Hoofterlands Ch.6

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Hoofterlands Ch.6

Postby TwentySided » Tue Dec 16, 2014 6:38 pm

Vast prairies of open grasslands give way to forests and mountains across Equestria bathed in Luna's newest evening. Those sparsely populated areas between cities offer their beauty to those with the will to venture outside their homes. Yet not all is peaceful, roving groups of opportunists, Draconic Alliance scouts, and wild animals prowl these untamed areas that ponies simply refer to as the Hoofterlands.

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Re: Hoofterlands Ch.6

Postby Knight Tyrfang » Wed Dec 17, 2014 12:52 am

Khaem
Hoofterlands - Khaem's Lab Near Dragon's Keep


The morning felt wonderful for the adolescent dragon. The moment her eyes opened, and she sat up in her cot, she felt satisfied and more prideful than usual. The past several months had been very productive she felt, her little project was practically complete, the pill making some progress in it's final stages, albeit slow as ever, and her hobby had definitely made more progress thanks to Coma's cooperation. The only thing she didn't understand about pony physiology now, was how magic worked with them, and the specific differences between the races. However she would have needed to enlist the help of an associate with magical expertise, and could not continue her studies alone from that point. So Khaem felt satisfied.

I feel like giving Coma a treat today. She thought cheerfully after smoothing out the wrinkles in her man coat. She chided herself to stop sleeping in it, but she never felt like taking it off. As she reached for her tin of biscuits, she stopped momentarily, before picking up the entire thing. Ah what the heck. I'll give him as much as he wants today. I'm in a good mood.

Khaem walked next door to where she kept the bat pony under lock and key. She knocked on the door, since apparently 'privacy' was important.

"Oh Coooma, my adorable little pony!" Khaem said rather sing stingily. "Rise and shiiine! Science waits for no one!"

She turned the doorknob, and immediately froze. She wondered for a moment if she had forgotten to lock Coma in for the night, but she was sure she did. Making mistakes like that would definitely be out of the question. She slowly peeked in.
"Coma...?" She called curiously. She looked about the room.

The room looked messy. The blanket was on the floor, the sheets were all wrinkled like someone had gotten out of them in a hurry, and Coma's desk seemed much messier than Khaem had instructed him to keep. However most importantly, the notebooks Coma kept copies of her research notes per her request were missing.

Khaem was silent for a moment, taking the scene in. Then, with a violent snarl, she crushed the cookie tin in her claw like paper, before tossing it on to the floor. She stormed off, leaving the mangled piece of metal and crumbs discarded.

Not soon after, she ran into some other lab workers who immediately stiffened.

"M-mistress Khaem! We're sorry, the front entrance was having some trouble with some rubble, and-" One began to stammer, before being cut off by Khaem's roar.
"You're late, along with the others! I woke up 4 minutes ago!" She snarled at the older researcher. "But that doesn't matter. Go find the others and tell them we're running protocol 8."

The two looked stunned, but Khaem continued. She pointed at the one with his mouth open widest. "You, pack my bag. Put the usual supplies, but put in the special rations for long period field work. Also, at least five bottles and anesthetics and a few needles. Don't worry about disinfecting them. Hurry up,I'm giving you eleven minutes because you were four minutes late."

The dragon saluted, before sprinting off and leaving his companion. Khaem was counting the time in her head, but she had already skipped a couple minutes. The other dragon spoke up.
"O-our security was breached? How, I thought-"

"Yes, our security was perfect, but I messed up. I apologize, it was my fault our research was compromised." Khaem said, uncharacteristicly apologizing. "Now excuse me, I need to take responsibility and euthanize a pet. Don't stand there like a moron, and hurry up and tell the others to get started."

The young researcher then went off to her lab to retrieve her pills, and to wait for her hunting supplies, leaving a dumbfounded Dragons, wondering anout how the aerial pig experiment was going.
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Re: Hoofterlands Ch.6

Postby TwentySided » Wed Dec 17, 2014 3:34 pm

Twenty Sided - Hoofterlands - Near Border of Alliance Territory

Coming to a stop, Twenty pulled the map out of his saddle bags once again. Looking from the piece of parchment, he scanned the area, he could tell he was getting much closer to the actual Alliance territory, the sky seemed darker somehow, even the grass, less green. Overall the world around him seemed to be barren or dying. The ground rockier, the few trees naked of their leaves. He hated having to be here, so close to the Keep, a place that at times still gave him nightmares just thinking about it. Unfortunately he had to be here.

Not to long ago, the Peacekeepers had gotten a message from one of Pinkie's agents behind enemy lines, going by the name of Coma. Apparently he had gotten all the research he needed or had been compromised, either way he needed extraction or at least escort back to Equestrian lines. For how close this was to Alliance lines, a ship couldn't go in without attracting attention, neither could a large group, both would have been seen miles away. No instead this was going to be a small group, someone that could blend in with Alliance forces if needed, unfortunately that really only left him, being half zebra he could have easily dyed his gold stripes to black and then he'd be no different from any other zebra. Moreover, aside from Zezoor he was the only one that knew any Zebrican thus putting the finishing touches to his disguise. However his appearance really did not mean much at the moment, he had insisted on wearing Slag's full plate, thus obscuring nearly everything but his green eyes in metal barding.

Scanning the area again, his eyes fixated on a gathering of large boulders, a single dead tree having grown out of them, and gaping hole in the middle. Nodding Twenty moved toward the cave. In Coma's message he had mentioned a cave close to the border that would be the rendezvous point. Away from the Alliance and easy to pass over from the air it was a perfect place to hold out in.

Reaching the mouth of the cave, Twenty raised his visor, to get a better look of the inside, it seemed empty, hopefully he hadn't found the wrong cave. Seeing the path begin to slope, the hybrid could only assume that this place must've been deeper than he originally had been told. Stepping inside, he started down the slope, "Coma?" He called out, "If you're here, let me know somehow, the name's Twenty Sided, I was sent here on behalf of your requested escort?" Blatant yes, but he had no other way to really prove himself if Coma was indeed hiding. He hadn't been told a code word to call out or anything else.

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Re: Hoofterlands Ch.6

Postby Lucy Took » Wed Dec 17, 2014 3:59 pm

Coma Ataxia- Alliance Borders


The bat pony flew inside of the overcast clouds making no sound. The skies were always dangerous living with dragons, but flight allowed him to move silently and quickly and the clouds offered just as much cover as the ground did. He'd left as soon as Kheam and the other dragons had retired to bed and he wasn't certain when they would notice he was gone, only that he had to be out of the borders within eight hours. He was thankful for his night vision as he avoided scouts who's vision was obscured by the fog and the dark as he flew non-stop until he reached a spot about a mile out from from the border in an area that was practically no man's land where an escort was supposed to meet him for the last leg of his journey with an hour to go. He had all of the research that he felt he could get and he could feel that his cover might be broken any day now. He slipped into the cave where the meet up had been agreed on and after a search to ensure that he was alone he relaxed. He'd made it out of danger, his fiancee had been moved to a safe house and soon he would be safe in a guarded lab in or around Canterlot sharing his secrets. Even though he had grown up in the city, the cave still felt comforting to his bat pony roots. It had a comforting darkness to it, but not to the point that his line of sight was obscured. He found a sheltered corner and dozed off, waiting for the escort.

He awake from his light sleep to the sound of someone calling his name. His first instinct was to run, it could have been one of Kheam's scouts. But the voice didn't sound dragonish, it was a pony accent with just a hint of...zebra? And the voice was claiming to be his escort. It was unlikely that the alience would send a zebra to catch a winged creature, the chances were much higher that this Twenty Sided was the one that he was supposed to meet. He slunk out of the shadows and walked over to the zony, wings poised to flee, but still not totally distrustfully. "I am he. Am I correct in assuming that you're taking me home?"
~If this should end in fire, then we should all burn together~

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Re: Hoofterlands Ch.6

Postby TwentySided » Wed Dec 17, 2014 4:11 pm

Twenty Sided - Hoofterlands - Near Border of Alliance Territory (Cave)

A batpony? Twenty took a moment to actually fully understand what was standing in front of him. He hadn't really seen much of this species. More than likely due to their nocturnal nature. He had heard that many were employed by Luna as the Lunar Knights, but actually seeing any from that order during the day was a rare occurrence. "Yep that'd be me, Twenty Sided from the Order of the Rising Sun at your service. Unfortunately we're going to have a bit of a walk. Bringing in airships this close would have gotten a bit of unwanted attention, however we do have a chariot a couple hours walk from here. We should get going, and best not to be in the air, easier to hide in the rocks than in the clouds if you ask me. If they've noticed your disappearance, they'll probably be looking up in the air rather than on the ground."

Moving to the mouth of the cave, Twenty turned back, "You have any experience fighting these lizards or learned any good ways to take them down?"

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Re: Hoofterlands Ch.6

Postby Lucy Took » Wed Dec 17, 2014 7:19 pm

Chroma pulled his black cape around him, having black hair it never seemed suspicious that he owned a winter item that matched. He followed the zony to the cave mouth, hushing as he got closer to the end. "Unfortunately I don't have any personal experience fighting them that would help us now, I was working for one of their scientists. I may have information on how to take them down though, my saddle bags have extensive notes on how their breath magic works as well as how to render it useless. Well, how to render it useless on a small scale, I'm hoping that one of the EMPs can figure out how to use the forumla on a wider scale."
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Re: Hoofterlands Ch.6

Postby TwentySided » Wed Dec 17, 2014 7:50 pm

Twenty Sided - Hoofterlands - Near Border of Alliance Territory (Cave)

"No experience, well that's good to hear." Twenty replied rolling his. "Fine then take this just in case," he continued, pulling a dagger from his saddlebags, handing it to the batpony. Looking out to the clouded sky, the zebra scanned the area, it seemed empty, which gave the zony just a bit more pause. The Alliance had been more active as ever since the death of two of their Elders and a third defecting. To see the skies this clear, while being this close to the borders made the hairs of the back of his neck raise just a bit. He didn't like it even if it was the exact thing they were looking for.

"Alright," He finally said getting up the nerve to step out of the cave, "I'll go first, stick to the rocks and listen to every word I say, even if that means me yelling for you to go on without me. Quickly taking out the map, "If we get separated the coordinates of the chariot is 80.4 W, 70.0 N, we are currently 94.5W, 77.0N. Hopefully it won't come to that, but again if I tell you to run you run, don't look back, don't play hero." Taking one last look at the sky, Twenty took a deep breath, "alright lets go."

Moving out of the cave, the zebra kept his right side along the rock wall, making sure to keep close to it, glancing up every now and again to make sure the sky was still clear.

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Re: Hoofterlands Ch.6

Postby Lucy Took » Wed Dec 17, 2014 11:16 pm

Coma took the dagger and nodded. "Thanks. And as much as I'd love to say I'd play hero and save you anyway, at this point getting these documents to the peace keepers is pretty important and I'd hate to throw them away just to get myself killed in an insane blaze of glory." He said slipping behind a rock. The place was deserted so he figured that a whispered question or two wouldn't be terribly risky. "Did you hear if my fiancee got to the safe house? "
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Re: Hoofterlands Ch.6

Postby ExTecha » Fri Dec 19, 2014 7:31 pm

Nightingale

Appleoosa Outskirts - Forward Command Post



Nightingale watched over the battlefield that was once the semi-peaceful Appleoosa as smoke rose into the air, her eyes filled with an inky blackness that drifted outwards. The sand and dirt were dyed red from the blood of Equestrians and Alliance, smoke peeling from the corpses. High above, a raven weaved between the pillars of smoke, making it's way back to the command post. The trot of hooves in the dirt caused Nightingale to break concentration and the black smoke to dissipate for her eyes.

The brown scout pony came to a halt as he approached Nightingale. Stories of the mare had been circulating through the ranks that she was cursed and used dark forbidden magics. Looking on as the shadow twisted raven descends from the sky to perch on the white mare's shoulder blade. Opening his mouth to speak, the raven cut him off with a loud caw.

Nightingale turned her head slightly to acknowledge the scout. "I know, command tent..." Turning just as the raven dissipates in a cloud of shadow, Nightingale slowly trots alongside the scout. "Don't be afraid, you shouldn't believe everything you here." Trotting past the stunned scout Nightingale makes her way up the small hill. Throughout the camp the sounds of metal weapons and armor echoed. In some open tents, the sounds of pain and anguish from injured soldiers could be heard. Nightingale put the sounds out of her mind, their suffering was mild by comparison to those who've been captured by the DA and even more so to the poor souls she recalled who would forever remained trapped in the Nether.

Approaching the command tent, Nightingale pushed one of the tent flaps aside, giving way to her entrance into the tent where she found Captain Breaker hard at work, toiling over the war table. Maps and scrolls laying about, and figures representing forces on the table. "So... thoughts, or is this going to be another "Throw troops at it till we break through" scenario."

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Re: Hoofterlands Ch.6

Postby MagusZeal » Sat Dec 20, 2014 2:11 am

Balthier Breaker
Hoofterlands – Appleoosa outskirts

Not even looking up from the map and scrolls the stallion with a golden hue gives a dry chuckle. “Oh yes throwing wave after wave of ponies at a problem is utterly my style. You know it's the only way to keep me sated.” Stepping to the side so Nightingale could join him the stallion grins gesturing to the table and the few pieces resting atop it. “Any word from the scouts?”

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Re: Hoofterlands Ch.6

Postby ExTecha » Sat Dec 20, 2014 2:26 am

Nightingale

Hoofterlands – Appleoosa Outskirts


Sighing and looking down at the maps, Nightingale takes her place along the Captain's side. "Nothing as of yet, but my own surveys have them still fortified behind lines. We'll never break through with standard troop tactics. Especially since the adults have joined the fighting. It limits our options in the air and keeps our troops on the ground left open as fodder."

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________


Elegant Shard

Hoofterlands – Appleoosa Outskirts


Pressing the flap of the tent inward, Elegant stepped lightly into the tent, his glass armor catching the rays of the sun before the dim lighting of the tent engulfed him. "Ah, good to see you both well. Congratulations on the promotion to Captain, and hello to you dearest sister." The stallion took a sigh of relief as the glass armor began to slither around his light brown coat, transforming from suit of armor to floral collar, cuffs, and a set of glass vines and flowers throughout his red and pink mane. "How do we fare?"

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Re: Hoofterlands Ch.6

Postby MagusZeal » Sat Dec 20, 2014 4:50 pm

Balthier Breaker
Hoofterlands – Appleoosa outskirts

“Scrubland stretching out as far as the eye can see and what's left of the town's now a fortified mess. Plenty of sand to play with, limited water, lots of kindling, oh and lets not forget the dragons able to burn us to a crisp from above.” Shaking his head the golden stallion pushes back his golden mane from his eyes. “So frontal assaults out as are most diversions. They've got plenty of buffalo on hand to break a charge even if we opted for the frontal. Count puts them at ten confirmed adults on hoof here, and we've only got five gunboats available. The three of us could easily take one or two dragons, but ten is beyond us, and well fire and airships doesn't mix well.” Looking at the other two EMP's the stallion shrugs, “Any suggestions, hairbrained scheme's, or insanely dangerous ploys you'd like to bring up?”

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Re: Hoofterlands Ch.6

Postby Lucy Took » Sun Dec 21, 2014 4:42 pm

Renew -Hoofterlands – Appleoosa outskirts


"Anything that doesn't involve getting our troops burnt to a crisp, I like getting ponies back alive if at all possible" the grey medic said, entering the tent with a bit of a sigh. "But I know that on the whole that's probably not possible given at the heat of one adult could easily wipe out a team instantly. Sorry, I don't have any ploys since it's kinda against my nature to risk death. For anypony. I wish your magic blocking worked against dragon fire, Breaker."
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Re: Hoofterlands Ch.6

Postby ExTecha » Sun Dec 21, 2014 4:59 pm

Nightingale & Elegant

Hoofterlands - Appleoosa Outskirts


"Well now, that's what shields are for. Still that much shielding is hard to come by, short of Shining Armor."

Elegant sighed, "There is no need to get snippy with the doctor, she's only trying to help."

Nightingale, glanced at her brother. "You're right, doctor..." Fixing her gaze on Renew. "I apologize doctor, but this situation is a serious problem." Sweeping the table of scrolls and maps to show the current map of Appleoosa, Nightingale continued. "I can get in there, but my pets and I alone are no match for the entire force. Thoughts, Captain?"

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Re: Hoofterlands Ch.6

Postby MagusZeal » Sun Dec 21, 2014 7:05 pm

Balthier Breaker
Hoofterlands – Appleoosa outskirts

“Problem is it's as much biological as it is magical.” Turning towards the twins Breaker shrugs. “Well one pony in isn't the greatest, but it might give us an opportunity, though I doubt waiting till nightfall will help.” Concentrating for a moment an emerald glow takes hold of the figures and pieces that had been swept away by Nightingale. Quickly setting the rest down he floats the one representing himself and Nightingale behind the mares head their snouts touching lightly for a moment.

“Though an odd thought comes to mind, Elegant any thoughts on perhaps tunneling?”

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Re: Hoofterlands Ch.6

Postby TwentySided » Sun Dec 21, 2014 8:50 pm

Twenty Sided - Hoofterlands - Near Border of Alliance Territory

"Fiancee?" Twenty asked hopping down to a set of rocks below, thinking it over, if he remember correctly Blaze was taking care of that portion of the mission. He knew more about city things that it made more sense. Looking back up to the batpony, Twenty nodded, "Yeah, yeah another member of my team is working on that right now. We should be able to get the two of you back together soon. Set up in Canterlot no less. Safest place we could really think of. However when you guys see each other is up to our pace, so come on, make sure you stick close." The zebra said moving to a trot along the rocks. All things considered, there hadn't been any dragon activity around here nor any other members of the alliance. Partially why this place was the meeting point, but even still it didn't sit well with the knight. Why leave a gap of any kind in your lines? it didn't make any sense to him.

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Re: Hoofterlands Ch.6

Postby Knight Tyrfang » Sun Dec 21, 2014 9:25 pm

Khaem
Hoofterlands - Alliance Skies


The air whistled by quietly as Khaem slowly glided over territory they had won. She had taken a blue pill, and her senses were working over time to try and find the traitorous bat pony, but Khaem knew it was more of a hopeful precaution than a fruitful endeavor. Khaem had no idea when Coma could have escaped, she had asked the other staff if they had seen him at any point while they were practically disassembling the lab, and the researcher herself had not noticed anything while she was awake. So within a window of ten some hours, and knowing Coma's physiology and capabilities extensively thanks to the experiments and live autopsies she had conducted on him, the possibilities where numerous, and grew with each passing second. Without sheer luck, Khaem was not going to find him was a low probability. And Khaem hated low probabilities.

Khaem chided herself while she searched, pausing here and there if she spotted something that might be a lead, incredibly angry and disappointed with herself to have not taken any more precautions in case he would have been a spy. More so with the fact she hadn't been more suspicious. After all, who would be willing to let someone perform a live autopsy on them unless they were crazy, or had something to gain?

Hmph, now I understand how people become so affectionate and attached with pets. She thought to herself grumpily. Perhaps I'll have to be more lax with the others. And prescribe something for our dear leader too. Cure her grumpiness.

She continued flying, both chastising herself, and trying to formulate a plan to track her runaway equine.
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Re: Hoofterlands Ch.6

Postby Lucy Took » Sun Dec 21, 2014 10:35 pm

"All I needed to know" Coma said, lifting to a slight hover. His wings were quieter than his footsteps and his stamina wasn't the greatest, but at least with a low, almost hovering flight he could do some gliding. "Lets get out of here"
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Re: Hoofterlands Ch.6

Postby ExTecha » Mon Dec 22, 2014 4:18 pm

Problem is it's as much biological as it is magical.” Turning towards the twins Breaker shrugs. “Well one pony in isn't the greatest, but it might give us an opportunity, though I doubt waiting till nightfall will help.” Concentrating for a moment an emerald glow takes hold of the figures and pieces that had been swept away by Nightingale. Quickly setting the rest down he floats the one representing himself and Nightingale behind the mares head their snouts touching lightly for a moment.

“Though an odd thought comes to mind, Elegant any thoughts on perhaps tunneling?”


Nightingale and Elegant Shard

Hoofterlands - Appleoosa Outskirts


"While it is feasible, the odds that there are no Diamond Dogs below seems quite far fetched my dearest Captain. Though with enough heat... the entire field becomes clay for the sculpting. But I will not condemn the Daimond Dogs below, should they be present, to a burning death. No one deserves to die in such a way..." Elegant takes a moment to sigh and assess the map. "But to your original idea, yes, tunnels would work but it bares it's own risk."

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Re: Hoofterlands Ch.6

Postby TwentySided » Tue Dec 23, 2014 1:48 pm

Twenty Sided - Hoofterlands - Near Border of Alliance Territory

Oh now he wants to leave. Twenty thought, moving off of the rocks down to the withering grass. This had been a point that the knight had not been looking forward to, at least amongst the rocks they could hide, but now here, they would be in the open. Easily spotted by anyone coming by. "Alright, as fast as possible Coma, we're going to those rocks over there. Should take us about two or three hours to get there" He said pointing to an outcrop on the horizon. "Alright, go!" he yelled, bursting into a gallop. They were so close once they got to the chariot they'd leave this place in the dust.


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