Stargate: Equestria

Connection

Chapter 9

The campsite wasn't much bigger than the first floor of the library, but O'Neill and Carter managed to clear out enough space to lay the map flat by piling all their gear on the other side of the clearing. This was just as well, as Jackson directed the ponies' efforts in unpacking and sorting SG-1's tactical assets.

Carter knelt in front of the map, head bowed over it. O'Neill mirrored her from the other side. "If I'm reading this right," she mused, her finger tracing down the parchment, "this is where we first encountered the ponies and the Jaffa." She paused at the intersection of the river and the edge of the Everfree Forest. "And they were running in...this direction." She swept her finger along in a rough parallel to the forest's edge along the plain, heading southeast.

"How can you tell?" O'Neill's skepticism was directed at the parchment, which to him looked less like a map and more like something out of the bad old days. "Here be dragons" would not have looked out of place on the small houses around a tree that marked Ponyville. Or "Here be a dragon," anyway.

Carter glanced up through her bangs at her commanding officer. She knew him well enough to guess at his thoughts, and her voice carried resigned amusement. "I know it's not satellite imagery, sir, but it's what we've got. At least it's relatively accurate and has the right perspective. The ponies may not have a great deal of technology, but they've been airborne far longer than we have."

O'Neill grunted, still unhappy but mollified for the moment. His mind's eye followed the imaginary line Carter had drawn out to a mountain range that ran vaguely southwest and northeast, bordering the wide plains and stretching into the forest itself. He tapped the general area with a finger. "They've got to be hiding somewhere here. Dash should have specifics for us when she gets back."

She quirked an eyebrow at him. "Captain Dash, you mean?" she teased.

"Hey, I'm going to need her. It's only fair." He shrugged, looking a little uncomfortable. "Besides, it's not going to hurt anything and you saw how happy it made her."

Carter made a noncommittal sound before returning her attention to the map. She looked further up the mountain range. "Huh. Look here." She touched on a spot in the range distinct from the generic mountain peaks. It looked like it might have been a mesa, large enough that one side of it went off the map. The side that was visible, however, had a deep circle cut into it.

O'Neill tilted his head, peering at the drawing. "A canyon?" he guessed. If the map was right, it opened out onto the plains, but that was the only entrance into the canyon. It gave the mesa a backwards C shape.

"Looks like." Carter mused on it. "If I had to guess, I'd say it was a volcanic caldera, but they're usually not so small." She shrugged, leaning back. "You told Dash to check the lay of the land, so maybe she'll be able to give more detail when she gets back."

The colonel remained hunched over the map, eyeing it speculatively. "Hey Daniel," he called without turning around. "Whatcha got so far?"

Rather than Jackson's voice, he heard Twilight pipe up instead. "Two Berettas, three Ma'Tok staves, three P90s, two, um, 'Zats'..." Her voice was entirely too cheerful as she rattled off the inventory, and O'Neill twisted around where he sat to stare at her blankly. The little pony was using her magic to hold up a lengthy parchment, eyes flicking down it as she read from it. "Eight flashbangs, eight fragmentation grenades, eight smoke grenades, four blocks of C4, and all the apples we can carry." She looked up after reading off all the weapons and, noting O'Neill's blank look, gave him a bright self-satisfied smile. "Organization's one of my specialties," she explained.

"Uh...huh." The colonel gave her a sidelong look. "...Apples."

Applejack sat up and puffed her chest out, smiling confidently. "Sweet Apple Acre apples pack a mean kick!" She stood up and turned around, looking over her shoulder. "Pinkie Pie, toss me a couple!" The pink pony snagged two apples in her mouth from a pile O'Neill hadn't noticed before, tossing them into the air toward Applejack with a cheer. Applejack kicked off the ground, keeping her balance on her forelegs, and as the apples came falling back to ground her hind legs lashed out in a quick one-two, sending the apples flying expertly past O'Neill's head to splatter against a tree trunk.

He ducked aside as they passed, watching them hit, then turned back to Applejack with his eyebrows raised. The pony only grinned at him. "We can turn 'em inta pies, too. Guaranteed ta stop a rampagin' buffalo at a hundred paces!"

O'Neill looked back at Carter. "...Pies."

The major just shrugged. "They're non-lethal. Frankly sir, it's a better option than any of our firearms."

O'Neill shook his head. "And you said that with a straight face. All right, fine." He nodded to Applejack. "Get as many baskets of apples as you can. We're going to need the ammo."

She smiled and saluted, mimicking Rainbow Dash's behavior earlier. "Yes sir. C'mon Pinkie, Rarity. The three of us can get a mountain of apples ready in no time flat!"

Rarity rose, but lifted a hoof and shied away from Applejack a bit nervously. "I'm not sure hard labor is the best use of..." She faltered at the flat unamused look Applejack gave her, and shook out her mane with a huff. "Oh, very well." Pinkie, naturally, sprang to her feet and starting bouncing off in the direction of the farm, singing,

"Ohhhhh, we're not chicken-clucking,

Piggy-mucking,

Ducky-ducking,

Feather-plucking,

Corn husk-shucking,

Soda-sucking,

Run-amoking,

Hockey-pucking,

Woodchuck-chucking,

We're just aaaaaapple-bucking!"

She kept singing, but by then had gratefully bounded out of earshot. Applejack shook her head and smiled at O'Neill, giving him a what-can-you-do shrug, before following Pinkie out of the camp with Rarity in tow.

O'Neill let himself fall backward, staring up through the tree canopy into the bright blue sky beyond. "Major," he groaned out as he rubbed at his eyes. "When we get back to SGC, remind me to see the doc for a diabetes test." He frowned up at the sky before demanding of nobody in particular, "And how did she avoid F?"

"Mister O'Neill?"

"Mm?"

A face entered O'Neill's field of vision; Fluttershy stood over him, her upside-down face gazing down at him uncertainly. Her long hair fell over his face, and he idly noted the scent of grass and flowers in it. "All those things Twilight mentioned...they're weapons, right? They're meant to cause harm."

O'Neill frowned and sat up, shifting around until he faced Fluttershy. The pale yellow pony sat on her haunches, and though her hair fell to cover one eye, the eye that he could see was looking at him directly; an unusual thing from the bashful girl. He scratched at his chin. "Well...yeah, pretty much."

She glanced away, and the words came out in a sudden rush. "Well, Princess Celestia asked you to take care of the Jaffa without hurting them, and you said you would so I know you will, but in that case I don't understand why we need Rainbow Dash to spy on them and why we need all the...the weapons." She tilted her head, and both green eyes focused on his in another unsettlingly intense gaze. "Couldn't we just go talk to them?"

Everyone paused in their work and looked to O'Neill. When he saw he wasn't going to get any help from Carter and Jackson, he let out a sigh and clasped his hands together in his lap. He explained patiently, "Fluttershy, these guys are Jaffa. They're military. The Goa'uld they serve gave them orders to take back Equestria by force." He waved a hand in the general direction he supposed the Jaffa to be. "To them, everyone on the planet is a potential enemy. They're gonna be thinking about fighting. If we just walked up to them, they'd either attack or capture us. And since any captive is going to try to convince the captor to let them go, they won't listen to us then. Their success in capturing us would just convince them they were stronger than us and that they can and should follow their orders."

He pointed to the stash of weaponry by Twilight and Jackson. "So what we have to do is capture them. We have to show them we're the stronger side, and that trying to take over Equestria is a really bad idea. Once we show them that, then they'll be willing to listen to us. Make sense?"

Fluttershy nodded slowly, but still looked troubled. O'Neill reached over, resting a hand gently on her back. She started to flinch at the touch, but settled underneath it, looking up at him with wide eyes. He gave her a reassuring smile. "Hey, don't worry. If everything goes well, nobody'll get hurt. I promise."

She fidgeted a moment, then returned his smile and gave his arm a quick nuzzle. "I should go help the other ponies bring in the apples." She looked over her shoulder. "Will you be all right, Twilight?"

The other pony smiled warmly at her friend. "Go on, we'll be fine here." Fluttershy beamed and trotted off, humming to herself. Twilight watched her go, then gave O'Neill a speculative look. "Do you really think we can do this? There's got to be at least a small army of Jaffa for them to even think about taking Equestria. They might force us to fight, and I don't see how we can win without anypony getting hurt."

O'Neill waved a hand dismissively. "You let me worry about that."

Carter glanced at her commander, then smiled at Twilight. "If he says he's going to do it, believe it. Colonel O'Neill hasn't led us wrong yet."

The colonel yawned lazily. "Stop. I'm blushing." He laid down again, resting his head against a tree, and tugged his cap down over his eyes. "If anyone needs me, I'll be thinking."

---

"Colonel!"

O'Neill lifted a hand to flick the cap up, blinking the sleep out of his eyes as he looked around for Carter. He spotted her on the other side of the clearing, and she pointed up at the sky. He twisted his head, peering up, and saw the silhouette of a pegasus with a ragged tail soaring high overhead. He put two fingers between his lips and let out a short, sharp whistle, and Rainbow Dash began to bank and fly down into the clearing. He sat up straighter, still keeping his back to the tree, and rubbed at one eye. "How long have I been out, Major?"

"Couple hours, sir. The other ponies haven't returned yet, and Jackson and Twilight took a rest too while I finished getting everything squared."

O'Neill glanced over to where Jackson lay, resting against a tree much as he had himself. Twilight Sparkle sprawled comfortably atop him. Both appeared to have been sleeping, but O'Neill's whistle must have woken them up. The pony's head lifted and she peered about, trying to get her bearing back while Jackson fumbled for his glasses.

The colonel didn't really have time to express his thoughts about the arrangement, as a second later Rainbow Dash darted into the clearing from above, spinning to dodge nimbly around several tree branches. With a sick feeling, O'Neill realized she was coming in much too fast...and she was coming right for him. She realized it too and tried to backpedal furiously, but there was too much momentum in her dive.

Unable to get out of the way, he instead reached out, arms wide, and she dove into them like a blue winged football. He managed to arrest much of her speed, but she still collided hard with his stomach, driving the air from his lungs. Wings flapped against his face, and with gasping splutters he eventually managed to get the tangle of limbs and wings sorted out. Rainbow shook her head woozily, eyes snapping back into focus, and she grinned nervously up at him. "Ah, heh heh. Hiya, boss. Didn't hurtcha, did I?"

O'Neill didn't answer right away, still trying to catch his breath, and for the moment he didn't think about letting her go, either. A part of him that wasn't preoccupied with the pain and loss of air noted vaguely that she actually wasn't that uncomfortable; there were fewer hooves and sharp angles to poke him than he'd thought. After a moment longer he finally managed to draw breath enough to gasp, "Nah. I'm peachy." He lifted his arms from around her and leaned his head back against the tree. "Report, captain."

She stumbled off his lap onto the ground, stretching and sitting down on her haunches. She gave herself another shake and gave him a salute and a weary smile. "Mission accomplished, sir."

"Good job. Were you spotted?"

She shook her head confidently. "Never even caught a glimpse." She flashed him a brilliant smile, wings stretching out and flapping once. "I told ya I'm fast."

He eyed her for a moment, then asked, "And how fast is your partner?"

The question clearly confused her, and she tilted her head. "Huh?"

His voice gained a hard edge. "The pegasus to watch your back. The one I ordered you to find before leaving. Remember?"

She winced and glanced away, wings drooping guiltily. "...Oh. Right. That." Some measure of defiance returned to her expression, and she straightened to meet his eyes again. "But I did the job!"

The hard edge turned into an outright growl of anger. "What you did, 'Captain', was disobey a direct order! You took on an unnecessary risk that nearly cost us the mission! You could have been captured -"

"But I didn't g-"

O'Neill rode right over her protest as if she hadn't spoken, the officer's tirade gaining a full head of steam. "You could have been captured, jeopardizing the mission by not getting us the information we need to know and by handing the enemy a hostage to strengthen their position. A wingman minimizes that risk. You never enter hostile territory alone. And on top of all that, I gave you an order. I don't care how stupid you think it was, I am your commanding officer by both the Air Force and Celestia. If I can't trust you to obey my orders, then how can I trust you to command a team when the time comes?"

Dash couldn't meet his eyes during the rebuke, and he could see she was torn between guilt at her mistake and anger at the berating. On his last sentence, guilt won out and she wilted and didn't answer. He glanced past her to Carter and Jackson. The latter was just watching the chewing-out silently with Twilight, who looked worried for her friend, but Carter gave him a mild look and upraised eyebrow that spoke volumes.

O'Neill relented a little; Carter was right. Dash hadn't even been through boot camp and couldn't be expected to become a model officer in just one morning. He inhaled once to moderate his manner, then leaned forward and rested a hand on the back of her neck, pulling her forward to rest his forehead against hers. She still didn't meet his eyes, but didn't pull away from his touch. When he spoke, his voice was much gentler, if no less authoritative. "You're the best flier there is, Dash. I've got to have you in the air when the action starts, not locked up in a cell." He felt her relax a little, those huge violet eyes turning to look back into his. He ruffled her mane a little and sat back. "Are you with me?"

Rainbow Dash sat up straighter, the hurt slowly transforming back into her normal resolve and confidence. She took a deep breath, then gave him a salute. "Yes sir. It won't happen again, sir."

The colonel let out his own breath. "Good." He reached over and dragged the map in between himself and Dash. "Now, tell me everything you found out."

Carter came over to join them as Dash reported her findings. The pony pointed out the rough area on the map where the base was located, right where O'Neill guessed it would be. "It's in a tight little circle of cliffs," she explained. "Even from the air I almost didn't see it. There's a small passage leading out to the plains. There's a flat space out in front of the cave that I guess they're using as a training ground. I dunno if they were all out there, but a lot of them sure were."

"How many?" asked Carter.

Rainbow tapped her chin with a hoof, screwing up her face in thought. "Abouuuuuut forty of them, I think. There were like ten pegasi and the rest were earth ponies. Or horses. Whatever they are."

O'Neill frowned. "That's the force they were going to use to take the planet back? A whole forty Jaffa?"

Jackson spoke up as he and Twilight paced over to join the group. "From what you told us about your meeting with Brind'l, it sounds like he expected Epona to be leading them. Forty Jaffa plus a Goa'uld is a pretty significant force."

O'Neill grunted acknowledgement. Twilight spoke up next, frowning at Dash. "Just pegasi and earth ponies? Didn't you see any unicorns?"

"Nope." Dash sounded confident. "Not a horn in the bunch."

Jackson continued musing, eyes distant. "Well, from what Celestia told us, unicorns came about naturally. Epona didn't gift them the power. It could be that she couldn't control and thus couldn't trust the unicorns, especially after she got wind Celestia was coming for her."

"Good," O'Neill grunted again, looking at Twilight. "That gives us an advantage."

The pony tilted her head at him, then blinked. "What, me?"

"Ace in the hole," he declared.

"Oh. Um." She looked uncertain, then settled for a smile. "Cool."

A rustle in the trees off to the side caught the small group's attention, and they turned as one to see the rest of the ponies step back into the clearing. They all looked worn out and tired, but happy. Even Pinkie Pie only trotted along sedately. Applejack carried a pair of saddlebags on her back, steps steady as they always were. Fluttershy and Rarity both collapsed onto the ground as soon as they were in the clearing, eyes half-lidded in near sleep already.

Behind them, Teal'c emerged from the woods, carrying a very full basket of bright red apples. He stepped carefully over the two tired ponies and set the basket down, nodding to the group. "Greetings. I hope you don't mind, Colonel O'Neill, I saw Applejack and the others at the the farm on my way back here and lent a hand."

"Perfectly all right, Teal'c." O'Neill frowned at the basket. "Is that...all of it?"

Applejack snorted, wriggling out of the saddlebags. "If that's all of it, then you got alla Ponyville right here in this little spot, Colonel." She opened the bags, revealing bottles. "Naw, we got an acre's worth of apples bucked, and the baskets are all lined up an' waitin' for the word." She pulled out a few of the bottles, and O'Neill could see now that it was apple juice. "I figgered y'all'd be needing lunch, though."

"More apples," O'Neill sighed. "All right. Before we break, Dash, is there anything you discovered that you haven't told us yet?"

Rainbow Dash looked back to him and nodded, frowning. "I got close enough to hear a couple of them talking." She took a breath to steady herself, then said, "They're going to attack Ponyville tomorrow morning."

A ripple of shock and concern went through the ponies; even Rarity and Fluttershy lifted their heads with a gasp. Carter fixed Dash's gaze with her own intently. "Did they say how?"

She shook her head, rolling her eyes. "They seemed pretty confident it'd be a cakewalk. I don't think the two who got away from us understood how you took Brind'l down, and they definitely don't know about you guys."

Carter looked back to O'Neill. "Full frontal charge?"

"Full frontal charge. That'll make things simpler." The colonel turned back to Dash. "One last thing. What can you tell me about this canyon?" He pointed to the C-shaped landmark on the map he and Carter had discussed earlier.

Rainbow Dash peered at it and shrugged. "It's just what it looks like there. It's big and round and has just the one way in or out. There's a path leading up to the top around the outside, too. I saw it when I flew by on my way back here. It's not that far off from Ponyville, actually."

O'Neill nodded, frowning in thought. "Okay, folks, listen up." He raised his voice, and the clearing fell silent, all eyes on him. "Thirty minutes for lunch. Dash, I need you to round up as many fliers as you can find." He held up a finger. "Volunteers only. I need fliers who aren't afraid of danger. Think about the fight you had yesterday. There'll be ten Jaffa like that pegasus. You'll be in charge of the air team." Rainbow Dash saluted and O'Neill turned to Applejack. "I need you to round up as many earth ponies and unicorns as you can. We're going to need a ground team."

The pony frowned, giving O'Neill a skeptical look. "I toldja we're not soldiers, Jack. Now you're tryin' ta raise an army?"

"They'll be in less danger than the air team. I just need hooves on the ground and I need you in charge of them. Anyone willing is free to come along." Applejack nodded reluctantly, and the colonel continued. "SG-1 and Twilight Sparkle will come with me to the canyon." He peered up at the sky, frowning. "It's about noon. Meet back here in six hours. Don't bring your teams; I'll brief you tonight and you'll brief them tomorrow. Just tell them to meet up in the plains past Sweet Apple Acres at dawn. Got it?" There was a round of murmured affirmation. "All right then. Eat up. We got a long day ahead still."