USS Babylon

by garrettjacobsen

Solutions

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The night of the attack, Kevin's dream was a continuation of his last. He was younger in this one, only sixteen. He was sitting in a sedan, with a pizza box in the seat next to him. He turned on to a dead end street, and took the pizza in his hands. He stepped out of the car.

It was evening. The sun had just set, and this was his last run of the night. He approached the house that the pizza was going to, and knocked on the door. The door opened to reveal nothing. Just an empty hallway. Kevin didn't remember this ever happening. Taking full control of the dream, he stepped into the house. The pizza box in his hands glowed a light blue, and he was sucked headfirst into it. He woke up yet again next to the fire.

The men were still asleep. Only sixty - eight of them now. The two he lost last night joined the line. He hoped it stopped growing.

If these unicorns and horses were able to coordinate an attack, they had to be sentient. Kevin knew that if horses were sentient creatures then he was not on Earth. This meant they couldn't just wait for help, they needed to find their own way back.

Kevin assessed the supply situation. They had bottled water, and K - rations. They also had matches and guns. Ammo was plentiful.

Kevin started to think, if they came here by water, couldn't they leave the same way? He would need the exact coordinates of the Bermuda Triangle, and a map of this place. That meant going to one of the horse cities. If they could put up a good fight against seventy men and kill two of them, what could an army of them do?

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Princess Celestia awoke, filled with thoughts. As her royal servants gave her tea and eggs she thought of the news that had driven her to killing a servant. She remembered the feeling as the power of the sun simply took life away from the pony. The sight of his body burning. The ashes that floated up and into the sky.

That was what showed her she was out of control, and devoid of thought. Sending a criminal to handle the most important investigation she had ever authorized? Attacking without knowledge? Thoughtless. She thought of every way to resume diplomacy. Even with the news that her elite squad was dead, she thought, maybe there is a way to convince them we aren't bad.

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Kevin looked at his men. He knew exactly what he was going to do.

They would make their way to 25.0000° North, 71.0000° West, known by humans as the Bermuda Triangle. There was only one thing he needed. A map. He would compare their map to the human map and find out where the portal to Earth is.

His snipers had seen a large city with a castle in it. His scouts had confirmed by tracking hoofprints that the castle city was nearby. They would slip in, and steal a map before they caused any more trouble on this planet.

Kevin decided to slip in under the cover of night. There was time to fill while waiting, so he worked on a plan of transport. If he was going to move to the Bermuda Triangle, he needed aquatic or aerial transport.

He worked for most of the day, carving designs into scrap metal. Then it hit him.

The jets were trashed, with no possibility of flight, but they had a smooth shape and with modifications he bet they could become buoyant. He set to work, and soon enough he had a crude but doable design.

He gave it to Mayer and told him to get the men to work. Abandoning their posts to help, the men got about twelve makeshift boats operational. Just as Mayer told him this, the sun set. It was time to go.

Kevin and Mayer rallied the troops. They followed the tracks to the city with the castle. Soon they would have their map.

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Celestia stood on her balcony and looked to the woods. The creatures thought they had stealth, but they were as easy to see as stars under a clear night. She wanted to try diplomacy, but this was blatantly an attack. Nevertheless, she would give them a choice. But to the invaders, it might not be preferable.

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Kevin sprinted ahead of his troops. The sound of sixty - plus boots hitting dirt drove him forward. The entire platoon including Kevin burst through the treeline and promptly stopped themselves. Hundreds of the horses: normal, unicorns, and pegasi, stood before them. Above them, and a massive white horse with both wings and a horn floated above them. Next to her floated a slightly smaller purple horse with the same creatures.

The white horse spoke: "I am Celestia, the ruler of this land. You are under the night of my sister's moon, about to attack. I am much more powerful than any of you, and I will give you a chance to live."

Kevin flashed a look of disbelief on his face. Power? What kind of power?

Celestia sensed his disbelief, and flexed her muscles. The sun rose behind her, and the moon moved next to it. She changed the time of day.

"What do you want from my people?" She asked.

"We want a map." Kevin spoke. Someone had to say something.

"So you can raid the rest of my country, and then the rest of my world, doing what you did to my guards to all of my people? No." She said.

Kevin's men raised their weapons, anticipating an attack.

"YOU DARE THREATEN ME TO MY FACE!?" Celestia boomed across everything.

Kevin tried to stop his men, but before he got a chance, a yellow laser scorched the ground and blasted his men into nonexistence. He jumped to the side to watch a building collapse over him.

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