Phoenix

Chapter 16

“Ow. That hurts.” Dante grunted, sitting in a too small chair, as a unicorn wearing surgical gear gently maneuvered tools around in the exposed skull and brain of the biped. The biped’s head was turned to the side and resting on a head rest, his eyes staring at the wall to his right.

“Hmm… yes, as it turns out when you launch a metal projectile at several hundred meters per second towards your head at point blank range, and then a doctor roots around in your head to dig all the little bits out, it hurts quite a bit.”

“I’m still amazed you were able to walk here by yourself.” Cadance remarked, as she, Shining Armor, Celestia, the unicorn known as Fortnite, Pinkie Pie and now Luna sat in the corner of the room.

“I’m not. My life would be far too nice if I could kill myself by dropping a 9 in my brain.” Dante lifted his head, the unicorn struggling to prevent his tools from stabbing into the biped’s brain from the sudden movement.

“Now .22 ratshot? Different matter entirely, but I want to kill myself, not destroy all of reality.”

“Godsdamnit!” The unicorn shouted as he gripped the biped’s head in his magic, pulling it back down and repositioning it properly.

“Stay still, you prick, unless you want me lobotomizing you.”

Dante chuckled. “It’s going to take a lot more then that for you to fuck my brain up. Fuck, I’m amazed there was even anything to stop the damn bullet!”

“It didn’t stop the bullet.” The doctor coldly remarked. “I didn’t have to cut your head open, I’m using the exit wound.”

The doctor turned to the two princesses. “I must apologize for my earlier outburst, Princesses.”

The two simultaneously raised a hoof to stop him, as Cadance frowned, feeling a tad forgotten by the doctor.

“It’s perfectly fine, Doctor, we understand how grating General Jaeger can be.”

“Oi!”

The doctor cleared his throat as he went back to cleaning the wound of fragmentation. “Under normal circumstances, I would have left the fragments where they were, however, considering Mr. Jaeger walked in here on his own power with half his brain and head missing and gushing blood like a fountain and was still lucid as though nothing occurred, I feel as though rooting around in his brain shouldn’t leave any permanent damage.”

“I’ll be fine. My heals will increase the naniting rate once we’re done here.”

Cadance picked a metal kidney tray up in her magic and forcefully threw it at Dante, nailing him, oddly enough, in the kidney.

He doubled over in the chair, with an ‘oomph’ and then shot up from the chair.

“Don’t do that!” She shouted

“Oh, god!” Dante shouted as his left hand shot up to his head, apparently trying to grasp something. “Oh, fuck, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow.” Dante ran into a table as he stumbled around the room, and then knocked into the door frame as he exited the room.

“I have forceps in my parietal lobe!” Was the last thing the group of ponies heard as the biped stumbled out of the room, everyone turning to stare at Cadance.

“What!” She held her forelegs up, attempting to deflect the blame. “He’s immortal, he’ll be fine!”

After another doctor who had experience working on non-equinoid species came across the wandering Dante who had a pair of forceps sticking out of a large hole in his head, and kindly removed them for the biped, the rest of the group caught up with them.

Both doctors, the one who had accidentally stabbed Dante with the forceps and the one who removed them for the biped watched in amazement as the wound began rapidly healing, the bone that made up the skull rapidly appearing where there once was nothing and the flesh missing from the exit wound regrowing.

“Absolutely amazing.” The first doctor breathed. “Almost instant regeneration on command from a wound that should have been fatal.”

“Yeah,” Dante responded, scratching his ear with his pinkie finger. “Gonna leave a wicked fucking scar, though. Thanks for the help, Doc.” Dante gestured to the second doctor, who silently raised a hoof.

“Much better than that asshole who stabbed me in the brain with forceps.”

“Hey! I told you to stop moving around!”

“That wasn’t my fault!” Dante shouted, pointing at the doctor, then moving his finger to Cadance. “Blame her! She threw a kidney pan and hit me! In my fucking kidney! That hurts worse then dropping a 9 in my head!”

“How!” The doctor shouted back, Dante folding his arms and raising his nose.

“Wow, you’re a shit doctor. The brain can’t feel pain, it has no pain sensors.” Dante pointed to his head, then to his kidney. “But my fucking kidneys do!”

Pinkie Pie appeared on Dante’s right shoulder, her face indignant. “Yeah, gosh darnit, doc! Princess,” Pinkie nodded to Cadance. “Don’t’cha know that’s how Houdini died!”

“Who?” Shining Armor questioned, tilting his head.

“Yeah! Houdini!” The Earth mare responded.

Dante clicked his tongue, reaching up to his shoulder and picking Pinkie up. He brought her to his face, the mare now upside down and Dante’s hand around her barrel.

“No, Sweetie, that was from being punched in the appendix, also…”

Much to everyone’s surprise, Dante whirled around and threw the pink mare through a closed window, shattering it.

A distant ‘whee’ was heard as the pink mare disappeared from view.

“Fucking stop with the references to my world! How the fuck do you even know who Houdini is? You’re like a goddamn PG Deadpool!”

Dante turned around to the group, smiling. “Any ways, Fortnite and I need to get back to my ship and get those satellites and get them into space so I can go home. Come with us and be witness to the first launch into sp-... She’s on the window sill, isn’t she?” The group nodded as Dante groaned, turning to the window he had just broken and, indeed, seeing a smiling pink pony sitting there. Seemingly unfazed by the fact that she had been thrown out of a fifth story window.

“Godfuckingdamnit.” Dante walked over to the window and picking beaming pony up, tucking her under his left arm.

Fortnite felt a strange twinge in her chest at the sight of another mare occupying her space.

… Wait, her space? Where did that thought come from.

“Anyways, as I was saying. Feel free to come watch the first launch of a satellite into space from this planet. Or don’t. I don’t care.”

Dante began walking away from the group, still carrying the pink pony. “Come on, Fort.”

“Wait, General Jaeger, what are you planning to do to Pinkie Pie?” Celestia asked, as she galloped to catch up with the long legged biped.

“I’m going to buy the smallest metal crate I can find, stuff her in there, weld it shut, chain it shut and then drop it off the side of this city.”

Following Dante finding a shop which, for some odd reason was named ‘Metal Crates and Pizza’, though Dante was disappointed when it was revealed the shop doesn’t actually sell pizza, he did find a metal crate that he proceeded to stuff Pinkie into, weld shut and violently throw off the side of Canterlot. They had watched as the crate fell to its demise, Pinkie Pie watching with the group as well.

This ended in Dante returning to his ship, defeated in his attempts to rid the world of the reality warper.

And now here the group, sans the doctors, stood in a clearing, just a slight distance from Canterlot, having gotten there courtesy of Dante’s alien land crafts. Pinkie Pie riding on the biped’s shoulders, as he set up his rockets. Fortnite, though she never would have admitted to it even if she had been caught, was glaring at the pink pony. If stares had any sort of power behind them at all, she would have succeeded where Dante had failed.

“So… what are these?” Cadance questioned as she examined one of the odd objects, careful not to touch it.

“Satellites… well, let me rephrase that. These are rockets utilizing extremely reactive fuel in order to break the gravitational pull of the planet to reach orbit. The actual sats are a shit-ton smaller and they’re inside of the rocket.”

“And what are their purpose?”

Dante looked up from the rocket he was setting up. “They’ll orbit around the planet and scan it. Giving me a detailed map. In the process, they should also be able to locate my larcom so I can go home.”

Luna leaned closer to her sister, whispering. “Shouldn’t your student be here? We feel as though this is definitely something up her… alley.”

Celestia’s eyes widened at the realization that, yes, they were about to watch a scientific breakthrough and no, Twilight Sparkle was not here.

“Oh, dear.., you’re right. Dante, dear, do you th-”

“I am not delaying launch for Purps, White. I want to get home as soon as possible and it will take her nearly a day to get here. That’s a day these sats could be looking for my ride home.” The biped stated, not looking up from his setting up of the machine.

Pinkie Pie launched herself Dante’s shoulders, bounding over to the Princess of the Sun. “I’ll go get her, no worries, Princess Celestia! Pinkamena Diane Pie is on the case.” Before anyone could protest, the hyperactive mare bounded behind Dante’s truck, disappearing behind it in one final bound.

Dante, who had been watching from the corner of his eye got up and walked over to the truck, peeking behind it to where the mare had disappeared.

He shook his head, muttering something about reality warpers and then going back to the rocket he was setting up, Fortnite reclaiming her place close to him, smile on her face.

A few minutes later, as Dante was putting the finishing touches on his devices, Pinkie Pie walked around the corner of the truck with Twilight Sparkle walking next to her.

“I just don’t understand why I’m needed at Sugarcube Corner this late at nig-” Twilight stopped talking as she noticed the three princesses, her brother, Dante and a unicorn she had never seen before seemingly nuzzling up to the biped.

Her mouth gaped open, as she slowly backed up, turning around. She looked around the corner of the truck, then turned back to the group, she turned back to look around the corner, then back, then corner, then back, then corner.

Then back. She looked to Pinkie Pie.

“Pinkie Pie…” She sighed, rubbing her forehead with her hooves.

“Yes?” The pink mare answered, her smile never having left her face.

“How did we go from walking to Sugarcube Corner to… here!” She gestured to the open field that was not Ponyville.

“She’s a reality warper, Sparks.” Dante answered as he stood from his kneeling position, wiping dirt off the knees of his armor. “And a fairly powerful one at that. It’s amazing she’s retained her sani-...” Dante looked at the pink mare, rethinking his words. “She’s not become murderously insane with a desire to dominate the entire universe.”

“Is that common?” Luna questioned. Dante nodded.

“Oh, fuck yeah. Something like ninety percent of above average warpers end up being shot to death by security forces. Well… I know the Legion takes an interest and keeps tabs on them. Most effective way to take one down is by sniping them. They can’t warp what they don’t know about. Makes for great black humor."

“You joke about killing ponies?” Cadance gasped, at this point Dante had begun typing something into a black rectangle on the back of his track.

“Yeah, it gets a tad boring in the field, so conversations in the Legion have a tendency to default to funny kill stories.”

“How is killing somepony funny!” Celestia protested, causing Dante to shrug.

“Iunno, eventually you get used to it and you can make a joke about anything. It’s called gallows humor for a reason, Celly.”

Dante lifted his left wrist up to his face, checking a device on it. “In any case, everyone, please get behind me.”

“Wait, what’s going on.” Twilight questioned, though she followed his instructions. Going based off what she had seen so far, if Dante was telling her to get behind him, it was a probably in one’s best interests to do so. She was joined by the rest of the group. “Princess Celestia,” She bowed. “Princess Luna,” She bowed. She smirked as she made eye contact with Cadance, as she bent down, Cadance reciprocating. She began prancing. “Sunshine, sunshine, la-” Twilight was cut off as a newspaper rolled up and thrown by Dante impacted her in the snout, causing her to reach up to it in pain, and interrupting the dance between the two. Shining struggled to hold in a small snicker at the seemingly insane actions of the biped while Cadance just looked to Dante in confusion. The biped crouched in a stance from throwing the newspaper, his right arm extended out.

“Oi! None of that shit! You can do your weird-ass dance on anyone else’s time besides mine!”

Dante stood up straight, clearing his throat. “Ladies!” He looked to Shining and nodded. “Gent.” The lone stallion nodded back. “What you are about to witness is the first launching of satellites into space from this planet! And because of this land’s love for pony puns, I have affectionately named them Ponik One, Two and Three. However, no one here besides me will get the reference!”

“Ooh! I get it, you named them after Sputnik… though your name kind of stinks.”

“Shut it, Pinkie!” Dante shouted at the reality warper. “Also, there’s a reason I was banned from naming ops for the Legion. So ya know what, go fuck yourself!” The pink mare merely blew a raspberry at the biped.

“Anyways, so, yeah.” Dante bent down and put his hands on Fortnite’s ears, giving them a small scratch. Just as she was beginning to enjoy the move, Dante removed his hands.

She could see his mouth move, but could hear no words. The changeling in disguise tilted her head in confusion and began to speak, but soon realized she could only feel the vibrations caused by her throat in her head, and could not hear her own voice.

Panic quickly set in, though it was temporarily stopped by Dante holding up a single finger. He picked up a notepad from the back of his truck and a pen and began writing something. A few seconds later, he tore the page from the notebook and handed it to her.

‘Don’t worry, you’re not deaf. I put earplugs in your ears so your hearing doesn’t get fucked by the rockets. I’ll take them out once we’re done. I just needed to make sure you couldn’t hear anything.’

“Oh.” The changeling stated, as Dante nodded and passed out the ear plugs to the rest of the ponies present, explaining what they were for.

Once everyone present had their MOSH approved hearing protection in, with the exception of Dante, He turned to them.

“Now, I know you all can’t hear me, so allow me to say these few things! KD, you are the most garish shade of pink I have ever seen and what you’re the princess of is the most contrived fucking bullshit I have ever heard. I think Celly just ran out of ideas or titles and then read a trash romance novel and got the idea from that. Shining, you’re a little bitch, Sparks you’re a fucking nerd and were probably bullied in school, Pinkie Pie you’re fucking insane, Luna you’re edgier than a knife and Celly, lay off the motherfuckin’ cake, you fucking elephant.”

Celestia chuckled. “You know, General,” She began, yelling due to her inability to hear anything. “I may very well be deaf at the moment, but I do know how to read lips. Why are you insulting everypony but Fortnite?”

Dante raised his nose in the air, placing his helmet on his head. “Because fuck you, that’s why! Venus, launch!”

Dante spun on his heels, dropping to one knee, and raising both arms crossing them in an ‘X’ shape. A shield made of seemingly pure energy and with hexagons embedded in it emanated from his forearms.

It was large enough to shield the group that had huddled behind him.

Just as suddenly, the three rockets launched, a large tail of flames emanating from the bottoms of the relatively small rockets as they shot off into the sky.

Dante’s helmet compensated for the decibel levels to prevent severe hearing damage.

All three alicorns as well as Shining Armor had instinctively thrown up their own shields to add to Dante’s, preventing the heat and shockwave from reaching them. Their entire world was engulfed in nothing but flames for a good few seconds until suddenly, it cleared. Revealing an extremely dead field that no longer was covered in grass.

Dante dropped his arms, allowing the shield to die down as the rest of the group followed his lead.

As the ponies removed the earplugs the biped had provided them, Dante watched his HUD, as the read out from the rockets reached his eyes.

A minute had passed, as the ponies spoke to each other about what had just happened. They were interrupted as Dante threw his arms in the air.

“Fuck yeah! Poniks One, Two and Three are all reporting successful deployments! Congrats everyone! We just made history on this planet.”

“Now what? Luna questioned as Dante walked over to the surprisingly unburned truck, opening the door. He slipped his helmet off his head and attached it to some webbing on his armor.

“Now? We go back to Canterlot and catch some shut-eye.”

“Wait… what!” Twilight shouted as she raced to to Dante, looking up at him. “But you just launched satellites and you told me just a few days ago that they would allow you to see the planet in detail we could only ever hope for.”

Dante nodded. “I did. But they still need to scan the planet in order for me to get my data. That takes time to do.”

“How long?” Fortnite asked, as she sauntered over to the truck.

“Eh… Two days, at most. Back home I’d have it today. But those are bare-bones military grade versions. They’re not designed to the be the best, just the cheapest that fit within specifications.”

“Is nopony going to comment on those explosions?” Shining Armor asked.

“I’ve been caught in worse.” Dante called behind him.

Dante opened the back of the truck, motioning for the ponies present. “Twi, Armor, Pie, KD. In the back. Fort take the front seat.”

Dante pointed to the bed of the truck. “Celly, Luna, bed.”

The two alicorns harrumphed at the implication, though Dante merely responded by raising his middle finger at them.

“If you want to ride with everyone else, stop munching sweets like they’re water.”

The young man continued walking. How long had he been walking? He had lost track along time ago. He had no recollection of the last time he ate, he drank, bathed or slept.

How far had he walked? That was also something he couldn’t recall.

All he knew was that he had started walking and not a single thing had stopped him. Not attacks from predators, he’d merely throw them away. The environment couldn’t stop him, as he would merely find himself on the other side of a river or chasm should he have come across one, unsure of how it had happened.

He did this, for a long time. As winter came and then left, and then came once more.

Until one day, his legs finally stopped. He collapsed on the ground, his eyes glazed over. He was unaware of the shouting coming closer to him as he finally slept for the first time since that day.

“Your Majesty.” Scuttle called as he entered the throne room, bowing his head. Chrysalis was still sitting there, on her throne, eyeing her commander.

“Yes, Commander, what is it?”

Scuttle straightened up, though still having to look up to meet his Queen’s eye.

“Your Majesty, I apologize for my interruption. But we have done a head count. All changelings counted after the initial recall are accounted for with the exception of one.”

“Which one is that?” Chrysalis asked, her head cocking to the side.

“A soldier. S-4292. Her commanding officer states that he was forced to take his group through a storm squall following the division of the army to prevent detection. He believes she was lost in the storm somewhere between Canterlot and Ponyville.”

Chrysalis brought a hoof to her face, slapping it. “Oh, wonderful. So we have a missing changeling somewhere in ponyland immediately following our attempted invasion.” She sighed, dragging the hoof down. “I suppose I should be glad it was a soldier caste. At least she won’t break as easily as a drone would.”

Chrysalis stood up, stretching her legs. “Commander.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“Do we still have any active infiltrators in Equestria who can assist in finding her?”

“Yes, Your Highness. There are several still present in Canterlot, and some stationed in the areas surrounding Ponyville.”

Chrysalis sat back down on her throne and leaned back. “Good, activate them and have them find out what happened to the soldier, and to assist in her escape if she’s still active. But do make sure it’s clear to them to deny the Equestrians any intelligence if they are unable to rescue her.”

“Of course, Your Majesty.”

Fortnite followed Dante into the room in Canterlot Castle he had apparently claimed as his own.

He pulled a cylinder from his armor and bent it, a glow immediately emanating from it. He tossed it into the room, lighting it up.

It was modestly furnished. A made bed with a couple of pillows on it, an armoire, a desk, a small table with a few chairs surrounding it and window. A door to their left led to what Fortnite could only assume was a bathroom.

She dropped her pony disguise once the door had been closed and locked, revealing her natural chitinous self. “So… what now?”

Dante opened the armoire, pulling a pillow and two spare blankets from it.

“What happens now? We sleep. And then once we get some shut eye, I make this room a tad more like home.”

Dante laid one of the blankets on the floor and then tossed the pillow on the ground. Fortnite moved to the take the blanket, stepping onto it and beginning to lay down, before she was snatched up by Dante, his arms catching her under her legpits.

“Ahah. You take the bed, I’ve got the floor.” He brought her over to the bed and lightly dropped the surprised changeling on it.

“A-are you sure? I’m used to sleeping on th-”

“Yep, I’ve slept in worse. Trust me. You deserve a sleep in a proper bed.” The changeling watched as the biped started disarming, ditching his gear in a pile. This time, it was much faster as he got out of his armor, ditching more of his gear. Finally getting to the deep concealment. He unlaced his boots and then slipped them off, tossing them in the pile with the rest of his gear.

Fortnite’s breath may have hitched, though she certainly never would have admitted to it, as the biped pulled his pants off.

Revealing a smaller and shorter pair of black pants underneath them that Fortnite hadn’t noticed earlier, as well as a pair of black socks. Which he promptly took the socks off and added them to the pile with his boots.

Noticing her seeming disappointment, Dante grinned. “Underwear. It’s so the pants don’t chafe the sensitive areas.”

Her cheeks took on a green tinge, as she began stuttering. “W-what. N-no. I-it wasn’t that, I-I w-wasn’t trying to, I-I I mea-”

Dante laughed at the flustered changeling. “Relax, Fort. One of the first questions people start asking when an alien species is discovered is ‘What does its dick look like?’ Fuck, there’s a constantly updated list in the Imperium with pictures of the dicks of sapient species, mainly because the Department of Science was getting sick of constant requests for descriptions of the dicks of more reclusive species. So I completely understand. It’s a valid question.”

Fortnite looked down, no longer wanting to meet the biped’s eyes, though the biped seemed to have no reservation, slipping off the shirt he had been wearing, which revealed another, black colored one. A fact which didn’t escape the changeling.

“How many pieces of clothing do you have on?” She questioned, Dante merely smirking.

“These are the last pieces. Everything underneath these are au naturel.” Dante moved to the blanket he had laid on the ground.

He groaned as bent down to lay on the ground. “God, I feel like a fifty year old man. Oh, god, my back is going to hate me in the morning.”

Fortnite watched as the biped groaned as he got comfortable on the stone. The pained groans died down as he settled down, his back turned to her.

“Uh… Dante, are you okay?” She asked.

“Remember to lift with your legs, not your back, Fort.” The biped chuckled. “I’ll be fine. I took some shrapnel to my back a little ways before the Battle for Earth that I never got properly dealt with. It’s given me chronic back pain for a while. The nanites usually kill the pain, though they get a little less active as I’m relaxing. They divert more attention to higher priority things. Like if someone does manage to sneak up on me and pump me full of sedatives, the drugs won’t do shit to me.”

The biped yawned, repositioning himself on the floor. “In any case, night Fort.”

“Good night.” The changeling, now comfortably dug into the bed, responded.

Dante snapped his fingers, the cylinder producing the light dying immediately as the two lay in silence, quickly taken by sleep.

Dante woke to something burying itself into the crook made by his front, as he lay on his side. His grip on the handgun he slept with tightened, fully prepared to dump a mag into the intruder, though his grip loosened as Venus identified the intruder as Fortnite.

Though that still left one question.

“Fort,” Dante questioned, hearing a light groan from the changeling, the biped rolled his eyes, nudging her with leg.

“Fort.” A small sound came from the changeling, her breathing light as she pushed herself closer, though she was now awake, or at least, half-awake.

“Fort, could you explain to me why you’re snuggling me right now.” The changeling gave no response, as Dante sighed.

“God fucking...” He groaned as he tried to decide what to do.

“Fuck it.” He said, as he made up his mind. He slipped an arm under the changeling and then used the other arm to push himself off the ground, being mindful of where the pistol’s barrel was pointing. The sudden movement caused the changeling to wake. She stared confused, as she found herself once more suspended off the ground and being moved against her will. Disappointment set in as she also realized she was now exposed to the cold air, her warmth denied from her.

She blinked in confusion as she was laid on the bed she thought she had been on, and then felt weight push down on the bed’s springs. She turned her head, confused, as she saw Dante on the bed, his back turned to her.

“Uh...”

“Oh, you’re awake.” He stated, his head still turned from her. “You sleepwalked from the bed to the blanket on the ground and then tried to use me as a snuggle pillow.”

Thankful for the complete darkness and the fact that the biped was turned away from her, she could once more feel a blush on her face a she attempted to stumble out an apology.

“I-I’m sorry, it’s just that… well, very few changelings sleep alone. We usually sleep in a pile.”

There was a pause, before Dante flipped himself on the bed to stare at the changeling. “A what now?”

“A… a pile. We all gather during the night for warmth, as well as protection. So if a predator somehow manages to get into the hive without the sentries realizing it, if it grabs a changeling, the rest of us will be alerted to the missing changeling. I… I’m not used to sleeping alone.”

There was a pause as Dante stared her in the eye, though she could easily see in the low light conditions, thanks to the fact that changelings lived in low light conditions, she wasn’t entirely sure if Dante was just looking where he thought her eyes were or if he could see just as well as she could.

Suddenly, he spoke. “Well, listen. When I first brought us to this bed, I was intending to sleep in it since you seemed to want to make me a snuggle pillow, but this is actually somehow more awkward then I was expecting it to be, so...” Without another word, Dante rolled himself off the side of the bed and onto the floor, landing with a thump and out the changeling’s view.

A few seconds passed before she saw an arm reach up and the hand pat the bed, seemingly looking for something. It inched closer to the pillows at the head of the bed before finally making contact with one and pulling it over the side.

“Night, Nite.”

Fortnite hesitated, wondering at the insanity of the biped. “Night… Dante.”

“Do you really need a couch for the room.” The disguised changeling asked the biped as they walked through the castle, some of the pony staff stopping to stare at the biped, a large couch resting on his left shoulder, his left arm supporting it as he also hefted another, object in his right arm. No strain apparent, despite the size and weight of the objects he was lugging around.

“Listen, Fort, I probably killed the motherfucker who this couch belonged to, thus making it mine. Yes, I am putting the couch in the room. It’s big enough.”

Fortnite raised an eyebrow. “And the other thing?”

Dante weaved through a small crowd of staff, balancing the objects as he made his way past. “Excuse me. It’s a TV, Fort. One that has an internal power source.”

They had woken up a few hours ago, Dante apparently having woken up way before the changeling, considering the fact that the pile of extremely deadly alien weaponry was no longer there and Dante was re-dressed and re-armored and drinking coffee.

They had made a few trips to the ship, Dante gathering some odds and ends so he could conduct his alien operations from the room he had taken over in the castle instead of having to make his way back to the ship every time he needed to do something.

As a result, the once immaculate room was now covered in wiring and cables, with various monitors reading out data. Data that Fortnite had absolutely no hope of reading, largely due to being in alien text and also because she had never been the science type. There were more intelligent castes for that.

Dante had also constructed platforms on the side of the castle outside of the window using some sort of alien device that seemed to create matter at will.

He informed her it required resources to run, but she was fairly certain it was breaking the laws of physics.

And now he had insisted on lugging back a couch and… well, whatever a TV was.

“Why do you need that?”

“Why do we need anything, Fort? But anyways, the answer is so I can watch movies while waiting for the sats to find my larcom.”

Fortnite sighed as she just followed behind the Human.

Hunter woke, to find himself laying on some padding. His muscles ached, finally able to reach his brain after such a long time.

His eyes rolled over the environment he was in, as he tried to figure out what was happening. Though no fine details could be made out, everything a mere blur.

“You’re awake. That’s good. Fischer found you collapsed on his way home. Dragged you back here.” A man in a corner spoke, Hunter slowly turning to stare at him, though only able to make a blurry Human shaped figure.

“You’ve been out for a good… seven suns, six moons. Fischer thought you weren’t going to pull through, though Koch insisted on taking care of you. I swear, that girl sometimes has too big of a heart.”

Hunter could barely make out the blurry movements of the man, though he didn’t care much for what he did.

The blur sat down on what appeared to be a small stool, though what the blur did following that, Hunter couldn’t tell.

“My name’s Lange, yours?” The man, named Lange carried on. Waiting for a reply from the man.

Hunter, however, said nothing. Merely staring lazily at the man, though no fine details could be made out of him. Merely a Human shaped blob to the young man.

“Not a talker, eh? That’s fine. But I will need something to call you… I suppose Schwarz will have to do. So, Schwarz, I hope you don’t mind, but while you were away from the land of the living, we examined your belongings. The pouches were really roughed up, and the tools neglected beyond belief. Yet, there was this… painting. But not a painting, or at least not like any I’ve ever seen before. It’s almost as though I’m looking at them in person. Who was she?”

Hunter didn’t respond, either to the wrong name, or the question. He knew exactly what he was talking about.

Hunter heard a sigh come from his left, a blur of movement. “I left the painting and a bladder near the bed. If you feel like getting up today, feel free to. Koch will be back in a while and I’m sure she’ll be beyond pleased to hear that you’re awake… albeit, not very responsive.”

With that, Hunter could hear rustling as Lange left the hut he was in. He waited for a few minutes, before blindly grasping at the bedside, before his fingers found his target.

He picked the undamaged life-like painting up and brought it to his face, his eyes struggling to focus on the face of his mother.

They finally focused, the face of his mother becoming clear. He brought the painting close to his chest and closed his eyes.

Cadance walked through the halls of the castle, looking for the room she had been informed the biped had taken over.

It didn’t take long, largely thanks to the guards who seemed to know exactly what she was talking about. And as such, here stood the Princess of Love, right in front of the door to the room the alien had claimed as his own. She had even been informed by various guards that the biped had been seen hauling various things to the room.

Truly, what alien horrors could await her on the other side of the door… She steeled herself as she raised a hoof, hesitating before knocking three times, solidly on the door.

“It’s open!” A muffled voice came from the other side, as Cadance slowly, reluctantly opened the door, worried about what she might find, as she took a deep breath.

Perhaps some sort of gruesome alien experiment, or maybe General Jaeger’s flesh was artificial and he had to take it off.

She let go of the breath she had held once she had entered, looking around surprised. There was no light, save for the faint glow of a box.

However, before she could examine the room any further, a very loud bang followed by alien shouting.

The pink alicorn instinctively dove, learning that alien shouting plus bangs were usually never a good thing.

“Ah, fuck! V, pause the movie.” A familiar voice cut across the shouting, as it instantly stopped.

Cadance heard a snap, the room flooding with light following.

The alicorn slowly raised to her hooves, realizing there was no danger, beyond the fact that she was in a room with a bipedal supersoldier alien who’s armed to the teeth and has a penchant for extreme violence.

Cadance scanned the now illuminated room, as she took in various screens with alien text running across them, wires strewn about the floor and ceiling lights blazing down. The room no longer looked like a guest room in Canterlot Castle, but rather a mix between a laboratory and a very small stone house.

Her eyes fell upon an old couch, upon which lay the biped, covered by a blanket, his feet closest to the door and his head facing the door.

They locked eyes as he nodded to her. “Evenin’, KD.”

The alicorn nodded back. “Good evening, General.” In the corner of her right eyes, she could spy a pile of alien weaponry. She turned her head slightly to look at it.

“Um… what’s going on here?” She questioned, nodding to the pile.

Dante chuckled. “Please, KD, just Dante’s fine, no need for ranks. And that pile of weaponry is because apparently laying on a bunch of guns and knives isn’t very comfortable. I mean, I don’t know what Fort’s problem is, it’s plenty comfortable for me.”

Cadance cocked her head to the side. “I’m sorry?”

Dante merely flipped the corner of the blanket covering him, revealing a softly breathing green unicorn using his chest as a pillow.

“Couch was too small for me to lay on and her to sit on, so we compromised, and she ended up laying on me.”

Cadance stared at the odd scene, her eyebrows raised. “Uh… what were you all doing?”

The biped gestured to the large screen facing his right side. “Watching a movie. Specifically, the first of the Last Man Standing movies… weird that these assholes happened have the entire fucking series, they hate my guts and I’m a main character in these movies.”

“You’re an actor?” Cadance questioned, surprise evident in his voice.

Dante chuckled, as he picked up a plastic rectangle sitting next to the couch, looking at it. “Oh, no. Sorry, let me rephrase that. My person is a character, I’m played by some poor schmuck who got roped into playing me.”

Dante lightly chucked the rectangle away from him, meeting the princess’ eyes once more. “Don’t get me wrong. The first movie broke galactic records for opening weekend. And the last movie in the series had one of the largest budgets in history and made all of it back plus some within the first hour of it premiering universe-wide. It launched the guy’s career off, and I’m happy he managed to make a name for himself using mine.”

Cadance walked over to the couch, laying down in front of it. “Well, now you have me interested. You didn’t partake in the filming of this movie?”

“You all have movies here?”

Cadance nodded, looking over to the screen Dante had been watching and seeing a rather graphic scene of an armored biped not unlike the enigmatic general holding, no, cradling another bloodied biped.

The biped holding the other one sat with blood covering his arms, coming from the biped being cradled. Dirt, debris and other grit covered the rest of his armor and his face was obscured by a helmet, similar to the one she had first seen Dante in when he initially intervened at the wedding.

The biped being held seemed to be wearing merely clothes, his face revealed. A short cut brown mane was soaked in blood, a light coating of dust and dirt clung the biped’s face thanks to the blood on it, his eyes were lifeless and dull.

All of this was in color, which made the gore worse for the Princess.

“Except ours don’t have color.” She remembered the sound when she walked.

“Huh… weird.” Dante shook his head. “Anyway, for the most part no, I had nothing to do with the movie beyond providing the combat footage. That was another thing these movies became known for. Splicing filmed scenes with actual combat footage, seamlessly. And the realistic scenes. It was so realistic that large amounts of veterans of the Imperial Civil War and partisans who participated in it walked out during the opening scene. Some of them started having panic attacks and PTSD attacks midway through the movie. The next day, counselors the Imperium provides to vets reported being swamped by requests for appointments, and requested the Imperium subsidize visits to private therapists in order to alleviate the workload. The waiting list for an appointment had reached to a year in just a few hours.

Dante looked at the princess, smiling. “The producers received a personal letter from the Universalis Senatorium requesting they tone down the realism just a tad bit. It wasn’t an order, it was an actual letter the fucking Senate drafted and then every member personally signed. Do you know what you have to do to receive one of those?”

“So what happened, are the newer ones as graphic as the first one.” Cadance questioned, as Dante began scratching the ears of the green unicorn laying on him.

“You’ve got to understand, KD, there was a lot of people involved in the Imperial Civil War. There were well over four billion deaths in the course of a mere three years that the New Phoenix Republic controlled Lux.”

Cadance processed the number as her eyes widened. Dante merely continuing. “And thousands of billions more were injured in the fighting. Hell, a large portion of the corpses have never been identified. At the time of The Battle of Earth, there were still billions of people listed as missing because we couldn’t identify all the bodies.”

He looked to Cadance, staring her dead in the eye. “It was the only war ever fought on the Imperial homefront. It was the first time the Imperial Government was sent into exile. The people had to prove ourselves. And by fucking god, did they. The Armed Forces never surrendered, they retreated, yes, but they came back even stronger. The Home Army didn’t dissolve, they split and struck, any time, any where. Men and women who either had discharged out of the Armed Forces or were ineligible for various reasons picked up a rifle and fought as partisans. Children carried messages back and forth.”

Dante allowed his head to fall back onto the arm of the couch, rubbing his eyes with a free hand. “There’s a memorial in the Citadel, called ‘Those Who Fought’. There’s three statues. A Legionnaire, in our iconic armor and black helmet, rifle held proudly and Imperial flag held in his left hand. The next one, a uniformed soldier, his GI armor revealing his face, aiming his rifle. Stubble growing on his chin and jaw from constant fighting and having no time to clean himself. The next one is a young man, clean shaven, no weapons or flags, no patches, no armor, no helmet. He’s not standing tall like the Legionnaire, or in a fighting stance like the soldier. His back is slumped, and his gaze is looking upwards. He’s wearing a jacket, and unless you knew what you were looking for, you would never see the light printing of a handgun in his jacket pocket. I know this man. His name was Mejjy Reth, a partisan, caught in an ambush in a town he was helping to secure.” Dante gestured to the screen, the movie still stopped on the scene.

“A photo of an unknown Legionnaire holding his lifeless body and attempting to render aid to the partisan was snapped by a combat journalist and became an image of… solidarity between the partisans and the Imperial government-in-exile. Despite requests for the Legionnaire’s name, the Legion’s policy is to not reveal the identities of Legionnaires until after death, and in certain exigent circumstances.”

“It was you, wasn’t it?” Cadance asked, as she stared at the still, the Legionnaire’s face still hidden.

Dante merely hummed. “Y’know… interesting fact about this scene, it was one of the most difficult scenes to film in this movie because they had to film it in such a way no one could ever guess who the Legionnaire is supposed to be. Which also meant they had to keep an eye on continuity. Before the scene occurred, Legionnaires weren’t allowed to be shown on screen except for one scene that had them in one general area taking cover.”

“Do you know?” Cadance asked, emphasizing the ‘you’.

Dante waved his hand in front of his face. “Of course I do. As did the directors. But they respected the Legion’s request for the Legionnaire to remain anonymous.”

“Why? Why do you want the identity of the Legionnaire to remain unknown.”

Dante lifted his head to look at the princess, smiling. “The Legionnaire in that picture has inspired various monuments, memorials and statues celebrating the brotherhood between the ‘illegal’ partisans who refused to bow to the NPR and the Imperium. The marine in that photo doesn’t represent himself,” Dante lazily pointed to the TV. “He represents the Legion. A group of men who pledged their souls to eternal damnation so that others may know peace. However, even the most dedicated of Legionnaires can fail and though they’re very much willing to throw their lives away to save a single person, Legionnaires can’t save everyone. We save who we can, but the reality of war is that we can’t win every battle.”

“So why is Mr. Reth’s name known, but not the stallion who charged from cover when the fighting restarted.”

Dante rolled his eyes, though the smile was still present on his face. His hand had stopped scratching Fortnite’s ears, the mare unconsciously nudging the stopped hand.

“Mejjy’s a Martyr of the Imperium. He was sixteen when he was killed in the fighting. He was thirteen when the occupation started, he was fourteen when he started fighting. He was killed two months before the regrouped Imperial Armed Forces retook the Citadel and killed the tyrant. Two months, KD. He was a baby. Sixteen years old and he already had a rifle in hand and kills notched in his belt. He wasn’t old enough to vote, to buy a weapon or carry one, couldn’t drink, couldn’t buy cigarettes or sign a contract. He couldn’t join the military. But he still died in a fucking ambush fighting the NPR. Mejjy’s name is known because he earned the recognition. The Legionnaire’s name isn’t known because he took an oath. He’s not Gary or Bob or Jim. He’s Legion. The Legion takes victory as one, defeat as one, death as one, not many. The black line does not fall until the Legion falls. Even if an operation resulted in a one hundred percent casualty count for the Legion, so long as it was successful, the Legion considers it as success.”

Cadance’s ears were pinned back, though his voice hadn’t raised, she could tell he wasn’t very happy.

He sighed, allowing his head to once more hit the arm rest.

“I know you think it’s a great disservice for the Legionnaire to receive no recognition. But trust me, he took revenge for Mejjy later, during the Reclamation of the Citadel.”

“I’m sorry, Ge- Dante. I didn’t real-” Dante cut her off with a wave of his hand.

“No apologies needed, KD. I realize the Legion can look pretty fucked up, if you’re looking from the outside in. What with our disregard for our own lives so long as the mission succeeds, but there’s a reason why the Legion has become a folk hero in the Imperium.”

Dante wriggled on the couch a tiny bit, repositioning himself into a more comfortable position, while being cautious not to wake the sleeping unicorn.

“In any case, I doubt you came here with the intention of hearing me be morose about a bloody war I was in.”

Cadance blinked a few times, before shaking her head and clearing her throat. “Erm, no, that was not my intention. I came here for a few reasons. First, I wanted to warn that following the Wedding incident and your… er, well, First Contact, I suppose, Aunty Celestia and Luna contacted various other Heads of States and invited them for a… conference.”

Dante groaned. Banging his head against the armrest for emphasis. “I fucking hate diplomatic conventions, god, kill me now.”

“It gets… worse. They also want you to participate in a Parliamentary Inquiry.”

“Great. So not only do I have to deal with more politicians, but I’ve also got to deal with idiots.”

“Which one’s which?” Cadance chuckled, which resulted in a smile from Dante.

“Presuming bodyguards will be present at the diplomatic convention, that should level out the average IQ level to an acceptable amount.”

This statement garnered light chuckles from both of them.

“Well, the news isn’t all bad.” Cadance continued, as she stood up from her previous position, Dante eyeing her with curiosity.

“How’s that?”

Cadance’s horn lit up, pulling a small envelope appearing from under her wing.

“I came to deliver you an official invitation to the wedding of Princess Mi Amore Cadenza and Captain Shining Armor.”

Dante took the envelope from the air. Cadance watching his movements with interest as his deft fingers quickly and precisely tore open the top of the envelope, not damaging the contents inside.

He unfolded the card containing the details of the event, scanning over it.

After a few moments, he set it to the side of him and looked Cadance in the eyes.

“Two questions, KD.”

The princess made a waving gesture to the biped with her foreleg. “Go ahead.”

He held up one finger. “First question: Can I extend the invitation?”

Cadance smiled. “I am assuming you would like to invite Miss. Fortnite here.”

The biped nodded. “Yeah, her and Bulwark.”

The alicorn nodded. “I see no reason why you can’t.”

The biped held up another finger, making it two fingers held up. “Second, booze.”

“Alcohol will be present and available at the reception.”

Dante looked at the card, specifically the date. “I’ll tell ya the truth, KD, I’m planning to be back in Imperial space by then, but I’ll make it a point to come.”

Cadance shifted her gaze to the various screens dotting the far wall of the room. “About that, how’s the search going?”

Dante began nodding his head. “S’pretty good. I’m still waiting for the sats to finish. Shouldn’t be too long. And then I should be able to map my way to my larcom, kill whoever I need to kill and get home.”

Dante paused, squinting.

“Venus has just informed me the sats are done.”

Princess Celestia sat upon the throne in the Parliament. For various reasons, her presence had been requested to watch over this session. In front of her sat a solid wood railing, separating her from the rest of the parliament. It was originally installed when Parliament had been more rowdy and… violent, a way to separate her from the fighting MPs.

She was exhausted, but as a Diarch of Equestria, she could not fall asleep during official meetings.

Unfortunately, this one was boring. Extremely boring. They were just screening various questions and lines of questioning the parliament members wanted General Jaeger asked when the upcoming day, three days from now, came.

Celestia glanced down at the floor, spying her insufferable nephew, Blueblood. She had to admit, though, he was a doing a surprisingly good job of vetting the questions. So far, she had not needed to intervene herself and reject a question.

Though it was obvious he was bored. One of the few things she and the prince shared in common. They both hated Parliament meetings. The major difference was that he was in Parliament meetings every day and it had taken him to the point of not carrying anymore, leading to his voice and expression betraying his boredom. Where as the Solar Diarch did her best to keep her boredom hidden.

“Furthermore, we are denying MP Onyx Dark’s line of questioning on the physical appearance of General Jaeger’s pen-” Blueblood’s single tone voice and expression was cut off as a shout sounded.

“Celestia!” Silence reigned in the Parliament, as various MPs tried to find the origin of the shout, something about the voice seemed familiar.

However, before Celestia could remember just who the voice belonged to the, doors to the Parliament slammed open, revealing a certain biped with his foot stuck out, and a very obvious dent in one of the doors.

Attached to both legs were two armored and rather large looking guard stallions. The one on his right leg was half in the air, and half on the ground. The one on his left was fully on the ground forelegs wrapped tight around the biped’s leg. It was obvious Jaeger, now armorless and only wearing clothes, had dragged the two here, as they both shouted protests at the biped. Who merely ignored them and began walking to the middle of the Parliament room, stopping as he reached it. Following behind him was the green unicorn named Fortnite, who was glancing around nervously and the Solar Diarch’s niece, Cadance, who was merely running a hoof down her face.

“Celestia, we have an issue and I need you, right now.”

The Princess took a deep breath, closing her eyes and using all of her self control to stop herself from copying her niece.

“General Jaeger,” She breathed out, opening her eyes and locking them with his. “Would you please stop damaging doors. Please open them like a normal pony. Also, we are in the middle of a Parliament meeting.” Staring at him from the second story of the room, a story dedicated solely for the Diarchs, she waved a hoof over the rest of the Parliament.

Dante glanced around, noting the various, mostly terrified faces of MPs, his sensors also picking up traces of urea in the air.

“Oh… well… they can wait! Now, come on! This is important!” Dante turned on his heels, beginning to walk out of the room.

“No.”

Dante stopped a few feet from where he had previously stood.

“I’m sorry?” He questioned. As Celestia finally had enough, bringing a hoof to her face and running it down.

“General, I have canceled multiple sessions of day court because of you. I can not continue to allow you to interrupt official Diarchy business. I realize you are a very important case in Equestria, but this country does not revolve around you.”

Dante said nothing, as he merely stared at her.

Then, without a word, he disappeared.

Celestia had a second to process the fact that he had disappeared, before he reappeared, balancing on the railing in front of her, stallions no longer attached to his legs.

The action caused Celestia to jump back a bit, having forgotten he could teleport, though how far was still unclear to her. He leaned down, his body bending at the waist as he brought his face close to hers.

“Excuse me, Princess, if I consider the affairs of a multi-galaxy spanning super-power to be slightly more important then the affairs of a planet bound sub-species of horses. For all I know, the IoP could be going to shit and I’m the only one able to fix it. Do you know what happens when the Imperium goes to shit?”

Before Celestia could answer, the biped answered his own question, pushing his face closer to hers. “People die. Lots of people die, so Celestia, please. Help me.” He stood back up, still balancing on the railing.

The Princess looked him square in the eyes, sighing. “You will have to wait.”

The biped groaned at the answer, rolling his eyes. He hopped down from the railing, gently putting a hand on her withers.

“Celestia...” His gaze pierced her eyes, causing a chill to run down her spine. “I’m sorry, but you’re making me do this.”

Celestia’s mouth gaped open, as she attempted to question just what he meant. However, before she could do so, she could feel her stomach churning and light flashing in her eyes.

She found herself being carried much how the biped had been carrying Fortnite a few nights before. Though, her large body meant her hooves hung further down.

She also found herself on the Parliament floor, having been teleported away from her throne.

Before she could protest, Dante scooped Fortnite up in his free arm and set off running.

“Sorry, but I’m borrowing your Princess! I’ll bring her back once I’m done! KD hurry up or you’re going to get in trouble for being an accomplice to kidnapping your mom!”

Celestia could hear her niece galloping behind them. “She’s my aunt!”

“Close enough!”

Celestia’s brain rebooted as she attempted to process the fact that she was not only being stallion-handled by the biped, but also being foalnapped by him as well.

Blueblood stared at the door in confusion, as he glanced around the Parliament, noting various MPs in various states of shock, also certain he smelled urine in the air. The guards that had been dragged in by the biped also looked to confused, not following the group who had just taken off running.

He groaned, rolling his eyes. His aunts had always been magnets for weirdness, he was sure she would be fine.

He levitated the book back to his face as he continued his bored statements. “As I was saying, Onyx Dark, your request for a description of the physical appearance of General Jaeger’s pens has been rejected. The Parliament also duly notes your odd and unhealthy obsession with writing instruments and we request that you refrain from asking questions related to pens or pencils during the official inquiry.”

When Dante finally reached the room he was staying in, he gently set Fortnite down on the looted couch and then followed up by gently setting Celestia down.

An act she repaid by promptly picking the chair from the desk in the corner up in her magic and breaking it on the back of the General’s head.

Indubitably, one of the more… violent actions the Solar Diarch had committed in recent history.

The wooden chair splintered into thousands of pieces as Dante fell to the ground, blood gushing from a rather large gash in his head.

Celestia turned around to face the door, making eye contact with her young niece. “Cadance,” She smiled, the smile giving off the warmth of a mother.

“Auntie… I swear I tried to stop him. He never told me he was even considering foalnapping you if you said no.”

Celestia’s smile only grew wider. “You have no need to worry, Cadance, I have no doubt the General hatched his plan on his own.” She glanced over to the green unicorn, who seemed to shrink at the mere turning of her head.

“Uh, h-hello… Your Majesty.” Fortnite shied back even further, as the Solar Diarch chuckled, which then turned into a full on laugh.

Though the Solar Princess saw the unicorn’s discomfort out of the corner of her eye and she was quick to attempt to calm it.

“N-no, it’s nothing about you, Miss Fortnite. It’s just that I haven’t been called ‘your majesty’ in such a long time. Please, Celestia is just fine.”

Fortnite hopped down from the couch, shuffling on her hooves as she did her best to avoid eye contact with the princess. “So, you’re… uh… not mad, Your Maj- er, Celestia?”

Celestia gave a light chuckle. “Mad at you? No, you had nothing to do with his insanity. Mad at General Jaeger?” She nodded her head back to the biped, who was now slowly getting up, using a table to stabilize himself. “Yes. I trust he didn’t hurt you during his flight from the Parliament?”

Once more, the unicorn shuffled on her hooves. “Er… no, I’m actually getting used to it.”

“Agh! Jesus Fuckin’ H. Christ, Celly, you absolute bitch!” Dante shouted, standing up and facing away from the group, as his hand rubbed his neck, blood still running down his head, though the large gash healed over.

Fortnite trotted over to the biped, levitating a towel she had grabbed from the bathroom. The biped accepted it with a thanks as he began wiping down his head.

“Don’t foalnap ponies, General Jaeger, and you won’t receive chairs to the head.” Celestia stated, raising her snout into the air.

Dante turned sharply to face her. “You hit me so hard you turned my brain into literal fucking mush and fractured my skull, I had to regenerate my brain back into a solid form! I probably have bone fragments in the damn thing!”

Celestia rolled her eyes as she walked over to the bank of monitors Dante had set up. Cadance gave a light smirk as she saw the small green unicorn fretting over the General’s wound, or rather, lack of one.

“I’m fine, Fort. Seriously, it’ll take more then turning my brain into soup to kill me.” He gave a light wave to the unicorn who was trying to clean blood and… gray matter from the biped. The gray matter undoubtedly from Celestia turning his ‘brain into soup’, as Cadance noted some of it running below his nose.

She restrained herself from gagging at the sight of it.

“In any case,” Celestia began, swishing her tail back and forth as Fortnite still fretted over Dante and Dante still kept assuring her he was fine. “Since you brought me here, what did you need me for.”

“Venus,” Dante called, as he rubbed blood from his eye. “Bring up the map.”

A table lit up, projecting a fully colored globe in the air. The globe was covered in most blue, with a few different colored sections. Celestia examined it with interest. It was relatively large, about the size of her head.

“This is a globe. It shows the planet as accurately as possible. And what I called you in here was for this.” Dante approached the globe, using his fingers to zoom in on one spot.

Celestia bit her lip as she examined, after a few moments she turned to look Dante in the eye. “What am I looking at?”

Dante rolled his eyes and gestured to the globe. “That spot. It’s the only spot my sats have been unable to get data on. Every attempt to scan it fails and the sats haven’t picked up any signal from my larcom. Even if it had been destroyed or disassembled, I should still be getting a signal from the pieces used in it. Since I am receiving no signal from it, the only logical place it can be is...” Dante pointed to the spot. “Here. And neither KD or Fort knew what it was.”

Celestia examined the area a bit more, raising a hoof to her chin. “Hmm… General could you zoom this map out?”

Dante did as questioned, using his fingers to make the map zoom out, as Celestia examined the map for a little longer.

Her eyes grew wider, as she realized what she was looking at.

She turned to look the Human in the eyes, her eyes wide in shock. “G-general Jaeger… I’m sorry to be the one who has to tell you this, but… well… your long range communications device is unrecoverable.”

Author's Notes:

And... chapter 16 is done!

I'm off to bed! Enjoy this chapter!

As always, if you liked and favorited this story, please tell me why. If you disliked this story, please tell me why you disliked it. Thank you very much. I also enjoy criticism as it helps me to improve. So if you do downvote, please leave a comment letting me know why. Be it grammar, spelling, pacing, or you just fucking hate the character!