The Three demons

Hey, guys. It’s Sam. So, yeah, my brother had his turn telling you how we got to Equestria. We decided to rotate storytelling, so I’m the one this time.

I’m going to pick up a few hours later, just after the three of us in the Nomad crossed into snowy territory, as nothing of interest beyond Christie having a slight freak out, resulting Josh having to knock her out.

“Sensors picking anything up?” Josh asked, his helmet on in case of an emergency. So was mine.

“Nope,” I replied. “Well, nothing concrete anyway.”

“Without a smartass remark, what do you mean?” he asked.

“The sensors are picking up what I assume is magic, but there seem to be different signals conflicting with one another. No idea if it’s natural or not.”

“Hopefully it is,” he said.

“Why?”

“Because if not, one of those signatures could very well be after our ass.”

I thought about that for a few seconds before shrugging. “Yeah, that’s a possibility,” I said. Three minutes of silence passed before I spoke up again. “I’ve been thinking: this Equestria seems to be more military oriented. What if it’s a dictatorship and Celestia’s the leader?”

“She and Luna are the only ones we know to still be alive that are in this version of Equestria that could remember beyond the current lifetimes,” he said. “If that’s the case, then that means-”

“Nobody knows anything else, and if the other nations have been brought to the metaphorical heel, they don’t want anything beyond that.”

“Bingo,” he said. “Which means, to them, we’d still be the villains. As a plus, we wouldn’t have a moral or ethical complication on account of the fact we are against a military styled dictatorship.”

“If we took over though, wouldn’t Equestria still be that?”

I knew Josh well enough that I imagined him opening his mouth to reply, then shutting it in thought. “Yeah, probably,” he said. “Shit, there’s no way around that except for leaving. Then again, they’d probably be good with the government, just not the leaders. Having lived with it their entire lives.”

“Good enough for me to still want to play villain,” I said before I saw an alert on my HUD, one of the magic signatures spiking. “Not good.” I expected Josh to ask what, but he didn’t. I looked over to him, and saw him with a hand on the top of his helmet. “Another headache?”

“The hell do you think?” he asked. “I swear, if it has to do with the magic here and gets worse, I’ll be a villain just to destroy all magic to stop ‘em.”

“Well, it matched a spike in one-” I was cut off just as the Nomad was tossed to the side.

“Shit!” Josh yelled as the Nomad rocked and I got it under control.

“Shields down,” I said. “Hit off our left side!”

“Then let’s hit ‘em back,” Josh said as he grabbed Nornfang in the back, and manually opened his door, only to ready his rifle. “Get the hell back!”

I opened my door- pulling out my sidearm, an N7 Eagle pistol, as I did so, and looked out, pointing my gun at a group of ponies wearing mismatched armor and were using improvised weapons such as rakes and hoes. “Get back or you lose your life.”

“Why should we let Equestrian dogs live in our homes?” one asked. Keep in mind, the ponies looked like an artist Josh called ss2sonic had drawn them. That basically means they had muzzles short enough for our helmets to fit on their heads, the exception being unicorns.

I rolled my eyes, and fired a shot next to one of their hooves, making them jump. “Next one goes through your head,” I told them. “Now, get the fuck away before we send you to whatever afterlife exists.”

“Never!” a mare shouted before throwing a spear at me. It missed. My retaliatory shot didn’t.

“Anyone else with her brand of stupid, or do you all have some measure of self preservation?” I asked.

A stallion growled. “We’ll have your heads.”

“No, you won’t,” I told him. “Now, go back home and tell your damned solar goddess if she wants us, send in actual military and not farmers.”

This made them look at one another. “You. . .aren’t in Equestria’s military?”

“The fucking hell do you think?” I replied. “We just shot a what I assume to be a civilian when she acted out of stupid fear!”

“No, sis, that was you,” Josh said.

“Fuck off.”

“They’d do the same?” I asked in disbelief, my pistol still raised.

A stallion in my view was about to reply before a mare said, “Shut it. For all we know, they could be constructs Sombra made to infiltrate us.”

I was about to say something when I was pushed from behind off the Nomad and landed face first in the snow. “Who’s in charge of Equestria!?” I heard Christie nearly yell before hearing the sound of an energy sword igniting. “Where’s the bastard?” Should probably mention Christie is one of the few who just despise Sombra due to the fact he enslaved the Empire and turned them into a mindless army. No, I mean if there was a way to jump dimensions at will, she’d go a Sombra killing spree

“Ma’am, I don’t think these are constructs the bastard made,” a stallion said. “That one wouldn’t be able to pass as a pony.”

“You’re suggesting we recruit them?” the mare asked as I got up and glared at Christie, flicking her off as I did so. “They killed Morning Glow.”

“Ma’am, we both know the only reason she was here is because out here is where she’d do the least damage to our cause,” the stallion replied. “Honestly, I’m still amazed the Princess kept her around.”

“Really, Dusk?” another stallion asked.

“What? We all know it’s true.”

“Regardless,” the mare said, “we can’t trust them.”

“Uh, we’re right here,” I said.

“We know,” the mare said, and I saw that she wore plate armor with chainmail under said armor, and a helmet covering her face, so I couldn’t make out anything other than gender and the fact she was an earth pony. “What are you doing up here?”

I was about to reply before an alert came up on my HUD, coming from the Nomad’s system. “How about the fact there’s a group of ponies following us from that direction,” I said, pointing the way we came, “and that we told you about them? Josh, get on the Nomad, and get ready to snipe.”

“Got it,” he said before climbing on top of the Nomad and lying down. I guess he used the Smart link scope, because he gave us an observation of the ones following. “Got about thirty ponies. One third are in the air, others are ground-pounding. Judging from the field around them, I’d say a few unicorns. Won’t be able to do anything while it’s up.”

“I’ll check it out,” Christie said.

“Sis, they’ll see you coming.”

She chuckled. “You forget: I’m wearing Spec ops.” A second later, she began to fade from view, leaving only footprints in the snow.

“That was quick,” I muttered. I turned to Josh and asked, “Anything special in that group?”

“Nope,” he replied. “Either Sombra’s smart and doesn’t give his officers special armor, there’s no officer here, or said officer is a coward and hangin' in the back.”

I nodded, even if he couldn’t see it. I then activated my radio. “Christie, you there?”

“Yeah,” she whispered. “What?”

“See if you can find the officer and bring him here.”

“No promises.”

“Are you three seriously helping us?” the mare asked me.

“No,” I said. “We are working to take Equestria for our own. Capturing an officer of their army could give us insight into the inner workings, allowing us to screw them over royally,” I replied, clenching my fist at the end and a slight psychotic grin on my face, even if the others couldn’t see it. “But in the short: yes because if my assumption is true, these guys will kill you, and our goals simply align currently.”

“Good enough right now, I guess,” the mare said. “Ponies, get into position to hit the Equestrians from the side!”

“Ma’am!” the other ponies shouted, and spread out away from us.

As they spread out, I said to Josh on the comms in a whisper, “What’s the plan after this?”

“Dependent of how she reacts,” he said. “If not in our favor, we kill her group, take her hostage, and I break her into being loyal to us. If in our favor, we do the long con until we take control of the resistance or rebellion or whatever the fuck they call themselves, and spin our motives to where even after we win, they will be loyal to us.”

“Just don’t enact any of your fantasies on her if the A route is what happens.”

“Hey, we’re villains, not animals. We need some sort of code. One most never follow out of stupidity or arrogance, but still.”

“Good, because then I’d-”

“But I make no promises after or if there’s no alternatives to breaking her.”

I sighed, not really surprised. “Fair enough,” I muttered. I then talked with Christie. “Anything, sis?”

“No. I’m nowhere near them now. What makes you think I’d be there that quickly?”

“Well I thought because you’re now a damned predatory species-”

“I’m kidding, I’m behind them now. Not seeing much, other than Shining Armor wearing dark armor minus a helmet, though that’s under his shoulder. Waiting on your word.”

I nodded. “Copy that. He projecting the shield?”

“Yep.”

“Good. Josh, get ready to fire.”

“Already got a poor ass in my reticle.”

I nodded. Glancing at the mare, I asked, “How long until your forces are in position?”

“That’s none of your business,” she said.

“So’s where we’re taking you,” I said before taking my pistol and pistol whipping the back of her head before she could reply, knocking her into the snow face first.

“Sam. . .,” Josh said, and I could feel the glare in his voice.

“Please, we both know she wouldn’t work with us,” I said. “Speaking of,” I added before talking with Christie, “Sis, once you take the C.O., take what Equestrian weapons you can, and kill the other ponies. The longer we keep attention off us, the better.”

“Got it.”

“And just where are we going to go with a prisoner?” Josh asked. “You and mom say I don’t think things through, but even I know we need someplace to hide and break ponies!”

I was about to reply as I raised my finger before Christie said, “Fuck! Sniper support, now! They see me!” A few seconds later, she added, “I have the V.I.P.!” As she said that, the shield around the Equestrians fell.

“Fuck ‘em up!” I shouted at Josh, and he replied by firing a round from his sniper rifle while letting his evil laugh out.

“Dead. You’re dead. Say goodbye to your head. Boom bitch,” he said, each after letting a bullet fly. He then released the magazine, and grabbed another from his waist, and fired again. “Spec, you got three farmer ponies behind ya. Take ‘em out.” A few seconds later, he commented, “You sure you aren’t enjoying this a little too much, sis?”

I rolled my eyes as the two talked on the radio using their own channel. Ten minutes after the fireworks started, Christie returned, carrying Shining Armor over her shoulder. “So, what are we going to do with ‘em?” she asked.

“Josh, take our female guest into the Nomad. Christie and I will handle this interrogation.”

“Copy,” Josh said with a two fingered salute before rolling off the Nomad-literally, he acted like he was a pushed log- landing in. . .well, a superhero position, but that was mainly due to how fast he fell. Remember, his armor weighs in the area of a thousand pounds. He got up, putting his sniper rifle on the magnetic holster on his back, and walked to where the mare was. “I’ll see if I can get her name,” he said as he picked her up before carrying her to the rover.

I then looked at Shining. “So, Christie, any ideas what we’re gonna do to him once we get what we want?”

“Kill him,” she said. “He’s the only survivor of this little skirmish, and those back from Ponyville only know of you and Josh. I am an unknown, and they will be unable to plan for me.” Igniting a wrist mounted Energy dagger, she added, “I see no reason to remove that advantage.”

I chuckled. “You always were the planner out of us,” I said. “Now, let’s wake him up and get to work.”

“And you, Samantha, were always the one who legitimately enjoyed seeing one’s insides. I’ll be at the front of the Nomad, cringing as I hear the sounds of torture I’m sure you’ll inflict.”

“Get some loud music.”

“Already got a playlist.”