Clay Swords and Crossed Dimensions.by ImageBreakerChaptersLearning Curve and Disasters.Friendly Fire.The Brit is Here!American Stealing the Spotlight!Given them Sass!The Prologue: Gala Gone Wrong.Learning Curve and Disasters.Arctic Research Base December 21st 1839 11:12am Captain Raymond Conner sat at the table listening to the boring speech on the clouds which had appeared and blocked out the sun. Some believed this to be due to the amount of steam machinery polluting the atmosphere but others believed this was magic and so a small group of trustworthy soldiers were called together to form a small research team all of which were ordered to hide the fact they were being sent to the Arctic on a research mission. After but a few weeks journey on a small airship they had reached the arctic research base at which they would be briefed on what they were to do and the roles they would play in the group and it came as no surprise when Raymond Conner was selected to be the captain, a strong knowledge of swordplay and alcohol would often be the makings of a captain and Raymond had just this as well as a basic understanding of gunplay, not enough to challenge someone to a duel but enough to kill a threat that was heading towards him with a sword. The meeting dragged on for hours covering every point from basic first aid to complex theory on operating airships just because they were soldiers didn’t mean they were morons as the research base obviously thought, it had finally finished and they were dismissed to prepare themselves to board ‘The Scrapper’ to investigate the strange clouds. Everything was done in silence with military grade concentration as they boarded The Scrapper which did a good job of living up to its name lengths of hooked rope hang off of the sides and the balloon containing the helium had more patches than Raymond’s trousers it came as no surprise of course, they were given the scrap to use up whilst the scientists were allowed access to the most recently made airships that had no damage done to them and this was yet another reason why Raymond regretted joining the military “You’ll have around 5 minutes to get up there take samples and pictures and then return to the ground before the helium runs out” Sounded the loudspeaker system in the hanger. Great, now there was a time limit Raymond decided it was best that he brought his flask full of alcohol alongside his sword and pistol the three things which made his life bearable in any way, shape or form. As the crew threw off the chocks they began to float upwards whilst the rusted propellers pushed them forwards as the gas lamps were lit. Outside it was night and the moons slight light wasn’t being let through the thick cloud barrier which had formed so the gas lamps were the only way that they could navigate the poorly constructed ship as they made their ascent to cloud level. 2 minutes had passed as they approached cloud level the journey had consisted of Captain Conner drinking and observing his crew as they began to prepare to take samples in under a minute to allow them time to return to ground level. The balloon began to merge into the clouds above when the sky turned grey and a lightning storm began to kick up “That’s odd...” Muttered Raymond “There was no prediction of a lightning storm...” a bolt barely missed the ship as the wind also began to pick up “Lower the helium levels in the balloon” Barked Raymond as he decided to take action upon the situation “There’s no way we’re taking samples in this weather” “Yes sir!” The entire crew yelled back quickly going to their stations above there was a loud tearing sound as a lightning bolt struck the balloon causing the helium to leave the balloon completely empty which sent the ship spiralling downwards as Raymond was thrown off the ship from the force as he grabbed onto his sheathed sword and pistol the icy ground approached alarmingly fast. He hit the ground as his surroundings began to fade from his vision. ---------------------------------------------------- A/N Image here this is Skully first chapter so we'll be switching periodically he gets one I get one k? Friendly Fire.1944 West German Front. Normandy, France. Lt. Krieger watched in his amphibious lander as it drew near the shore, the concrete bunkers of the germans grew larger, artillery shells started to nail the water around the lander, the germans peppered the landers with machinegun fire, killing a few unlucky soldiers poking their heads above the metal barriers. "So what's the plan?" Krieger asked the squad sergeant, Sergeant Keys. "Hit the dirt and run like hell to get out of the of the machinegun fire, para boys should of taken out some of the artillery, we go in and storm them boys, alright?" The sergeant said, no one said anything to reply to him, they were all having jitters about what would happen to them. The landing doors dropped and machinegun fire ripped into the occupants, Krieger saw five men get cut down in front of him, he made his way out of lander, he was sickened by the onslaught as he hid behind a tank trap, he watched more lander's ramps fall and more men get cut down by the machinegun fire, he held his M1 Garand tightly in his hands and ran for another tank trap further up the beach, another man ran parallel to him on the beach, the machineguns cut him down and tried to take out Krieger as well but he got to the tank trap before he could get mauled by the bullets. He looked around for his squads lander, it was where it had been but bodies littered the space around it, he was the only one to actually escape from the carnage. "Shit, shit shit!" Krieger yelled as he surveyed the beach, all the transports had been disabled or blown up, no american troops were left standing other than Krieger, he looked out in the distance he saw more transports coming to the beach, the wounded were crying out in pain, he tried focusing on other things than trying to help, it would be senseless to try and help someone when you know if you step out of cover you'd get shot. He saw the transports coming closer and growing larger as they came to the slaughter. "Ok I'll run when they land, they won't see me coming." Krieger thought as he got himself physced to do this, the transports ramps hit the ground and the machinegun fire came to life again, Krieger ran up towards the hill, he fired two rounds into a german, the nazi was killed immediately as the rounds collided with his stomach and face, a nazi came out of the bunker and ran towards Krieger, he tried to smash Krieger with his gun, Krieger weaved around the gun and stabbed the german with a bayonet on his rifle, the german growled at being stabbed, he swung at Krieger again and hit the american in the stomach, Krieger gasped and lashed out at the nazi, the bayonet collided with his arm causing the german to howl in pain and drop his gun, the american took advantage of this and used his rifle butt to smash in the german's head, Krieger approached the bunker and checked his gear for any explosives, he found none and swore, Krieger checked his gear again to make sure he hadn't slipped up and missed something, he found nothing once again. "Fuck! No nades, guess I'll have to try and just kill them all." He ran into the bunker and the machinegunner was unprepared for the attack, Kriegers rifle bucked and let out the bullet, the unsuspecting nazi cried out in pain as the round hit him, a german fired his hand held machinegun at Krieger, the Lieutenant dove for the doorway, the machinegunner trailed his movements while firing the LMG, he had made it around the door in time and bullets shredded the other side of the door, Krieger heard the gun stop firing and popped out of cover and fired at the reloading gunner, a round caught him in the leg and another in the stomach, he finished of the german with a bayonet thrust to the chest. "Satchel charge going in!" Yelled a voice in english, before Krieger could yell he was friendly the charge was thrown in and detonated. Everything was fuzzy and it hurt to move, american soldiers moved into the wrecked bunker, Krieger was sitting up near a wall, his legs had been blown off in the blast, he was deaf in one ear from the shockwave and sound of the explosion and shrapnel had dug itself into the unlucky soldier. The american soldiers saw him and tried to move him but couldn't, the shrapnel had him stuck to the wall. "It's gonna be okay, alright we'll patch you up." said the squads combat medic, Krieger knew he was wrong, no one survived injuries like this, it had started to rain tremendously outside of the bunker, it was clear not even five minutes ago, Krieger sat agaisnt the wall, bleeding to death, the combat medics weren't trained for this sort of injury but tried nonetheless. Krieger felt cold, he knew what this meant, he had lost to much blood and was gonna be dead any minute, his vision blotted and the medics walked away and so did the rest of the squad, his vision faded nothing was visible as darkness reigned in his eyes, thunder cracked and a lightning bolt hit the bunker. ----------------------------------------------- A/N Just to make things clear, Krieger is my OC while Conner is Skully's so yeah just to get everything straight! The Brit is Here!Unknown location Unknown date Unknown time Conner awoke to the sounds of a foreign instrument playing to which he believed that he was in heaven, the melody continued its steady flow as he grudgingly opened his eyes being forced into harsh reality. And there he was sat on the edge of a river, head barely out of water and surrounded by reeds and tall grass the music seemed to be coming from a small rowing boat in the centre of the river which seemed to be at a stop as the sun set behind it, the inhabitant was shadowed and gave no clues as to where Conner had awoke. Around him the tall reeds and high grass began to sway in the wind whilst the sound of trotting horses became audible along the riverbank. Conner ducked into the reeds and waded his way down the river hoping for a slope to crawl up his ankles surrounded by clear, unpolluted water which came as quite a surprise. After all back in New London the only river was the Thames and that was polluted from all the factory waste making it almost impossible to see through yet alone traverse, which is why the citizens took to the sky. Quickly Conner remembered that he had his flintlock pistol and katana, he preferred Katanas to Rapiers and Short swords as he felt that the Katana had a little more elegance behind it when it came to killing, but that was his own opinion. He glanced up at the bank of the river as he produced his flintlock from inside the charred and torn trench coat he wore over his rough cotton shirt, the flintlock was in a good condition considering he was wading down a river, though he was unsure whether or not it would operate anymore as the impact from a fall that high should have done something. And then he realised, this wasn’t the icy hell he remembered plummeting towards. This was a peaceful village with an unpolluted water source in the middle of god knows where, how on earth did that happen? The sound of the horses became louder as he continued his slow journey down the river which had little to no current, which he also found odd, he could now see how that boat could just slowly drift down the river without a care of where it was going, put something like that in the Thames it’d be 5 miles into the ocean before you could even pull the ores. Finally he reached a slope and began to slowly crawl up it taking the time to observe his surroundings fully, there were a few houses which looked similar to the Japanese architecture which he had seen in the countless amounts of magazines on display in New London. So that settled it he was in Japan but the one answer he needed still eluded him ‘How?’ the sound of the horses resumed cutting off his trail of though as he saw a few shadowed figures running down the narrow streets ahead of him. So there must be foot soldiers with the horses.. thought Conner as he resumed his slow crawl up onto the river bank, he took note of a bridge next to him and heard horses crossing it and ducked under the bridge and listened for a different language so he could confirm his suspicions of being in Japan. “Keep searching, something crashed into the river for sure” Stated a deep, calm voice as the sounds ceased “Yes sir!” Replied another followed by the sound of a horse moving back across the bridge. Conner poked his head out from the side of the bridge to see the one that had talked and was shocked at the result. Did those two horses just... just talk? There was no other explanation, there was not a guardsman in sight and there were no chariots either and above all else he was almost certain that the one remaining at the end of the bridge had wings. Now he was really confused as to where he was, not only was there just two horses engaging in conversation but one of those horses was also a Pegasus, a creature of myth for God’s sake! He resumed his wading down the river, obviously there was no way he could get out here if there was a Pegasus standing at the end of the bridge watching everything carefully. But then again by that logic was there any way that he would be able to get through the reeds without drawing attention to himself as he resumed his path down the river? He finally decided it was best to at least try to escape a seemingly inevitable capture. So with a sigh he began to navigate the tall reeds brushing against a few causing them to move in an un-natural manner and the guard seemed not to notice, he hadn’t turned yet but something struck Conner as odd. “Come out from those reeds” The Pegasus stated calmly not even looking at Conner, it was the first one that talked before the one with the deep voice “I know you’re there” Maybe his Equine hosts would respond non-violently if he gave himself up here and even if they didn’t he would get injured anyway, so swallowing his pride he stood up from the river and wandered into full view of the guard who raised an eyebrow “You’re a human” The Pegasus stated dumbstruck at the issue “You’re a Pegasus” Replied Conner equally as confused “But you’re just a creature, a being of legend” They began in sync with one another “How is it possible you exist?” to which they both looked each other over walking around in a circle trying to get observe every angle as they pondered each other’s existence. After a few moments the Pegasus composed himself “My name is Plated Wing” Began Plated “I am a Pegasus pony living in the land of Equestria, you are currently in the town I serve as a guard in named ‘Hayka’ which is located on a small island just off of the mainland” “I’m Captain Raymond Conner” Replied Conner “I am a human who lived in the city of New London during an industrial revolution and I am still unsure of how I got here” which caused Plated to look over Conner once more “I’m afraid this matter will have to be kept secret as we transfer you to our capital, Canterlot, to meet with our rulers, Princesses Celestia and Luna where we will assess whether we can send you back to your world or not, transfer will be tricky though as we’re in the middle of a war and we’re keeping this secret as... to put it simply, Humans have scarcely been seen in Equestria” Continued Plated, everything seemed to be going smoothly but the mention of a war intrigued Conner especially in what seemed like a peaceful area but he decided it best not to question the war at this point and took comfort in the fact he had befriended a local. American Stealing the Spotlight!Krieger gasped for air as cracked his eyes open, day light filled his vision and the sudden change from darkness made his vision blurry, he rubbed his eyes trying to make them clear, he blinked rapidly and his vision cleared. "What happened? Did the medics actually save me?" He thought as he sat up. He glanced at his body, he had legs again, he formed an expression of shock on his face and started grabbing his legs to make sure he wasn't hallucinating or dreaming, his legs felt real as though he had never lost them. "Ok I must be heavan." Krieger surveyed his surroundings, hills of green, a blue stream and smoke coming up in the distance and ponies... they were all sorts of colors, green, blue, purple, and orange. He rubbed his eyes again and looked at the ponies again to make sure it wasn't his mind playing a trick on him. The ponies had remained there previous colors, he tried making out what they were doing by squinting and covering his eyes from the sun. They looked animated, if that's even possible, Krieger made out more that they were having a picnic and holding sandwiches in their hooves. He felt out of place, "What the hell is going on?" He couldn't help but mutter to himself as he tried to study them further. He paused and looked around at his own lap and the grass near him, there were his grenades, his rifle and bayonet, and a Colt M1911. He heard voices get steadily louder and hooves hitting dirt, he didn't know what to do so he just sat there. "This is twice today that some creepy stuff happened, first that thing falling in the river then a lightning bolt coming out of nowhere on a clear sunny day. I swear if it's just like some pegasi playing a prank I'll kick their flanks to the curve." A male voice said. "Pegasi? Arn't they just greek legends?" Krieger though as he scrambled for the pistol sitting near him and aimed it at the direction the voices seemed to be coming from. He moved a little bit and his helmet slid on his head and covered his eyes, he fumbled to get it into it's previous position and as he did he saw two of the equines staring at him with some of the biggest eyes he ever saw. "What the buck is that?" Said a light blue and green maned armored pony as it stared at Krieger. "I can't help but think I read about something like this somewhere." The other equine, it's voice feminant and it's colors a dull pink and it's mane a bright yellow said, the other one's jaw dropped. "What? You're saying that this thing is actually in books?" Said the grey one. "Well yes, though I can't remember what they're called... uhh homons? Hamuns? Oh yeah Humans! I studied under Celestia for awhile and.. buck me we weren't supposed to say anything..." The pink one said, the two now just rambling on about things Krieger didn't understand. He just sat there dumbstruck, pistol loosely in his hand; he didn't know what to do trying to kill them or just sit there until the situation resolved itself. "Uhh, what's going on exactly and how can you talk?" Krieger mumbled out, much to the dismay of the equines as they jumped out of shock. "Holy buck it can talk!" The grey one yelped as it flew into the air and wings spread out of it's back and levitated there. The pink one seemed to take it better as it remained calmer than it's friend. "Apparently so Sky Mint, let's not get to irrational there fella, we'll start with names ok? I'm Dawn Gazer and this is Sky Mint. Now if you could just put that down and you could just tell me your name." Dawn Gazer said. "Uhh... my names Lieutenant James Krieger of the United States army..." He managed to mumble as he noticed Dawn Gazer had a horn on her head and it seemed to be glowing. "Well James we're gonna need you to come with us right now, we're gonna need to talk with the princess about this." Dawn Gazer said as Krieger noticed the rifle next to him levitating towards the pair of equines, he rushed to grab the rifle back and was tackled by Sky Mint. "Sky Mint get off him! If he wants this thing back then we should be happy to, he's probably more confused than we are okay?" Dawn said as the light blue pony got off Krieger and mumbled something incoherent. The American proceeded to stand up and snatch his gun out of mid air. "Very odd objects those are though, what are they?" Dawn asked him, staring at his rifle. "It's a rifle, you know a gun? Boom boom? Well it's called an M1 Garand... I don't know if you'd understand anything beyond that because it seems that you are not beyond medival ages really. So what did you do to my rifle?" Krieger questioned while going over his rifle to make sure they hadn't done anything to it. Both Sky Mint and Dawn Gazer raised an eyebrow at the description of the firearm. "Could you demonstrate it to us?" Sky Mint asked, he landed on the ground and took a few steps forward to examine the gun more closely in Kriegers hands. "Uhh... alright I guess that can be done." He said as he aimed at a nearby forest, he pulled the trigger, nothing happened. Krieger checked the magazine of the rifle and found it was empty, he ejected it and the audible ping of the magazine ejecting from the M1 Garand was heard. He checked the many pouchs of his uniform and found a new loaded cartridge of bullets, he loaded it and took aim at the many trees in the distance. He pulled the trigger and the rifle recoiled as the bullet was sent into the distance, the two guard ponies had their jaw dropped and were wary of saying anything. "So that thing kills people doesn't it?" Sky Mint said as he took a few steps back. "No it's made for cutting down trees and making soup." Krieger replied sarcastically, he slung the gun over his shoulder and looked at the two equines. "I'll take that as it is made for killing." Dawn said as she started to look back at the ponies who were picnicing and having a nice afternoon. "We should get going lest one of these civilians find you." She said walking off in a direction that had no to very little amounts of regualr ponies in it. "Alright let's go get a chariot and bring this guy back." Sky Mint said while taking flight and hovering above the two. They found a chariot outside of the town not to long after they had started walking, Krieger was supposed to lay low in the chariot part and let the equines do their thing and take him back to this town called Canterlot. "Alright we'll get their within a few hours just make sure to stay out of sight." Mumbled Sky Mint. "This should be interesting to say the least..." Krieger thought as he closed the back of the chariot so he wouldn't fall out. The chariot took off and he sat their higher above the ground then he ever had been, he sat and waited for the trip close to their destination, desperate to know why he was here. Given them Sass!Conner was taken to the docks of the island he was on where the guards were bickering with the local ship owners about the arranged transport for him. “What do you mean you didn’t realise that he would be a human?” Inquired the first guard who during the course of the conversation had been revealed as the most egotistical equine Conner had ever met, not that he’d ever met a talking equine before and not that any equine he’d ever met was a unicorn. The guard’s armour was obviously too big for him and rattled any time that he moved his body, Conner was reminded of the recruits in New London when he had first met the guard and as a direct consequence of that he couldn’t help but smugly chuckle every time he made eye contact with him. “Look buddy, my ship hasn’t enough room to support a being of that size” Stated the obviously overworked captain as he waved his pipe around in the air as he spoke and adjusted his blue striped cap with the other hoof, this captain had obviously had a bad day by the way in which he was speaking – either that or he’d been so shocked by the appearance of a human that it had turned him into a being of sheer anger “We’re leaving in about five minutes and there’s no way we can leave any of our cargo behind” the captain tipped his pipe upside-down and tapped it a few times causing some ashes to fall to the ground which made the guard step back in surprise. “Look! I’ve been given this order by a high ranking member of the Hayka guard and he ran it through with the princesses themselves! There must be something you can do!” Yelled the guard as he finally lost his temper with the overly smug captain who stifled a grin, imitated the thought process and placed the pipe back in his mouth before looking into the guards eyes. “Nope, nothing I can do” He smiled as he turned away and began to wander towards the ship. Conner decided this would be a good time if any to join the conversation and sighed before wandering past the alarmed guard and towards the captain. “What are you doing, boy?” Yelled the captain in anger as Conner wandered past him. “I’m getting on board this ship, sir” forcefully stated Conner as he brushed past the captain “One way or another” at this point Conner’s sword and flintlock came into the view of the now extremely nervous captain who nodded before quickly apologising to the guard and scrambling to un-anchor the boat. Conner lay on the deck and stared into the gloomy sky above as he prepared for a long boat trip across the sea to the city of ‘Fillydelphia’. Four hours had passed and had marked the beginning of a thunderstorm as he disembarked from the ship, thanked the captain and began a calm stroll towards the train station. Of course the dock was empty of ponies, the entire population had ran indoors as the apparently unscheduled thunderstorm swept the land. Before him was a pony in a black raincoat with a black fedora atop his head and a pair of sunglasses. “Take those off, it’s not like it’s blazing sunshine out here” Sighed Conner as he approached the pony “I assume you’re the one that will help me to get aboard this train?” “You’d be right in sayin’ that” Cheerily stated the pony “I’m Snake Eyes by the way, I’m what you could call a gamblin’ pony” Conner looked him over before deciding to believe this story and supply a nod. “Well then, Mr. Eyes. I believe we have a train to catch” Replied Conner in a slightly more light hearted tone now that he had exchanged pleasantries with the pony before him (As bizarre as that was to him he managed to maintain a straight face and his formality intact) “Right you are” Beamed Snake as he lead the way to the platform. After the longest leg of his journey had been completed he had had a lot of questions answered on the way to the capital named ‘Canterlot’. Mr. Dice had been so kind as to impart his knowledge of the races of pony, names of the princesses and a general layout of the land to Conner and for that he was ever grateful and indebted to the pony, his questions about war had been skipped around though along with his many inquiries as to why there was such a low level of shock from him when Conner had first arrived in Fillydelphia. The train ground to a halt in the station of Canterlot, the storm had followed them it seemed and was probably a way to get the locals to shelter indoors and keep Conner out of sight. Mr. Dice led Conner to the entrance of the castle where Conner thanked him greatly before saying his farewells and sheltering under the archway of the castle as he awaited the large doors to be opened by the guards. The Prologue: Gala Gone Wrong.Celestia was pleased with how the new Gala had turned out, her protege and her friend's were enjoying themselves and her sister Luna was also fitting in nicely, they had greeted the guests as they entered the celebration and sat on thrones at the end of one of the gala's many dancing ballrooms. They watched the crowd move to the classic music, it calmed Celestia to see her pony citizens so calm and happy at any given time. The main doors of the gala burst open, three tall figures stood in the middle of the doorway, they stepped into the light of the gala's ballroom. They made their way through the crowd, odd entirely brown soldiers on their tail, they approached the royal princesses, the royal guards moved in front of the royalty and the creatures started to speak. "Greetings Princesses Celestia and Luna, we are the new emperors of Equestria." Proclaimed the middle one, a couple of the ponies around them scoffed at this remark and were regretful of their action immediatly as the brown soldiers struck out at the laughing ponies, each one getting a brown spear to the heart. "What makes you think such claims are true?" Luna said with a scowl, the royal guards were already charging the intruders but were cut down before they even touched the three. "Simple, if you don't hand over all power to us, you will watch your precious Canterlot burn before you eyes." The lead one spoke up again. "Who are you to cut down my ponies and threaten us?" Celestia spoke her voice booming and echoing in the chamber, all the party ponies had shrunk to the ground in fear, holding their hooves on their heads. "Well if you must know I'm Spectre," He motioned his arm towards his left, "This is Shade and here on my right is, well she doesn't like being called anything." The figure chuckled. "Please, don't try any magic or anything, you will just hurt yourself!" Spectre began to laugh more, it was almost to the point of lunacy. A few of the brown warriors came up the thrones and subdued Celestia and Luna as the rest of the warriors started too massacre the party-going ponies. Celestia saw Twilight and company sneaking out the main door, holding down an angry Rainbow Dash. The warriors had bits of stone crumbling from them, Celestia studied one, it was a horrible thing it had a frowning face with two elongated canine teeth sticking out of it's mouth, it had bits of stone falling off of it everywhere. The rest of the warriors marched out of the building, the three original beings had started to survey the warriors work, by the sounds of it they were impressed at the work the stone soldiers had done. Lights rose up in the distance and smoke columns rose with them, "Oh no." Was all Celestia could say, she tried to struggle and use her magic on the stone men but nothing worked. Day quickly turned up, the stone men shattered for some reason beyond Celestia, she got up and hurried over to the castle entrance, a stallion was running up to the gates as well. "Princess! We heard the commotion and all hell broke loose, ah buck we were out right just ambushed in our own town!" The young guard said. "What happened to the intruders? Is everypony ok?" Celestia asked the guard, he looked sad as he answered her question. "The stone men are tough but we took out a few and no, alot of us guards died and some of the civilian ponies." He said wincing at the horrible night before. "News spread about the attack rather quickly though, everypony is chipping in, conscription levels are at a new time high." The guard said trying to sugar coat his bad news. "Alright guardsmen return to your duties, make sure there are no odd figures in Canterlot." Celestia said as the guard saluted and trotted off. She walked back to the gala room and sat on the thrown. "I've failed, war has finally come back to Equestria..." Celestia said as she just sat there thinking. The gods above had an idea to try and help Equestria even they had personally frozen it many times, had no intention of letting it die now, they started chanting, thunder and lightning danced around them. "Equestria will have it's heroes now dear princess." Chuckled one of the voices, the chanting resumed and storms of monumentous magnitude brewed.
Learning Curve and Disasters.Arctic Research Base December 21st 1839 11:12am Captain Raymond Conner sat at the table listening to the boring speech on the clouds which had appeared and blocked out the sun. Some believed this to be due to the amount of steam machinery polluting the atmosphere but others believed this was magic and so a small group of trustworthy soldiers were called together to form a small research team all of which were ordered to hide the fact they were being sent to the Arctic on a research mission. After but a few weeks journey on a small airship they had reached the arctic research base at which they would be briefed on what they were to do and the roles they would play in the group and it came as no surprise when Raymond Conner was selected to be the captain, a strong knowledge of swordplay and alcohol would often be the makings of a captain and Raymond had just this as well as a basic understanding of gunplay, not enough to challenge someone to a duel but enough to kill a threat that was heading towards him with a sword. The meeting dragged on for hours covering every point from basic first aid to complex theory on operating airships just because they were soldiers didn’t mean they were morons as the research base obviously thought, it had finally finished and they were dismissed to prepare themselves to board ‘The Scrapper’ to investigate the strange clouds. Everything was done in silence with military grade concentration as they boarded The Scrapper which did a good job of living up to its name lengths of hooked rope hang off of the sides and the balloon containing the helium had more patches than Raymond’s trousers it came as no surprise of course, they were given the scrap to use up whilst the scientists were allowed access to the most recently made airships that had no damage done to them and this was yet another reason why Raymond regretted joining the military “You’ll have around 5 minutes to get up there take samples and pictures and then return to the ground before the helium runs out” Sounded the loudspeaker system in the hanger. Great, now there was a time limit Raymond decided it was best that he brought his flask full of alcohol alongside his sword and pistol the three things which made his life bearable in any way, shape or form. As the crew threw off the chocks they began to float upwards whilst the rusted propellers pushed them forwards as the gas lamps were lit. Outside it was night and the moons slight light wasn’t being let through the thick cloud barrier which had formed so the gas lamps were the only way that they could navigate the poorly constructed ship as they made their ascent to cloud level. 2 minutes had passed as they approached cloud level the journey had consisted of Captain Conner drinking and observing his crew as they began to prepare to take samples in under a minute to allow them time to return to ground level. The balloon began to merge into the clouds above when the sky turned grey and a lightning storm began to kick up “That’s odd...” Muttered Raymond “There was no prediction of a lightning storm...” a bolt barely missed the ship as the wind also began to pick up “Lower the helium levels in the balloon” Barked Raymond as he decided to take action upon the situation “There’s no way we’re taking samples in this weather” “Yes sir!” The entire crew yelled back quickly going to their stations above there was a loud tearing sound as a lightning bolt struck the balloon causing the helium to leave the balloon completely empty which sent the ship spiralling downwards as Raymond was thrown off the ship from the force as he grabbed onto his sheathed sword and pistol the icy ground approached alarmingly fast. He hit the ground as his surroundings began to fade from his vision. ---------------------------------------------------- A/N Image here this is Skully first chapter so we'll be switching periodically he gets one I get one k?
Friendly Fire.1944 West German Front. Normandy, France. Lt. Krieger watched in his amphibious lander as it drew near the shore, the concrete bunkers of the germans grew larger, artillery shells started to nail the water around the lander, the germans peppered the landers with machinegun fire, killing a few unlucky soldiers poking their heads above the metal barriers. "So what's the plan?" Krieger asked the squad sergeant, Sergeant Keys. "Hit the dirt and run like hell to get out of the of the machinegun fire, para boys should of taken out some of the artillery, we go in and storm them boys, alright?" The sergeant said, no one said anything to reply to him, they were all having jitters about what would happen to them. The landing doors dropped and machinegun fire ripped into the occupants, Krieger saw five men get cut down in front of him, he made his way out of lander, he was sickened by the onslaught as he hid behind a tank trap, he watched more lander's ramps fall and more men get cut down by the machinegun fire, he held his M1 Garand tightly in his hands and ran for another tank trap further up the beach, another man ran parallel to him on the beach, the machineguns cut him down and tried to take out Krieger as well but he got to the tank trap before he could get mauled by the bullets. He looked around for his squads lander, it was where it had been but bodies littered the space around it, he was the only one to actually escape from the carnage. "Shit, shit shit!" Krieger yelled as he surveyed the beach, all the transports had been disabled or blown up, no american troops were left standing other than Krieger, he looked out in the distance he saw more transports coming to the beach, the wounded were crying out in pain, he tried focusing on other things than trying to help, it would be senseless to try and help someone when you know if you step out of cover you'd get shot. He saw the transports coming closer and growing larger as they came to the slaughter. "Ok I'll run when they land, they won't see me coming." Krieger thought as he got himself physced to do this, the transports ramps hit the ground and the machinegun fire came to life again, Krieger ran up towards the hill, he fired two rounds into a german, the nazi was killed immediately as the rounds collided with his stomach and face, a nazi came out of the bunker and ran towards Krieger, he tried to smash Krieger with his gun, Krieger weaved around the gun and stabbed the german with a bayonet on his rifle, the german growled at being stabbed, he swung at Krieger again and hit the american in the stomach, Krieger gasped and lashed out at the nazi, the bayonet collided with his arm causing the german to howl in pain and drop his gun, the american took advantage of this and used his rifle butt to smash in the german's head, Krieger approached the bunker and checked his gear for any explosives, he found none and swore, Krieger checked his gear again to make sure he hadn't slipped up and missed something, he found nothing once again. "Fuck! No nades, guess I'll have to try and just kill them all." He ran into the bunker and the machinegunner was unprepared for the attack, Kriegers rifle bucked and let out the bullet, the unsuspecting nazi cried out in pain as the round hit him, a german fired his hand held machinegun at Krieger, the Lieutenant dove for the doorway, the machinegunner trailed his movements while firing the LMG, he had made it around the door in time and bullets shredded the other side of the door, Krieger heard the gun stop firing and popped out of cover and fired at the reloading gunner, a round caught him in the leg and another in the stomach, he finished of the german with a bayonet thrust to the chest. "Satchel charge going in!" Yelled a voice in english, before Krieger could yell he was friendly the charge was thrown in and detonated. Everything was fuzzy and it hurt to move, american soldiers moved into the wrecked bunker, Krieger was sitting up near a wall, his legs had been blown off in the blast, he was deaf in one ear from the shockwave and sound of the explosion and shrapnel had dug itself into the unlucky soldier. The american soldiers saw him and tried to move him but couldn't, the shrapnel had him stuck to the wall. "It's gonna be okay, alright we'll patch you up." said the squads combat medic, Krieger knew he was wrong, no one survived injuries like this, it had started to rain tremendously outside of the bunker, it was clear not even five minutes ago, Krieger sat agaisnt the wall, bleeding to death, the combat medics weren't trained for this sort of injury but tried nonetheless. Krieger felt cold, he knew what this meant, he had lost to much blood and was gonna be dead any minute, his vision blotted and the medics walked away and so did the rest of the squad, his vision faded nothing was visible as darkness reigned in his eyes, thunder cracked and a lightning bolt hit the bunker. ----------------------------------------------- A/N Just to make things clear, Krieger is my OC while Conner is Skully's so yeah just to get everything straight!
The Brit is Here!Unknown location Unknown date Unknown time Conner awoke to the sounds of a foreign instrument playing to which he believed that he was in heaven, the melody continued its steady flow as he grudgingly opened his eyes being forced into harsh reality. And there he was sat on the edge of a river, head barely out of water and surrounded by reeds and tall grass the music seemed to be coming from a small rowing boat in the centre of the river which seemed to be at a stop as the sun set behind it, the inhabitant was shadowed and gave no clues as to where Conner had awoke. Around him the tall reeds and high grass began to sway in the wind whilst the sound of trotting horses became audible along the riverbank. Conner ducked into the reeds and waded his way down the river hoping for a slope to crawl up his ankles surrounded by clear, unpolluted water which came as quite a surprise. After all back in New London the only river was the Thames and that was polluted from all the factory waste making it almost impossible to see through yet alone traverse, which is why the citizens took to the sky. Quickly Conner remembered that he had his flintlock pistol and katana, he preferred Katanas to Rapiers and Short swords as he felt that the Katana had a little more elegance behind it when it came to killing, but that was his own opinion. He glanced up at the bank of the river as he produced his flintlock from inside the charred and torn trench coat he wore over his rough cotton shirt, the flintlock was in a good condition considering he was wading down a river, though he was unsure whether or not it would operate anymore as the impact from a fall that high should have done something. And then he realised, this wasn’t the icy hell he remembered plummeting towards. This was a peaceful village with an unpolluted water source in the middle of god knows where, how on earth did that happen? The sound of the horses became louder as he continued his slow journey down the river which had little to no current, which he also found odd, he could now see how that boat could just slowly drift down the river without a care of where it was going, put something like that in the Thames it’d be 5 miles into the ocean before you could even pull the ores. Finally he reached a slope and began to slowly crawl up it taking the time to observe his surroundings fully, there were a few houses which looked similar to the Japanese architecture which he had seen in the countless amounts of magazines on display in New London. So that settled it he was in Japan but the one answer he needed still eluded him ‘How?’ the sound of the horses resumed cutting off his trail of though as he saw a few shadowed figures running down the narrow streets ahead of him. So there must be foot soldiers with the horses.. thought Conner as he resumed his slow crawl up onto the river bank, he took note of a bridge next to him and heard horses crossing it and ducked under the bridge and listened for a different language so he could confirm his suspicions of being in Japan. “Keep searching, something crashed into the river for sure” Stated a deep, calm voice as the sounds ceased “Yes sir!” Replied another followed by the sound of a horse moving back across the bridge. Conner poked his head out from the side of the bridge to see the one that had talked and was shocked at the result. Did those two horses just... just talk? There was no other explanation, there was not a guardsman in sight and there were no chariots either and above all else he was almost certain that the one remaining at the end of the bridge had wings. Now he was really confused as to where he was, not only was there just two horses engaging in conversation but one of those horses was also a Pegasus, a creature of myth for God’s sake! He resumed his wading down the river, obviously there was no way he could get out here if there was a Pegasus standing at the end of the bridge watching everything carefully. But then again by that logic was there any way that he would be able to get through the reeds without drawing attention to himself as he resumed his path down the river? He finally decided it was best to at least try to escape a seemingly inevitable capture. So with a sigh he began to navigate the tall reeds brushing against a few causing them to move in an un-natural manner and the guard seemed not to notice, he hadn’t turned yet but something struck Conner as odd. “Come out from those reeds” The Pegasus stated calmly not even looking at Conner, it was the first one that talked before the one with the deep voice “I know you’re there” Maybe his Equine hosts would respond non-violently if he gave himself up here and even if they didn’t he would get injured anyway, so swallowing his pride he stood up from the river and wandered into full view of the guard who raised an eyebrow “You’re a human” The Pegasus stated dumbstruck at the issue “You’re a Pegasus” Replied Conner equally as confused “But you’re just a creature, a being of legend” They began in sync with one another “How is it possible you exist?” to which they both looked each other over walking around in a circle trying to get observe every angle as they pondered each other’s existence. After a few moments the Pegasus composed himself “My name is Plated Wing” Began Plated “I am a Pegasus pony living in the land of Equestria, you are currently in the town I serve as a guard in named ‘Hayka’ which is located on a small island just off of the mainland” “I’m Captain Raymond Conner” Replied Conner “I am a human who lived in the city of New London during an industrial revolution and I am still unsure of how I got here” which caused Plated to look over Conner once more “I’m afraid this matter will have to be kept secret as we transfer you to our capital, Canterlot, to meet with our rulers, Princesses Celestia and Luna where we will assess whether we can send you back to your world or not, transfer will be tricky though as we’re in the middle of a war and we’re keeping this secret as... to put it simply, Humans have scarcely been seen in Equestria” Continued Plated, everything seemed to be going smoothly but the mention of a war intrigued Conner especially in what seemed like a peaceful area but he decided it best not to question the war at this point and took comfort in the fact he had befriended a local.
American Stealing the Spotlight!Krieger gasped for air as cracked his eyes open, day light filled his vision and the sudden change from darkness made his vision blurry, he rubbed his eyes trying to make them clear, he blinked rapidly and his vision cleared. "What happened? Did the medics actually save me?" He thought as he sat up. He glanced at his body, he had legs again, he formed an expression of shock on his face and started grabbing his legs to make sure he wasn't hallucinating or dreaming, his legs felt real as though he had never lost them. "Ok I must be heavan." Krieger surveyed his surroundings, hills of green, a blue stream and smoke coming up in the distance and ponies... they were all sorts of colors, green, blue, purple, and orange. He rubbed his eyes again and looked at the ponies again to make sure it wasn't his mind playing a trick on him. The ponies had remained there previous colors, he tried making out what they were doing by squinting and covering his eyes from the sun. They looked animated, if that's even possible, Krieger made out more that they were having a picnic and holding sandwiches in their hooves. He felt out of place, "What the hell is going on?" He couldn't help but mutter to himself as he tried to study them further. He paused and looked around at his own lap and the grass near him, there were his grenades, his rifle and bayonet, and a Colt M1911. He heard voices get steadily louder and hooves hitting dirt, he didn't know what to do so he just sat there. "This is twice today that some creepy stuff happened, first that thing falling in the river then a lightning bolt coming out of nowhere on a clear sunny day. I swear if it's just like some pegasi playing a prank I'll kick their flanks to the curve." A male voice said. "Pegasi? Arn't they just greek legends?" Krieger though as he scrambled for the pistol sitting near him and aimed it at the direction the voices seemed to be coming from. He moved a little bit and his helmet slid on his head and covered his eyes, he fumbled to get it into it's previous position and as he did he saw two of the equines staring at him with some of the biggest eyes he ever saw. "What the buck is that?" Said a light blue and green maned armored pony as it stared at Krieger. "I can't help but think I read about something like this somewhere." The other equine, it's voice feminant and it's colors a dull pink and it's mane a bright yellow said, the other one's jaw dropped. "What? You're saying that this thing is actually in books?" Said the grey one. "Well yes, though I can't remember what they're called... uhh homons? Hamuns? Oh yeah Humans! I studied under Celestia for awhile and.. buck me we weren't supposed to say anything..." The pink one said, the two now just rambling on about things Krieger didn't understand. He just sat there dumbstruck, pistol loosely in his hand; he didn't know what to do trying to kill them or just sit there until the situation resolved itself. "Uhh, what's going on exactly and how can you talk?" Krieger mumbled out, much to the dismay of the equines as they jumped out of shock. "Holy buck it can talk!" The grey one yelped as it flew into the air and wings spread out of it's back and levitated there. The pink one seemed to take it better as it remained calmer than it's friend. "Apparently so Sky Mint, let's not get to irrational there fella, we'll start with names ok? I'm Dawn Gazer and this is Sky Mint. Now if you could just put that down and you could just tell me your name." Dawn Gazer said. "Uhh... my names Lieutenant James Krieger of the United States army..." He managed to mumble as he noticed Dawn Gazer had a horn on her head and it seemed to be glowing. "Well James we're gonna need you to come with us right now, we're gonna need to talk with the princess about this." Dawn Gazer said as Krieger noticed the rifle next to him levitating towards the pair of equines, he rushed to grab the rifle back and was tackled by Sky Mint. "Sky Mint get off him! If he wants this thing back then we should be happy to, he's probably more confused than we are okay?" Dawn said as the light blue pony got off Krieger and mumbled something incoherent. The American proceeded to stand up and snatch his gun out of mid air. "Very odd objects those are though, what are they?" Dawn asked him, staring at his rifle. "It's a rifle, you know a gun? Boom boom? Well it's called an M1 Garand... I don't know if you'd understand anything beyond that because it seems that you are not beyond medival ages really. So what did you do to my rifle?" Krieger questioned while going over his rifle to make sure they hadn't done anything to it. Both Sky Mint and Dawn Gazer raised an eyebrow at the description of the firearm. "Could you demonstrate it to us?" Sky Mint asked, he landed on the ground and took a few steps forward to examine the gun more closely in Kriegers hands. "Uhh... alright I guess that can be done." He said as he aimed at a nearby forest, he pulled the trigger, nothing happened. Krieger checked the magazine of the rifle and found it was empty, he ejected it and the audible ping of the magazine ejecting from the M1 Garand was heard. He checked the many pouchs of his uniform and found a new loaded cartridge of bullets, he loaded it and took aim at the many trees in the distance. He pulled the trigger and the rifle recoiled as the bullet was sent into the distance, the two guard ponies had their jaw dropped and were wary of saying anything. "So that thing kills people doesn't it?" Sky Mint said as he took a few steps back. "No it's made for cutting down trees and making soup." Krieger replied sarcastically, he slung the gun over his shoulder and looked at the two equines. "I'll take that as it is made for killing." Dawn said as she started to look back at the ponies who were picnicing and having a nice afternoon. "We should get going lest one of these civilians find you." She said walking off in a direction that had no to very little amounts of regualr ponies in it. "Alright let's go get a chariot and bring this guy back." Sky Mint said while taking flight and hovering above the two. They found a chariot outside of the town not to long after they had started walking, Krieger was supposed to lay low in the chariot part and let the equines do their thing and take him back to this town called Canterlot. "Alright we'll get their within a few hours just make sure to stay out of sight." Mumbled Sky Mint. "This should be interesting to say the least..." Krieger thought as he closed the back of the chariot so he wouldn't fall out. The chariot took off and he sat their higher above the ground then he ever had been, he sat and waited for the trip close to their destination, desperate to know why he was here.
Given them Sass!Conner was taken to the docks of the island he was on where the guards were bickering with the local ship owners about the arranged transport for him. “What do you mean you didn’t realise that he would be a human?” Inquired the first guard who during the course of the conversation had been revealed as the most egotistical equine Conner had ever met, not that he’d ever met a talking equine before and not that any equine he’d ever met was a unicorn. The guard’s armour was obviously too big for him and rattled any time that he moved his body, Conner was reminded of the recruits in New London when he had first met the guard and as a direct consequence of that he couldn’t help but smugly chuckle every time he made eye contact with him. “Look buddy, my ship hasn’t enough room to support a being of that size” Stated the obviously overworked captain as he waved his pipe around in the air as he spoke and adjusted his blue striped cap with the other hoof, this captain had obviously had a bad day by the way in which he was speaking – either that or he’d been so shocked by the appearance of a human that it had turned him into a being of sheer anger “We’re leaving in about five minutes and there’s no way we can leave any of our cargo behind” the captain tipped his pipe upside-down and tapped it a few times causing some ashes to fall to the ground which made the guard step back in surprise. “Look! I’ve been given this order by a high ranking member of the Hayka guard and he ran it through with the princesses themselves! There must be something you can do!” Yelled the guard as he finally lost his temper with the overly smug captain who stifled a grin, imitated the thought process and placed the pipe back in his mouth before looking into the guards eyes. “Nope, nothing I can do” He smiled as he turned away and began to wander towards the ship. Conner decided this would be a good time if any to join the conversation and sighed before wandering past the alarmed guard and towards the captain. “What are you doing, boy?” Yelled the captain in anger as Conner wandered past him. “I’m getting on board this ship, sir” forcefully stated Conner as he brushed past the captain “One way or another” at this point Conner’s sword and flintlock came into the view of the now extremely nervous captain who nodded before quickly apologising to the guard and scrambling to un-anchor the boat. Conner lay on the deck and stared into the gloomy sky above as he prepared for a long boat trip across the sea to the city of ‘Fillydelphia’. Four hours had passed and had marked the beginning of a thunderstorm as he disembarked from the ship, thanked the captain and began a calm stroll towards the train station. Of course the dock was empty of ponies, the entire population had ran indoors as the apparently unscheduled thunderstorm swept the land. Before him was a pony in a black raincoat with a black fedora atop his head and a pair of sunglasses. “Take those off, it’s not like it’s blazing sunshine out here” Sighed Conner as he approached the pony “I assume you’re the one that will help me to get aboard this train?” “You’d be right in sayin’ that” Cheerily stated the pony “I’m Snake Eyes by the way, I’m what you could call a gamblin’ pony” Conner looked him over before deciding to believe this story and supply a nod. “Well then, Mr. Eyes. I believe we have a train to catch” Replied Conner in a slightly more light hearted tone now that he had exchanged pleasantries with the pony before him (As bizarre as that was to him he managed to maintain a straight face and his formality intact) “Right you are” Beamed Snake as he lead the way to the platform. After the longest leg of his journey had been completed he had had a lot of questions answered on the way to the capital named ‘Canterlot’. Mr. Dice had been so kind as to impart his knowledge of the races of pony, names of the princesses and a general layout of the land to Conner and for that he was ever grateful and indebted to the pony, his questions about war had been skipped around though along with his many inquiries as to why there was such a low level of shock from him when Conner had first arrived in Fillydelphia. The train ground to a halt in the station of Canterlot, the storm had followed them it seemed and was probably a way to get the locals to shelter indoors and keep Conner out of sight. Mr. Dice led Conner to the entrance of the castle where Conner thanked him greatly before saying his farewells and sheltering under the archway of the castle as he awaited the large doors to be opened by the guards.
The Prologue: Gala Gone Wrong.Celestia was pleased with how the new Gala had turned out, her protege and her friend's were enjoying themselves and her sister Luna was also fitting in nicely, they had greeted the guests as they entered the celebration and sat on thrones at the end of one of the gala's many dancing ballrooms. They watched the crowd move to the classic music, it calmed Celestia to see her pony citizens so calm and happy at any given time. The main doors of the gala burst open, three tall figures stood in the middle of the doorway, they stepped into the light of the gala's ballroom. They made their way through the crowd, odd entirely brown soldiers on their tail, they approached the royal princesses, the royal guards moved in front of the royalty and the creatures started to speak. "Greetings Princesses Celestia and Luna, we are the new emperors of Equestria." Proclaimed the middle one, a couple of the ponies around them scoffed at this remark and were regretful of their action immediatly as the brown soldiers struck out at the laughing ponies, each one getting a brown spear to the heart. "What makes you think such claims are true?" Luna said with a scowl, the royal guards were already charging the intruders but were cut down before they even touched the three. "Simple, if you don't hand over all power to us, you will watch your precious Canterlot burn before you eyes." The lead one spoke up again. "Who are you to cut down my ponies and threaten us?" Celestia spoke her voice booming and echoing in the chamber, all the party ponies had shrunk to the ground in fear, holding their hooves on their heads. "Well if you must know I'm Spectre," He motioned his arm towards his left, "This is Shade and here on my right is, well she doesn't like being called anything." The figure chuckled. "Please, don't try any magic or anything, you will just hurt yourself!" Spectre began to laugh more, it was almost to the point of lunacy. A few of the brown warriors came up the thrones and subdued Celestia and Luna as the rest of the warriors started too massacre the party-going ponies. Celestia saw Twilight and company sneaking out the main door, holding down an angry Rainbow Dash. The warriors had bits of stone crumbling from them, Celestia studied one, it was a horrible thing it had a frowning face with two elongated canine teeth sticking out of it's mouth, it had bits of stone falling off of it everywhere. The rest of the warriors marched out of the building, the three original beings had started to survey the warriors work, by the sounds of it they were impressed at the work the stone soldiers had done. Lights rose up in the distance and smoke columns rose with them, "Oh no." Was all Celestia could say, she tried to struggle and use her magic on the stone men but nothing worked. Day quickly turned up, the stone men shattered for some reason beyond Celestia, she got up and hurried over to the castle entrance, a stallion was running up to the gates as well. "Princess! We heard the commotion and all hell broke loose, ah buck we were out right just ambushed in our own town!" The young guard said. "What happened to the intruders? Is everypony ok?" Celestia asked the guard, he looked sad as he answered her question. "The stone men are tough but we took out a few and no, alot of us guards died and some of the civilian ponies." He said wincing at the horrible night before. "News spread about the attack rather quickly though, everypony is chipping in, conscription levels are at a new time high." The guard said trying to sugar coat his bad news. "Alright guardsmen return to your duties, make sure there are no odd figures in Canterlot." Celestia said as the guard saluted and trotted off. She walked back to the gala room and sat on the thrown. "I've failed, war has finally come back to Equestria..." Celestia said as she just sat there thinking. The gods above had an idea to try and help Equestria even they had personally frozen it many times, had no intention of letting it die now, they started chanting, thunder and lightning danced around them. "Equestria will have it's heroes now dear princess." Chuckled one of the voices, the chanting resumed and storms of monumentous magnitude brewed.
