The Long road for love and life book one

i was met by silence as all the ponies in their power armor were staring at me, they all had their own armor with different colors, some even had their cutie marks painted onto their suits helmets, one even had born to flame above the square with cutie mark of flames, i calmly ignored them and sat next to Moonlight after closing the door behind me.

the silence was broken by a door opening somewhere in front of me, and behind the gorking ponies in power armor, "ATTENTION" came a powerful shout as the ponies snapped out of their fixation, the sound of the ponies simultaneously turning their head filled the room with a metallic scraping, "INTRODUCING PRINCESS LUNA" the second sound was of them sitting down with the same sound of scraping metal and mixed with a series of thuds as they sat down.

"alright my little ponies settle down and pay attention, i take it you have seen your new team member, yes he is a changeling and you will be working with more from his hive, as this is a joint operation we will also have the humans to assist us, they are being bereft on their orders just as you will be, but before we continue are their any questions?"

one of the metal ponies raised a hoof and in a female voice asked, "Princess i know we have unicorns and earth ponies involved in this team but why in the name of you and your sister is that bug joining us for? i mean we fight them and now we are to have one on our team? no disrespect but isn't haven vamp's bad enough now bugs too?"

Luna just glared at the mare "THAT BUG! as you have so bluntly put it is a good friend to both i and my sister not to mention the new ministry mares, you might know them as the elements of harmony, and his hive is an ally to Equestria and to the humans, and i would expect such slanderous words from a foil, AND NOT FROM ONE OF MY OWN SPECIAL BRANCH, do i make myself clear?" Luna said with a threatening tone.

the mare in question was shaking visibly so, as her suit rattled, she gave a "yes ma'am" in a shaking tone in her voice, i did feel a bit sorry for her, but it is definitely not my place to say anything, so i remained silent as Luna continued.

"now that, that is done let me introduce gunner Edwin and Lances corporelle Roberto along with weapon specialist Aldowin, i do hope you show them some respect and give them your full attention" i noticed that the pony who must of shouted reminded by the door he was a brown Earth pony who wore a red cape and matching hat, thankfully he did not shout as Luna gave him a node after walking to the side of the big screen which i also noticed,

the door was opened by the pony who was labeled as Albert, i only know that because it was written on his cape, Little light said "it was so nopony else would wear it" but i just ignored her as i watched as three metal humans came stomping into the room, each of them wore visibly different armor but they had the same...erm cutie mark or something similar as it depicted a red human with horns, it had writing just above the picture but i could not read what it say's from where i was sitting.

the metal humans lined up with the leader or i think he was, taking the center of the room with the others on each side of him, his armor was smoother and more rounded than the others with silver as the main color the shoulders plates were red with luna's Moon and a sword on them, the helmet had tubes going around to the back with a single black slit for him to see out of.

the other two had the same colors but the one on his left had what looked a bit like pointed ears and his metal plates bulged in parts like he was mad out of pointed cubes set on their sides, the other had a helmet what looked like a pig but where the snout should of been was conceived slightly, his armor bulged but was more rounded.

the one in the middle started to speak, "hello and thank you Princess Luna for allowing us to be apart of this team, befor i be gain is there any questions?" i raised my hoof, "yes you their" "i was just wondering what the writing is above your cutie mark says if i may" Luna's mouth opened in shock at my question but promptly closed it when the human started to laugth and dispelled any tension before it had time to build ""what is your name mr pony?" he said after his laugth,

"Paul Sir and i am a changeling Sir" "well my apologies mr Paul, but this (he pointed to the little red horned man) is supposed to be the devil, you could say he is incharge of hell or your tartarus, the writing says hell jumpers push them back in, it means that we generally jump pack into the fray and we send our enemies back to the hell from whence they came, i hope that answers that one for you?" i just gave an acknowledging nod, quiet satisfied at the answer, "are there any more questions? ..... no alrighty then let's begin, as some of you know we have sent unmanned drones across what you call the bad lands"

their was an adebule click then the screen behind him sparked to life with a moving picture of something flying at speed, it slowed down as it approached an abandoned pony town, the name lost dove appeared on the screen, "following reports in a dusty scroll we manage to find this town, as you can see it is called lost dove, we are calling it lost hope just incase you get any reports from us humans" the picture continued to show the drones flight as it veered right and continued, the screen changed to a dark blue as it continued to look at the ground, than it was bathed in bright yellow except in parts that looked like blue lines that criss crossed, but their where yellow dots that seemed to move at a calm pace,

"as you can see in infrared or heat vision, if you will, the land is generating a lot of heat except in places where it is blue indicating that the ground is colder and in these cold spots are heat signatures" the droun gained alutichewd as it passed over the the many mountains but one stuck out like a sore thumb, as it was green while the outer rim was yellow, which meant only one thing to me, it must be a chamber for the sun and the moons light to hit the cristals far below in the old city, "as you can see their are these green circles which means that the top is moveable, and as you can see this feed goes black as we change the view, the screen did indeed change to a higher view as we watched what i can only describe as a white flying cross which blow up, well to be honest it was hit by a greenish fireball then it exploded in a bright fireball.

the second drone zoomed in onto where the green blast came from, as it did so their was a brief glimpse of a lone black figure, "we can clearly see the first drone is destroyed by an unknown hostile, as we zoom in you can see this lone figure is clearly visible, but as we begin to zoom out this happens"

as the drones camera zoomed out a green spear was approaching at speed, a greenspear with a black center that stopped, just as the screen slowed down the video feed and highlighted it as unknown object two meters away, but i knew what it was and so to did the others, "as you can see as we slow down the video feed from the camera, this as unknown" the human paused in his speech and gave me a quick glance before he continued, " intervigil then attacks the second drone by smashing it out of the air, as you can see this is a changeling, so we know or we strongly believe that our vehicles will be able to withstand their magical and physical attacks judging by the data"

at this Moonlight raised a hoof, "yes you their in the pink and golden armor?" "yes sir, and my name is Moonlight sir, i was just wondering how you can say that, after they destroyed those drouns so easily?" Moonlight said in a tone of concern, the metal man chuckled "thank you for your concern miss Moonlight, but they did not destroy the drones, in fact that was us, i believe princess Luna has more to say about this."

Luna stepped forwards as the metal men stepped back, almost as though it was coriorgraft as the metal men turned and raised a arm each to Luna, which she acknowledged by given a bow to them, they sharply and promptly put them back down and marched off towards the door and next to Albert they stopped next to him in an orderly line and turned to face us all.

Luna took to the center of the room after i was almost blinded as the lights flashed back on which i did not noticed were either switched off or were dimmed, but och that did sting my eyes, i must off seemed more distressed than i meant, as Moonlight gave me a nuge to which i gave a nod, Luna must of noticed my reaction as when my vision came back she did seem a bit worried but swallowed it down and cleared her throat,

"thank you mr Aldowin, the humans deliberately destroyed the drone's, so hopefully when we begin our assault they will not think you are that much of a threat, so most of the hive soldiers will stay underground, and we can provide a diversion, as the humans and the changelings who are outfitted in chameleon hybrid armor will attack in different waves, the humans will attack first once the changeling are in position, we are also going to send in our troops after the humans have their attention, the royal legions will be providing support on the ground as we expect the counter attack to be a major offensive, and despite their technology they would be overwhelmed if they went in alone, our changelings will be their in waiting to help stem the tied, now your job will be simple as from our reports the old metal doors are wide enough for one of the humans flying machines to fit but there's not too much room for them to land.

the wonderbolts will be using their own power armor to provide air support for your assault along with our changelings, as their second job is to keep the queen chrysalis troops as busy as possible, but their main one is to stop them getting air born if possible, once you are inside we do not think you will be ingased by any changelings but you may encounter other things that is why your armor is different as we have our very own Paul to thank for this intelligence"

Luna gave a smile that was aimed in my direction, all i thourt was why, rule one if you like someone and you are a higher rank do not show them any special attention,

Luna then continued "this operation will start in three days so after this you are going straight to training to make sure that every pony is up to speed, now i know most of you have weapons training but we need to make sure that you can", oh goodie i thourt swards but then another thourt crossed my mind, what if it is something else? that was when the door was opened by the humans as i court Luna saying "dismissed and make us all proud my dear ponies"

we all roes as the front row went thru the door that the humans went thru, one by one each of the rows went out, finally it was our row and i promptly followed close behind the others, after what seemed like eternity of walking around until we came outside, i saw everyone going into what looked like a metal shed, as i passed by the door, i did notice the sign on it that read, authorized personnel only and had what looked a bit like a monkey with an open mouth and had a big black hand, i realised as i started down the steps inside that it was a human, i was so glad that i did not say that out loud, i saw some weird and bright elongated glass tubes, but something inside said light bulbs.

at the bottom of the stairs i saw a large structure had been built to contain buildings that looked familiar to me, that is when i remembered the old city. i did not have long to look at the, and i mean this in the best way possible poor representation as the line moved on, i did notice that this part of bunker was about the size of two fungal fields, we proceeded through an open corridor and i was met by a view of gray walls made out of steel and concrete,

ok i thourt where are these words coming from? i sighed at this, and followed the line down another corridor to where i saw most of the steel ponies standing wear standing next to a door each, there was only one door left right near the entrance way that had my name and Moonlight but it read, comander Moonlight and spc ops Paul, this was one of those i will have to ask Moonlight later as i think i have missed something, but i was snapped out of it by the metal human, "ok it is currently 17:53pm get to your rooms, get your gear sorted because we will get up at 04:00am breakfast then training, until 17:00 for lunch, then more training until 21:00 pm for sleep and then we do it again, understood?" we all gave a resounding "sir yes sir" then every pony entered their rooms.

as me and moonlight entered i was met with a view that i had forgotten about as Moonlight stated, "oh good i wanted to see that" we were somehow in Twilight's castle "Moonlight am i losing my mind or have i ingested something, because this is hurting my head" Moonlight giggled at my confusion, "look close the door and then turn the handle to the left" Moonlight said in the cheery tone she uses whenever i am being silly in her eyes which seems to be quite a lot, so i did just that and was shocked to open the door and i could see the hallway of Twilight's castle, i then shut the door and turned the handle to the right and i was met with the view of the metal and concrete of the training facility,

"ok Moonlight how does this work? on second thourt never mind...." Moonlight gave another chuckle "the door will open to canterlot for us as if anypony else was to try it nothing would happen, and do not worry about it" then with a whoosh of steam or a gas of some kind as i did not feel any heat, althour i then remembered that i was in a suit that was very comfy, ok how do i get out was my next question, little light answered me "are you sure you wish to exit" "yes Little Light i would like that," soon and silently the suit opened, i could feel the air on my back and it was a refreshing.

after unceremoniously exiting the suit it sealed itself back up and made me jump to the ceiling as it moved by itself, then came Little lights voice "what are you doing up their Paul?" came the almost innocent tone, Moonlight did look a bit shocked but i think that was more at my reaction than at the suit, "Paul you did know that the AI can control the suit if needed, for example if you are unconscious then the suit can take you back to the medical center for treatment if you do not have any potions".

"That is true but that is not all i can do" Little Light said in a cheery tone, she then gave a yawn, "well i am going to hit the racks, please keep it down" she said with a wink, then turned her head as she proceeded to go towards the far wall, once there she cured up and the lights went out.

after a few friendly bouts of a private nature ;)

Moonlight and i lay together on the mattress, but i was not having a restful sleep, in my dreams i was sitting at a poker table, the dealey wore a cape, the other players how ever, one was a dimon dog with a metal jaw, the next one looked like a quarry ell only with little producing arms, the third was a red cloud in the from of a pony with glowing red eyes,

we remained silent, as the hooded figure dealt us our cards, "so war is it?" the diamond dog, "don't woers'ss am sure you will do fine" hist the serpent but the red cloud chuckled, a female waitress placed a brown glass bottle down, it had a picture of a white mare wearing a bunch of bottles like crown, her eyes seemed to glow and her main was black and red, i looked at the waitress who had a big yellow 92 on the back of a blue suit?, i looked at my hand that lay on the table, i had a Queen of hearts that looked like princess celestia, the Queen of spades looked like princess Luna, the Queen of diamonds was that pink alicorn princess Cadence, and Twilight as the Queen of clubs, i also had a Joker card with my own face on it, i looked out of the window as a bright flash happened followed a second later by a wall of rainbow colors,

just as the wall of color hit the window my set disappeared as i was now falling, i stopped in the dark as a new figer appeared, it was in heavy looking armor and was using a beam rifle, but it was killing grubs nymphes and newborns and fillies alike, it was laughing, "ENGUTH OF THIS!" i said as i concentrated, as i did so i felt to entities, one that just seem to watch the other, other one was feeding on my emotions trying to make me have a nightmare? i did not have time to think of anything else at the moment could wait,"help me Luna" i thought when "you do not need my help Paul" came Luna's voice.

i started to think of the good that i have seen and felt, i remembered my mother, princess Luna, "What are you doing?" came a slimy voice, i remembered princess Celestia, and how she got to have a funny joke or two by me, "this is not right" the voice countered with "your nothing, but a bug" i remembered how Twilight felt after acting on instinct which also made me happy, i remembered A.J and spike, i then started to "stop this stupidity, you're going to" remember Moonlight and i felt a surge of emotion built up and i held it as the world around me flickered like an out of tune tv or when you get a poor single?

as the familiar white clouds of the dream world fizzled into existence revealing a green blob of.......green slim? it had two yellow eye that seemed to float mainly in shock "you're not nomal" it said in a bubbling mass sounding voice, it was then that Luna spoke up from behind me, "Be Gone Nav, leave this realm" the green slime shuddered, so i leaned in closer to it "go now before i forget myself" with that message received, it slithered off at full speed,

Luna chuckled at the sight, "we did not know if you remembered our teaching, but you were a quick learner" i did catch a smile on Luna's face as a series of flashes from behind he took my attention, one of the lights turned into a beautiful blue unicorn with an almost white mane, another flash and their was Twilight Sparkle, after the rest had appeared, the blue unicorn with a light purple hat with blue stars spoked "Trixie for one would like to know what is that black thing is, as that does not look like a Boogle, i also notice Lyra, i hoped that was the real one had gave a affirmative node

Luna looked at the group, "Twilight what can you see?" Twilight took a few steps forward, squinting in my direction as she moved closer until "is that Paul?" to which she was given, "it is good to see you miss Twilight, but miss Luna why can they not see me as clearly as you can?" i said spearing Twilight from the feeling of i know this is going to seem daft, but please just answer it as i feel daft enguth

Luna gave me a i know and thank you, but they must ask not you kind of look, "indeed as your skills grow, so will you fined that the more you know, the more that you can see, oh and Paul i would cover that screen up when others are around, and welcome to the dream guard,

i awoke in a state of swete and almost terror which left me just as quickly, well that was fun i thourt as i noticed, i had half an hour then my day would begin, i stepped out and made my way to the kitchen, a few of the staf seemed shocked at me proceeding to get to work, in the pantry, what luck i thourt as i saw bacon and sausage and some eggs, i grabbed them in my magic and nearly walked into a, really annoyed looking stallion, "hi i am Paul, and this is for Moonlight and me, i can pay for the items, i said as i past him and began to position everything that i was going to need by hoof,

i washed up and started by unraveling the sasges and adding them to the pan with a little oil, the bacon was soon to go at to the browning of the sages, the plates were ready as the eggs went on last as the sages and bacon were coming off the heat, soon the eggs were ready, i turned off the heat and quickly cleaned the pan and anything that had been used, i placed everything back and proceeded back up to the bed room,

Moon light was getting her self ready for the day to come, as i came into the room holding the door open she looked at me and chuckled, "you know" she then stopped and asked "since when did you start cooking?" i gave a wait a minute grunt, so that i can places the treat down on a side table, onces i was finest "well i think Luna gave me the tools to learn when i was down, as i look at something that i know i have never seen before and now i can name it, and i know how to use it,"

""well what don't you know then?" Moonlight said in a i am not fully paying attention as this will gave me a headache tone as she began, i darted back into the hallway and brought out my secret weapon, "well the time i was down their i thourt i would of" i manage to say before a cup betrayed me and my actions as i turned back around to see Moonlights eyes widen almost to breaking point as she eyed the coffee,

it took all my strength not to break, it was like i had a sweet and was going to eat it without ether sharing or offering it to her, i filled up her own cup first, followed closely by my own, i wanted to ask her about my dream but i also did not want to spoil the silence, she gave a contented sigh, then "What is it? this is more than just Luna teaching you?" Moonlight said with a i know you just as you know me smile, "i began about my dream, but mainly at the bright light and wall of rainbow cloud, but mainly what clasped me in fear was, how helpless i felt and how resigned to my fate i felt, and then i went into how that Boogle had used my dream to feed itself trying to show me killing children, to make my fear and discus at the same time",

Moonlight managed a "i see" followed by "that is a tuff one, plush you can not really tell when the attack happened" i could but, the story of the bright light probably was what made me look tasty, "i am sure, that it was nothing much, but i am still good for the mission, Commander" Moonlight coughed at my statement, i just gave a little smile "ok my sexie spec ops" she retorked and was met by mr stupidity "so what does spec ops do?" i said with a grin

after our breakfast and a conversation of how i mainly answer to Luna and moonlight, we had to get back into the mind set and after a quick kiss we reentered our suits, i was greeted by Little Light who gave a tiered good morning along with a yawn, as we left our room behind us i noticed another list of to does, it still read new quest by the grace of Luna, it was mainly weapons training and maintenances, and hoof to hoof combat, then explosive training which i was hopeing was not going to be that oerder, me and moonlight lined up as the second group of ponies fell in alongside, in less than a minute the whole squad had turned up followed by the metal humans,

"right since we are all here and since i know you have Pip Bucks and we have ours, i will not bore you with any details other than, you have half an hour for breakfast, although most of the timetable is not in order that can wait for now.