Game Plans

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“How about this,” Boss began, again trying to adjust himself in the cocoon, “You let us out of these goddamned things and let us all sort this out amongst ourselves,” Chrysalis opened her mouth to speak, Boss added, “Privately.”

Chrysalis closed her mouth again, considering for a moment, dripping water echoed throughout the cavern, “You’ll try to escape,” she stated, eyeing them warily.

“We don’t have our weapons and we don’t know the way out,” Boss countered, “You give and you might get. I’ll consider your offer if you let us walk around and think about this without you breathing down our backs.”

Chrysalis snorted, “We’ll win this war either way, I don’t have to play nice with you to get my way,” the changelings at her sides looked equally derisive.

Boss was quiet for a moment, meeting Chrysalis’ eyes without flinching, “Bullshit,” he stated plain and simply.

Chrysalis grew silent for a moment, her gaze turned calculating for a moment, eyes flickering amongst the three captive humans. A thin smile finally creased her lips.

“Fair enough, you called my bluff,” she said, aiming and firing a trio of green blasts. The soldiers flinched as the blasts struck their cocoons, making the structures wither away and release their captives onto the hard floor. Green slime, coating their armor, dribbled off as if some massive creature had sneezed on them.

“Ew,” Spotter muttered as the stuff steadily peeled off under its own weight, puddling on the floor at his feet.

“You have five minutes,” Chrysalis said, turning to the exit with her two changelings on her tail. As she headed out, she called back, “try anything and there will be a thousand of my changelings to put you back in those cocoons. This time I won’t leave your heads exposed.”

And with that, Chrysalis and her underlings were gone.

“So how’re we getting out of here?” Spotter asked in a hushed voice once he assumed that Chrysalis was out of earshot.

“We might be taking sides,” Boss said, half to himself as he stretched with a thoughtful face, staring off at a wall with a pondering gaze.

“What? No! We can’t!” Spotter exclaimed in a hushed voice, throwing a scared glance down the tunnel, “Boss, this isn’t our fight!”

“That’s what I was telling myself earlier,” Boss replied, giving the younger soldier a stern look that he returned with a frown, “only now we’re forced into a position where not choosing sides gets us in deep shit,” he turned his gaze upwards, only seeing the black ceiling laced with phosphorus, glowing veins, “someone outside the sim wants us to take sides in this...maybe opposite ones from the rest of the team. I don’t know why, but maybe we’re supposed to know that this isn’t reality.”

“You still think this is a sim!?” Spotter exclaimed, throwing another cautious glance down the hallway, stance growing more agitated.

Again Boss turned to Spotter, an uncertain look crossing his face, “Mostly, yes,” he replied, pausing for a moment, “I’m keeping all options open and it’s the one that lets me keep my cool the best.”

“Yeah, plus,” Dice added, checking over his gear and frowning at both his missing knives and medical equipment, “if what our lovely friend said is true and the pon-, er, Equestrians denied them a food source, then perhaps they aren’t the ones on the moral high ground after all. I mean, that’s just fucked up.”

“There’s always two sides to every coin,” Spotter put in, sending an unhappy look to Dice, not convinced.

“You don’t think I know that, mate?” Dice asked, “We are going in half-blind if we choose one side or the other as is.”

“But that’s what Harbingers do on a normal basis,” Boss added neutrally, “Most of the time we’re going in with only half a clue about the general terrain, enemy identity and armament. It’s our job to figure out the ROE once JSOC dumps us in hell.”

“Yeah, and we need to maintain your first ROE. This isn’t our fight!” Spotter said with a stomp, not caring that his voice was suddenly raised above a whisper.

Boss considered for a moment longer.

“Maybe you’re right...maybe you’re wrong. Whatever the answer is, I’ve got a decision to make.”

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(Canterlot)

“Well good, then!” Snipes exclaimed, clapping his hands together and clasping them before him, “What’s the plan, Princess?”

Luna’s mouth turned into a confused frown.

Thy eagerness surprises us. Though it is suitable all things considered. Come, our sister wished us to show thee to thy quarters, and we wish for a more secluded spot for our plans...

Luna led the group down glorious halls lined with massive pillars, the high ceilings somewhat comical compared to the size of the ponies that must have built them. It seemed that those with great power built even greater things, both human and pony.

Luna eventually came to a door, which she opened with magic. Everyone and pony filed in and the door was promptly shut.

The room was roomy and semi-dark, light flowing in through a couple of windows and onto sets of priceless furniture and decorations. A brick fireplace sat against one wall, the floors, walls, and ceilings clean as new. Artfully carved chairs sat around equally lavish tables. The group spread out around the room.

“For someone who I don’t think likes us all that much, Celestia doesn’t seem to spare any expense,” Holey said, eyeballing the room.

“It’s you and your dirty Russian blood she doesn’t like,” Snipes joked, looking out a window, “Pretty view.”

“Screw you, Snipes,” Holey grumbled, eyeing the room with a frown.

“So, Princess,” Redneck began, turning to Luna as she lit up her horn, “what’s this plan of yours?”

We shall tell thee. It was well known that Queen Chrysalis of the changelings was going to make a move well in advance of her actual attack, the one that you helped to beat back. My Night Guard were able to spot a few changeling dwellings that had been secretly erected by some of her soldiers.

“Not so secret if you guys knew about it,” Snipes commented, turning from the window.

Luna smiled proudly.

Not so secret at all so long as prying eyes know all the weak points. Our night Guard were and still are watching a good number of these dwellings secretly, ready to strike on my command.

“And you’re in contact with your Guards?” Redneck asked.

Yes. You can imagine, then, where we are going with this. One of our spying teams spotted what they believe to be thy fellow soldiers being taken with a number of ponies and the stolen Elements of Harmony. Our plan, therefore, would be to send you in to get them.

“Hm,” Redneck nodded thoughtfully, he pulled a chair away from the room’s table, sitting down gingerly as if he was afraid he might break it, “And what’s your sister’s angle on this?”

Luna didn’t reply immediately, considering her words before putting them to thoughtspeak.

We...we did not inform our sister of this because we feel that Queen Chrysalis makes her...unstable...for lack of a better word. Our sister grows agitated and tense, very moody and...well...violent at the mention of the changeling queen.

“So...what? Like she’s on her period or something?” Snipes asked, leaning against the wall next to the windowsill.

“Shut it, Snipes,” Redneck growled, throwing the other man an annoyed look.

What?

“Ignore him,” Redneck said, “So what’re the details of this plan of yours? Who’s going? What are we up against? When do we leave? All the good stuff.”

Our plan was to send two of thee with a group of our own agents. These two groups would enter the spot, a cave system, locate those who needed rescuing, and bring them back.

“Why only two?” Redneck asked, the others sharing his curiosity.

Our sister, Princess Celestia, is keeping an eye on your magical energies. She fears all of thee, perhaps rightfully so. She is, hopefully, only doing so passively, meaning that her attention is not fully given to watching your magical energies. Thus, she would not notice if two of you were to suddenly disappear.

“Magical what?” Holey inquired with a derisive look, doubtful.

“Yeah, what’s this about magic?” Redneck echoed.

What do you mean? Thy magical energies are thy inherent magic reserves. They may be viewed like a candle against the magical energies of the air around you, like holes in fabric.

All four humans swapped confused looks.

“I think you just made even less sense,” Snipes put in, “Are you trying to say that ‘magic’ is real here?”

Did you not see it in action with our and the Guard’s teleportation spells? Of the changeling’s shifting of their shapes? Do you not have your own forms of magic in your land?

“Kinda,” Snipes replied with a grin, “Got a box of playing cards?”

“Shut it, Snipes,” Redneck cut in, not bothering to give Snipes an annoyed look, “Look, whatever, if it means we get things done the Loch Ness monster’s real too. Small things aside, two of us meet with your guys, then what?”

You mean to tell us that thy land does not have magic?

Luna replied in thoughtspeak, surprised.

“Yes, but drop it for now, okay? We’ve got a mission to plan,” Redneck said, tone growing more annoyed.

We see your point. Anyways, we can have two of thee teleported to the location of our waiting agents. They will lead the charge into this hive to retrieve thy stolen soldiers and our stolen subjects.

“I’m not so certain that ‘leading a charge’ is the best course of action when we’re attacking an unknown enemy structure,” Redneck replied with a frown, “I assume that we’ll be facing plenty of those changelings there, on their own turf no less. That doesn’t bode well for an attacking group.”

“Unless we’ve got superior firepower,” Snipes chimed in, jerking a thumb to the rifle slung across his back.

“Even then it’s not good odds,” Redneck shifted in his seat, “do they have any form of ranged communication? Any sort of alarm system?”

All of the drones share a link to their queen. What the queen knows, so do the drones and vice versa so long as they are within a reasonable distance. They do not share this link, however, amongst drones. As to alarms, we do not think that they have much, perhaps patrols?

“This ‘link,’” Redneck began, “how powerful is it, exactly? What specifically can it do? Can they chat with each other, for example?”

Not...exactly,

Luna began, thinking hard to remember.

It mostly concerns thoughts, desires, broad subjects. The queen might wish that something be done and her drones will hop to it. Vice versa, a drone or swarm of them may run into trouble and the queen will know of it. That particular scenario tends to lead to either a retreat or more drones heading into provide assistance.

“Okay, so that makes our lives a bit easier then,” Redneck replied, “Do you have any idea what sort of numbers they’ve got? How many of your agents will be going with us?”

Luna was silent for a moment in thought before thoughtspeaking again.

They may have in the upwards of a hundred drones. Our strike team is currently ten strong, though we expect twenty more to join.

“Bringing the count to thirty strong minus two of us soldiers going along?” Redneck inquired, Holey and Pike sharing uneasy looks. Those were far from good odds, even for Harbingers.

Luna only smiled.

You doubt the capabilities of our night guard?

“No offense, Princess, but a hundred to thirty is typically what’d be considered even odds for a defense on our part. Even then it wouldn’t be a problem, but we’re running into a cavern of terrain that only the enemy knows. We’ll lose all forms of stealth the second we fire a shot, suppressors or no suppressors with all that echo.”

Oh. Well, while we assure you that our night guard is rather capable, We must ask...you do not have anything quieter? Or, um, nothing less deadly?

“There’s always knives,” Snipes suggested with a shrug, tapping his own weapon’s hilt, “this isn’t some kiddy’s arcade shooter, is it? Our guns do more damage than our knives?”

“So no, we don’t. The way we roll, people tend to die,” Redneck replied, ignoring his comrade’s comment, “And we don’t have any maps of these caverns, do we?”

We do not.

“What about the surrounding area? At least a kilometer square?” Redneck continued, already going over game plans in his mind.

We believe that we do have those.

“Okay then, get me something. I want to see what’s at our disposal when it comes to terrain.”

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(Unknown cave system)

“You have reached a decision?” Chrysalis asked, two drones at her sides. Whether they were the same ones as before or not was impossible to tell to the humans.

“One with conditions,” Boss nodded, standing at ease with his men making a V-shape behind him.

The changeling queen’s face turned a shade more sour, “So long as they do not overstep any boundaries…” she trailed off, the changelings at her sides bristling a bit.

“I have chosen to take your side in this conflict,” Boss said, the sour look leaving Chrysalis’ face, “but you are going to call a cease fire and we are all, that is my team, you, and whatever ceremonial guard you want to bring, going to hold negotiations with the opposing side...”

“I already held a meeting with that white whore! She refused my people…” Chrysalis practically yelled in anger, the changelings bristling.

“The situation has changed drastically!” Boss yelled back, taking a threatening step towards Chrysalis, a move that caught her and her changelings off guard, “We, as in my team both present and AWOL, will be attending as well. As you’re well aware, my team makes your conflict dangerous because our style of play involves actual killing. From the look of things, that’s not normal operating procedure for you guys.

“Now, maybe it’s dumbing it down, but our world had a multi-decade conflict that we like to call the cold war about thirty years ago,” Chrysalis was silent and unsmiling as Boss continued, “we call it that because not a single shot was fired. Now why was that? Because the two sides had something new to war. We both had weapons that could level cities with the push of a button, arsenals that could turn continents into ash. No one was willing to have a battle where that sort of stuff replaced infantry and armor because everyone knew that it would end all life on the planet.

“Skip forwards to present day,” Boss gestured around the cavernous room, “We’re new to your war. We’re the weapon that will level a city, the arsenal that will turn a continent into ash. We’re the weapon that no one is willing to use against the other because both sides know that the casualty reports are going to start including entire books of dead things. It’s not the weapons that end the war, it’s the threat of them.

“Now I get that maybe it’s a long shot, but it won’t be the first or the last time that I choose to make a long shot,” Boss finished.

Silence fell on the room, dripping continued from farther down the tunnels of stone.

“And this is your only request,” Chrysalis stated the question.

“We also don’t kill anything that’s a non-combatant and you use us sparingly. Your commands are our orders, but we do not shoot civilians and you only use us when you need to,” Boss added, “Now I get that my demands are hefty, but,” he lifted an index finger, “You can’t tell me that the payoff isn’t worth it.”

Author's Note

I would like to sincerely apologize for the lack of updates recently. I have no excuses, I have been a bad Pingas.

Anyways, I hope you guys all like where this is going and stick around for the next chapter!