The Rise of Wrath

In a dark brown cloak, a figure strode up to the gates of one of the Las Haygus Military Bases just outside the city. This particular one was dedicated to a small marine division. At the time, the deserts were swept with blankets of rain as the monsoon season thundered across the normally scorching plains, and a good portion of the division were in the mess hall enjoying a late night meal.

Due to the suspicion of changelings in the area, the pair guards standing in the pouring rain immediately went for their guns. They let down said guns when they saw who was approaching.

Diceroll. Unicorn, habitual gambler, slightly crazy, light drinker, and Brigadier General of the 31st Marine Division, otherwise know as the Renegade Arial for its rebellious ways and airship. Husband of Rosy Hooves, a cousin of Derpy Hooves, infamously bad shot, and, last the soldiers heard, in jail for treason.

The first, a simple corporal with three years in the 31st under his belt, immediately asked; "Did you break out, sir?"

Diceroll shook his head, his hood falling from his face, revealing a yellow coat with a messy, short cut brown mane, and deep brown eyes. "I was pardoned."

The soldier sighed, almost disappointed. Then, returning to his normal look, he smiled and replied, "Alright. The Colonel and a guest are in the mess hall, along with a good portion of the division, and" Diceroll turned to the corporal. "its good to have you back."

Diceroll smiled, something he rarely did since the changeling invasion of Canterlot. He hated changelings with all his heart, mainly because one had tried to impersonation himself and trick Rosy for love. His recent month in jail had been sent because of unnecessary accusation of changeling espionage. He had been pardoned because they later found that he had been telling the truth. In fact, he had been pretty good recently at rooting out changelings.

As he walked toward the mess hall, he found a pair of his friends. The first was Long Shot, a Lt. Colonel and third in command of the Division. The second was Salinear, an orphaned pegasus colt who followed the division around. They both had blue coats and gray manes. It was their eyes that made them most different. While Shots (as he was commonly called) had gray eyes, Salinear had crisp sparkling emeralds, which also allowed him to perform the infamous Sad-Eyes look.

They were good friends, and many mistook them for relatives. Even though they weren't related, they still felt like family.

Long Shot mockingly saluted. "General. Break out?"

"Pardoned." Diceroll chuckled, realizing he was going to get that a lot.

Salinear jumped up and down happily. "Hi Uncle Diceroll!" he said enthusiastically.

Diceroll nodded. "Hey Sal. Good to see you too. Still, I'd like to talk about something with Erasalo."

Sal nodded. "We'll follow you to the Mess."

Diceroll walked up to the large building, which was filled with the sounds of happiness and joy. Too bad he was probably about to make them think about it before they party. Of course, this was the 31st he was talking about.

He walked in, the doors blowing opening a tad too dramatically.

Immediate silence.

Then, from ever single pony in the mess hall simultaneously: "Did you break..."

"Pardoned." Diceroll interrupted.

Erasalo, who was standing on the far end of the central table. smiled. "He's back." he said, shaking his head.

Next to him, grinning, was another unicorn that was all too familiar to Diceroll. Shining Armor.

Diceroll walked up to Erasalo first, the orange earth pony beckoning.

Diceroll shot to the point. "Whats been happening. And whats this about two entire Royal Guard companies disappearing?"

Erasalo gestured for the general to sit down, and pushed his brown mane out of his gray eyes. "A week ago, a pair of full, four hundred strong royal guard divisions, tasked with defending the newly crowned Princess Twilight Sparkle, went into the Everfree in pursuit of some changelings who stole some documents. Why they sent two full divisions, I don't know, but not one of the four hundred came out. I know it's none of our business messing in the Royal Guard in the east, but it spooks me. Four hundred stallions. Good ones. I knew a few of them. Salinear's brother was in one of those divisions. I haven't broke the news to the poor colt."

Diceroll listened intently, and when Lo, as the Colonel was called, finished, he slowly nodded. "Well, I guess we've got some of our colts on it?"

"Third Company. Those fifty stallions are the best at espionage we've got. Oh, and Shining wants to talk to you. He got here a few hours ago."

With that, the Colonel trotted off to get some decent grub.

With that, Diceroll turned to Shining. "What do you want?"

Shining Armor raised an eyebrow. "Is that a way to address a fellow Royal Guard classmate? I'm still telling you, the Royal Guard need a stallion like you. Captain, second grade."

Diceroll patted the Captains shoulder. "Thanks, but I prefer the marines. I like my fancy airship."

Shining shrugged. "Eh, I can't see you in Guard armor anyway. Anyway, well, I wanted to talk about Cadence. She's..."

"What?" Diceroll asked. He had hots for Cadence for a while, but that ended when he met Rosie.

"She's...pregnant..."

Diceroll's eyes widened. "Come again?"

"Shes pregnant, OK!"

"Thats...Wow...thats great! Your going to be a father Shining! You'd make a great father, you..."

"Twins. Both Alicorns."

Diceroll stopped. Then, he grabbed the nearest glass of liquid, a cup of water, chugged the whole glass, and spat it out. "WAAAAAT?! I didn't think Alicorns could be born, only created!"

"Well, apparently not." Shining shrugged.

"MAIL CALL!"

Diceroll turned, seeing the normal crowd growing at the moderately sized bag of mail, and then was surprised by his OWN name being called. Afterwards, he was promptly handed a letter.

He opened it. It was from Rosie.

Hey Dice,

Just wanted to write. I heard you got out of prison. I hope you didn't break out. I sent this to the base. I think you would be there first. Not that I'm complaining, I'm just, well lonely, especially with.

Anyway, I hope your safe. Heard about the two divisions. It's terrible, isn't it?

Your love,

Rosie Hooves

P.S. I'm pregnant!

Diceroll turned as pale as a sheet a paper. "Well, Shining, I guess you and I are in a similar boat."

"What?" Shining looked over Diceroll's shoulder at the levitated note, confused. Then he realized what was going on. "Oh. Well we are in the same boat. Both out on military business, and both our wives are pregnant. That's interesting."

Diceroll nodded. "Yea, well, just typical. I'm gone, and I don't even get to see her when she's pregnant. Wait, whats this about Military Business?"

Shining cringed. "Top Secret."

Diceroll shook his head. "Really? Top secret? We've been together since our first year at the academy! If I find out it has something to do with my division I'll..."

"Sir! Phone call, for you!" A private ran up, holding a phone. Diceroll quickly levitated it to his own ear.

"Hello?"

"General, this is Captain Blue, Third company. You're gonna want to see this. My stallions and I are at the Everfree. We've set a beacon. Get here as fast as you can."

Diceroll frowned. "On my way."

"What?" Lo and Shining both said.

"Third Company just called. We need to move. Erasalo, prep first company! Get to the Everfree as fast as you can. I'm taking the Mo."

Shining raised an eyebrow. "Wait, your not riding your 'fancy airship' and taking a friggin' plane instead?"

Diceroll nodded. "Manehatten's too slow. Mo can get me there in three hours at cruising speed. And I'm on no cruise."

Shining blinked. "Mo. As in that wonderfully experimental plane I gave you? With the jets?"

"The same."

"Your crazy."

"It's in my resume."

"Yet your going at high speeds in an experimental plane where you could very well get killed."

"You coming?"

"To hell I'm coming!!!"

...

Several minutes later, Shining Armor wasn't feeling so sure of himself. "Do you know how to drive this?"

Diceroll, seated at the controls of the cramped two-pony jet. "I gamble a lot, remember?"

Shining, feeling no comfort from the general's words, tried to relax in the small chair he had.

Then, they blasted off, in which Shining lost all sense of direction. Oh, and his stomach as well.

The poor jet went from nothing to Mach 5 in about three seconds. They reached the Ponyville area not in three hours. More like twenty minutes.

Diceroll, when within four hundred miles of Ponyville (which didn't take too long), started to slow down. By the time they were at three-hundred miles per hour, they were directly above Ponyville. While it had been rainy and late night back in Haygus, the sun was just starting to poke over the horizon here.

Diceroll took the small jet down, landing relatively softly on a field just outside of town.

As the hatch opened, Shining fell out, loosing the little of his stomach's contents that had not already been lost.

Diceroll chuckled at his friends pain. "Come on! It wasn't that bad! Just a taste of extreme speed. You wouldn't believe the number of pegasus who are wondering what just blew a big hole in their clouds."

Shining, after a minute of gasping for breath, replied. "Really? You're worrying about that?! Diceroll..."

"Yeah?"

"Your crazy."

"I thought we already settled this. Lets see..."

The General pulled out a small GPS-like device. "The beacon is... that way."

Five minutes of travel later...

"So, the Everfree. We meet again." Diceroll said with as much menace he could manage.

With that, the pair of officers walked into the the dank forest.

Immediately Diceroll knew something had happened. The ground was trampled, as though many hooves had gone over recently. "The Divisions went this way."

Shining nodded. "There, a light up ahead."

The pair ran up, to be stopped by several troopers of the Third Company.

"Sir, you may not want to look."

Diceroll sneared. "I've seen dead bodies before corperal..."

That didn't, however, stop Shining from throwing up what little bile was recovering from his previous fits.

The dead were already being reclaimed by nature. The odor that streaked the air was gut-wrenching. The bodies of dozens of royal guard littered the dank area.

Shining slowly recovered, and walked out to join Diceroll, who was questioning one of the Third Company troopers. From what Shining gathered, the Third Company was a light reconnaissance company.

Diceroll nodded. "Nearby is an old village from before the Everfree was around. Whoever was their, they packed up fast, and efficient. Nopony has found anything tracing their origins, but I think it was changelings. All the evidence points towards them. they even found traces of copper on the bodies."

Shining nodded. Magical energy crystals were each based on an element, certain elements being more powerful then others. While Equestria used rare and powerful crystals like Cadmium, the changelings, with their mass production techniques mastered, used cheeper elements, copper being most common, especially because of it's green crystal glow matching their magic. The most sought after was Lunarium, a unique element that is extremely in tune with magic even when not in Energy Crystal form. When in crystal form, it holds near limitless magic potential.

Diceroll sighed. "No info's going to come from this. I need to..."

His radio crackled, and a panicked Erasalo came through. "Mayday Mayday! This is the First Company, Regiment A, 31st Marine Division! We are under attack by a changeling warship! Request immediate assistance!"

Diceroll turned to Shining, a smile spreading across his face. "Captain Blue?"

"Sir?"

"Get to your gunship. We've got a rescue to do."

"Sir, where will you be going?"

Dicerolls grin increased in size. "Oh,I've got  my own ride."