Chapters Luna's Knight in Ballistic Armor.
Some people think life is just a game, others think its a party, and others think life is perfect for them. Of course, nothing in this life is perfect. For others on the battlefield, life is a beautiful thing. Life is something you never want to waste on petty wars for resources, land and power. They view it as a gift that can't be paid by simply saying "thank you." Some soldiers on the battlefield never valued their life, they put others before himself. Of course our main protagonist valued his life and the lives of every one around him. A man by the name of Jean Christian Riley came back from the mission debriefing from earlier, New Era wouldn't give humanity a break and it ultimately affected him and his job. He approached and opened his clothes locker, except this clothes weren't civilian in any aspect, they were military uniforms.
He starts to undress himself in order to slip in his digital camouflage patterned Battle Dress Uniform. He took his heavy padded Kevlar vest and sets it on his chest. He takes a heavy black combat boots and fits it on his feet. He bent down and ties a knot on each boot, making the boots tighten around his feet.
He took his helmet from the lower shelf. The tech that he received were advanced than the normal ones. His helmet had an optical visor attached on a forehead strap inside it that hangs it in his right eye that helped him in the heat of battle, due of its wide range of uses. The Visor takes for of the magnifier attachment on weapons, except this particular one has a sleek black color with it ‘lens’ glowing red and it has more combat capabilities. One example to prove it was very helpful, it helped him monitor his gadgets health and power meters, and it also keeps track of his health and ammunition.
As Jean finished his helmet, he unlocked his gun locker which was right next to the one that held the clothes. An array of weapons occupied it, ranging from rifles to accessories. At the corner of his eye, there sat an M14 ERB. His special rifle.
He reached out to the upper shelf; taking an optical scope, the laser sight, a silencer and a vertical grip. He flopped them down on the bed and proceeded to hook the items onto the weapon. After that, he reproached the gun locker and pulled out his secondary weapon, a pistol. From the left side he took out a combat knife and its sheath. He gently attached it on his shoulder pads, making the sheath’s belt wrapped snugly on his left shoulder with its button making an audible ‘snap’. He took a pistol holster on one of the table adjacent to him, he unhooked it and fastens it around his right thigh. He reached out for his M1911 Pistol and placed it on the holster. He acquired 15 Magazines for his rifle and deposits it on his vest pouch, he did the same for his pistol magazines. He procured eight magazines for the pistol and places it on his vest.
He stood up and said, “System Diagnostics Check Initiate.”
“Initiating System check. Please stand by.” A female robotic voice replied, coming from the AI.
The Optical lens glowed bright orange as a respond to the command, the AI began to scan the system for any bugs and problems. In his eyes, orange circles emerged around his wrist. The circle collapsed into a box, turning into a gray colored hologram screen. The tip of his right fingers glowed orange, he positions it on the hologram screen and swipes away to the Body Diagnosis System. In the screen, a silhouette of a man shined, with a tint of green, indicating that he was in the clear. He swipes it again, activating the targeting system. Although no one can see it, a small circle appeared from the eye ware in his point of view. He takes another swipe, ending up in the main HUD menu, where ammo count can be monitored and how much damage he had taken.
Without delaying any further, the door opened. The hydraulics let out pressurized air as it opens, allowing him to go to his designated area.
***
After a minute or so, he reached his desired destination: The hangar bay.
The bay itself was crowded with troops, non-combat personnel like engineers and medical teams, and battlefield equipment. As of now, the engineers finished up their daily maintenance for the helicopters and tanks outside. Medical equipment were packed away to one of the helicopters for a forward outpost. The soldiers sat idly or paced around the hangar bay awaiting the signal to mobilize.
Everyone ears perked up as sirens whined with it, a green light shining brightly. One minute the bay wasn't that busy, now it was like a bee hive. The troops began to board the estimated twenty five helicopters, with sixteen soldiers occupying one chopper. Four hundred troops, including him boarded in the aircraft. The radio picked up a signal as a message relayed from the brass.
“Call sign Angels, this is Strike actual. Your orders are to recapture a city called Marikina in the Philippines. You are to fly to the other side of this island to land your choppers on four aircraft carriers that is stationed there by the United States Navy. Expect very heavy resistance from NE, you will meet up with a Filipino commander to aid you in the offense. Our enemies are confirmed to have three-hundred T-90 tanks and sixty thousand strong troops. The Ships will escort you a little ways from the island to begin the attack. Understood?”
The troops were silent, but they were listening. HQ replied, “Good. I wish ya’ll good luck and may God be with you.”
As HQ cut off their message, an aircraft marshal stood in front of the helicopters, in his hands were to flags colored green. He raised his left arm, giving the signal of the all clear. Raising his right arm, he does a little circling motion with his right hand. The aircraft propellers began to buzz, getting louder and louder as it gains power. He does a little half spin, with him kneeling down on one leg, leaning downward and pointing both of the flags east as his arms raised up and down.
The helicopters took off as the final hand signal to place, the chopper bladed kicked up dust and loose dirt as it took off, going east to the bay.
The choppers soared through the sky as if it was an eagle. Palm tree leaves followed the breeze as the helicopter manipulated the air. The wild life weren't very happy at all, heck they were scared. Monkeys fling from tree to tree just to avoid the metallic beast, snakes slithered away, and other wild life went to random path ways due to the commotion up in the air.
Over the horizon, seven big grey ships rested idly on the bay.
Four carried numerous air vehicles, Aircraft Carriers while the others were smaller but sported weapons, destroyers. The choppers flew over the small village close to the concrete bay. The villagers stopped dead and looked up. Smiles plastered their faces as they gave a wave to the honorable men in the chopper flying right above the small village, of course the soldiers gave a wave also.
The choppers eventually reached the four aircraft carriers. On each ship were another set of air marshals. They raised their flags as the choppers lazily hovered above them. Each Air Marshal raised and straightened their arms on the side, holding each of the flags. They made a motion of that of making a snow angel, only gesturing downwards. They pushed their hands down and crossed them. The helicopters began to hover down, eventually landing. The engines powered down as various crew members of the ship raced to their landing zone to provide assistance. Jean and every other soldiers unhooked their seat belts and briskly stepped down the aircraft to rest themselves for an upcoming battle.
The troops made their way down to the sleeping quarters and sat their gear among the tables, he placed his gear in the table and unzipped his bag.
"Yo LT!" one trooper yelled. Jean fixed his gave to the trooper, the trooper threw a can of coke right in his direction. "Hey Cole, thanks." He said, gesturing a thumbs up. He opened the can and chugged down it's contents.
He sat down on the bed, he spotted over the other side was three men, each holding a deck of cards. He knew that it was prohibited to bring playing cards, but he let it slide this time, it was tad boring in the quarters. He took off his Visor and laid it beside the pillow. He took his blue helmet from the table and laid it on his lap. Instead of the UN acronym etched on the front and the sides, the front of the helmet had a drawing of the moon etched with a pair of wings, and the sides remained spotless from the newly applied coat of blue paint.
He took his black marker and wrote in jagged and sharp letters on the side:
For Luna
Smiling in content, he laid it on the table to dry. He lets himself slid in the covers of the bed and slowly drift to sleep.
***
The sirens whined loudly as different shades of red and green shined, Jean was abruptly awoken by the sound of crying loud noises, it was accompanied by a gruff male voice.
“We are Irene! I say again, Irene!”
Soldiers began to pack up their gear and start to fit their uniforms in, of course Jean did it as well. As a lieutenant, he had to their squad leader, the man they’re going to look up to and comply. He shouted out his order, “Troops! Single file out to the deck. Come on lads!”
The soldiers complied, each lined themselves up making a straight-line. He opened the door and let the troops step out and file made their way to the deck. The carrier’s deck is buzzing with activity, especially the troops, who were trying to climb in the aircraft. The troops once again, boarded their designated transport helicopters.
An aircraft marshal faced the whole mess of choppers as he guided the pilots till launch, which was followed by a Lieutenant Colonel speaking through the radio, “To all units, this is Zebra-actual, we are Oscar-Mike. I repeat, we are Oskar Mike!”
The air was once again filled with the familiar buzzing sound made by the helicopter’s rotor blades. Not only the air was filled with choppers, this time a wing of fighter jets scrambled to the air, and C-130 cargo planes filled with other troops, vehicles and equipment were in the air also. They soared high in the sky, looking innocently enough, if you count flying into enemy territory with an intent on killing all of them.
“Everyone get ready! We are seven clicks to our destination!” The Pilots said, “ETA 30 Minutes!”
Jean knew something is going to happen, he can't tell when but he knows its coming in hard. He knew they could win this, with support they had ninety thousand solid troops and the Fili's have a a twenty thousand troops all ready battle tested. The Filipino were already equipped with the latest weapons because of their alliance with the UN, this means new MBTs, APCs, new armament, as well as warships and aircraft. All in all, they have 467 tanks with them.
Aside the fact that they were nearing an island city with the clearly audible sound of rotor blades, there was a familiar tune played from one of the designated gunships which escorted them through the attack; the song was called “Fortunate son.”
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AA guns set the sky ablaze as the choppers approach the shore and into the bay. Jean gripped the trigger of the mini gun and let loose its hellish fury, killing the crew of nearest AA gun he sees, as well as detonating the AA gun’s ammunition inside of it, hence making the gun inoperable.
A Super cobra Gunship reared up on a building housing an AA emplacement, the bottom rigged chain gun revved up as it spewed 20mm cannon shells, as well as launching rockets at the unfortunate target, obliterating the AA emplacement and the building. It turned its attention to a nearby tank, a T-90. Same procedure, different target. The cannon began to spin, until the bullets flied. Tracers hit the tank, but only damaging the exterior. The machine-gun was ripped off and the cupola was shrugging the shots off like it was nothing. Finally, a missile fell of the gunship, before the fuse ignited then flew towards the tanks. A load boom sounded out, in the middle of it all there laid the once impenetrable fortress, the T-90 tank.
Well, it seems like Hellfire did the trick.
"Uh, Big bird, this is Malta 3-4! We need fire support over at the docks. Over?!"
"WILCO, heading to your position now." The pilot replied, he leans over his seat and said, "Lieutenant! We're going for a detour! We need you to provide supporting fire for Malta 3-4."
"Roger, go then lad!" He replied, "Simon! I need you to man the other mini-gun. Jackson, use your grenade launcher to provide support." He called out, Simon darted to the other mini-gun, then Jackson took hold of his MGL and took position at the door way. Soon the helo spotted a mess of UAZs on the dock, two trucks had a gunner on it, firing its machine gun, the other New era troops took refuge behind their car. Seven figures had there backs pressed against a shipping container. On of them popped up the shot his M4 carbine at them, the others did the same. Lying on the ground was two of their buddies, one was bleeding on his shoulder but breathing, while the other died from a leg shot and a shoulder.
Jean fired the mini-gun, hot small pillars of bright red light illuminated. Two of the NE soldiers got hit center mass, he peppered the engine block of the UAZ, crippling the vehicle. Simon lets out it fury, killing a NE trooper using the mounted gun, Jackson launched grenades at the vehicles, destroying them as well as killing the ones using the machine-gun mounted on it.
Simon fired bursts, killing the NE taking cover behind another shipping container while Jackson protected the troops from obvious dangers up above with his grenade launcher. Although as best as they could the enemy troops hid behind everything they thought of as a solid cover.
"Many thanks Big Bird we can handle this, Malta 3-4 out," one of the soldiers below gave a wave at the helicopter, before he continued on with the fire fight with the remaining survivors.
The helicopter flew back to its main coarse, a little while his helicopter stopped, hovering over a back yard. The troops inside his helicopter threw ropes down, he disengages the mini-gun controls and zipped down the rope, with the rest of his squad covering him. They lined themselves against the wall of an apartment building, preparing to breach the door.
Lt. Jean taps the shoulder of one of his squad mates, the trooper violently kicked the door open while another one threw a stun grenade. A deafening bang erupted, causing the enemy trooper at the other end to stumble backwards with his hands covering his ears. Jean pulled in his rifle to his shoulders and fires two shots, the stunned enemy soldier’s body fell limp to the ground, becoming nothing more than a mere corpse. Gesturing a hand signal, the men stormed to the basement.
“Alcatraz prep a flash bang, go!” said Jean, Alcatraz replied with a simple nod before throwing a flash bang. The distinctive loud stunning bang was heard again. Sgt. Alcatraz grabbed his shotgun and fired an enemy soldier dead, the blood splattered on the wall. Frantic yelling filled the room with it, gun fire.
“Enemy troops! Open fire!”
“Take cover!”
“Engage hostiles!”
Jean leaned in on the wall of the large basement. He peeks out seeing an expose, yet busy New Era soldier engaging his team mate. He aimed his rifle, the red dot pinned directly on the center of the soldier’s helmet.
Pulling the trigger thrice, his gun fire was masked along with the rest that filled the once quiet basement; the bullets hit his desired mark as it left a red stain on the wall and the flipped table that his enemy took the liberty to seek refuge in. At the corner, he saw a private pulling the pin of a grenade; he threw it, shouting while the grenade is in midair.
“Fire in the hole!”
‘BVOOM!’
The grenade left a black stain on the ground, the room was silent once again. They peeked their heads out of cover, only to see four enemy troops in the pool of their own blood; they were either dismembered or just plain dead on the ground.
Smiling, he pats the back of the private. “Good work mate, now let’s get going.” He said, the trooper smiled in acknowledgement.
The group climbed up on a spiral staircase. Jean had his M14 EBR to bear. Lining up against the doorway, he kicked it open. As soon as the door got violently kicked, the enemy on other side let loose a barrage of bullets. The rest of the troops found cover behind a divider, and some kind of wall, but an unlucky soldier got hit several times at his chest and his legs, ending the poor man's life.
Six men wore a blue and green camouflage patterned BDU, and the same with their helmets; the New Era troops. Jean bought his rifle to his shoulder and pulled the trigger. The round flew in the space between them, eventually landing at the shoulder, making the enemy jerk to the side. He pulled the trigger again this time he made sure the round landed right between the eyes. A corporal fired his M4 carbine, sending nine bursts at the target. The rest of them emptied a clip against the enemy.
"Cease FIRE! Cease FIRE!" He screamed followed by other another one screaming.
"Clear! Alright every one evacuate the civilians so we could blow up this Popsicle stand." said Jean.
A corporal and his buddy, a sergeant, briskly bought out the C4 charge and placed them on the containers, and on the wall. Jean waved his hand, gesturing them to come out of the building. While he was calling for them, the troops had the civilians evacuated from the building. Shell shock was written across their face, they also had luggage on their hands. Jean regrouped his men and cleared out of the area, once they were out, he ordered the corporal to detonate the bomb.
The corporal complied and pressed the detonator’s trigger. A loud bang was followed by the sound of rocks smashing together. With the support beams blown to pieces, the building collapsed under its own weight.
Three UN vehicles arrived, unloading the troops. The civilians were picked up by a squad of troops while they covered them. The white carrier closed its lid and left the troops to support Jean’s offensive. Jean took his radio off of his left shoulder pad and pushed the mic, “Big bird, this Outlaw actual, we need pick up over at Charlie!”
A static hum played through the radio until the pilot replied, “Outlaw actual, we are coming in. hold your position. ETA 5 minutes.”
With a handful of time in his hands, he regrouped his team and huddled them closer. “Okay! Fire team Alpha your orders are to disable a Comm jamming radio tower in order to aid the main attack force at the high way to the city’s urban area to retake the city hall. The Filipino will aid you in the attack as the commander said. Expect heavy resistance on the way there. The rest of us are going to continue the raid to strain them. Any questions? ”
"So No Sir!"
He shouted, "Then what are you doing here?! Get moving Lads!"
“Sir Yes Sir!”
The troops stood up and ran to the alley way, soon they disappeared from his sight. Just before he handed a radio to one of the soldiers, a loud booming voice echoed through.
"Two T-90s! EVERY TAKE COVER!"
The modern tank drove through one of the building, pulverizing the wall into cinder, dust and ruble. Another T-90 emerged through one of the fences, the wooden planks broke under the sheer weight of the tank.
One of the turrets aimed at them, the tank's cannon erupted sending a high explosive shell in between them and the troops. A UN troop never got out of the way in time before the shell landed, the ground is now freshly coated with his blood, and his severed leg. The troops recovered from the explosive shock wave and quickly found cover. Enemy troops popped out behind the tank and began to shoot at the dazed group.
"Pixis! Get your Gustav here and fire on its sides!" shouted Jean, he barked orders at his men to keep moving.
Pixis aimed his Carl Gustav, his shoulders supporting the weight of the rocket launcher. The reticle hovered over the side of the cumbersome vehicle. His finger crunched the trigger, sending a rocket out of the tube, the projectile hit its mark, leaving a hole and scorch marks with the engine burning as hot as the sun.
Seemingly out of nowhere, a sleek black vehicle emerged from an alley way, with troops covering from the rear and the sides. On it's side was the emblem of the Philippines.
The said tank is the new PL-01 polish MBT. The tank aimed its turret at the T-90, the PL-01 gun barked as 120mm cannon shell soared through the sky, hitting the T-90 square in the side. The turret exploded violently, sending the turret high in the air, before landing. The new arrivals turned their attention to the remaining ones, killing them.
One of the soldiers approached Jean, jutting out his hand in an attempt for a hand shake, "Kapitan Jolo Minandra Sir."
Jean took his hand, accepting the hand shake, " Lt. Jean Christian Riley, thanks for the assist."
The Captain smiled before replying, "No problem Lieutenant."
The sound of helicopter blades filled the air, the helicopter hovered above them. The helicopter landed, kicking up dust. Only twelve men are left, including him. They entered the chopper, Jean found himself again at the controls of the mini-gun. Before the chopper lifted up vertically and soared to the sky, he gave a salute to the Filipino soldier.
From up above, the city didn't look as beautiful as it once was. The buildings that housed importance was either peppered with holes from stray bullets or outright destroyed. Small establishments that once sold goods were now occupied with guns and occasional dead bodies of its owner or troops. The sky had an eerie glow of orange, with black smoke partially covering the sky.
As the helo flew, sparks of metal hit the chopper. He looked down and saw a whole company of of new era troopers shooting them from down below. On primal instinct, he pushed down the barrel of the mini-gun, aiming at the group. He pulled the trigger, sending lead down at the targets. One by one, each one of them dropped to the ground in their pool of blood. He said in between bursts of fire, “Everyone get down!” He blurts out, as he lets out his first burst of fire.
“I’ll provide fire support-“
The second burst tore the enemy trooper, bullets slicing the arm off.
“While you blokes get your arse down their!"
The final burst ripped a car into shreds, reaching a covered New Era trooper. The troops complied by simply giving a small salute, before throwing the ropes and zipping down it. Jean in the meanwhile, was still peppering any NE Troopers he sees. The kill count of the day was originally six, but the mini-gun up the ante to seventeen. He switched to the other as the bullets began to glaze the helicopter's side. The Mini-gun revved up again as it spewed red hot tracers at its enemies. He was still sad due to the fact that someone he killed had been pulled out of his family just to serve a cause for what? World domination? Iron rule? His trail of though was cut short as beeping sounded out. The pilots soon took notice as red light flashing uncontrollably. The pilots said with a hint of panic, “We have a missile launch! Dumping flar---”
The last syllable was cut short by an immense explosion, the tail of the helicopter was torn into pieces. Panic sets in on the pilots, they screamed as they plummet to their death as the chopper began to spin uncontrollably.
“Mayday! Mayday! Big Bird is going down, I repeat Big Bird is going down!”
Jean recoiled back from the explosion, he held onto the helicopter's side as it spins uncontrollably in the air. Memories spawned, to the time of his birth, his 7th birth day, the time he almost killed the local bully that harassed him since middle school, and that faithful day at the moon, where he meet the most wonderful woman that his eyes sat upon. He watched as the helicopter slowly made its way to the ground.
Luna's Knight in Ballistic Armor.
Pain, pain and more pain, one of the things he felt. His head was pounding, heart beating tremendously and blood dripping from flesh wounds all over. Jean peeled open his eyes, albeit his vision is blurry. The puffy vision ceased as he started into oblivion a little while longer.
Grunting, he tried to stand up only to be stopped by a sharp jab of pain on his left leg. He tried again, succeeding the second time but only in a crawling stance. He spreads his eyes to find any equipment working. Luckily for him his rifle is clearly visible because of its jet color standing out from the grey interior of the helicopter, and he also found a medical kit, which was conveniently placed next to him. He eventually found a Cheytac M200 at the corner, an MP7 as well as an ammo box the chopper carried had rounds to replenish his ammo. He took a good whiff of air, putrid smoke invaded his nose; it made him cough.
"Wait? Cheytac?" he gripped the rifle.
"Dammit Perkins."
He pushed up and crawled to the pilot seat. Both of the pilots were dead, the fiber glass helmet visors were cracked, tips of broken plastic tainted with blood, and the same crimson liquid splashed on the cockpit console; two fingers on each of their jugular veins proved that they were dead.
He never noticed it until now, beams of light illuminated from the window of left helicopter door, indicating it was day light. The left door was completely crushed shut, the right one on the other hand was open but the gap barely fit his size. Facing the door, he gave it a kick, no damage. He gave it another kick, no avail. For the third time around, it only made a dent. He winced in pain as he bought his left leg to bare, lacerations and punctured shards of metal and composite material dug in his leg, obviously the leg is still bleeding.
Scrunching his face up in an attempt to soften up the pain he was about to inflict on himself, he kicked the door with both of his feet.
This wasn’t going to end well…
"RAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!
Jean held back tears as the pain in his leg leveled up to an all-time high. A loud click escaped the door, before going loose. He crawled out of the helicopter and landed on a patch of grass and dirt.
Wait, grass and dirt?
He felt grass underneath him. He looked up and saw trees, trees as far as the eye can see.
"Ya got to be bloody kidding!" he screamed, the tone of his voice echoed through the forest.
Furiously, he slammed the medical kit next to him and took a gauze wrapping, a bandage, tweezers, and an iodine disinfectant. He took hold of the tweezers and ever so lightly pulled out the bits of metal that punctured the skin. He ripped a hole in his pants and began to rub the wound with the disinfectant, wrapping it with gauze, and topped of with a role of bandage, all the while mumbling to himself because of this godforsaken forest. After his little treat up, he stripped himself off of his equipment, and placed them in front of him on the ground.
“M14 ERB with 7 magazines. Check.”
“Cheytac Intervention, 4 magazines. Check.”
"MP7, 9 magazines. Check."
“A radio that can’t get a signal. Check.”
“M1911 with eleven magazines. Check.”
“Three packs of MREs. Ooo, curry flavored. Check.”
“Medical kit. Check.”
“Six Grenades, and four flashbangs. Check.”
“Balisong, Check.”
“Half a water of canteen. Hmm, better find a water source to survive the woods.”
“And… Crushed salted crackers…”
He took the crushed goodness and threw it away, as if it was a piece of trash, the only substitute to the tastless MREs.
Well, it IS trash now.
“System check initiate,” said Jean, “scan for injuries.” The projector in his left arm gave a silhouette of a being stretching out his limbs. Blood red occupied the left leg, indicating it was injured, but it soon it became a yellow orange hue. His ribs might have been fractured because a small tint of red made itself present, but it didn’t mind him as long as it doesn't bite him in ass.
He pushed himself up from his sitting position and leaned on the tree, He steadied himself to walk. He puts his leg out, so far so good. He puts his other leg out, he immediately felt his leg gone limp; he swiftly grasped the tree.
“Ok… Let’s try it less vigorously.”
He tried again and succeeded. He only managed to stagger, he began to stagger to the tree lines; he disappeared from the thick foliage.
***
The sound of footsteps pounding on the ground presented itself. It was more like hoof steps as you could hear metal clanking on the ground, twelve figures walked out to the clearing. These creatures are a kin to their ancestor ponies, namely because they have hooves for feet, tail and pony ears. Although they have these equine features, they resemble closely to humans. Two complete five digit hands, they have human legs that makes them walk upright but their feet were hooves, and the other six beings presented breasts on their chest. Hell, what separates them from their ancestral folk was the fact they have some of them have either a horn, or wings as if they were mashed together a Greek mythology text book, the human anatomy, and horse(pony) anatomy!
The six stallions wore a solid gold armor plating, in their hands were muskets, very out dated to earth standards. Although they were very old tech, they use the concussion cap and the muskets were break action. They wrap the musket ball, the black powder in one case to accommodate the hole in the center.
Six mares walked in the middle, they were the ones that saved Equestria from numerous terrors, including the one they called Tirek. They were the heroines of Equstria, the Main six and her highness Princess Twilight, the princess of friendship.
“Uh Twi’? Where d' you think mah sister n' her friends went after?" Applejack said.
"I don't know Applejack. The trio is unpredictable." Twilight replied.
"I hope Sweetie Belle is alright, I don't want her to be in here of all places." Rarity added from behind.
Normally they would trudge this forest without guards, but with Twilight becoming a Princess, she needs to have guards 24/7, and the other thing to note, they heard a massive explosion; it was almost like the sound of a portal tearing through time and space itself. As for Twilight also, she felt a massive ping of energy, with that she immediately called the guards and the rest of the bearers to investigate.
"Guys? What's that thing over there?" Fluttershy said, pointing to a mechanical construct out in the open. They made their way to the clearing, the firsts ones to go in were the Day guard, Celestial Guard as others call them. They knelt down and shouldered their muskets, scanning the area.
"Clear!" One guard shouted. On cue, the mares appeared out of the bush.
"Hey! What is that?!" Pinkie Pie said, as she popped up from one of the trees, pointing at the metallic object in the clearing. On sheer curiosity, they walked up to it. Twilight noticed it had a sleek black color, some kind of windmill on top of it, and a torn tail at the back of it. The tail was hanging above a tree, a blade kept it from falling downwards. At the front she noticed there was a door of some kind, it was cracked. She looked at the interior of the thing, it was some kind of carriage, this surprised Rarity.
Blood covered the insides of it, the blood was splattered on some kind of measuring meters on the table in front of it, and on the stick in front of the a seat.
"Uh, I feel my stomach churning." Rarity held her mouth and her stomach in unison in an effort to block out her lunch.
Pinkie pie's mane deflated, Fluttershy cowered behind Applejack, and Rainbow Dash looked away. Twilight was a little shocked, but she kept calm and collected, just a slight jolt. She looked the other way spotting something. Beside the once glorious piece of human ingenuity was two sticks intertwined with another set of sticks, forming a cross. It stood firmly planted into the ground. On top of the cross was a helmet on each of the sticks, but these helmets did not resemble to any helmets of Equestria, It wasn't even the helmet of the notorious Night guard!
Twilight inspected the ground, patches of blood tainted the grass, obviously the body was dragged from the seats to the crosses. She took a look at a metallic tag dangling on one of the crosses and read, " Sgt. Nicholas Yolanda. Blood type: A..."
"Ma'am, its a make shift grave. My squad saw these scattered along the plains back when we were stationed in Stalliongrad." One of the Day guards said.
"G-g-grave?" Fluttershy said with a faint tremble.
She red the other tag, "Cpt. Maxis Granger. Blood type: O..." she look downwards and found a sticky note placed on the stick and red "These two brave men died with a cause, the UN will never forget your bravery."
"UN?" Rarity said.
"There no place called UN in Equestria, no where even near Equis!" Twilight piped up.
"This shouldn't even exist in Equis!" Rainbow Dash readied her hoof and kicked the side of the helicopter, but rewarded with a loud thump and a yelp, "Its even made out of metal!?" She readied to punch the thing until Applejack took hold of her hand before it reached the metallic surface. "We don't have enagh' time for that! We got to fand' mah' sister and her frien---"
"HELP!" A scream echoed through, Applejack's eyes perked up from the high squeaky voice.
"APPLEBLOOM! I'm commin' for ya'h!" AJ screamed out, launching herself like a rocket to the forest.
"Applejack wait!" The grouped screamed as they chased her tail.
***
Riley staggered along the forest, by this time he already set up some distance away from the crash site, roughly one and half kilometers. He found a river earlier on, and a seemingly deadly sea serpent. As it turned out the serpent was actually quite friendly even after he pulled out his gun and threatened him. Even after that he gave him a piece of his scale as he collected fresh water for him to drink to show his friendly attitude and the blade it was very sharp. He tried to ask the serpent if he had any directions to a nearby settlement, but he had no clue. The only things he said were an old ruins of a castle, a person who lived in a hut by the name of Zecora who acts like a witch doctor, and a fashionista named Rarity.
"Pfft... Fashionista." he scoffed.
First he was skeptical, about ponies and a zebra that talk and walk much like humans, even the body structure looked similar to humans, only difference being the feet was replaced with hooves, they had a horn, wings or both, and they can use MAGIC. The though turned around as the forest began to get creepier and creepier by the minute and wolves literally made out of WOOD got him to think if either he wasn't in earth anymore or he was lying on a hospital bed near death and was given a high dosage of highly addictive MORPHINE. But still he doubts it, due to the fact that he saw the girl of his dreams.
"Well, Jean looks like you're not in bloody Kansas anymore." He said to no one in particular.
He held the blade in his hands. It was quite sharp actually, on par with the Japan's famed Katana. He sheathed the blade onto his right side and took hold of his MP7. He took out the clip and replaced it with a new fresh one. Dark and eerie wasn't enough as it began to get darker. He took a peek of the sun, instead he got rain pouring on his face. Sighing, he quickened his pace.
"AHHHH!"
He shot up, he holstered his MP7 and bought his M14 to bear. He ran towards the clearing, in the middle of it all, there stood four equine creatures that resembled a lot like the girl he saw at the moon and a hut. The first one was a small girl with wings, her skin was orange and she had purple hair. The second one had a coat of white, her hair was a mix of pink and light purple, and she had a horn protruding. The third one had a bow tie on top of her red hair and she had a yellow skin color. The fourth one had a skin pattern similar to a zebra's and he had a Mohawk styled hair. A piece of cloth wrapped around her E-cup breast, exposing her slender body figure. She had her skirt torn, and she held a staff in her have with some kind of vials on the top tied to a string. She stood in a combat stance, she was bleeding. Between the children and a her was a very weird but fierce creature. It had a body and a head of a tiger, a head of a goat, and a snake for a tail.
'Are you bloody playing with me?! A Chimera?! What is this some kind of twisted fairy tale shit?'
He readied himself as a though graced his mind 'Good God please let me live.' He jumped out and met the gaze of four equines and a Chimera. He aimed his rifle at the goat head, the red dot moving slightly to the center.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Three loud pops echoed through the clearing, the first bullet shattered the goat's horn, roughly missing the head. The second one went straight to the eye, earning a pained yelp. The third one found itself puncturing the head right between the eyes. The appendage fell limp, hanging like a rag doll. The beast roared in pain as the other head died. The Chime commenced a mad dash against him. Having no time to react, the creature pinned him to the ground. The Chimera swiped it paw, slicing Jean's arm. Jean kept the creature at bay with his free hand holding the creature by the throat. Pulling out his MP7 with his other hand, he pulled the trigger, sending round upon the beast. This only angered the beast more. The snake readied it self as it was in a pouncing stance. It stretched itself, aiming for Jeans's head. Jean swung his head to the other side, the snake missing him completely. He kicked the Chimera's body, sending it off of him while he grabbed the tail. He pulled out the serpent's blade and sliced the snake's head off. Only the tiger was left.
"You DARE to kill my brothers?!" It bellowed before pouncing. Jean rolled to the side, but the tiger caught him by the hand, chewing it. He was pinned to the ground by the beast. It began to thrash around, cutting him in various regions of the body. He was numb. He can't feel the blows, he pulled in his hand with jaw in hand. He unfolded his Balisong knife and landed a hit at the head of the beast, the tip found it's way to the throat of the animal. He pulled it out again, and bought it down again and again. With his bloodied hand, he began to land violent punches at the beast that would make even Chuck Norris flinch, with it violent jabs with his Balisong knife up the beast head, turning it to a pulp.
"Ha!" He pulled out the knife, then hitting the head with his injured hand.
"HA!" He bought down the knife and punched the beast.
"RAH!"
Pulling out his M1911, he stood up and unloaded an entire clip up the beast head, turning it to nothing more than thick paste. As the adrenaline ceased, he felt unbearable pain, he found himself kneeling down on both knees. He made contact with the ground and mud. He gave them a good grin as he weakly waved at them, the last thing he saw was nine female figures looking at him in shock and guards in golden armor pointing their muskets at him, the image tattooed into their mind forever.
Luna's Knight in Ballistic Armor.
“HA!”
“HA!”
“RAH!”
The sound of flesh ripping can be vividly heard, with drops of rain against the dirt. The guards quickly presented themselves by popping out of the tree in unison, aiming their muskets at the stallion drenched in the blood one of Everfree’s most dangerous creatures: A Chimera.
The Element Bearers followed suit, eyeing the gruesome sight. The said stallion glanced in their direction before collapsing on the ground, possibly from blood loss combined with fatigue; the the mad stalion, no, the thing gave them a wave with his fresh blood stained fingers.
Rarity had her lunch already near at her mouth, she ran to the nearest bush and let out her contents. Pinkie Pie’s mane is still straight, Fluttershy fainted and Applejack didn’t notice the body until now, due to the fact she held her little sister tight in her arms. Rainbow Dash looked away, she was clearly disgusted with the sight of blood, heck she is scared from blood spilling. Zecora entered her hut with haste, the door wide open.
One of the guards approached the fallen stallion and picked him up from the ground, with the stallion’s arm resting on the guard’s shoulder.
The guard placed two of his fingers on the neck of the ‘stallion’, he was rewarded with small beats.
“Princess! This stallion is alive!” He shouted out, Zecora barged out of her hut holding some kind of clear blue liquid.
“It is best to take the stallion out of this forest, don’t put his stamina to the test.” She unplugged the top and poured the contents all over his wounds.
“Ugh…” The stallion grunted involuntarily. Another guard approached him and lets the “stallion’s” arm rest on his shoulders too. They dragged the body using the safest route through the forest as the rest of the guards disposed the body of the once fearful creature.
The sound of simultaneous pounding hooves can be heard again. Not before long, they reached the clearing out of the forest. The guards were already spent from running and hauling this 120 pound stallion.
“Out of the way!” One guard yelled.
“We got wounded over here!” Another one yelled.
The citizens did nothing but stare as the group approached the hospital. Pushing the door open steadfastly, one guard began to bark.
“Nurse! We need a Nurse! This pony is losing blood fast!” Another door flung open, Nurse Redheart and Nurse Tenderheart came out. At the other corner a trio of nurses fixed up a hospital bed. The guards laid the body on the bed as the nurses strapped the stallion in. Turning the bed around, they delivered the stallion the Emergency room.
***
The six mares sat on the chairs in front of the room where the stallion stayed. The guards stood attention at the corner of the row of chairs. The door opened revealing the doctor who examined the so called stallion, Doctor Diagnosis.
Typical generic pony hospital doctor name.
“Princess. I think you want to see this.” said the doctor, of course the group went inside the room. Twilight felt something was off, some kind of new feeling is circling in her mind. The room was about average, a lamp shade on a small table on the side of the bed, on the other side was a heart monitor. On the other table at the door was a tray of food. On the wall, was a coat hanger with the stallion’s clothes completely spotless, no dirt and blood can be seen; the holes and the tears in the clothes were gone, by courtesy of Rarity.
Well, she couldn’t stand the eye sore. Heck, she even wanted to dye it! But the stallion might get mad.
“Princess, this is not a stallion, but it is definitely a male.” the doctor said, “The patient is likely in his late twenties. The ears are attached to the side, round shaped. I can detect only a fraction of magic in this person. What marvels me is the fact that we can detect brain patterns similar of that to a pony’s own. He has a perfect set of canines and incisors at the front. At first we though you found a meat eater in the hospital, but it had another set of teeth further in its jaw, it’s omnivorous.”
“When you found this being, you found it brutally betting a Chimera right?” The girls gave a nod, although some of them flinched for a nanosecond. “Well, he suffered major cuts all over his body. Thankfully we stopped the bleeding. He suffered three broken ribs, a fractured arm and minor concussion. Thank Celestia for the helmet he wore. He suffered a cut vertically going across his right eye, in turn making him blind with a scar.” The doctor pointed at the lying on the hospital bed, his left eye covered by an eye patch.
As one pony could think silence had befallen the group, well they are wrong.
Another set of pounding hooves sounded out, the door opened; seven guards marched out, with them two Alicorns: Princess Celestia, the Solar Princess and Princess Mi Armore Cadenza, the Princess of Love.
The guards stood attention as the rest of the ponies inside the room knelt down, safe for the Princess of Friendship. She eyed one of the guards, he wore a red long sleeve underneath his Gold armor lined with purple streaks, the same with his helmet, styled a kin to a roman legionnaire. Noticing this quickly, she beamed up and hugged the guard.
“Big Bro!” Twilight shouted out, tackling her brother. Her brother giggled and gave her a playful noogie whilst Celestia walked up to the center, in the front side of the bed, facing the creature.
“Rise my little ponies.” She said, all the while making a ‘rise gesture’.
She took a deep breath and said, “Me and Cadence noticed a very powerful Magic spike, a spike that only Alicorns and ALICORNS ONLY can create.” She looked at every mare in the room before focusing her eyes on Twilight, the crowned Princess of Friendship.
“Magic spikes are pings that unicorns can feel and hear when they use magic. Spells like Levitation and illumination spells only radiate minor to small spikes, spells like attack spells and teleportation spells radiate medium to strong spikes while powerful spells like summoning spells can radiate strong to major spikes.”
Twilight tilted her head slightly before asking, “So who made the spike?”
The solar princess replied, “Magic spikes from unicorns are distinguishable because they leave their magical essence. When summoning spells are used, they tend to leave the Cutie mark of the one who summoned, in fact, it is also coated with their essence.” She then sets her eyes to the unconscious creature. She settles her eyes to the hand. A tattoo of some kind embedded itself on his hand, a dark blue circle was present and in the center was a half crescent moon. She stuck her arm out and grabbed the hand of the creature. She held it up high for all the group could see.
A sudden pang of realization hit the group.
Rainbow Dash answered, coming to a conclusion. “So Princess Luna summoned Him?”
The Princess of the sun gave a nod, still keeping her remarkable poker face. "She did summon this creature."
As for Pinkie Pie, she cared less about the conversion, going ‘Ooo’ over the peaceful creature sleeping on the bed. She giggles as she played around, putting sunglasses on him, putting party hats on his head, and some kind of goatee, but it gets replaced by a pink mustache with glitters and a tag that read “Pinkie pie’s” attached to it side. She also placed wacky glasses on him, with spring attached to plastic eyes on the frame of the glasses.
“OOOO---! What’s this button do!” She pressed a button on the wrist of the creature. A hologram sound echoed through as numerous eyes plastered themselves to the pink mare, dressing up the poor creature.
“Pinkie!” Applejack exclaimed, before she pulled her away from him.
Rainbow Dash hysterically laughed at the sight of the creature, is until a grey something popped up from the creature’s wrist. A gray screen appeared, the screen rippled for a short while before entering a text.
*** Viao Tech Individual Monitoring System Holo-pad***
The screen flashed brightly, making everypony temporarily blinded from the flash. A Text popped up.
***Entities: eighteen thermal figures***
*** Memory flare scan complete. No affiliation with New Era Org***
***Accessing Personal data***
The screen flared up again, presenting a file. On the corner of the file there was a picture of the creature. A monotone robotic voice began to read the file.
“Name: Jean Christian Riley.”
“Rank: Lieutenant.”
“Age: 29”
“Height: 6”5”
“Birth place: United Kingdom, Nottingham.”
“Birthdate: August 8, 1987”
“Relatives:”
“Annie Riley, Little sister.”
“Johansson Riley, little brother.”
“Elizabeth Smith, Aunt.”
“Bernard Smith, Uncle. (Deceased.)”
“Gerard Riley, Father. (Deceased.)”
“Natasha Riley. Mother. (Deceased.)”
“Subject Unconscious from Blood loss”
"Born in Nottingham, Jean and his family lived an awfully quiet life. During his younger years, his father joined the British Armed Forces to fight in The Gulf War in 1991. His family has a history of their relatives joining the military, his grandfather joined World War II, and his grandfather’s father joined World War I and his grandfather’s grandfather joined the wars that came before. War runs in the family. His father died of sickness. His mother died from cancer several years later. Bearing all the burdens, he took a job in the age of 15 as a delivery boy and bought food on the table. Months later his Uncle and his Auntie found them in their predicament and took them under their roof. From there on they lived peacefully, until their crisis. Once again Jean took different types of jobs, but one job was cut out perfectly for him. He joined the military at the age of 21 years old."
***Protocol 316: Any soldier who is unconscious in battle and either found dead or breathing, are to be escorted to the military.***
Everypony looked at the screen before, Twilight got too curious and touched the screen, hitting the ‘memories’ button.
***Authorization Level: 1 Access denied***
Well, she wanted to know what the creature wanted to do here; she flared up a powerful psychic spell, she aimed her horn at the screen and shot a purple beam of magic. The screen began to fizzle and crack before the system wrote:
***Authorization Level: 7 Access granted***
Twilight smiled in the name of victory. Well she overrides the system with her magic. Oh humanity, you so silly.
***Tapping into Cerebral Cortex, granted. Accessing Cerebellum. Showing Memory playback***
***
(First person: Jean Cristian Riley. Present age: 18yrs old)
“AHHH…” I groaned out. I rubbed my eyes and looked at the alarm clock at the side of my bed.
“MMoondaaaaaaayssss.” I groaned out again, this time more loudly.
The door clicked as it opened, I felt something sitting on my lap as I laid in bed, and it screamed very loudly.
“WAKE UP BIG BROTHER!”
“GAH!” I screamed, looking up I saw my little sister bouncing around my lap. Oh God no.
Oh lord, she is too young to know this kind of thing. Either way I hope she doesn’t notice my morning wood.
“Big bro? What’s this hard thing I’m sitting on? Ooo! Is it the remote control you hid?!”
Great. She NOTICED.
“All right! Time’s up!” I said before sitting up and carried my eight year old little sister on my shoulders. I opened the door and changed her position, carrying her bridal style.
“Bump! Bump! Bump!” She would occasionally mumble out as I placed my foot down on the steps. My Aunt looked at me with an amused look before saying, “Good morning sweetie.” I dropped my sister on her legs and sat on the table. My little brother who is in the age of 13, gave me a bro-fist.
In front of me was Pancakes and eggs. That is the stuff. I took my fork and took a chunk of it. I eyed the syrup bottle in the center of the table. Oh, I forgot about that. I took the bottle and uncapped it, I aimed at the pancake in my plate. The chuck was gone from my plate, I looked with a bemused expression and saw my sister nibbling on the tip of her fork.
I quickly took chunk out her own and placed it in my mouth, eating the fluffy goodness. My sister looked at me before exclaiming, “Hey!” I looked at her, smirking. “What’s yours is mine Kid.” Johansson chuckled from my remark.
She scrunches up her face, looking at me annoyed. I took my free arm and put her in a headlock. I placed my fist over her head and began massaging her with it.
“Hey! Cut it out bro!” She said, all the while giving her a noogie. My aunt popped out from the kitchen looking at me, she was smiling before she held her own platter of Fish and Chips. Man I want some.
“Alright, cut it out you two.” She said. My siblings and I looked at her as a mother figure. They found us after months of tracking us. We still lived at our house where we were raised by our parents. My Aunt and Uncle couldn’t find our home because they were distant, my relatives from us. It took a while before they gathered all the information to find us.
I just could help but shake the fact off, we were happy. Not that it was a bad thing. Normally I just shook the feeling of after days but, we found peace once again. How could this get bad?
***
(TIME SKIP: AGE IS 21)
Sigh.
Life’s getting harder by the minute. My aunt’s problem with money got to me finally; without the money I couldn’t finish law school, my sibling can even enroll to a school! It’s still a miracle Aunt Ehli still puts food on the table.
The money problem started when I was eavesdropping in a conversation between my aunt and the recent case involving the death of our uncle, there I knew we were also scammed. The criminal got away with the money. Almost ¾ of our money was gone. Poof! Disappeared out of thin air. “Huh, siphoning bank accounts out of thin air.” Huh, what a nice video game motto for a game someday.
A sat up one my bed, looking down the floor. I have been think of this for a long time now. If I join the military, the pay is good enough to cover our expenses, if we deposited in the bank in months’ time, we can even clear our debts! It’s a good thing the military is hiring men to fight.
No, it’s a death wish. You know you’ll died out their Jean. Don’t go to war!
You know what? Fuck that. My family needs the money, its even ok for me. I got kicked out of school because of a grave violation that I did not commit. They just pegged it on me!
I looked at the clock. 2:11 PM. I could enlist right now. This is my final decision. I took my coat from the clothes hanger in front of the door and went outside to meet my choice of work.
(Time Skip: Evening.)
I am currently in front of my Aunt, holding up the papers right in front of her. She was shocked to say, dumfounded. “NO JEAN, you aren’t permitted to do this!” My aunt finally snapped out from shock. She looked at me, in her eyes the fury of a thousand suns. She’s very mad at me. “Why did you do this?! Is it because I don’t have enough money to feed ourselves for a month so you applied for the military?!”
“YES! We don’t have enough money! We don’t even have enough money to enroll Annie, me and Johansson for that matter!” I raised my voice higher than hers.
“You didn’t have to worry! I work every day just to feed all of the three of you! Go tell the Military to pack up, you’re going to continue schooling!” she raised her voice higher than mine previously.
I took a deep breath before shouting higher than her own, “I just can’t stand you coming home tired and exhausted, hell it’s only a matter of time before your legs give in! I want a better future for my siblings, especially Annie. I’m about to graduate from college by know and I’ve learned so many. It time for my sibling to know more! Besides, it’s my time to join the military!”
“What will happen if you die then?! Who will feed us? Who’ll come home and play with your sibling besides me?” She said, she begged for the answer.
“If I die, the government will give you pension! There is a ton of money in that! I know money can’t buy love, but I want a better future for my sister and my brother. I don’t want them to just stare into the TV! They need knowledge. I hope they’ll understa---“
My ears shot up as I heard rustling, my aunt also heard it. I walked over behind the counter and saw Annie holding her teddy bear, she sniffled as tears ran down her eyes. She whimpered as I knelt down. She said, “Is it true Big Bro? You’re going to go with men with guns? Just like Daddy?” I stuck my finger out and wiped her tear going down to her cheeks.
“Yes…” I mumbled out.
She sniffles before she sticks both of her hands out, teddy bear in her hands for all the world could see. “Here, take Mister Cuddles. He helps me when he sleeps. Here let me give him to you.”
Smiling, I kissed her in the forehead.
“Auntie, this is my final decision. The truck will pick me up tomorrow in the morning.”
“I hope you made the right decision. Please just come home safe.” She said, before hugging both me and my sister. I couldn’t help but cry, I let my tears fall down my cheeks.
***
Regaining her posture after the little "show," the Princess of the sun levitated her quill and wrote a very short message before handing it to a guard. “Guard, deliver this to the messenger of the Royal Palace. Tell him it is addressed to my sister.”
The guard stood stiff as he gave a salute, he bolted out of the door. At that moment, another video played, this one in particular saw the creature riding on what it looks like a chariot, towards a city on fire.
Luna's Knight in Ballistic Armor.
Two days Later...
The Lunar Princess basked under the her sister's Arabian sun. She leaned on the marble fence of the courtyard of the sultan's palace. She sighed, not because of the heat; the is truth the capital of Saddle Arabia is cooler than the barren land of sand out side the city outskirts, she sighed rather because of the brewing tension with other neighbouring countries. The Equestrian scouts reported sightings of Gryphons mobilizing troops, and statistics shown that they made massive amounts of cannons and armaments and sold them to other countries like the Minotaur Empire and the Republic of North Kormanea. The South Kormaneians were organizing troops and amassing weapons. Any time they would expect their northern brethren will attack. The Turkey Empire were also buying weapons, they also have a deep connection with the Gryphon Empire, because of this the Nation of Stalliongrad, who are allies with Equestria, started to order massive amounts of weapons. Her train of though was cut short when a low Arabian voice spoke.
"Princess Luna, I see you have taken a liking to our garden?" a stallion said from behind.
The Lunar princess chuckled, looking at him with a smile across her face, " 'Tis the most beautiful garden I have ever laid my eyes upon, Sultan Ali Raj. Are these enchanted?" All though she was taught to speak in modern Equish, her old Equish still makes it self present form time to time.
The Sultan slightly released a laugh and replied, "No Princess, the maids simply take care of them every day."
"Impossible! It is beautiful!"
The Sultan took a second and took a swift look at the back, to see his adviser beckoning him to spit out the words he wanted to say. But it turned into a small cough first, clearing his throat.
"Ehem."
The lunar princess shifted her gaze to the sultan and he said "I hate to rush this but, my nation is in the brink of war. We need your troops and supplies. If the time comes, are you willing to defend your neighbor, whilst I do the same to mine?" the sultan replied, raising his brow.
Of course, Princess Luna went to Saddle Arabia for a proposal from the sultan; the sultan asked for a shipment of weapons, most of which is ammunition for other weapons, Equestria's newly manufactured Bolt action rifles, and a few 600mm cannons. As another for of payment, the sultan will send his troops to Equestria if the tension snapped into an all out war.
"I'm afraid I cannot do that Sultan," she replied, earning a nod and a small frown from Raj.
"But I could send the supplies and weapons you see fit in less than four days." she continued. The sentence singed through his ears, the lunar princess materialized a scroll with all the information of the trade.
Coming to a conclusion, the sultan reached for his knife and aimed it directly over his thumb, before tracing a vertical cut on it. After that, he pressed his thumb on the box at the edge of the scroll signifying his approval.
"I accept the terms Princess. I just hope this conflict will not brew into war." he said, raising his hand in between them.
"I, Princess Luna, on behalf of Equestria, accept the conditions. Mock my words, it shan't happen." with that, they clenched hands together, making a small shake that sealed their proposal. As all might seem well, the doors bust open, two Arabian guards were accompanied by a different guard, which was dressed with gold, so does his helmet that shined brightly from the sun. A shape of a silver horse shoe with wings on its side.
"Ah, Royal messenger! Why art thou here?" Princess Luna asked, the guard stood firmly in place and locked his right arm in a salute.
"Your highness! A message from Princess Celestia!" he then gave her a scroll with the royal seal and all that. Of course she levitated and opened the letter in front of her.
Dear sister,
Come home, we need to talk about pressing matters. Immediately.
Signed
Princess Celestia, your sister
A very short and comical letter, as weird as it is, it came from her sister. She never wrote like this. Unless if there is something more important than the brewing war and trade routes for Equestria and her allies. Heck, Celestia only write letters like this if it is very important. Popping in her mind was that special occasion when she accidentally misplaced the cake that her sister loved so much, and her reaction was priceless if you consider cake to be very special. Still the letter itself showed importance.
"Guard, please prepare the Royal Chariot." Luna said, whilst putting down the scroll and into the guard's open palm. The guard stood firmly in place and pivots, turning around. Luna, letting out a small sigh, said to the sultan:
"I am sorry to cut this meeting short Sultan Ali Raj," she said, turning to face him, "Until we meet again."
"I pray for your safety your Princess, until next time." the sultan replied, putting his fist on his chest for her.
Luna exited the room through the big ebony doors, completely clueless of what she'll encounter on her homeland: Equestria.
Groaning, Jean once again regained consciousness. Definitely he survived the Chimera, he manage to cut the tail and beat its head into a pulp! He made sure it was deep enough that he actually reached the tonsils, and peppered it with 45. ACP rounds. His vision is a blur, his cloudy eye began to dart to different appliances. There was a small table at his side, his gear was hung on a clothes hanger attached to a small hook at the wall. His helmet was placed on the other table, and so is his weapons. His hearing improved, the sound of beeping from Farther to the left, the door was half open, he could see people chatting mostly. One appeared to notice him waking up, and decided to walk up to him.
"Jean Riley?" she said, she wore what appears to be a white dress, edges were lined with golden fabric. Ever so slowly, she closed the distance between them, Jean began to back pedal slowly until he leaned on the wall. Even though he was hazy, he could make some features from her; she had a horn protruding from her upper forehead, she had ears similar to a horse's own, her spectrum colored hair flowed as if there was a present breeze of wind. As soon as he noticed this, the others opened the door, and two others went inside the room, clutching what appears to be rifles. And after what it seemed to be hours, he finally spoke, breaking the silence.
"Wh-h-Who are you?" He stammered, in his low toned and raspy voice.
"I am Princess Celestia, Princess of the Sun, co-ruler of Equestria." she said, in her regal tone.
Celestia...
Celestia. It was familiar, but still he heard this name before, from somewhere. But he can put a finger on it, he tried to piece everything together to make up the name, but he cannot. Then he had a name pop up in his mind. The opposite of her.
Luna...
"Lu-Luna..." again he stammered, mumbling those letters.
Upon hearing this, curiosity sparked within the Solar Princess' mind, " Speak sir Riley, what do you know of my sister?"
Of course, he couldn't forget that name, the beautiful maiden that rests on the moon. Her smile, could touch the hearts if millions like him, battered and bruised men and women. Her beauty was unmatched, even Aphrodite herself could only dream of. Oh, how sweet she was. She was just misunderstood, and she couldn't be able to win over the hearts and minds of her people. She just needed some love, and he obliged.
He clutched on his dog tags, feeling a soft feather on the palm of his hand. The said feather was dark bluish, illuminating in his palm a blue passive glow. It was the primary very the Luna gave him, it happened to be in the best condition even though it was crammed into different attires and his palm; the feather wasn't even fazed! It gave him light whenever he was lost in the darkest depths of the Earth with it, warmth.
Almost like touching the cheeks of his lover, Luna.
Luna.
"Luna..."
Was he dead? Did he really die on Earth. Back then in the forest when he was contemplating, he knew that he if he could get back to Earth, every one will think that he was a ghost, and he'll be a shell of a man that he once knew. At least he knew he knew he died, and he accepted it as such. But the mare he loved was here, she existed on this world. All those years of killing, shooting, stabbing, maiming people are all gone, drifted away by the river of rebirth. He could almost feel her warm body against his, only provided by the feather he was now clutching on. He felt different emotions, happiness, sadness, self pity, anxiety. He felt tears streaming down his cheeks.
It's been long since he cried.
He felt feathers wrapping around him, with open arms clinging to him in a tight hug. He looked to his left to only to see the princess comforting him, stroking his hair. He could feel her big breasts pushing onto his left side. But he was too tired to either push it away or care.
"There, there..." she cooed into his ear, her voice was rather motherly.
He chuckled, "Thank you, I needed that."
She broke away from the hug, chuckling in her own manner.
The purple one spoke, changing the mode something into a more cheery manner, " Hello, I'm Twilight Sparkle. Nice to meet you."
"Likewise princess." he replied, giving her a hand shake.
She began to point into the group behind her, "Here's Rarity, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie."
He made a small bow, smiling at them in sincerity, "A pleasure to meet you all, mind if I slip into my clothes before I head out?"
"Oh no no no! You need another two days of recovery before you can get out into the world." a nurse said coming in the room.
He replied, raising a brow. "How so?"
The nurse quickly trotted up to him, before lightly tapping her thumb against his right lower rib; she was rewarded with a yelp and Jean flinched. "See?"
"Ha ha. Serves me right for doubting a charming nurse such as yourself." he replied, he was well rewarded with a blush from the mare, she hid half of her face with the clip board she was clutching, trying to hide the blush she was currently experiencing.
"Flirting with Nurse Redheart I see Mr. Riley?" Princess Celestia herself said, looking at him with her stoic poker face.
Chuckling from the comment he replied, "No ma'am just being friendly with the locals."
He sighed before saying, " I need some shut eye. Can I be left for a moment, I need another day to take all of this information in."
The Princess gave a nod and beckoned every one in the room to come with her. He could here the door hinges screeching, and the butter yellow one mouthing, " Sweet dreams..."
Once again Jean heard the sound of the door opening, seeing a dark blue female, looking at him. He tried his best to look at her half lid. And it worked. She approached him and sat down on the chair beside him.
Luna...
After a minute, she slowly leaned to him, she pushed a side her mane at her eyes and planted a kiss on his forehead. She smiled and let her head rest on his stomach, her arms crossed to from a make shift pillow. Jean involuntarily placed his hands on her head. He could hear her saying vividly:
"Sweet Dreams, My long lost Lover."
Luna's Knight in Ballistic Armor.
Luna laid motionless on Jean's stomach, she fixed her eyes at the wall clock of the hospital room, although she stayed at least for an hour and a half now, she needs to be back at the Royal castle for night court; and of course it's way beyond visiting hour of Ponyville General Hospital. She straightened up and stretched out her arms and wings; standing up from her post, she kissed Riley's forehead.
"Goodbye..." gloomily she muttered before closing the door shut.
Back to the bed, a faint smile plastered Jean's face. Lightly chuckling, he spun to the side of then fell asleep.
Gun fire and screams populated the air; on the battlefield there laid the bodies of dead insurgents, civilians and the soldiers of the UN Republic. With in the burning city of Paris, the Eiffel Tower stood damaged and scorched, the small houses and establishment crumbled to the ground from the continues fire fights raging in the streets. The city hall came under fire, the belligerents were still NE and UN. The city hall was a complete mess, the street in front of it was covered with sand bags, military boxes, and green military tents. The flag on the UN soared high on the city hall. When you look at it at an angle, you could see bullets holes along the middle of the flag.
"Rangers on the way! Be advised support will arrive in 20 minutes! Sit tight!
"How much more?! Were getting pounded out here!"
"Incoming PAF! Karl get your ass out here and bring down that jet with the stinger!"
"Affirmative Sarge!"
A short pause filled the soldier's mind, before the sights locked on the Hind. Nothing else left to say, he pulled the trigger. The rocket launched itself towards the Hind, crippling the tail. The aircraft sputtered black smoke as it began to spin in the air, before landing at the court yard.
"YEAH! Chopper down!"
"Shit! Merkava's at our six! Where the hell is our armor!?"
A loud booming voice echoed the hall ways of the city hall,"CALM DOWN EVERYONE !"
The soldiers shifted their gaze on their CO, Sgt. Jean rubbed his temples as he calmed down the troops. He fixes his helmet on and pointed to the eastern wing, "Second Squad, move your asses to the eastern wing! The MG team is getting pounded to dust if you don't give them any support!"
The soldiers took their rifles and sprinted to the wing entrance, Jean took a look outside, but he was forced back into cover. Thirty-two troops filled the courtyard, firing on their position, two Merkava tanks fired a round into the western wing, crippling the second floor. The
PAF carcass was just another cover, given its current position. A UN trooper bought his M4 to bear as he aimed at the NE trooper exposing his head from the cover of his sand bags. The round found its mark on the trooper's left shoulder guard. Instead of recoiling back, the bullet pierced through the guard and into the flesh and bone, the NE soldier fell prostrate on the ground, clenching his bloodied shoulder as he retreated further into cover.
"Fire team 3-4, what's your status over?" he said over the radio. He took his rifle and emptied a clip into the enemy's position, in an effort to suppress the enemy back into their cover. The radio flared up again as the line was connected.
"3-4 is taking heavy fire! We can't provided sniper fire!"
Growling he replied, "Hold on the line! If we lose this building, they'll have a clear shot to destroy our base!"
The soldier replied, "Sir Yes Sir!"
"Second Squad, what's the status of the MGs?!"
A short pause echoed, static hums sounded out. He pushed the button again and called, "Second squad, I repeat! What's the status of the MGs?!"
No answer.
Instead of UN troops, the door gets violently kicked open. The Man on the door connected his rifle's stock on the NE soldier's chin, fracturing it. The soldier tried to pull out his pistol, before a bullet pierced his jugular. Jean bought his rifle to bear, aiming down the sight upon the opponent. Thrice he pulled the trigger, the three bullets connected on the enemy's chest and the neck. The another NE popped out of cover, in his hands was a small, but tall cylindrical object. He threw the object, landing in front of Jean's feet. Before hand, Jean pulled out his M9 Beretta from the holster on his hip; he pulled the trigger, sending two shots that penetrated the shoulder guard and the cheek of the New era soldier, killing him.
It was too late for him. The object caught him by surprise, it exploded. His ears rung with a high pitched tone and his vision became white.
***
'Twas already nine in the morning when Jean abruptly woke up. He froze, thinking hat he was still in the battlefield, but he shrugged. He straightened up his posture and stretched his back, making it crack. He did the same to his arms, he placed his hand on the other and cracks his knuckles. He did this also to his neck, which was aching. He never noticed the nurse that sat on the chair next to him.
He was stopped from his actions when the nurse cleared her through, " Good Morning Mr. Riley."
"Ah, Nurse Redheart. As Lovely as always, what did you bring for me today?' said Jean.
She chuckled from the remark and replied, "Oh, stop it Jean!" then she waved dismissively as she held a blush, but she handed the plate in her hands into Jeans lap, "The usual, some fruits, veggie salad, a glass of apple juice, and Hot Oatmeal. Considering your kind can't eat hay and grass, we have Cooked beans on the side for protein."
"Thank you nurse, cheers." he tips the glass of apple juice in his hand before taking the whole glass.
The nurse winked at his direction as she closed the door.
'Did she really just..?' he thought
'Nah, she didn't,' he shrugged the notion off of his shoulders.
He took a spoon full of oat meal and bought it to his mouth. He chewed the food that Nurse Redheart gave to him. As a matter of fact, the nurse was right, currently the hospital wasn't accustomed to the eating habits of omnivores such as himself. So the hospital came up with other means to feed the alien currently hospitalized. By the time he finished the meal, he stood up and waked to the window over looking the small town of Ponyville, apple in hand.
The town was big so to say, oddly enough to him, the houses resemble to that of old German architecture. He bit the succulent apple. Surprisingly, he loved the taste of the sweet apple. Apples on earth weren't this sweet, if any company made business with the owners of the orchard; that said company will sky rocket.
A hour passed since Jean woke up. He grew bored with his surroundings. He laid on the bed, staring idly at the white ceiling. He occasionally mutters his thoughts out loud from time to time.
'I'm going to get some kip.' he began to shift his weight facing the window to his right.
He succumbed to his weariness, his eyes closed shut.
Until the door swung open with a loud crash.
His eyes shot open, he faced the ceiling. Groaning, he said, "What now?" he fixed his eyes on the door way. Seeing a pink mare with a smile almost reaching to her ears.
"Jeany Christy!" she said, with a high pitched tone. She launched herself into Jean bed, straddling him by his stomach.
"HNNNG!" the force from the pink blob landing on his stomach forced the air out of him.
"Agh! Pinkie Pie!" he groaned.
"Pinkie!" a southerner voice rung out, Jean already knew that voice. From the door way, Applejack and the rest of her friends came in, Applejack pried the Pink pony off the currently defenseless human that got the wind kicked out of him form the pink pony jumping continuously on his stomach. Pinkie Pie giggled and sat down on the seat next to him. It was a good thing the wounds didn't open up.
"So Jeany! How was your day?" said Pinkie Pie.
Jean regained little breathe; still he replied, sarcastically, "Fantastic."
Pinkie Pie frowned a little, mouthing the word 'grumpy.' It was until she beamed up with an idea, kind of like a light bulb appeared right on the top of her head. She conjured a cupcake from her mane and jumped right on top of Jean's stomach again, of course Jean got the air kicked out of him. Again.
Pinkie Pie held the cupcake near his mouth, "Here Jean Winny! A cupcake I made just for YOU!" she said, before forcefully stuffing the cupcake in his mouth.
The rest of the girls flinched, Applejack extends her hand out, trying to take hold of Pinkie Pie, only to find the pink blob of energy sitting on her earlier position. Sometimes, she would question physics, and she knew Jean would, but it was best to leave it as it is.
Jean found himself chewing the delectable pastry stuffed in his mouth, truth be told, it was quite delicious, but too sweet for his taste. In one gulp, he took the cupcake into his stomach. He was quite surprised from the Pink girl's antics, he knew this because Celestia told him what Pinkie Pie did to him in his sleep. He chuckled from the memory, before returning a happy gaze to the pink party pony.
"Tastes good Ms.Pie but, it's too sweet for my preferences." he said.
This earned him a smile coming from the pink pony. Twilight pulled out her note pad and sat down next to Pinkie Pie, she turned a page from her pad and took out an ink and quill from her sling bag.
"Let's set things straight. Mr. Riley, Princess Luna gave me some info about you, and I want to clear somethings regarding the info. Is it true that you are Human?"
'What? Too obvious? And what the in the bloody hell is that question supposed to mean?' he though, it came to him as an insult. But he did not bite back.
"Yeah. Do we have a little problem with that Ms. Sparkle?" he said.
"Oh! No! Not at all Mr. Riley. Just call me Twilight by the way. I just want to know it by myself. Human are supposed to be a myth." Twilight replied.
'Myth? Ha, you'll be surprised when I tell you your kind can't talk, not sentient and Unicorns and Pegasi aren't real, just a myth like humans in your world.' he though.
"Now getting to the point, the thing you carried in your arms is a musket right?"
"Of course."
"Then how does it fire continuously? I don't see any kind of bolt on it." she countered.
Thinking of only one word, he replied: "Technology."
Well, she wanted more, but she though it wasn't the best time to tell the tale of gun mechanisms, so she didn't dig any deeper than the word "Technology."
"You're an omnivore right?" she fired another question.
"Yes."
"How can you describe Humanity?"
It was deep, too deep for him to describe, people vary from degree of their judgement. Some are care-free and uptight, some are kind and some are plain nasty. Some people are killers and some are saviors. Just the mere thought of it causes some migraines. Rubbing his temples with his fingers, he replied, using the nearest answer:
"Humans are peaceful... At times. We preach peace, but when forced to fight, we are demons sent from hell. We live in places generally that is calm, but others prefer the bustling city lights instead of a calm quint town. All in all, we are much like you. "
Twilight continued to pop question after question, it was a common thing of course, this was a find of the century! But the fine specimen certainly was annoyed by her questions like:
"Whats your favorite food?"
"What kind of job do you have?"
Of course he wanted to answer that, but before he could, he was blocked by another question.
"How was human history?"
"How did your race came from using sticks and stones to computers and power tools?!"
'Oh god, when will this mare bugger off?' his thoughts echoed through his mind, looking at the purple mare in front of him.
Pinkie Pie must have sensed it as if his thoughts were read by her. At the corner of Jean's good eye, Pinkie pie pulled out a pink cannon; looking similar to that off 18th century cannons, except this particular one is stubby, and hell it was very girly. Caught off guard, Jean fell off the bed after hearing a loud boom; he acted on sheer instinct. Jean popped his head out of the bed and took a look around the room.
'What in God's name?' he said, his eyes twitching from the sight.
There in the middle of the room was a table, on said table was chocolate cake, punch, nacho and cheese, apple cider, party hats and party horns. Hanging on the ceiling was a red banner, on it was Get well Jeany!'
He can't help but smile.
Pinkie pie ran up to him and placed a small chunk of sliced chocolate cake in his mouth. He chewed and swallowed.
'Again, tastes good' happily he thought. Pinkie Pie felt him brewing up a smile, this caused her to smile in return. He stood up and made his way to the table. He took a glass of apple cider and took a swig.
"So, how's mah' apple cider for yah Jean?." Applejack said.
"Love it." he said.
For Jean, he always enjoyed the company of these girls, be it from Pinkie Pie's wild antics, or Rainbow Dash's tales of the sonic rainboom. He never told her that his kind started breaking the sound barrier ages ago, he feared that might enrage her, better yet, fall to depression.
"I have to ask, You made this Apple cider right? Then your an Apple farmer right?" he said.
"One and only!" she gleefully she said.
"I must say your apples are delicious, I hadn't have a good apple for about five months now." said Jean, this earned him a smile from the mare he was talking to.
Pinkie pie popped in the middle of the two, in her hands was her camera and a party horn, which she shoves into Jean's mouth. Twilight, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy and Rarity positioned themselves from behind of the trio.
'Seriously! What's with this girl and shoving things into mouths!?' practically he screamed his thoughts in his mind.
"Ok everypony smile!" Pinkie pie says. With that, Jean blew the horn, and the shot came accurately.
Surely this was a fun time for Jean, today was a day where his mind is filled with happiness and tranquility.
