Hoofterlands Ch.6

[MagusZeal]

Balthier Breaker
Hoofterlands – Appleoosa outskirts

Nodding at Elegant's remark Breaker takes to rubbing the side of his head. “Remind me to have the Field Marshal look for a unicorn with earth magic as a specialty. That said, tunnels would take time, time we likely don't have.” Looking towards the stack of reports the stallion ponders for a moment, “Are any of the Freelancer squads or SEAPony's nearby?”

[Lucy Took]

Coma- No pony's land-Near Border of Alliance Territory

The bat pony tried not to think about anything but what was in his pouch as he glided between rocks as the sky started to have the glow of dawn.

Renew-Hoofterlands – Appleoosa outskirts

Renew gave a nod of thanks to Elegant for his support and pulled out a piece of paper and got ready to write out orders while the others talked. She started scribbling down a note when Breaker asked about the freelances. "I don't know about who's closest, but it isn't that hard to find out." she said, plucking a hair and wrapping it around the scroll with her aura before the hair wrapped around the paper and vanished. "I've got that sent out to Flame Mane to see if his team is close enough to help, aside from that I'll send out a telotype to the Blackbird and the Svantovit to see if they're able to help." She explained before walking to the other side of the tent and starting to type things out. "I should order a medical team here as well, if we end up engaging I'll need help with the clean up. I'll ask the Mako to resupply and have their ship tuned up and meet us here by the end of the week. I don't want them caught in the cross fires, but I will need their help."

[MagusZeal]

Balthier Breaker
Hoofterlands – Appleoosa outskirts

“Sounds like our best bet, hopefully the Avenger's are close, I don't know that the X-Colt's are going to be of much use.” Still looking at the map the stallion tried to come up with something that wasn't a direct fight. “Hopefully we'll come up with something in the next few hours.”

[Knight Tyrfang]

Khaem
Hoofterlands - Appleoosa Outskirts

After flying for so long, Khaem's thoughts had already drifted away from finding her little spy, and the implications of him. She would take full responsibility of course, but in having information on the dragons being leaked to ponies in any shape or form, well the young dragon wasn't sure if she was guaranteed a full lifespan anymore. More so, Khaem didn't want to face her great-grandpa, and brood leader empty handed. His disappointment, that put her on edge more than her head rolling.

But what she was doing now, was reckless. The chances of being able to stop Coma were slim already, and even this idea that Khaem had come up with had even slimmer chances. However, the researcher's life and pride was on the line. And maybe, she could glean some information herself, as well as comforting the wound her heart had gotten, that she'd never admit to.

The dragon's plan had her crossing over the battlefront past the city called Las Haygas, and she had to zip from cloud to cloud to stay out of any combat situations. The speed provided by her purple pill helped, but it became difficult when she encountered aerial conflicts where, much to the researcher's fascination, the clouds were being used as active weapons by the ponies. Khaem's desire to observe was strong the entire time, seeing the battles between ponies and dragon forces, but she had a goal to achieve, and did not wish to put herself at anymore risk than she already was.

While moving, she was looking for a camp or somewhere important looking, before she discovered what looked like a small outpost near a town that looked like it had been bombed. Alliance handiwork, she recognized, and almost felt a bit of pride in their equipment. Khaem looked for a clear place nearby to land, before diving. Her claws hit the ground, and there was a small discharge of sparks and dust around her, before she stood up straight, and dusted herself off.

Hmph, I always feel so tingly when this particular one wears off... The teen thought to herself, as she popped a red pill. She wiggled her claws to see if they had worn off yet. But I guess that's just the electricity built up. I should find a good way to discharge it.

Getting the final bit of dust out, Khaem noticed out of the corner of her eye that there was suddenly a lot of activity from the camp. And soon, there were many soldiers around, with guns and other weapons all trained on her. 'With good reason' she thought, as she slowly calmly, and without any sudden movements, took her bag off and placed it on the ground, and put her claws behind her head, wings tightly hugging her body. A sign of submission and passiveness she hoped, but her gaze was still confident and prideful, as if she expected something without needing to say anything.

[MagusZeal]

Balthier Breaker
Hoofterlands – Appleoosa outskirts

Still staring at the maps Renew hadn't been gone long to send the teletype when one of the Peacekeeper's came running in. “Captain Breaker, there's a situation.” Turning the to the armored mare, he catches them glancing towards Nightingale even while not elaborating on the situation.

Motioning towards the tent flap Breaker starts trotting, “Elegant with me, Nigh, let me know when Renew get's a response.” Stepping out of the tent he looks over the camp before spotting the reason why the mare had come for him. Trotting over to the ring of ponies surrounding the teen dragon his eyes take in the kit laying nearby. “Well this just got interesting. Here to parley or something else?”

[Knight Tyrfang]

Khaem
Hoofterlands - Appleoosa Outskirts

Khaem's eyes drifted to the pony that had addressed her. First pony to ask what she wanted, much to her amusement.

"Unfortunately, no. I'm not among the ranks of the military." She said, her claws still behind her head. Though the teen now looked more relaxed than passive.

"But, I am quite important, so may I speak with the commanding officer? Just trot along, and go get him for me could you?" Khaem asked, looking quite full of herself. She nodded her head as if to shoo the unicorn along his way, snorting some black smoke to show she was waiting.

[ExTecha]

Nightingale & Elegant

Elegant followed Breaker out of the tent with a gentle trot, his braided mane flowing in the wind. Gently smiling as the she-dragon commands Breaker to trot along and fetch the pony in charge. "My dear you shouldn't..." Stopping short as a bipedal slender frame flows out of the teen dragon's shadow, it's feminine form staring at the back of the dragon's head with glowing baby blue eyes. Holding it's left arm out, the shadows began to twist around the hand, a long stick grew out of it's hand, the end stretching out and forming into a long curved metal blade beneath the dragon's chin, inches from the neck.

Nightingale stepped out of Elegant's shadow, glaring at the dragon. "You dare bark orders at us reptile? Think fast and talk fast... before I have your head lopped off and put on a spit."

[Knight Tyrfang]

Khaem
Hoofterlands - Appleoosa

Khaem blinked in surprise at her shadow suddenly coming to life, and materialized into the form of a creature wielding something Khaem identified as a bladed tool. A scythe, if she could remember from what she had read from pony culture, also used rarely as a weapon sometimes. But that was all she could remember, as the detail was just a gloss of information as she was researching equestrian diets. The teen dragon was trying with much difficulty to recall, before hearing another pony start shouting at her. Quite rudely, much to her irritation.

"My my, order? I believe I've stated already that I'm no military personnel, so I'm not so well advertised in giving and receiving orders. All I'm asking is simple hospitality, a guest should speak with the master of the house if they wish to do business properly, no?" Khaem said with a sneer. Her claws slowly moved from the back of her head, to the insides of her pocket, and her shoulders relaxed as they were held there. "But my goodness, I thought Equestrians were supposed to be kind and quite hospitable, not so... poor and downright crass. But perhaps I'm jumping to conclusion. Guest or not, even I can tell that I am unwelcome, and rightly so."

Her eyes drifted from the shadow unicorn, to the soldiers that were surrounding her with weapons drawn, and she smirked seeing all of them suddenly on edge. Exchanging nervous looks, the trained holds on their blades and guns now a lot less sure, and the circle looking just a little bit wider without any indication of the desire to tighten it. "Although, it appears that I'm not the only unwelcome guest here."

"Ah well, that's not important." Khaem continued, brushing the topic aside. "I can overlook it. But if I may ask, my dear little pony... How did you do this?"

Indicating with her chin, the researcher was genuinely curious and excited about how her shadow was now threatening to kill her. She would be bouncing with excitement, if she didn't have the common sense to move around with a weapon directed at her neck.

[MagusZeal]

Balthier Breaker
Hoofterlands – Appleoosa outskirts

“NIGHTINGALE STAND DOWN!” Barking the order it was loud and clear generating more then a few nervous glances from the rifle ponies surrounding the dragon. “You wanted the commanding officer? Well guess what miss important dragon, you found them.” Stepping forward his horn flare's emerald for a moment his focus entirely on the teen. “Now what is it you want?” Renew's comments about suppressing a dragon's magic had left him with an idea, and testing it on a teen who may be there to kill him seemed as good a test as any.

[Knight Tyrfang]

Khaem
Hooferlands - Appleoosa outskirts

The teen gently guided the shadow scythe away from her neck when it was clear the unicorn was told to stand down. She then smoothed out her jacket, crossing her arms before speaking, but abruptly stopped when she had the curious feeling of the pill wearing off. She blinked in confusion, knowing for a fact that the dose should still be good for a long time, before she saw the glowing horn of the unicorn claiming to be one of the commanding officers. Her eyes widened as if she had found the Holy Graile.

Is he...? No, that's inconceivable, can unicorn magic really...? Were some of the half thoughts going through her head as her magic was being suppressed. She had to pinch herself to remind her of her reason being there, and bury the desire to pounce and kidnap the soldier for examination.No, I'll request it later...

"*ahem* W-well..." Khaem cleared her throat, having difficulty maintaining composure. "It's simple. I, Khaem, surrender to the Equestrian Forces as a war criminal for war attrocities against... What was the term, ponykind? ...And wish to be subject to the just and fair judgement of your leaders to atone for them. I believe a few of our own have already been subject to this, no?"

"Oh, and although it's a given, but I figure it's necessary to mention." The researcher hurriedly added, still aware of the soldiers and the headstrong shadow unicorn "That I'd like to continue to have my life please. Plenty of things I'd like to do still."

[ExTecha]

Nightingale & Elegant Shard

Hoofterlands - Outside Appleoosa

The figure of shadow and it's scythe faded away, Nightingale looked toward the dragon with contempt and a near quiet Tch. As the proposal dripped from the teens maw, she glanced over at Breaker. "We're not really considering giving this pompous lizard a chance are we?"

Elegant shard sighed and trotted alongside the Captain. "You forget dearest sister, we are ponies, and it our duty to give all life, no matter the race or their crimes, a chance. And it's the Captain's decision. By your order Captain."

[MagusZeal]

Balthier Breaker
Hoofterlands – Appleoosa outskirts

For a moment he thought he saw a reaction, something, though it could have been nervousness on the dragon's part. Not risking it he kept the suppression up widening the area at Nightingale’s retreat. “We are Nightingale it's what we do. Sides they're not ripping through our troops yet so either this is an elaborate ruse to get closer to somepony specific at which point you'll get to go nuts, or they actually regret their actions. Either way it's not our duty to judge.” Trotting closer to the dragon breaker motions to those standing near by to lower their weapons. “I accept your surrender on one condition, light that cook fire please.” Gesturing towards the largest cooking fire the stallion smiles slightly.

[TwentySided]

Twenty Sided - Hoofterlands - Near Border of Alliance Territory

Galloping as fast as possible, Twenty's heart froze as he saw a large shadow quickly approaching him and the batpony. Looking up he saw a what he had half feared, a small, low flying alliance airship just overhead. Luckily it wasn't nearly as any warship he had seen in the past months, which meant it was more than likely designed for scouting, probably had a low crew size as well. Even still though.

Coming to a stop, the armored zebra jumped behind a set of rocks before grabbing the gliding batpony behind him, forcing him to the set of rocks beside him. The hybrid couldn't help but swear under his breath, he hadn't noticed the shadow sooner. He hoped no one had been looking below them. "We have to stay here for a minute, make sure they didn't see us." he hissed to Coma

[captain_borgue]

Iron had been so excited to get out of Canterlot, so eager to see his new strategic deployment platofrm in action, and yet, here he was, riding it what amounted to be a railcar with a whole lot of weirdness packed inside it. Arc had mentioned that since it was based on a railcar, it could easily travel on rail lines, using its own engine in lieu of a locomotive. Then, using a whole lot of big fancy sounding words that Iron didn't quite catch, it could 'deviate from rail lines'. Which as he understood it, meant that it could kind of be a train, and then could sort of, wander off.

The rendezvous point was fast approaching, but something else caught Iron's eye- an Alliance ship, but only a small one, out very near the 'border' without any other vessels within telescope range. They were either out here looking for something specifically, or the loss of the Griffons had been a bigger blow to the Alliance shipyards than he had been aware of.

Iron grinned- it was time to see what this baby could really do. He announced into the call tube that they were going trackless, pulled the big red lever, and the railcar began to slow... before rumbling and clanking and rising off of the ground, pistons pumping and gears turning and its impossible looking number of legs plunging into the dirt and sending plumes of it into the sky behind them as it dashed across open prairie.

"Ok everypony, we've got company. Alliance patrol ship. Lancer, you're on deck- aim for their rudder. Shaker, get on the big gun. Cleave, keep an eye out for solo fliers. Bolt, Tide, you two take the scopes and check for anything on the surface that may have drawn a lone patrol ship out this far," Iron shouted into the call tubes. Short confirmations came back almost immediately... as did one protest in particular.

"So, what am I supposed to do, huh?" Arc said, opening the trapdoor that led from he control cabin to the engineering bay. "I only designed and built this thing from scratch using my own funds and parts, most of which I had to also build, over the course of months and months," she said, giving him a sour look.

"Fine, fine," Iron sighed. "Do you want to fire the main gun?" Iron asked, rolling his eyes.

"Gun? Please," Arc said, scoffing, before grinning maniacally. "See, here's the thing. That big ol- grapple? It's supposed to help this thing get up steep rock faces or pull it out of peat bogs. But, if the legs dig in and act kinda like an achor, then-" she began.

"We could use the grapple to pull that ship down to the ground!" Iron said, cutting her off.

"Heh, well yeah," she replied, grinning. "So, you know, I wanna do that."

***

Just as predicted, the scout ship had spotted their dust trail and changed course to investigate- though all it would have been able to see was a lone abandoned rail car, with a few small figures of ponies scrambling about. Easy pickings.

At least, until the massive cable and grappling hook snagged the center mast of the scout ship and, somehow, began pulling it down to the surface. The ship sharply changed course- only to see the railcar somehow get up and run, causing the line to go taught and jerking the ship hard to port. A bright green bolt of energy collided with the main engine as a cannonball smashed the rudder to splinters, leaving the ship with no propulsion and now steering.

It didn't take long after that to bring it to the ground. The Xuan Zang closed the distance easily, stopping about fifteen yards from the still smoking wreck and bringing its smaller arms to bear. The result was predictable enough.

Cleave and Bolt did a quick aerial loop to see if there were any other ships nearby, and reported that there did not appear to be, though Cleave said he thought he had seen two ponies take cover behind some rocky outcroppings.

"Well, let's not stand on ceremony," Iron said, as the Zang skittered off towards where Cleave had reported seeing what looked like ponies. The Zang stopped about fifteen yards away, and Iron cleared his throat as he pulled down the external annunciator. "If you were worried about that ship, it's been taken care of," Iron said, his voice echoing more than he had anticipated. "The Zang has ample space, if you require assistance."

[Knight Tyrfang]

Khaem
Hoofterlands - Appleoosa Outskirts

Khaem looked quite pleased with herself about the successful outcome, but it quickly melted off her face at the Equestrian commander's request. She gave the unicorn a fairly dirty look, unhappy at how underhanded the pony's tactics seemed. "...So do I need to start fighting for my life then? I'm no expert on the subject of equestrian magic, but I'm fairly adverse in my own kind's, and I it's obvious that something wrong."

Although under normal circumstances, I wouldn't be able to do it without my pills. How ironic that I'm adverse in the topic. I doubt any other dragon would have noticed unless they were used to living without magic... Khaem thought, wondering how long she'd last with just tooth and claw. Not long, she figured.

[TwentySided]

Twenty Sided - Hoofterlands - Near Border of Alliance Territory

Twenty hugged up against the temporary cover as the ship up above fell under attack. Filling the air with gunfire and a series of loud explosions. So much for going unnoticed. Glancing up the zebra noticed the vehicle that was opening fire on the airship. It, kind of looked like a train car of some kind but on metallic legs rather than wheels. He had never seen nor heard of a machine such as that. But since they were attacking the alliance he could only guess that they were mercenaries of incredible caliber or possibly peacekeepers. The distance they were at, he couldn't quite make out which.

"If you were worried about that ship, it's been taken care of, The Zang has ample space, if you require assistance."

Raising up from behind the rock, Twenty, squinted trying to make out who it was that was calling out to them. He had never heard of the Zang before. Adding to the unlikeliness that these were peacekeepers. "What's the price?" Twenty called back. They were outgunned if these were indeed mercs, he wasn't fully liking the situation as it was already. A machine shooting down an airship? It was going to draw some Alliance attention for sure.

[captain_borgue]

"There is no charge, we're here to help. Lieutenant Commander Iron Sides, at your service," Iron said. There was a chance that whomever he was speaking to may not have been friendly, but based on the message he received earlier and the stranger hiding from an Alliance scout, Iron was willing to bet that was not the case.

[TwentySided]

Twenty Sided - Hoofterlands - Near Border of Alliance Territory

Looking at Coma, the zebra raised an eyebrow, he had heard that name, he couldn't remember from where though. Something about prisoners of war and Fillydelphia. But again it wasn't hard to believe that someone would lie about their identity in this war. Looking up over the rock again, Twenty motioned for Coma to keep down at least until this whole thing "The names, Twenty Sided, Knight of the Rising Sun, If you are who you say you are, then what are you doing all the way out here and what's that thing?"

[captain_borgue]

Iron chuckled. "Well, I'm out here because we received a message indicating assistance was required to these coordinates. As for what this thing is, this is the new deployment vessel for the Special Equestrian Asset team, and I figured what better way to test our new deployment platform, then to send it out into hostile territory, and observe first hand how it works?"

[MagusZeal]

Balthier Breaker
Hoofterlands – Appleoosa outskirts

“Why would you need to fight for your life? I'm just asking you to light a fire as a favor to the cooks.” Something was off here, deciding not to push the issue the stallion shrugs his horn ceasing to glow. “You know what doesn't matter. Follow me, Khaem was it?” Turning round the stallion starts back towards the command tent.