In Another World with Equestria Girls

Sometimes, I regret joining the Royal Equestrian Navy. Don't get me wrong; I love serving my princesses and country, but there are just times where... I dunno... It feels like I got into the wrong line of work. Maybe I was never meant to be a carrier pigeon and part-time mechanic for the REN; maybe I should've gotten a job in artifice.

With a sigh, I finished tightening the bolts securing the replacement wheel to the resupply skiff's landing gear. If there was something I missed, it was having Ordinary Seamare Crescent and Able Seamare Lug Nut around, if for no other reason than they'd be doing this work themselves. Unfortunately, those dumbshits got themselves locked up in the brig for the better part of this deployment... and over what? Drunkenly trying to kill one another over whether or not Lug stole Crescent's Playcolt magazine! So now not only was I working logistics, but I was responsible for maintaining our gear on this under-crewed patrol airship.

After slipping my socket wrench into my jumpsuit pocket, I let out a groan and pushed my lying board out from underneath the skiff. "I swear, when those two get out of the brig, I'll duct-tape them both to the keel myself if they start any more shit," I growled. "I should be doing inventory for when we RTB."

"Be that as it may, Leading Seamare Construct," came the voice of somepony I really didn't want to hear what I just said. "It is not for you to decide punishments for your crew mates, even if they are your subordinates."

Oh shit.

As soon as the lying board cleared the skiff's undercarriage, I hopped to my hooves and stood at attention, holding an amber wing near my head in salute. "C-captain Bombardment, ma'am," I squeaked. Damn it, of all the times for the captain to show up, it's when I've got axle grease on the end of my muzzle. Especially when she's in that immaculate black uniform!

Despite the warning tone in the mare's voice, her grey face was fixed in a beatific smile. "At ease, LS. Construct," the aged unicorn remarked.

Obeying the order, I watched her for any hint of what she wanted of me. I was sure that I hadn't fallen behind, but given that I was doing the job of several ponies, I couldn't be sure that Aerial Bombardment wasn't aware of something I'd missed. "W-what can I do for you, Captain?" was all I could say, keeping my eyes trained on a spot just past her head. "Is there something the matter?"

The mare shook her head, never losing her smile, and for a moment it appeared as though her officer's cap might fall off. "Your service record states that you trained with the LRSLG a few years back," was her inquiry's opener. "Have you been keeping up with your ARC qualifications?" When I gave her a hesitant nod, the mare's smile became a bit more vulpine. "Excellent. Get cleaned up, suit up, and report to my ready room in one hour. You're being deployed on a mission."

My mission, as it turned out, was a relatively simple one, albeit not the sort of action I wanted getting into. I was to resupply a pair of Office of Naval Intelligence spooks from Shadowbolt Squadron operating nearby. That in itself was no problem; everypony in the service met somepony from ONI at least once in their career, and with my Aerial Resupply and Communications qualifications, I'd even done this sort of mission before. When I joined a few years back, I'd been appended to the Long Range Strategic Logistics Group—a joint task force between the Royal Equestrian Guard, the Royal Equestrian Navy, and the Wonderbolts—flying supplies and intel between outposts during a border crisis with the griffons.

This mission, however, was hardly anything approaching normal. Even if civilians were being kept in the dark about it, the fact of the matter was that the dread centaur, Lord Tirek, was on the loose, and what was worse, he was rampaging across Equestria, draining the magic of every single pony he came across. As such, the Shadowbolts were tracking him across the country, with nearby airship patrols keeping them supplied with rations, camera film, and dragonfire candles. As the HRHS Resplendent was the closest ship it fell to me to resupply the ponies.

Despite the heavy saddlebags, the lightly armoured barding, the short-sword across my back, and the foreboding nature of my mission, I gladly accepted the opportunity to fly. Despite being a pegasus in the service, I seldom had any opportunities to fly that didn't involve hauling the resupply skiff up from ground level when docking was infeasible. No wonder Cantata wanted me to try out for the guard instead.

That was why I was soaring north from our patrol route over Rambling Rock Ridge to an area between Canterlot and Baltimare. It was a long flight through a wild weather zone, but luckily the conditions were pretty good. There was just the right amount of cloud-cover to mask my approach to the designated rendezvous point, but not enough to interfere with line-of-sight from a cloud blind.

I should be coming up on them right about now, I realised, as I landed atop a wild cumulus cloud. Where could... Ah! My eyes alit upon a cloud structure that was a tad too orderly for it to be the result of wild weather. For one, the conditions weren't right for a nimbostratus cloud to form. Not only that, but this cloud was clearly being anchored in place by pegasus magic. That must be the observation point.

Rather than take flight, I carefully bounced from cloud to cloud. Even if cloud parkour wasn't a good alternative to gliding when you want to minimise sky exposure, I still would have done so. The problem with long distance flying is that you start losing blood flow in your legs, and bouncing in the clouds is an excellent way to get that flowing without worrying about the sort of damage such frolicking could achieve on the ground if you landed funny.

Plus, if Tirek is in the area, the last thing I wanna do is get caught out in the open.

Eventually, I reached the suspicious cloud and found an opening in the back of it. Upon crawling inside, I found a pair of pegasi in the purple and black flight suits of Shadowbolt Squadron, peering out through a low gap in the cloud structure. One of the stallions was watching something through binoculars, whilst the other had a camera with a telescopic lens pointed out at something. Based on the clicking, I had to guess they had the target in their sights.

Oh, they knew I was there, but they were doing the usual ONI shit. If they weren't acknowledging me, then speaking up before them would just give them justification to be pissy. Even if they're just lieutenants, you don't pisss off the ONI; they have ways of making your career hell.

After standing and holding a wing salute for what felt like half an hour, the stallion with the camera turned around and began disassembling the camera. "No time to stand on ceremony, delivery mare," he remarked in a gruff voice. Even as he transferred the film roll to a canister. "You got our resupply and dragonfire candle, right?"

Without missing a beat, I unclipped my saddlebags and dropped them onto the cloud floor. The moment I passed off the candle, the stallion snatched it up. He then took a cigarette case and some matches from a pouch in his flight suit, and proceeded to light both the candle and his death stick. When he was sure the candle made its connection, he tossed the canister into the flame.

The other stallion suddenly scrambled away from the 'window', dropping his binoculars. "Ah shit, Storm!" the other Shadowbolt exclaimed. "This is bad. We gotta get the fuck out of here before he sees us."

Rolling his eyes, Lt. Storm glared at his compatriot. "Blast, we've been tracking him since Baltimare, and he hasn't seen us once. I don't even think he saw the delivery mare."

It was weird seeing somepony from Naval Intelligence freaking out like that. Ponies like this were supposed to be unflappable, and borderline psychopaths depending on who you asked. This didn't match the description at all, and it worried me. Am I missing something?

"Not him," Lt. Blast hissed, passing the binoculars to his partner, before pointing back out the hole. "Him!"

"Wha-oh shit!" he groaned, dropping his cigarette. "I knew that thing couldn't be trusted."

Out of curiosity, I made my way over to the gap in the clouds, and peered out through the gap. At this range, I could just make out the black, white, and red shape that had to be Tirek. But there was another tall, albeit indistinct figure standing there with him. Much to my surprise, Lt. Storm passed me the binoculars. I almost regretted looking through them the moment I did. There with Lord Tirek was the allegedly reformed draconequus, Discord. It appeared as though the two were talking.

Worse, the creepy serpentine bastard was looking right at me, almost as if he could see me. "That's super creepy," I whispered. "It's like he's looking right at me." Then Tirek turned and looked up in the direction of our cloud. "...and now he's looking at us too."

When I lowered the binoculars, the two Lieutenants were looking at one another in horror. "Welp, it was nice knowing you," Blast remarked, reaching into one of his own pouches and withdrawing a crystal. Even though I'd only ever seen such a thing once, I knew exactly what it was—an emergency teleport crystal. "If you manage to get out of this, we'll make sure you get a commendation for your service." He draped his wing over the other guy's withers, and then crushed the crystal with his hoof. The pair were swallowed up in a bright light, and then just like that, they were gone.

Oh, you have got to be kidding.

Suddenly, a bright flash enveloped the cloud structure, accompanied by the sound of claws snapping. When the dazzle left my eyes, it became quite apparent that I was falling. Worse, I was far closer to the traitorous demigod and the demon centaur than I'd been a moment before—like dangerously close. That bastard is offering me up!

Actually, now that I thought about it, I'm not sure I was actually falling. For one, I couldn't feel the air moving through my fur. For another, I think somepony was holding me by the scruff of my neck. Given that Discord's draconic claw was missing, there was only one viable choice. My eyes shifted from the demon centaur to the chaos entity as I just bobbed there in front of them.

Discord buffed his lion's paw on his chest before examining the nails. "Well, Tirek, I managed to snag one of your pursuers," he remarked in a calm, disinterested voice. "The other two escaped before I could get a fix on them, so you'll have to do with some fast food."

When the centaur crossed his arms in front of his chest and glared at me, I felt a chill go down my spine. He wasn't draining my magic yet, but it didn't stop the pang of fear. I'd be lucky if all he did was drain me. There was nothing official, but the scuttlebutt had it that many of the guardsponies that crossed his path were killed in action.

Swallowing my rising fear, I bared my teeth. "Discord, I hope when the princesses discover your betrayal, they'll put you to the fucking headsmare's axe," I growled, spitting on the ground in front of him. He winced at the vitriol in my voice, but he still met my eyes. "In fact, I hope that the both of you are put to the axe. Tartarus is too good a punishment for you f—"

The draconequus gave another snap of his claws, and suddenly my voice cut out. It wasn't just that he'd cast some sort of silencing charm as a unicorn would; no, that would have been too easy. Whatever he did, I couldn't feel any of the vibrations of sound in my throat; I couldn't even scream if I wanted too.

"Oh no you don't, little miss potty-mouth," he admonished, reaching out to poke me on the snout. It was something he quickly rethought as I clicked my teeth at him in warning. "This show is rated G. If you keep talking like that, the networks will jack up the rating to MA, and then the entire thing will get canned."

Seemingly unimpressed by being ignored, Tirek cleared his throat. "Are you quite finished playing with her, Discord?" he asked in an almost too sweet tone. It felt almost mocking, but more importantly, it was genuinely terrifying. "Let me drain her and then we can get out of here. I want to move on Canterlot before the ponies can mount a response."

To my horror, the disembodied claw holding me in the air threw me over to Tirek. This is it, then, I decided, as I spread my wings to reorient myself in the air. My left forehoof reached for my lower back, where the short sword was strapped, and withdrew it. If this is how it goes, then I'm going to make sure he regrets it.

The moment Tirek's meaty hand reached out to seize me by my torso, I jammed the sword downward into his wrist. He swatted me to the ground, and then immediately reared up and slammed his large forehooves down on me in response. Inside me, I could feel something break—many somethings, really. Suddenly, all sensation left my body, and all I could do was lie there in the bottom of the crater his crushing blow put me into.

I couldn't breathe, and all I could taste was blood. Even now, the edges of my vision were beginning to fill with encroaching darkness. There was nothing I could do when he picked me up and started draining me of my magic. The last I heard with my ears before everything went black was an uncaring statement of, "Ooops. I think you broke her." What I heard in my soul, however, was something different.

"That was a brave thing you did, little pony. Brave, but stupid. Unfortunately, there are rules that even I am bound by. " There was a sigh in the draconequus' voice as I felt my heart slow. "I can't interfere in life and death to save you, but... Sunbutt's other apprentice seems to be doing well in another world... Maybe your next life there will go better than this one did.