Prologue Part 1: Rain (EDITED)
Rain...
He only could hear the rain...
Last Chance’s mangled body was laying in the dirt, the life slowly ebbing out of it, the OT35-9 hellfire transport burning after some explosive had shot them down.
After two minutes of stupor, the only thing that Last Chance could do is slowly try to get up (goddammit the pain was unbearable). He still tried for another two minutes before realizing that he couldn’t stand on a broken leg. He mentally slapped himself and tried to crawl out of the big crater the explosion had made... after some time and effort he remembered his SMP (Survival Medical Pack). Grunting, he went down again to the leftovers of the transport in an attempt to recover it.
*CRACK*
He stopped suddenly, realizing that he wasn´t alone, and most importantly that he wasn´t on friendly territory
"Shit!"
"Of all your extensive vocabulary, you could only think on saying *cough* the word with S"
He peeked up, only to see Reaper coughing blood and seeing him with a sly grin filled with blood
"Damn bro, you scared me half to death"
"Hehehe *cough* at least I’m lifting the mood before kicking the bucket."
"What are you talking..."
As Last Chance was recovering his senses, he could see a large chunk of metal transfixing his wingman, penetrating one from side to the other, pinning him to the ground. At first LC thought that Reaper could make it, but then he also saw with some degree of horror that Reaper was also missing a leg and an arm.
"Shit" he gasped "Reaper, what the fuck hit us"
"..."
"Reaper?"
"..."
"Fuck"
That was it. No some words, no some assuring words, Reaper has just passed away and the only thing that LC could do is swear him the merciless God out. The pain in his leg was increasing, so he focused on the task at hand, but not before grabbing one of Reaper´s dog tags and hiding it near his boots. An old trick that his old man had taught him before passing away 10 years ago
"Dammit man, I swear if I could have saved you..."
He shook his head, then tried to focus again on the body, where a laser vector was increasing... brightly. He moved off as fast as he could before a loud explosion take place just where Reaper body was, leaving a little crater in the ground
"SHITSHITSHITSHIT"
He can only articulate that word like a broken CD player over and over, the adrenaline running through him as he takes cover in the wrecked ship.
"WHAT THE HELL JUST HAPPENED" LC thought as he got his equipment and quickly activated it. The soft glow of the paramedic robot grew in intensity as the machine started to scan his body, then the diagnosis came up.
"Injuries detected. You have a broken leg, a punctured lung, and a pair of broken ribs.", the machine said in a cold, feminine voice. "Want to repair?"
"No, I want to stay all beaten up and I want you to puke rainbow unicorns.", LC retorted as the machine began to work, it encased his leg in a tube and he grunted again before the pain on his leg began to relent.
"How much time do you take?"
"Calculating... Calculating" said the machine. After a couple of minutes had passed, "4 hours 50 seconds total"
"That’s not good.", he muttered "And if you only treat my leg?"
"30 minutes, 25 seconds"
"That’s better"
"Punctured lung and broken ribs are a potentially treat for you now, Lt. Michael..."
"Shut up and work only on the leg!" Last Chance hissed as quick a little pain began to rise from his chest.
"Yes, sir."
He then examined the cargo bay at the wreckage, it was almost intact. He began mentally checking as he saw Reaper’s bag, Debby´s bag, and finally his own bag in the compartiments.
Debby...
DANG IT! Debby... where the fuck was Debby ?, LC quickly looked around, he couldn’t see anything in the blackened cargo bay, then he remember his NV goggles and grabbed his bag, hoping that they were still in good condition. He found them, only a glass broken, and quickly put them on and tried again.
And then he saw her.
Reaper´s death took him by surprise... but what he saw now, he only could take the goggles away before puking his guts out, then the silence...
"Corporal Deborah Swain, or Debby for her friends... only 2 days before, she joined the hellhounds, LC and Reaper’s unit, with merits. Now"... LC doesn´t want to think right now, he immediately got all the bags and tried to get out, then he remembered his mission.
"To hell with the mission!" is the only thing that he could say now. He slowly got down and began to look in his bag, getting his multi-functional cloak and draped it over himself. He only say
"optical camouflage on"
And the cloak began to work, he pulled out his hand, only to see... nothing "Finally some good luck" is all that he can think before speaking to the Medical Robot.
"Hey, thincan!"
"Yes, sir?"
"How much time left?"
"5 minutes on the leg"
"Well, at least I can move again, now. Let’s see what we have." As LC looked in the bags, he smiled, "chocolate candy bars, some ammo, a SPG-01 sidearm, one C-85 "little hell" shotgun, and an ammo making kit".
"Thank you, Debby."
"Another ammo making kit, a SPG-03 Assault rifle, a pair of electromagnetic rechargeable batteries, 20 clips of ammo for the rifle, a hunting knife, 4 packs of cigarettes."
"dammit Reaper, son of a bitch, you said that you went out of smokes like a week ago."
"Now, my bag... Another pair of NV goggles, my tool kit, the repair equipment for the cloak and the SMP, my SPG-21R Sniper Rifle, 10 clips for the Rifle ammo... not bad. Now... the hard part."
LC quickly got all the things together and began to choose all the ones he would need to open up a path into the hostile territory and began to put them in his bag. At least he could survive a little with the food (chocolate mostly) and he decided to carry the sidearm, the shotgun and the sniper rifle with him, he also took the batteries, all the ammo making kits and the repair kit, he emptied half of the clips (daaamn ammo wasting) and also kept them
"Repair to your leg done, Lieutenant."
"Thank you, thincan" he said quickly "hibernation mode now"
"Yes, sir."
BOOOM!
"Oh, shit!"
LC quickly got outside with his cloak on... All that he could see was a little sparkling stone on the floor, surrounded by an dark blue aura.
"What the f..." was the only thing he could say before the stone lifted itself off the floor, floating around him and flung itself directly towards him. Then a bright purple flash, another big explosion, and silence.
And again only the rain.
CANTERLOT CANTERLOT
It has been a perfect day, as always, and Princess Celestia knows it as she quickly leaves Day Court in order to lower the sun for her younger sister, Princess Luna.
"Princess?"
"Everything is going to be perfect if Twilight could pull out this spell by now." Celestia deeply thought as she paced quietly in the main corridor.
"Princess Celestia?"
"Well, anyways... what was Lulu mumbling this morning... something about sending some... Ok, I need to retake some focus classes, I can’t remember..." As celestia continued her stroll through the halls, she didn’t notice the butler behind her.
"PRINCESS CELESTIA!"
"EEEP"
Celestia found herself at the top of one of canterlot famous chandelier pieces on the dining room, shivering lightly as she looked down
"HOLY... REGINALD"
"Indeed Princess, sorry for screaming at you"
"OH... WELL YOU CAN JUST SPEAK TO ME NORMALLY... WON’T YOU, YOU JUST STARTLED ME OUT MY HAUNCHES""
"Princess... The Royal Canterlot Voice?"
"Oh... umm... well" Celestia began to say when a loud crack was heard all across the room. Celestia and Reginald watched in horror as the chandelier gave up and and crashed onto the dining table, along with one confused alicorn that had just peeked into the dining room at that moment.
"Tia, we need to speak thou that...!!!SWEET MOTHER OF TARTARUS!!
CRAAAASH
"TIA! TIA! PRAY TELL WHAT ARE THEE DOING ON THE TOP OF THE CHANDELIER IN THE DINING ROOM"
"hmgmgh"
"WHAT ARE THEE SPEAKING, WE CAN’T UNDERSTAND THEE BABBLING"
"Princess Luna"
"WHAT!"
"you are crushing your sister against the table"
"WE ARE NOT...Oh Tia... Tia!!!... we are so sorry, please forgive us"
Soon, the Solar Monarch was seated on a little table (two guards grunting their souls out as they moved the broken table out of the dining room), her regalia all dusty and her mane disheveled (if that’s even possible) and looking daggers at her younger sibling who stood two meters away with a sheepish grin and an apologetic look in her eyes.
"We... ugh... I am so sorry about that, but it was interesting seeing thou clinging to that chandelier, Tia."
*sigh* "It doesn’t matter", said the older alicorn blushing lightly. It wasn’t your fault."
"I am deeply sorry, Your Majesty.", the butler mumbled at her right, "but you were daydreaming and mumbling something about attention so I think you should begin to pay a little more of it to your surroundings...”
"Creepy." said the lunar princess quietly.
At this point, and before any of the staff came into the room, Celestia did something even more more unlikely. She facehooved...
Quickly regaining herself she began to speak.
"Lulu, this morning you came early saying something about"... but she was eagerly interrupted again, this time by a little stone that materialized above her, quickly followed with a magic signature of Luna herself
"Ah, yes", began the Lunar Princess "as you can see, we sent this sigil to find somepony who could help us to improve our military, and also somepony who has an special talent among his or her partners, but most importantly, somepony who..."
At that point Celestia wasn’t paying any attention, she just was staring blankly at some point behind Luna seeing by chance the clock behind her, only to saw that it was almost time.
"Luna"
"Pray tell, Sister?"
"You are like... twenty minutes late to raising the moon, aren’t you?"
"Oh, horseapples" said the younger alicorn before zipping out of the room.
Peace and quiet, finally some peace and quiet”, that is until a letter materialized in front of her with a little green blast.
"For the love of..." began the older alicorn taking the letter angrily and at the same time starting to read it, only to let it fall a couple seconds later.
"Uhh, Reginald?"
"Yes, your Highness?"
"You are sure I didn’t hit my head when I fell from the ceiling?"
"Absolutely sure, your Highness."
"That’s what I thought."
Then she unceremoniously fell on the floor, the last word that she said was "human".
Prologue Part 2: On the other side (EDITED)
PONYVILLE
"Well, I guess you should have told us about this storm darling" Rarity was saying at the moment they stormed on Golden Oaks library, at the same time glaring daggers at a certain blue pegasus, who just smiled sheepishly and rubbed her forehoof behind her head.
"Sorry Rars, I didn’t think it would be the storm of the year, and besides, the storm was scheduled for tomorrow, not for today", she said, "Glad we made it before the storm hit the town full force." As if on cue, the door opened again, this time revealing a very grumpy orange earth pony wearing a stetson hat, which hung down onto her face due to the all the water on top of it.
"Rainbow Dash, what the hay is going on here, why didn’t you tell me ´bout this storm" AJ managed to say before a bolt of lightning struck just behind her and the library went dark...
"Whoa nelly", exclaimed AJ as she tried to get in, getting trapped by the welcome rug and falling forward into the darkness.
"Ouch, Applejack, take care... and most importantly GET OFF ME, YOU’RE SOAKED AND MUDDY" yelled Rarity At the same time, the door swung open, this time revealing a purple unicorn and a purple and green dragon looking dumbfounded at the mess the other threes mares were making of the entrance to the library.
"What in the name of Celestia are you three doing in here?!" Twilight exclaimed as soon she get in and put some light into the library, revealing a jumbled pile of ponies, with Applejack on top, something that resembled Rarity’s leg, and a rainbow tail in the middle of the mess the floor was.
"Uhh... I don’t know egghead, maybe getting away from the storm" A soft grunting was heard between AJ and Rarity "now if you could be so kind and, I don’t know, GET THESE TWO HEAVY PONIES OFF OF ME!!!"
Twilight blushed a little, "Sorry for the obvious question, now how can I help you?"
Three ponies facehooved loud enough to be heard after the obvious statement, Spike was snickering until he fell onto the soaked floor, bursting into laughter.
"jajajajajaja oh Twi, nevermind" Spike say as he pulled AJ out of the mess
Two minutes went by as Twilight and company stumbled their way into the little kitchen. Spike began to work on hot chocolate for himself and the four mares, meanwhile Twilight tried to figure out why she had left the library without locking it (if that is possible with such a organized mare) and trying to catch up with her friends.
"I hope you can go home", stated the librarian, "I think the storm is getting worse."
"Hey, I can get to my home in ten seconds flat" RD stated with pride. At the same time, a huge thunder could be heard and the lights in the library went off again... when it returned, all the remaining mares and baby dragon only saw a blue pegasus upside down on the floor, and again the only sound in the library was laughter, suddenly
"thudFUCK"
"Hey Rainbow, such language" the alabaster unicorn scolded
"Whoa whoa, that wasn’t me, I’m still recovering from the trip to the floor" deadpanned Rainbow, who was behind Rarity.
"If it wasn’t you then what..." began the farm pony, only to be interrupted by a large cracking sound in the lobby of the library, followed by somepony crashing into the main door with such force that the door only held for a moment before falling loudly to the floor. "was that" finished a concerned Applejack.
"I don’t know" began Twilight, "but I feel a very strong magical aura outside of the kitchen just now"
When they went out to investigate, the lights went off again, but Twilight held a magical purple light on the tip of her horn, only to reveal a large, military cloak on the floor, which was moving on it’s own. Then a head popped up, scanning all the room and stopping on the four mares, and slowly began to move to get more comfortable.
"What the fuck are you" said the strange cyclops, obviously a stallion for his voice, the light went on again and they could see better, he was bipedal, was completely clothed, except for his head and hands, was wearing a military design outfit, as far as Rarity could tell, but the mares recoiled when they saw stains of blood in his uniform, also they could see a big, green bag on his back and one strange long metal thing that sprouted out of his left hind leg.
"Hey where..." began the cloaked thing, moving his hand, trying to reach the closest one (Applejack), when suddenly a heavy book (arcane preconceptions and begin of unicorn magic, it seems) came at full speed at the back of his head, knocking him unconscious.
All the mares blinked in unison, and then they started to scream.
"SHUT THE FUCK UP!!!"
They all stopped at once, only to see one light green unicorn, magic ignited, who was standing on the rain in front of the library
"Lyra" all the four mares exclaimed in unison
"No girls, I’m the ghost from hearth warming eve´s past, of course I’m Lyra" the green unicorn said matter of factly, "Now, I want to ask which of you brought the human here."
"Human?" Twilight asked, only to get another chorus of facehooves.
"Yes, Twilight, human, such as that one that I knocked out just now" Lyra deadpanned, moving closely and inspecting the human that was on the floor, mumbling something for herself
"We don’t know" began Twilight "but I know who can tell us... Spike, take a letter..."
Dear Princess Celestia
I was returning to my home when suddenly a storm got us, anyway the storm wasn’t scheduled for today, also I felt a strong magical aura and suddenly a thing appeared (well, more accurately crashed) in my front door.
I don’t have any proof regarding it, but another pony claims that this creature is a human, I was wondering if we could take it to Canterlot castle tomorrow for you to inspect it.
your faithful student,
Twilight Sparkle
chapter 1 What did you say ??? (EDITED)
23 august 21XX
"After 50 years at war, nobody really cares why it was started now." Last Chance thought, running towards the safe spot designated by his operator. "Now it is only a matter of finding shelter, fighting your fucking ass off to defend it, eat, sleep, wake up to... I don’t know, find yourself on another planet or whatever, only to see your hopes and dreams crushed to pieces and a shotgun your only surviving tool and partner." He continues on that line of thinking as he gets himself into the shelter, startling a very bulky guard,
"Hey, what gives?!"
"Sorry pal, just running off to report to the CO" , he said, removing his gear and cloak and revealing his dogtags and rank to the guard.
"Ok, proceed Lt. Smith"
"Thanks, pal, and also don’t fall asleep again." LC blurted out as quickly as possible, beginning to run again. This time he was interrupted by another soldier when he crashed over the distracted woman.
"Whoa... sorry", she said, "I am searching for Lieutenant Michael Smith."
"Hellhounds unit ?" he asked getting up and smiling as warmly as possible, at the same time nursing a small bump on the back of his head.
"Sir, yes sir!" almost shouted the woman, getting up in one swift motion.
"Shit, why the fuck i always get the kids"
Just as he was going to respond, his vision faded to black and then back to a different place and time.
"... is ... okay ???"
"Damn it hurts" is all Last Chance can think, trying to get up, only to discover that he was tied to a bed, but at least he can feel the bandages on his thorax. Clearly whoever did it also took care of his punctured lung and the broken ribs. "OK... what the fuck did I just do to get strapped on a bed?"
"can he... us ???"
He looked around, first seeing the green curtains of a hospital room, also noticing some cupcakes and one card on the left side of the bed, piled up with some of his gear neatly folded on a chair. Already, he knows that he was the only person in the room, also that he was tied up on the bed and there is nobody in attendance to check on him. "Well, first things first", LC thought.
"Hello, is anybody there?"
He heard a collective gasp, and then a lot footsteps clearly approaching the curtains. Then they suddenly stopped.
"OK... the first doctor I know that doesn’t want to see his patient", LC said, chuckling a little
"Ummm... how do I put this... we are not doctors, we actually are the ones that found you" a feminine voice suddenly spoke from his right, "furthermore, we also took care of your wounds and got all your gear cleaned."
"Cleaned?, why cleaned?", LC asked, shaking slightly, almost knowing the answer
"Why, yes of course" another, more sophisticated voice was heard. "You have traces of mud and... well blood... on your gear, so I personally got it all cleaned for you, after all I’m a fashionista."
"Can you come again?"
"I am a fashionista." the voice said, sounding slightly annoyed.
"Well, now I know I’m dead, or in a coma.", he said, and then suddenly, he began to laugh maniacally. "WHY THE FUCK I AM STRANDED ON THE HELL WITH A FASHIONISTA!!!"
"My, my, such language", said the voice, "at least you should thank us for getting you here, you ruffian." and he could hear a hmmph sound."Hold your horses Rares ", another voice said, with a thick southern accent, "he barely knows that he appeared in front of th´ library all of a sudden."
"WAIT WHAT WAS THAT!!!"
"Umm... how can I explain... you kind of crashed on my place after we heard a huge explosion outside during the storm, and umm well..." the voice suddenly went silent.
"Ok I’m more calm now, you can continue" say the now half terrified, half curious human.
"One of us hit you in the head, rather hard."
"What did you say?"
"O-O-Oneofushityouintheheadimsosososososososorry" the voice suddenly blurted, Last Chance stared at the curtain, and then he again began to shout
"WHY IN THE NAME OF ALL THINGS HOLY DID YOU DO THAT?"
"We were afraid."
"AFRAID OF WHAT, FOR CHRIST SAKE... I’M ONLY A HUMAN"
"That’s exactly the point pardner... we don’t have humans here, we aren’t even sure what a human is."
"Uhhh" was the only thing LC could say, when suddenly the curtains moved aside and he could see four pastel-colored little horses staring at him, and suddenly one of them spoke up. "As you can see, we are ponies."
After that, everything went dark again as Lieutenant Michael Smith lost consciousness again.
