that I can fight on two legs. Now I was throwing caution to the wind I needed to catch Hawk now or she would die from impact. MOVE LEGS MOVE. Just a few more feet away come on I was too slow to get there. I couldn’t catch her. At that point I spun around and saw the unlucky victims now. One ruby the other opal but both were going to die. My mistake was thinking that these dragons were smart. They flew full speed straight at me. Before they got to me I stood up and clopped my front legs together. 2 blades, one on each leg, popped out to greet them. The opal dragon turned just out of my slash radius, missed his wings by 3 inches. The ruby however stayed on course. Hahaha I could only laugh as I felt the sinew muscles tendons and three of its vital organs get butchered by his own momentum. While it was wailing on the ground I relocated my shoulder. A quick scan showed me that the Opal ran off. But I could track it now. That thought gave me comfort as I went over to mark this dragon. As I approached the dragon it hacked and coughed blood everywhere. It was muttering something looking at its wing. I sloshed out my marker on its wound, face and tail. “Damn you ponies! DAMN YOU TO HELL! MY KIND WILL FINISH YOU AND YOUR PETTY TRICKS.” It spewed unexpectedly clearly so before I replied I decapitated it. No sense talking to a dead dragon anyways but I added right before the slash “These aren’t tricks they are modern marvels of science.” With a sickening crack and a sound of cutting through rotten vegetables my second mark was finished. “Modern marvels… really that was the best you could come up with pox really?” A familiar voice cooed out. I looked back and the Hawk was beaten up as hell. “Where is all that flying prowess you bragged the griffons had?” I teased her. To that she didn’t reply she just sunk down and stared at the ground. I called for a portal said we had an injured griffon and a pony that couldn’t work her armor. Star Swirl obliged and added 2 to my queue for the month. He informed me that all ponies didn’t have a weekly queue anymore too many rushed to death to make it so now it’s a shared collective on mission kills marks were not used and there would be a minimum of 12 ponies to a mission. All this shocked me but I said I had to finish mine to which I was denied. I then went over to hawk and asked if she wanted me to go grab Twilight. “Sure I could use an old flight buddy now. Well, see you at the hospital.” She forced out. The damage she took could end her flying days for good. We weren’t close but it still made me angry that that opal got away from me. Next mission is going to be different. Because next mission I am going to be in charge. Brief ReprieveAfter that I wandered a bit more met with a few acquaintances and bought 3 hours of Virtual Reality play. Most of these games make you into a walking bipedal with 5 fingers. They were deemed Humans by the unicorns. No idea why they deemed it Earth ponies made the Game and system that ran it, but it fit so no one really cared. I had the rest of the day off giving me 8 hours to goof around. For 3 hours of VR a new add on was released and I tried it out. It was called Badminton Wars. You were given some paddle and had to hit a netted ball over a net. Then there were power ups you could hit and if you spiked the last point your opponent was killed by Fatal Strike which varied by paddle and level to what happens. I got hooked on it. So I spent 2 more of my remaining 5 hours on that game. There was some plot to it but I skipped those scenes. As I exited the device I saw a Quick Food stop and grabbed a bite to it. If there is one thing good about dragons it’s their meat. By god is it good. As I started back to my room I saw that dark pony from earlier “Hey little missy your sister comeback alright?” I called out and she stated in a more confident manner “We are content with her condition, though We would like to know how thou knew we were sisters for We do not recall mentioning it.” I said it was a simple guess and began to walk away. “We are called Luna if you wish to know and not little missy.” She said. That was about all I was going to deal with before getting 11 hours of rest. As I lay down I couldn’t help but feel that that name was familiar and come to think of it so was Celestia. Luna and Celestia, where did I know those from? Guess I’ll figure it out tomorrow before the big … wait were tomorrow’s missions and battles canceled not that that would affect the hatcheries. Once again I need to take sleeping meds to get to sleep otherwise I will be thinking like this for ever. I pop open a can of Pola take a swig then take the pill. The effects are almost immediate so I got into bed quickly activated the alarm and the world went black. Nightmares And Bad Dreams“Ugh Where am I” I said as I glanced around. The room was an off white color and it was nearly blinding how bright it was. At once I realized this was the dream I woke up from yesterday. But something was off this wasn’t my room. No this was too fancy and expensive looking from what I can recall about this place. There was a huge bed designed to look like the moon. A smell of baked goods permeated throughout the room. Looking more seriously now I noticed that this room was absurdly big. But the last thing I remember about here was that I was being transported to my new assignment. So why am I here? As I observed my attire I could guess what I was supposed to do. The white frills and black coat and overall the white apron I was wearing told me that I was cross dressing as a maid. Wait need to make sure I am a guy in this dream. As I lifted my skirt to check my nethers Lunar slammed the door open. She started shouting “I’ll show those ungrateful ponies how beautiful the night truly is. I just need to get my sisters to agree to let one of my nights last a full day. Oh you’re here and flashing your bits at me I see.” I was at a complete loss for what to say so I just let my mouth think for me. “The weather was just so nice I wanted to let them get a good view.” I need to think more. She walked over saying as smoothly as she could “And what makes the weather so good today?” I answered “ Well the sun is out and the clouds send wonderful patterns over the ground and…RAINBOWS they are shining” she was getting closer now “Really I am surprised that you can see all from WHERE THERE ARE NO WINDOWS. AND ANOTHER THING IT ISNT DAYTIME OUTSIDE IT IS MY BEAUTIFUL NIGHT!!!” she shouted and right on that last note a quick kick to my groin shut me up for the last bit of this conversation. Now she started to rant “Why is only the day admired? Why do they only love those tacky rainbows and not my stars? Why do they adore my sisters and not me? Why? Why? WHY? I’ll tell you why it’s because they are awake during the day. So if my night replaced their day they wouldn’t be able to deny it or me any longer. I am a princess as well. I bring up the moon and the stars EVERYNIGHT ON MY OWN and yet not a single pony thanks me for it. Not a single pony writes books of my night. Not a single pony thinks of me first. So why should I sit there and take it.” She started crying somewhere in her rant. I had no idea what to do so I just sat there. I feared getting another kick to the crotch so I just sat there. Her cries were getting louder when I heard some pony coming down the hall and said “If you don’t want anyone to see you like this I would recommend regaining your composure for a while.” I felt like a dick the instant I said that. Surprisingly she just sat up wiped her eyes and stared at the door. A few moments later her sisters came in. “We heard you crying in here what happened?” they said. I knew this was going to go badly for me. “He flashed his thing at me the moment I entered the room.*sob*” she said. Damn her for using the truth but screw it I am sunk anyways so I nodded and said it was the truth. I knew where I was when she entered the room. I was in the royal palace meaning my status had been revoked and that I was one of their new servants. But now I am going to die which just ruined my whole week. I mean I planned on doing … yeah know I don’t know what I was planning. Guards showed up and I was escorted to a place called the factory. In here I was tasked to push different colored rocks into their corresponding tube. 4 hours went on in this peace before once again Lunar was standing in front of my glaring she said “You will tell no one of what I said in there and if you do you will be transferred to a much much worse place than this.” I replied “I understand. But if you want your night to be appreciated try to make a holiday to celebrate it. Or don’t be so snarky all the time.” Another crack on my head told me I said too much. She walked or hovered away. I finally started to look around my work place. It was old and rusty with conveyor belts laced through the contorted mess of pipes. Clumps of colored rock would fall 4 ft down from me onto the belt at regular intervals. In front of me lay 7 different colored pipes. I concluded I was working in the paint factory. It wasn’t too bad. The constant whir of machinery had a calming effect and the roar of a furnace somewhere in the distance gave off a bright orange glow to the place. And for some confounded reason it smelled like barbeque. Sometime later a horn sounded and we were all dismissed to head home and as I exited the building I looked up and saw the night sky. That lying princess. I would love the night if it weren’t for the fact that it was a total bitch. “Beautiful night we’re having right?” I asked the other leaving workers. “Who cares it’s just time to go to sleep. Now go buck off.” said some of the other ponies. Not the exact same thing but much to that effect. I could start to see why she could get bitter, but I am sleepy as well so I found a tree and lay down. Before I could close my eyes there Lunar was staring at me. “Did you really mean what you said about my night?” she asked. Something seemed off about her or more right I should say but I replied “Obviously because I am looking at the sky right now.” She seemed a little happy but her next sentence depressed me completely. “Then must watch the entire night.” As a grin crossed her face she jetted off to the sky. And so I begrudgingly watched the night sky THE ENTIRE NIGHT. I was dizzy and drowsy when the horn called us back to work but the moment I started to walk down that hill a white flash happened. I reached my hoof out to shut that alarm off .That was another weird dream tonight. Better get suited up and ready to head out to the hatcheries today. As I walked past engineering I saw a tired pony that seemed familiar. Probably some pony I barely know got to bed late last night. The HatcheriesToday I checked in with Star Swirl headed to the hatcheries got my first real command and headed to my designated zone. So why is everypony else in my command dead. What happened? A sharp pain in my side shook me from my shock a quick glance told me what happened. Gravel kind, and most likely from this level of carnage a mother. But that makes no sense because the only gravel kind mother is Violet Death. If she came through here why am I alive? Instead of assuming everyone was dead like I should have I went to each individual carcass to make sure if they were dead or not. Ahhh ouch what is wrong with my side. A gash was torn in my side about 4 inches deep. Looks like my armor saved me this time. I went to each pony on the field most were on recognizable though some were. By the time I was done checking the bodies dusk had already set. I was covered in blood from trying to revive some of them. Though I slipped and fell a few times into other ponies corpses. I might have some left in my mouth after that first fall but I need to focus now. I could feel something watching me the entire time but I couldn’t be bothered then. Now I realized it wasn’t just my paranoia. I was surrounded by the mothers. Black Streak, Blood Claw, Violet Death, Onyx Skull Crusher were just sitting there watching. I was terrified. I smelt fear on me which is how I say I shat myself. Each of the dragons flew down and made an even tighter circle around me. I don’t know why they did because my injury meant I couldn’t run or sneak anywhere. I could barely stand at the moment and with my healing unicorn dead I was S.O.L. One leaned down I couldn’t tell who and said in a rather intimidating voice “Are you sure you don’t want to roast the little pony here?” it said. Another voice replied “That would be a waste right now especially because it is seasoned in poop right now. So we take it back and season it properly.” At this point I was paralyzed and I felt my vision fading. At least if they kill me they’ll do it in my sleep. When I woke up the dragons had me pinned to a table. I heard “Finally this pony wakes. The others were much quicker though they weren’t what we wanted.” Oh god I am going to die. I don’t want to die. Please don’t kill me. All these thoughts were raging in my head but all I said was quite unlike any of that. “Lovely day or night outside isn’t it? Almost makes me wish I could fly like you dragons. But I would hate to be all scaly no offense because I feel like it would be so itchy.” The look on their faces after that went from irritated to laughing hysterically at me. Good good they are laughing. Great maybe I can live a little longer. Maybe they could even laugh themselves to death. No that is a stupid thing to hope for. A thought suddenly popped in my head. Since when did the capture ponies? All we ever heard and saw was fields of half eaten and crushed ponies after battles. One of them saw my Confuse face and said “Sorry but what you said sounded so absurd and different from what we usually hear. It’s usually OMG I’m going to die or please don’t kill me, others that not as often try to threaten us. You are the first to try small talk.” Another interjected “And what a ridiculous thing to think. We are not itchy at all, quite the contrary we feel very little around our scale.” Upon hearing that I asked “So what happens from this point? Do you want to continue chatting?” at this point only giggle were left and some repeating “itchy haha itchy” I noticed that there were quite a few dragons around me more than I originally thought. My mouth unwilling fell open at that point. More laughter erupted from that, but that all died down when the great mothers entered the room. “What happens now is you tell us all you know about Horn Tower.” Violet said followed by “and any other military strong hold you have.” I was flabbergasted. And asked “So if I tell you all that you will let me live?” They looked shocked that I was even going along with them on this. “Yes we will let you live.” She continued. “And how will I know this what’s to stop you from killing me the moment you get everything you want?” To this they took great offense. “We are not the savages you take us for. We don’t just going killing ponies left and right and certainly not their kids. Unlike you we don’t hunt a species till extinction. All you see here is all the dragons that are left after your Great War” Violet Death yelled. Once again I was just utterly confused. Our King said that they hunted towns and cities full of ponies. He even had pictures and that was before the war. I was not alive before the war. So I said “I was raised with images of entire cities decimated by you and those pictures were before the war. That’s what united the ponies together to fight you. And you are called the Great Mothers, Dragons who are alive since the start of the war. Even against the horde of Ursa Majors sent to finish you.” Anger roared after that statement. I didn’t know they didn’t know that we sent the Ursa Majors to fight them. After a while it was only me and the great mothers. “You will be here until you give us all the information you know. After that you may go where ever you wish.” I could feel the hate dripping from those words. They undid my bindings and led me to a room. Here there was actually light and I could see that I was underground and at once the thought of escape entered and exited my head. The cave was lit by what looked like encapsulated stars that gave off many different colors. Every now and then a rainbow of light would shoot across the ceiling. The ground was completely smoothed out. It was so smooth the every now and then I would slip on it. When we got in the center Violet lit the room and at once I saw thousands of eggs around me. I also saw that this room was 5 times taller than Horn Tower and at least as wide as the base of a mountain. “This is our last hope of survival and it is also directly under your frontlines of war.” Once again I was absolutely shocked. I mean how many huge revelations can I go through in one day? “So this is the hatchery. It looks a lot like a treasure horde with all the eggs stacked on each other with no organization at all.” I scoffed. “Hatchery, that’s what you call our breeding ground? Also you would do well to remember that we can find other ponies to tell us what we want.” She stated. To this I couldn’t help but reply to “If that were true you wouldn’t have been shock by me going along with you in there. So my assumption is I am the only hope you have of launching a mission against the Horned Tower, but I will only offer it if I can be sure of mine and civilian ponies lives safety.” At this she grew angry “IT IS ONLY YOUR LIFE THAT WE PROMISED.” “And I never agreed” “If you want I can kill you now” “If you kill me now you will learn nothing other than we sent the Ursa Majors” at this point she settled down. I felt a smack on my head and the world went black. Deprivation of Obsession?"Hey get to work newbie. No Time to rest today a huge shipment just arrived.” said my new manager. “sor..ry sir … I didn’t get much” *zzzzzzzzzz **snort* “sleep last night. Just need some coffee.” I almost managed to say without dozing off, so close to looking steady. What is Luna doing on my nose? Why is she so small? Huh wait Oh crap. My hooves were pushing up a storm because he wasn’t kidding about that shipment of colored rocks, sometimes the look like bits of… nah that’s stupid. Man is this what it’s like to do drugs seeing things that aren’t there and getting sleepy? Well I know that I’ll get some sleep tonight. I gave Luna one of my nights. Wait have I been calling her by the wrong name? She must have been getting angry with me calling her Lunar. Oh well too late now to take it back. “Hey General Swift!” called out my old friend Twilight Skies. “I’m not a general anymore since I pushed Luna off my back, and I don’t think I can be called Swift anymore either since that dragon tore out my wings.” I said. “Hey you don’t look to good.” “I was up all night by Luna’s orders so that someone appreciated it.” “Yikes man and you’ve got to do this for another 13 hours. Besides that you will always be Swift Clouds to me. Otherwise that means I lost a race to a no name pony and I can’t have that.” he ended with that was turning to go when he said Hawk had been hospitalized and any thought of work vanished. I asked “Is she alright? Are YOU alright?” in return he said “I m well enough because she isn’t dead but she…she will never be able to fly again. He dragons circled around her and pulled out the tendons in her wings. I have left my field of studying dragons to studying griffons, in a medical sense.” “And how is our friend that renamed himself to get in the military?” “Oh you mean Poxx? He is doing pretty well for himself He was promoted to General about a week before you. But he is also the bastard who left Hawk to fend for her and the newbie. His first mission in command was sent out an hour ago the first report should be in soon. Why do you plan on skipping work?” he answered. Punishment in the city isn’t in the traditional sense it is mostly humiliation based which is quite effective. So when I was punished I was sent to the lowest rung of society Factory worker. Apparently the rocks I saw were solidified spectra sent from Cloudsdale’s new “Rainbow Factory”. The Pegasus has really begun to pull their weight now. They seem to be able to coordinate the weather much better now. I didn’t answer my friend I just ran off towards the hospital. It didn’t take long to get there, but what was waiting there was an angry princess and that never bodes well for me. “Princess Luna what are you doing here?” I asked and then regretted. “I see you don’t take your punishment seriously if you are skipping work to be here. Another thing is how you dare insult me to your friends, I never ordered you to appreciate my night. I simply said to watch it and now he will look at my night with disdain because of your horrid words.” I continued walking while she spoke but somehow I never moved an inch. When I noticed her horn was glowing I realized she was levitating me. “Can you please put me down a dear friend of mine is injured in there.” I said pointing to the hospital. She suddenly became meek which surprised me “Oh I am sorry go check on your friend, but please return here I have more to say.” As I walked away I looked back and saw that people were avoiding her. Her clinginess has been interpreted as depravity and now she feels she must assert herself as a princess when she can. If she doesn’t find a rock to stand on soon she won’t be able to stay sane. I entered the hospital and was greeted by the sickening smell of medicine and cleaning solutions. Crossing through to where Hawk was I saw many injured ponies. This war needed to end fast. Those dragons needed to be crushed before anymore came to harm. As I rounded the corner I saw Princess Celestia Talking to Hawk and they seemed to be quite friendly. As far as I could tell there were joking around. When I came close I asked “What is our little quartet do without you?” she instantly grew a venomous scowl on her face. “Do not mention anything about Poxx while you here. That rotten bastard ran off when the dragons attacked. And only returned when Ii asked the princess to go get him.” Upon hearing this sweat began to form everywhere. Hawk saw this and confirmed my fears. “Yes I told her where Poxx is really from and she doesn’t care of our involvement only on how to stop him.” When I heard this I was confused. “You do know that he has a spell which contains him as an earth pony, Don’t You? So all you would have to do is kill him and that stops him. You could temporarily lift the ban on guns to hunt him down. We could also end this war within the day if you do.” I switched to talking to the princess halfway through. Queen Harmonia was behind me talking to King Supernova about the same thing. We discussed matter for a while and I was reinstated to general and commanded to End this war. I was also given a new name, Steel Hooves. We had to end Poxx before he could break the spell and bring ruin to us. That deal we made was not worth the damage he could do in this war. I never worried before because I never thought he would be able to gain authority. I just hope it’s not too late. Princess Luna stopped me on my way out. I couldn’t help but join her. She was one fine looking mare. As much as I was bitching about it before I loved the fact that I kept running into her. After this battle I can finally get all I ever wanted, Status Fame Fortune and Princess Luna. So I spent the rest of the day with Luna and enjoyed part of the night. We move out to kill Poxx next month, unless he comes back from his mission before then. The only thing that feels off is that I thought of him as my friend for a while. No matter he will die when we meet. Now to get some rest.
Chapter 1The day started like any other, I ate a sandwich had a quick rinse and dawned my armor and reported in, so why does something feel off? For the life of me I couldn’t remember what happened yesterday, which meant I partied pretty hard. As I look around the room I spot my clock. “Oh Crap!!” I shouted as I bolted for the palace. I just remembered what happened yesterday; I was recognized for my dutiful service and valor and was promoted to General of the 17th Battalion. The ceremony is all well and done but I am going to miss the last transport to my new station; somewhere called Forgotten Sanctuary. Oh thank god I’m not late. This wouldn’t be a problem if I could fly, but no jetpacks are reserved for the recon ponies that also lack wings. Though there aren’t many of those and I guess I should have been more responsible, but it’s a freaking JETPACK. I can only do so much with the equipment I currently have. Oh hells yes front seat is MINE.*SLAM* “Owwww what the heck!” I screamed out hoping to shock whoever but its my first day as a general and I don’t want to mar by getting into a fig…ht. My thoughts slowed down as I saw one hell of a mare standing in front of me giving me the old evil eye but I was still in my party haze and misinterpreted that eye. “Can I ask why you are checking me out?” she basically growled at me but I am extremely stupid right now so I replied “Well when some pony falls from heaven just land in front of and partially on me I can’t help but stare at god’s gift to the world.” I thought that was pretty good but another smack to my face and that cleared up any delusions of mine. I got angry though “Well who are you anyways?” I said as politely as possible trying to keep my first day from incident. Another smack came just before what she said “Can you not recognize your princess?” and she said it with a haughty tone. “Forgive me Your Majesty your beauty blinded me.” I said as humbly now as I could manage still keeping an eye on the Omnicart. “But I must go before I miss my ordered duties and make a fool out of myself.” I added quickly. I darted off before she could reply but I didn’t get far. A sharp pain hit my back as I crashed on to the floor now. “I think your orders can wait for a Princess, don’t you.” she said so sharply that it cut. I simply stated “Princess Lunar though I wish that were true even princesses can’t stop a general from going to war.” Upon hearing this she quickly grew angry and bored for she saw no fun in teasing anyone with enough status to damage her reputation, at least that’s what I hoped would happen, but I have never been lucky and today wasn’t going to be the start of it. Damn missed my ride and the next cart won’t be here for another 6 hours. “Well Princess what can this lowly earth pony do for you now that my orders have been shifted?” I said trying to cool her down and well get some brownie points now that I’m stuck with her. “The first thing you can do is to lick my hooves clean. They are so dirty after stepping on some trash.” She said quite giddily now. That damn sadist making me submit to doing this. “If that is your highnesses wish then I could easily fetch some polish and water to properly perform grooming but if it is my tongue you seek. THEN MY TONGUE YOU SHALL GET” I couldn’t help but to say it. I have a very limited patience to such trivial acts that only endanger my life so if she wishes to tussle then I will break her scrawny legs for thinking she could beat me. I know that royalty has special privileges but I missed my transport and my Battalion could be in battle and I can’t help them fight. As I stood up she fell down and as she fell down the rest of the royal family showed up though they were watching the entire time. “Good show my boy. You were doing splendidly till you came into the palace. But I must say your current assignment is too easy for a man that thinks he can hurt my daughter. So I shall provide you with transport to your new assignment.” said the king. I don’t know why but the thought of getting the hell away from Canterlot. Just then I realized that I didn’t party last night I went to sleep. And the moment I stepped on the transport I woke up. It was still early enough to properly clean myself and get suited up before heading to the nearest hover car. I swear these things made living in the sky easier for everypony. As I looked out the window of it I saw the view of Cloud City the utopia in the sky. It was a very beautifully made city. In the center of it was the area every pony called Cloudsdale. Simply because it was the area the weather factory was. Though that was the center of scientific thinking on weather control, their next objective was to figure out how to paint rainbows across the sky at will. At another location there was an old castle made in old unicorn architecture. These were called the Castles of CanterLot . Due to its extravagance it was the hub of all wealthy ponies and royalty. The next view to cross my sight was the feeble attempt to appease earth ponies like myself by making some Basic straw roofed housing generically named ponyville. It was a great insult to me and many others when they revealed their homage to earth pony society when most technological advances were made by earth ponies because we needed to make up for the lack of wings and magic. Finally the great Mecca and floating Fortress of the Alicorns Horn Tower, the Alicorns assumed dominance for they were the most gifted and no one complained much. That was mostly because there magic had a powerful effect on their enemies and they didn’t do too bad in their rule so far. I still can’t believe I made that ridiculous scenario up in my dream. And what was with the name I gave her, I really need to watch what I well watch so that perverted cap doesn’t happen again. At least my name wasn’t wrong this time. I coasted my hover car into the docking bay of Horn Tower and headed towards the teleportation room. For all the fuss about magic one can’t deny that it’s damn useful. “General Poxx heading out to Star Screams Burrows, sir!” I reported in. “Very well General wait here while two others join you on your mission, and I will fill you all in at the same time.” The chief of all military endeavors Star Swirl stated. He wasn’t called The Bearded for nothing I thought to myself as I began to wonder around the tower. I worked here for 3 years and knew how to get to anywhere from anywhere in this tower. As I approached one of my friends I shouted out his name “Hey, Twilight Skies how has it been?” He was surprised and gave a little jump. “Didn’t sleep well last night Sky?” I asked. “SLEEP HA we Alicorns have a lot on our plate in this war. I have been dissecting the cadavers brought in here since yesterday morning. SO, NO, I DIDN’T SLEEP WELL!” he shouted at me. “Hey don’t let the work get t ya and don’t work too hard because we both know you can’t function well without rest. I can already see the dissections have gone badly long before now. And believe it or not it isn’t easy to take down those dragons. Now come on you have wasted enough bodies today get some rest.” I said. His reply was tired and depressingly exhausted “I cant take a break until Harmonia orders me to and you know this so please PLEASE let me be for now.” I said ok and went to find her. It didn’t take long because a lot of horny (giggle) unicorns followed her around taking pictures of her. I broke through and requested her to give Twilight a break. It didn’t go as well as I hoped but I got him 3 days of rest and me 5 more bodies to bring before the week is out. That means I have to sign up for one of the big battles and or sieges that were going to be launched. The worst part about this process is dealing with the organizer Pinkie Styles. It took about half an hour of dealing with the inane gibberish that flows from her mouth like a busted pipe to get it done and I was signed up for 2 battles, One near the breach which was a siege on Blotbeaks cave, the other was the battle was near the hatcheries and it has been going on for the last 40 yrs those mothers are fierce. Not one of the mothers has fallen since it started not even to the Ursa Majors that were sent in. There are easy enough dragons to slay but getting back from there is all chance if a mother comes out your chances dropped to slim, and if it was the purple and green one then they dropped to none. “Hey Skies” I called out. “Thanks man just got the order to take a 3 day break and heard that you need to get me 5 more bodies than your normal queue. I hope you can do it or it’s a much worse working place for me and much much longer hours.*sigh* sometimes I wish we could go back to the days where you and me would fight side to side but I wish even more so to go back to when we would play hide and seek.” He said with a look of thanks but it was more depraved thanks to his lack of sleep and blood smeared across his face. “We could hide from anyone or anything and never be found except by each other and it took weeks even then.” I said getting caught up in the nostalgia. I continued “But I have to get to work and you need to take a bath and go to sleep. Oh and hey if you see that griffon tell her she still owes my a drink from our bet. So long old pal.” I trotted away…well more of ran since I killed a lot of time but only one other pony was there and she was an Alicorn with the most er second most beautiful violet eyes I have ever seen but the only other ones that could compare was the most deadly dragon out there. Her nickname was Violet Death. I love that name cause it so close to violent death. “oh hello my name is General Poxx nice to meet you.”I said in greeting hoping she was on my squad today, because tomorrow I had to go to the hatcheries and fight and a pony of her visage would certainly perk me up in the battles. She returned the greeting but didn’t give her name. “Well it looks like our third member won’t be here for a while so I am going to see one of my other friends around the castle.” I said. “What friend are you going to meet Poxx?”She asked. At that moment her voice, I realized, was the sweetest voice I had heard. But I saw through the spell and managed not to fall for her, though I don’t know if there was any real magic used, and replied “I really am going to just wonder until I see some pony I know.” Resisted it perfectly, because I had a specific griffon to greet in the mess hall, or cafeteria, for drinks, after saying that I scuttled along the hallway because I was going to meet her again and collect on my bet. As I entered I saw that that Alicorn had followed me here but I didn’t give it any mind. Simply because my mind was preoccupied with seeing that griffon before she saw me. No. No. No. No. Hell yes there she is. I sprinted on over before she could run out again. I caught her by surprise as well, damn my friends are oblivious or I am just that good, and she gave out a shocked greeting that showed how awkward she felt “Oh… hey… yeah Poxx how have you been?” In reply I said “Well, Hawk, I have been trying to get that drink you owe me for a month now so I have been rather irritated but a cold one would sure make me happy and relaxed.” That Alicorn was about to give Hawk a chance to escape again but I didn’t let that happen. Nope she isn’t going to intrude on this. Hawk saw my tenacity through my eyes and finally said what I wanted to here. “Fiiiiinnne geez I give up you and me will share a drink” I interrupted “On YOU.” She continued “on me.” Hahahaha her defeat has been finalized by making her break the first promise she made to me and Twilight, and that was that she was never going to have a drink with any pony especially not ones that can’t fly. As we finished our drinks as quickly as we could for both of us had work and I knew she was assigned to my squad. That was 1/8 the reason I came to get her. Now we are finally going to get briefed on what we are actually going to do. Tonight is going to be jam packed full of awkward rivalry and me staring at Hawk and the Violet eyed on till something happens.
The MissionThe mission was quite clear cut, 3 dragons had fled to Star Screams Burrows after killing 30 civilian ponies in the neighboring town of Trotsville. The ponies didn’t stand a chance in that back water town lacking current technology and spells. This information is given so anyone who might pity their prey thinks otherwise. The only thought I had upon hearing it was “Why are they so unprotected? They live right on the boundary of the war.” Soon after I think that protecting every pony is an unreasonable thing so we must maximize efforts to save/ protect the cities with more ponies in them. I shook myself from these thoughts I can no longer waste time thinking of frivolous things. It’s time for me to get to work and prove that I am not a General for nothing. As soon as the briefing finished a dark pony with a crescent mark on its side. She stumbled over her words “C-C-Celest are you s-s-sure about going out ... to fight these dragons? I don’t want to lose you to those savages please don’t leave me here alone.” Celest, the Violet eyed one, gave a sad look that showed she was going to go anyways but I spoke to the dark one. I said “You are not alone in this tower. And if it is that important to you I’ll give you my word that she won’t die on this run but in exchange you can’t cry. Deal?” she looked extremely frightened of me but simply nodded her head. I can understand her fear because I was suited up in some custom armor employing some of the newest technology. As it stands I look like one of the demonic ponies from ancient stories and legends. If she knew these tales she wouldn’t have made the deal so readily. Because if you broke a promise with a demonic pony, it got to carve you out of your body and take it for itself to live your life and ruin it. All systems are running, Check, allies both have flight one has magic, check, cool sweet awesome it is just so great to know nothing other than they are 3 dragons who fled to a dark shrouded plain like area. One by one we stepped through the portal. I was first and after every one was through I told hawk to keep an eye on the Alicorn I will scout ahead and see if I can’t kill one now. Before I could continue Celest broke in “I am not Here to be protected AND I am not called Alicorn my name is Celestia, and I am more powerful than you so don’t simply think you can just simply tell me to stay put here.” I replied “I am the General here and though I am not charge of this mission I am a higher rank than you otherwise we would have been notified by Star Swirl. Also you are not going to be SIMPLY sitting here if you don’t want to. You can sit as complex as you would like while I scout and possibly kill ONE you will have your chance on the other two but if it is alone I will strike it down if not I will return with their location if it takes longer than an hour set up camp and get ready. Try to stay on guard. Hawk I need you to fly up to about 3,000 ft every 30 minutes and look to see if the dragons took flight. If we find nothing after 3 days we pack up and leave.” as I wrapped up with my instructions the mare had more to say but I wasn’t going to listen and added “If you follow me or break the rules Hawk will notify Star Swirl and forcibly remove you. Is that clear?” “Yes General but know you have angered the wrong Mare today.” she said with a lot of attitude. The kind of attitude only females can manage to achieve but enough of that. I gave a final look to Hawk and saw that she understood everything and booked it through the brush until I reached the Burrows. Funny thing is there are not any burrows here it’s just a flat plain, but the grass here is tall about 6-8 feet tall but I saw some high ground in the distance and from there I could spot and disturbances that pushed the grass down. Like sleeping dragons, or running dragons, or anything to do with dragons in general. As I got closer to the hill I caught a whiff of musk on the air. This tells me that there is an old dragon, at least a hundred years, nearby. This put me on edge because that hill has starting to pulsate along with the sound of heavy breathing. As soon as I realized that hill was a dragon I started to circle round till I saw its face. Woo doggy that is one big face, it is bigger than I am but that’s normal. I pulled out my most useful tool of the trade, My syringe. The cartridge was already loaded with a chemical especially designed to kill a dragon as quickly and quietly as possible. The only thing about it is that it needs to be injected in the heart throat or tail. The throat is the easiest one for me to do. I just got to find that sweet spot and shove it right in. That injection shuts down the brain of the dragon leaving the body as intact as possible for dissection. Better mark this as my kill to. A simple liquid marker does the trick, now to find its sweet spot. There, a few feet above the collar bone is a discoloration spot, that’s where the scales are spread apart and now to jam it in. 3 … 2 … 1 … A slight puncture sound is all that rings through the air. The dragon’s size is its greatest weakness because they are quite insensitive to things of this size. It takes 30 minutes to take full effect but the first part will keep it knocked out near comatose. I Take advantage of that I slip my syringe back into its pocket and creep up the side of the dragon. It takes a few minutes to get up it because it its scales are so slippery. Wait something is off here if this truly was an old dragon it wouldn’t have left itself so defenseless. As I reached the top of the defeated dragon I realized what just happened. I screwed up big time. They were all old dragons but the one I was standing was the gravel class and since gravel class can’t fly they are the easiest to spot and finish when they are asleep. They were the perfect bait and I fell for it hook, line and sinker. As quickly as I could I dived back to the ground because those dragons were likely ruby or higher class. Son of a… That damn mare didn’t listen to a word I said. She was coming right to my mound but her face seemed shocked and horrified. Behind her Hawks flares went up. That decided it. I broke from any form of cover and went full tilt back to camp as I passed the mare she simply followed suit. The closer we got to the flare the louder the shrieks were. Please just be female dragons. After spotting one of the dragons flying up above I quickly worked to identify it. I was right it was definitely ruby class. “Quick set your armor in defense!” I said feeling the worry leek from my words like a wet rag. She was taking too long I had to do it myself. How is she even here she can’t even work private level armor. It was at this point Hawk fell through the light. Her white and black feathers were dripping a lot of red. I got my hoofs maximized. My armor was customized with pneumatic pumps that shot 3 foot blades out whenever I punched something in purple mode. They activate my stabilizers so that I can fight on two legs. Now I was throwing caution to the wind I needed to catch Hawk now or she would die from impact. MOVE LEGS MOVE. Just a few more feet away come on I was too slow to get there. I couldn’t catch her. At that point I spun around and saw the unlucky victims now. One ruby the other opal but both were going to die. My mistake was thinking that these dragons were smart. They flew full speed straight at me. Before they got to me I stood up and clopped my front legs together. 2 blades, one on each leg, popped out to greet them. The opal dragon turned just out of my slash radius, missed his wings by 3 inches. The ruby however stayed on course. Hahaha I could only laugh as I felt the sinew muscles tendons and three of its vital organs get butchered by his own momentum. While it was wailing on the ground I relocated my shoulder. A quick scan showed me that the Opal ran off. But I could track it now. That thought gave me comfort as I went over to mark this dragon. As I approached the dragon it hacked and coughed blood everywhere. It was muttering something looking at its wing. I sloshed out my marker on its wound, face and tail. “Damn you ponies! DAMN YOU TO HELL! MY KIND WILL FINISH YOU AND YOUR PETTY TRICKS.” It spewed unexpectedly clearly so before I replied I decapitated it. No sense talking to a dead dragon anyways but I added right before the slash “These aren’t tricks they are modern marvels of science.” With a sickening crack and a sound of cutting through rotten vegetables my second mark was finished. “Modern marvels… really that was the best you could come up with pox really?” A familiar voice cooed out. I looked back and the Hawk was beaten up as hell. “Where is all that flying prowess you bragged the griffons had?” I teased her. To that she didn’t reply she just sunk down and stared at the ground. I called for a portal said we had an injured griffon and a pony that couldn’t work her armor. Star Swirl obliged and added 2 to my queue for the month. He informed me that all ponies didn’t have a weekly queue anymore too many rushed to death to make it so now it’s a shared collective on mission kills marks were not used and there would be a minimum of 12 ponies to a mission. All this shocked me but I said I had to finish mine to which I was denied. I then went over to hawk and asked if she wanted me to go grab Twilight. “Sure I could use an old flight buddy now. Well, see you at the hospital.” She forced out. The damage she took could end her flying days for good. We weren’t close but it still made me angry that that opal got away from me. Next mission is going to be different. Because next mission I am going to be in charge.
Brief ReprieveAfter that I wandered a bit more met with a few acquaintances and bought 3 hours of Virtual Reality play. Most of these games make you into a walking bipedal with 5 fingers. They were deemed Humans by the unicorns. No idea why they deemed it Earth ponies made the Game and system that ran it, but it fit so no one really cared. I had the rest of the day off giving me 8 hours to goof around. For 3 hours of VR a new add on was released and I tried it out. It was called Badminton Wars. You were given some paddle and had to hit a netted ball over a net. Then there were power ups you could hit and if you spiked the last point your opponent was killed by Fatal Strike which varied by paddle and level to what happens. I got hooked on it. So I spent 2 more of my remaining 5 hours on that game. There was some plot to it but I skipped those scenes. As I exited the device I saw a Quick Food stop and grabbed a bite to it. If there is one thing good about dragons it’s their meat. By god is it good. As I started back to my room I saw that dark pony from earlier “Hey little missy your sister comeback alright?” I called out and she stated in a more confident manner “We are content with her condition, though We would like to know how thou knew we were sisters for We do not recall mentioning it.” I said it was a simple guess and began to walk away. “We are called Luna if you wish to know and not little missy.” She said. That was about all I was going to deal with before getting 11 hours of rest. As I lay down I couldn’t help but feel that that name was familiar and come to think of it so was Celestia. Luna and Celestia, where did I know those from? Guess I’ll figure it out tomorrow before the big … wait were tomorrow’s missions and battles canceled not that that would affect the hatcheries. Once again I need to take sleeping meds to get to sleep otherwise I will be thinking like this for ever. I pop open a can of Pola take a swig then take the pill. The effects are almost immediate so I got into bed quickly activated the alarm and the world went black.
Nightmares And Bad Dreams“Ugh Where am I” I said as I glanced around. The room was an off white color and it was nearly blinding how bright it was. At once I realized this was the dream I woke up from yesterday. But something was off this wasn’t my room. No this was too fancy and expensive looking from what I can recall about this place. There was a huge bed designed to look like the moon. A smell of baked goods permeated throughout the room. Looking more seriously now I noticed that this room was absurdly big. But the last thing I remember about here was that I was being transported to my new assignment. So why am I here? As I observed my attire I could guess what I was supposed to do. The white frills and black coat and overall the white apron I was wearing told me that I was cross dressing as a maid. Wait need to make sure I am a guy in this dream. As I lifted my skirt to check my nethers Lunar slammed the door open. She started shouting “I’ll show those ungrateful ponies how beautiful the night truly is. I just need to get my sisters to agree to let one of my nights last a full day. Oh you’re here and flashing your bits at me I see.” I was at a complete loss for what to say so I just let my mouth think for me. “The weather was just so nice I wanted to let them get a good view.” I need to think more. She walked over saying as smoothly as she could “And what makes the weather so good today?” I answered “ Well the sun is out and the clouds send wonderful patterns over the ground and…RAINBOWS they are shining” she was getting closer now “Really I am surprised that you can see all from WHERE THERE ARE NO WINDOWS. AND ANOTHER THING IT ISNT DAYTIME OUTSIDE IT IS MY BEAUTIFUL NIGHT!!!” she shouted and right on that last note a quick kick to my groin shut me up for the last bit of this conversation. Now she started to rant “Why is only the day admired? Why do they only love those tacky rainbows and not my stars? Why do they adore my sisters and not me? Why? Why? WHY? I’ll tell you why it’s because they are awake during the day. So if my night replaced their day they wouldn’t be able to deny it or me any longer. I am a princess as well. I bring up the moon and the stars EVERYNIGHT ON MY OWN and yet not a single pony thanks me for it. Not a single pony writes books of my night. Not a single pony thinks of me first. So why should I sit there and take it.” She started crying somewhere in her rant. I had no idea what to do so I just sat there. I feared getting another kick to the crotch so I just sat there. Her cries were getting louder when I heard some pony coming down the hall and said “If you don’t want anyone to see you like this I would recommend regaining your composure for a while.” I felt like a dick the instant I said that. Surprisingly she just sat up wiped her eyes and stared at the door. A few moments later her sisters came in. “We heard you crying in here what happened?” they said. I knew this was going to go badly for me. “He flashed his thing at me the moment I entered the room.*sob*” she said. Damn her for using the truth but screw it I am sunk anyways so I nodded and said it was the truth. I knew where I was when she entered the room. I was in the royal palace meaning my status had been revoked and that I was one of their new servants. But now I am going to die which just ruined my whole week. I mean I planned on doing … yeah know I don’t know what I was planning. Guards showed up and I was escorted to a place called the factory. In here I was tasked to push different colored rocks into their corresponding tube. 4 hours went on in this peace before once again Lunar was standing in front of my glaring she said “You will tell no one of what I said in there and if you do you will be transferred to a much much worse place than this.” I replied “I understand. But if you want your night to be appreciated try to make a holiday to celebrate it. Or don’t be so snarky all the time.” Another crack on my head told me I said too much. She walked or hovered away. I finally started to look around my work place. It was old and rusty with conveyor belts laced through the contorted mess of pipes. Clumps of colored rock would fall 4 ft down from me onto the belt at regular intervals. In front of me lay 7 different colored pipes. I concluded I was working in the paint factory. It wasn’t too bad. The constant whir of machinery had a calming effect and the roar of a furnace somewhere in the distance gave off a bright orange glow to the place. And for some confounded reason it smelled like barbeque. Sometime later a horn sounded and we were all dismissed to head home and as I exited the building I looked up and saw the night sky. That lying princess. I would love the night if it weren’t for the fact that it was a total bitch. “Beautiful night we’re having right?” I asked the other leaving workers. “Who cares it’s just time to go to sleep. Now go buck off.” said some of the other ponies. Not the exact same thing but much to that effect. I could start to see why she could get bitter, but I am sleepy as well so I found a tree and lay down. Before I could close my eyes there Lunar was staring at me. “Did you really mean what you said about my night?” she asked. Something seemed off about her or more right I should say but I replied “Obviously because I am looking at the sky right now.” She seemed a little happy but her next sentence depressed me completely. “Then must watch the entire night.” As a grin crossed her face she jetted off to the sky. And so I begrudgingly watched the night sky THE ENTIRE NIGHT. I was dizzy and drowsy when the horn called us back to work but the moment I started to walk down that hill a white flash happened. I reached my hoof out to shut that alarm off .That was another weird dream tonight. Better get suited up and ready to head out to the hatcheries today. As I walked past engineering I saw a tired pony that seemed familiar. Probably some pony I barely know got to bed late last night.
The HatcheriesToday I checked in with Star Swirl headed to the hatcheries got my first real command and headed to my designated zone. So why is everypony else in my command dead. What happened? A sharp pain in my side shook me from my shock a quick glance told me what happened. Gravel kind, and most likely from this level of carnage a mother. But that makes no sense because the only gravel kind mother is Violet Death. If she came through here why am I alive? Instead of assuming everyone was dead like I should have I went to each individual carcass to make sure if they were dead or not. Ahhh ouch what is wrong with my side. A gash was torn in my side about 4 inches deep. Looks like my armor saved me this time. I went to each pony on the field most were on recognizable though some were. By the time I was done checking the bodies dusk had already set. I was covered in blood from trying to revive some of them. Though I slipped and fell a few times into other ponies corpses. I might have some left in my mouth after that first fall but I need to focus now. I could feel something watching me the entire time but I couldn’t be bothered then. Now I realized it wasn’t just my paranoia. I was surrounded by the mothers. Black Streak, Blood Claw, Violet Death, Onyx Skull Crusher were just sitting there watching. I was terrified. I smelt fear on me which is how I say I shat myself. Each of the dragons flew down and made an even tighter circle around me. I don’t know why they did because my injury meant I couldn’t run or sneak anywhere. I could barely stand at the moment and with my healing unicorn dead I was S.O.L. One leaned down I couldn’t tell who and said in a rather intimidating voice “Are you sure you don’t want to roast the little pony here?” it said. Another voice replied “That would be a waste right now especially because it is seasoned in poop right now. So we take it back and season it properly.” At this point I was paralyzed and I felt my vision fading. At least if they kill me they’ll do it in my sleep. When I woke up the dragons had me pinned to a table. I heard “Finally this pony wakes. The others were much quicker though they weren’t what we wanted.” Oh god I am going to die. I don’t want to die. Please don’t kill me. All these thoughts were raging in my head but all I said was quite unlike any of that. “Lovely day or night outside isn’t it? Almost makes me wish I could fly like you dragons. But I would hate to be all scaly no offense because I feel like it would be so itchy.” The look on their faces after that went from irritated to laughing hysterically at me. Good good they are laughing. Great maybe I can live a little longer. Maybe they could even laugh themselves to death. No that is a stupid thing to hope for. A thought suddenly popped in my head. Since when did the capture ponies? All we ever heard and saw was fields of half eaten and crushed ponies after battles. One of them saw my Confuse face and said “Sorry but what you said sounded so absurd and different from what we usually hear. It’s usually OMG I’m going to die or please don’t kill me, others that not as often try to threaten us. You are the first to try small talk.” Another interjected “And what a ridiculous thing to think. We are not itchy at all, quite the contrary we feel very little around our scale.” Upon hearing that I asked “So what happens from this point? Do you want to continue chatting?” at this point only giggle were left and some repeating “itchy haha itchy” I noticed that there were quite a few dragons around me more than I originally thought. My mouth unwilling fell open at that point. More laughter erupted from that, but that all died down when the great mothers entered the room. “What happens now is you tell us all you know about Horn Tower.” Violet said followed by “and any other military strong hold you have.” I was flabbergasted. And asked “So if I tell you all that you will let me live?” They looked shocked that I was even going along with them on this. “Yes we will let you live.” She continued. “And how will I know this what’s to stop you from killing me the moment you get everything you want?” To this they took great offense. “We are not the savages you take us for. We don’t just going killing ponies left and right and certainly not their kids. Unlike you we don’t hunt a species till extinction. All you see here is all the dragons that are left after your Great War” Violet Death yelled. Once again I was just utterly confused. Our King said that they hunted towns and cities full of ponies. He even had pictures and that was before the war. I was not alive before the war. So I said “I was raised with images of entire cities decimated by you and those pictures were before the war. That’s what united the ponies together to fight you. And you are called the Great Mothers, Dragons who are alive since the start of the war. Even against the horde of Ursa Majors sent to finish you.” Anger roared after that statement. I didn’t know they didn’t know that we sent the Ursa Majors to fight them. After a while it was only me and the great mothers. “You will be here until you give us all the information you know. After that you may go where ever you wish.” I could feel the hate dripping from those words. They undid my bindings and led me to a room. Here there was actually light and I could see that I was underground and at once the thought of escape entered and exited my head. The cave was lit by what looked like encapsulated stars that gave off many different colors. Every now and then a rainbow of light would shoot across the ceiling. The ground was completely smoothed out. It was so smooth the every now and then I would slip on it. When we got in the center Violet lit the room and at once I saw thousands of eggs around me. I also saw that this room was 5 times taller than Horn Tower and at least as wide as the base of a mountain. “This is our last hope of survival and it is also directly under your frontlines of war.” Once again I was absolutely shocked. I mean how many huge revelations can I go through in one day? “So this is the hatchery. It looks a lot like a treasure horde with all the eggs stacked on each other with no organization at all.” I scoffed. “Hatchery, that’s what you call our breeding ground? Also you would do well to remember that we can find other ponies to tell us what we want.” She stated. To this I couldn’t help but reply to “If that were true you wouldn’t have been shock by me going along with you in there. So my assumption is I am the only hope you have of launching a mission against the Horned Tower, but I will only offer it if I can be sure of mine and civilian ponies lives safety.” At this she grew angry “IT IS ONLY YOUR LIFE THAT WE PROMISED.” “And I never agreed” “If you want I can kill you now” “If you kill me now you will learn nothing other than we sent the Ursa Majors” at this point she settled down. I felt a smack on my head and the world went black.
Deprivation of Obsession?"Hey get to work newbie. No Time to rest today a huge shipment just arrived.” said my new manager. “sor..ry sir … I didn’t get much” *zzzzzzzzzz **snort* “sleep last night. Just need some coffee.” I almost managed to say without dozing off, so close to looking steady. What is Luna doing on my nose? Why is she so small? Huh wait Oh crap. My hooves were pushing up a storm because he wasn’t kidding about that shipment of colored rocks, sometimes the look like bits of… nah that’s stupid. Man is this what it’s like to do drugs seeing things that aren’t there and getting sleepy? Well I know that I’ll get some sleep tonight. I gave Luna one of my nights. Wait have I been calling her by the wrong name? She must have been getting angry with me calling her Lunar. Oh well too late now to take it back. “Hey General Swift!” called out my old friend Twilight Skies. “I’m not a general anymore since I pushed Luna off my back, and I don’t think I can be called Swift anymore either since that dragon tore out my wings.” I said. “Hey you don’t look to good.” “I was up all night by Luna’s orders so that someone appreciated it.” “Yikes man and you’ve got to do this for another 13 hours. Besides that you will always be Swift Clouds to me. Otherwise that means I lost a race to a no name pony and I can’t have that.” he ended with that was turning to go when he said Hawk had been hospitalized and any thought of work vanished. I asked “Is she alright? Are YOU alright?” in return he said “I m well enough because she isn’t dead but she…she will never be able to fly again. He dragons circled around her and pulled out the tendons in her wings. I have left my field of studying dragons to studying griffons, in a medical sense.” “And how is our friend that renamed himself to get in the military?” “Oh you mean Poxx? He is doing pretty well for himself He was promoted to General about a week before you. But he is also the bastard who left Hawk to fend for her and the newbie. His first mission in command was sent out an hour ago the first report should be in soon. Why do you plan on skipping work?” he answered. Punishment in the city isn’t in the traditional sense it is mostly humiliation based which is quite effective. So when I was punished I was sent to the lowest rung of society Factory worker. Apparently the rocks I saw were solidified spectra sent from Cloudsdale’s new “Rainbow Factory”. The Pegasus has really begun to pull their weight now. They seem to be able to coordinate the weather much better now. I didn’t answer my friend I just ran off towards the hospital. It didn’t take long to get there, but what was waiting there was an angry princess and that never bodes well for me. “Princess Luna what are you doing here?” I asked and then regretted. “I see you don’t take your punishment seriously if you are skipping work to be here. Another thing is how you dare insult me to your friends, I never ordered you to appreciate my night. I simply said to watch it and now he will look at my night with disdain because of your horrid words.” I continued walking while she spoke but somehow I never moved an inch. When I noticed her horn was glowing I realized she was levitating me. “Can you please put me down a dear friend of mine is injured in there.” I said pointing to the hospital. She suddenly became meek which surprised me “Oh I am sorry go check on your friend, but please return here I have more to say.” As I walked away I looked back and saw that people were avoiding her. Her clinginess has been interpreted as depravity and now she feels she must assert herself as a princess when she can. If she doesn’t find a rock to stand on soon she won’t be able to stay sane. I entered the hospital and was greeted by the sickening smell of medicine and cleaning solutions. Crossing through to where Hawk was I saw many injured ponies. This war needed to end fast. Those dragons needed to be crushed before anymore came to harm. As I rounded the corner I saw Princess Celestia Talking to Hawk and they seemed to be quite friendly. As far as I could tell there were joking around. When I came close I asked “What is our little quartet do without you?” she instantly grew a venomous scowl on her face. “Do not mention anything about Poxx while you here. That rotten bastard ran off when the dragons attacked. And only returned when Ii asked the princess to go get him.” Upon hearing this sweat began to form everywhere. Hawk saw this and confirmed my fears. “Yes I told her where Poxx is really from and she doesn’t care of our involvement only on how to stop him.” When I heard this I was confused. “You do know that he has a spell which contains him as an earth pony, Don’t You? So all you would have to do is kill him and that stops him. You could temporarily lift the ban on guns to hunt him down. We could also end this war within the day if you do.” I switched to talking to the princess halfway through. Queen Harmonia was behind me talking to King Supernova about the same thing. We discussed matter for a while and I was reinstated to general and commanded to End this war. I was also given a new name, Steel Hooves. We had to end Poxx before he could break the spell and bring ruin to us. That deal we made was not worth the damage he could do in this war. I never worried before because I never thought he would be able to gain authority. I just hope it’s not too late. Princess Luna stopped me on my way out. I couldn’t help but join her. She was one fine looking mare. As much as I was bitching about it before I loved the fact that I kept running into her. After this battle I can finally get all I ever wanted, Status Fame Fortune and Princess Luna. So I spent the rest of the day with Luna and enjoyed part of the night. We move out to kill Poxx next month, unless he comes back from his mission before then. The only thing that feels off is that I thought of him as my friend for a while. No matter he will die when we meet. Now to get some rest.
