Phoenix

Chapter 7

The female unicorn merchant, Morning Glory, eyed the strange biped as it passed by her stall. It had been mere hours since the changeling invasion had suddenly ended, with swarms of the beasts retreating, following multiple explosions from the castle.

Of course, after such a traumatizing event, most everyone is going to by wary of a strange biped that they have never seen walking around like it owns the place. And the strange hunk of material resting in a holster on its hip was a bit suspicious. Possibly violating the law prohibiting the carry of weapons within city limits, but still, as far as Morning Glory knew it could just be a weirdly shaped box. The biped locked eyes with Morning Glory as she quickly attempted to make it look like she was doing something other then staring at him. He raised one of his forearms and help up a paw for Morning Glory, a gesture Glory recognized as a wave. Hesitantly, she raised her own hoof and waved back, as the biped passed by her stall.

Glory shook her head. Surely, especially so soon after a violent invasion, the princesses wouldn’t allow a monster to roam the streets of Canterlot without knowing about it. Besides, the creature seemed like it was supposed to be here, so surely it was.

Dante strolled past the unicorn who just a few seconds prior had been paying extremely close attention to him but now seemed to be caught up in her own thoughts. He had known exactly what the mare was thinking. But he had also been in enough situations to know just acting like everything was normal got you past trouble. And indeed, it did appear to have worked on this mare.

“Venus,”

“Yes, Dante?”

“How’s the direction going?” Dante questioned, as he continued walking the cobbled stones of the city.

“The city itself is a marvel of engineering, especially for such a primitive society. The castle we came from itself is hanging onto the remains of the Celeste, which itself appears to have a rock-like flora growing upon it. The main city that we’re in at the moment appears to be supported from below. I have been able to scan several support columns which appears to be holding the entire city up. Most of the weight is supported by the Celeste.”

“Venus,” Dante rolled his eyes. “I asked for directions, not about the city.”

“Ah, yes, apologies. Hang a left into the upcoming alley. That should put you in what appears to the main city square.”

Dante picked up his pace, wanting to reach the Imperial signal before anyone else got to it. He stepped into a dark alley, several meters long.

“That’s fine Venus. What’s the integrity of the Celeste, I’d rather not stay in this city if it’s about the pull outer hull of the Celeste off and fall.”

Venus was silent for several moments, as she scanned the various important bits and bobs of the Celeste. Dante himself only knew basic ship-making knowledge. So he would have to rely on Venus for the more specific information.

“Scans are showing no severe metal fatigue that could compromise holding up a several million ton city. But I would advise, when you get the chance and materials, use the onboard fabricators to create some unmanned turrets and cover the support columns with them. They are a very open weak-point.”

“Noted.” Dante replied as he stepped out of the dark alley and into an area that did appear to the city square. It reminded him of the bazaars back in the Middle East… with the exception that various ponies were cleaning up a mess of stalls and buildings. From the changeling attack, Dante reasoned, as he walked past several destroyed stalls.

He whistled in surprise. “Damn, looks like these poor fuckers got hit hard during the attack. Probably looks nicer when it’s not destroyed. Venus, update on the signal.”

“This is as specific as I could get with just a ping. I am starting up the hot/cold trace now.”

One of the modifications the Human had received as a result from his military service was augmented eyes. No longer needing a helmet to access a HUD, this came in handy many times. Such as now, where he was able to see the strength of the incoming wavelength with no helmet.

A hot/cold trace was an extremely old technique, but still useful. Used for when an AI is unable to triangulate the exact position of a signal, either due to spoof signals jamming up the scanners or… well, the lack of satellites in space. As was the case for Dante.

“Oh, great, I love playing Marco Polo.” Dante muttered as he began walking. He knew it had to be in the square, but its specific location was going to be a problem. He assumed it had to be in one of the stalls, so he decided to started there. He walked next to one of the stalls that was sitting on the perimeter of the circle that made up the town square. From there, he would do a loop around the circle and hope that he got lucky it was in one of the outer stalls and not one of the many stalls that made rows upon rows in the remaining space of the circle.

As such, he began walking his circle. He received many rebukes, though he never stopped. Many of these were telling him they weren’t open, a few did try to sell him some items and other just outright ignored him. That was fine. He wasn’t there to buy. He was there to reclaim what was his.

The circle itself only took him a few minutes to make a round of.

He silently cursed to himself. The signal had spiked a tiny bit, but it never got strong at any of the stalls.

Dante looked to the rows of stalls. Sighing to himself, he realized what he needed to do…

“Fuck!” Dante yelled as he kicked an abandoned stall, putting a hole through the wood, as various ponies stopped and hesitantly looked at the angry biped who had just destroyed someone’s property.

Dante began walking through another row, one he had already been down in his fruitless search for his lost technology.

No where. The signal had not spiked significantly anywhere. The fluctuations he was seeing were perfectly normal for a signal. But the device that was releasing these signals seemed to be no where.

“I’m coming back with an excavator and digging this fucking place up.” Dante muttered to himself, as he began walking away. But mere seconds after deciding to give up for the day, a warning popped up on his HUD.

“I suddenly received a transmission from the device. This one much stronger then before. I was able to get an exact ping on it.” Venus informed him.

Dante spun on his heels.

“Where is it?”

“Two rows over, to the right.”

Dropping down a column in the rows, Dante reappeared in the row that Venus had specified. Dante turned his head in both directions, scanning for any Imperial technology that could be releasing the signal. He saw none in the stalls.

“Venus, where is i-” Before Dante could finish, he spotted it. Held in the magical grip of a cloaked and hooded unicorn who was walking away from a pony who was now nursing a bump on its head and sitting on its rump, was something Dante recognized immediately. A long range communications transmitter. And since it was transmitting a signal, it had to still be working.

Wasting no time, Dante began jogging after the pony who had his property.

“Oi, Unicorn. Stop. That’s m-” Once again, Dante was cut off as the cloaked unicorn twisted its body and shot a beam of blue, sparking magic his way.

Hitting the ground as the beam soared to his right, missing him. He rolled behind a stall to his left as he pulled his handgun from his holster, more magical beams impacting the ground where he had been less then a second before.

Dante got to his knees, as the ponies who had been in the market were now scrambling for cover from the murderous unicorn.

Dante aimed from his cover, sending a single shot down range. The 9mm round from the Glock seemed to have its direction changed as it impacted something. The unicorn took the confusion of the market as a chance to escape. The confusion had only been worsened by the loud bang from Dante’s Glock.

“Fuckin’ unicorns!” Dante shouted as he broke from cover, sprinting off after the unicorn. Leaping over some abandoned carts, Dante struggled to keep up with the unicorn. Who now seemed to be going faster then ever.

The pony shot up some stairs as Dante fired more shots at it, hitting the ground where it had previously been. Dante followed up the stairs, taking several of them at once.

“Stop! That’s my fuckin’ property!” Dante yelled as he fired more shots at the fleeing unicorn. He had planned to do this peacefully, but since the unicorn fired at him first he had no problem killing it.

If he could it, that is.

“Motherfucker, I’m gonna kill you when I catch you! Fuck!”

The unicorn seemed to be losing a lot of energy. While it had been able to initially outrun the odd creature, it was also firing bolts of magic while levitating fairly heavy technology it had been ordered to retrieve. Not only that, but it was also dealing with other handicaps in regards to magic.

Still, if the unicorn could make it to the edge of Canterlot, it should be able to get away from the pursuing alien.

The unicorn gulped, hoping the creature didn’t have any wings hidden on it.

Celestia sipped on some of her tea, tapping her hoof against the table, as she waited for Twilight to arrive. To her left Luna sat, a frown on her face, to her right Cadance and Shining Armor were sitting. The rest of the table had the Elements sitting there, save for Twilight. All of them were waiting on Twilight and the alien.

Celestia took another sip from tea.

“Sister?”

“Yes?” Celestia answered, a small grin forming on her face. She knew exactly what Luna was about to say.

“It has been twenty minutes from the time that we were supposed to meet.”

“I am aware.”

“So what if something happened to them?” Luna asked.

Celestia cocked her eyebrow. Remembering the carnage Dante had wreaked upon the Changeling queen and her forces.

“Like what? You saw him in action. I would wager Mr. Jaeger is more then capable of handling himself should any threat pop up.”

Shining Armor decided now to join the conversation.

“Princess, may I ask, we know Mr. Jaeger can handle himself, but what about Twily- er,” Remembering he was speaking to the Two Sisters as he finished the nickname he had for Twilight, Shining Armor cleared his throat and corrected himself. “I mean, Twilight, Princess?”

Celestia smiled. “I am sure she is more then capable of handling herself as well. Your concern for her is admirable, Captain Armor. But she is no longer the little filly you remember her as. Besides, even should something randomly pop up that she can’t handle, Mr. Jaeger is still with her.”

Shining Armor nodded, as everyone at the table looked around. Still waiting for the missing two. Rainbow Dash hovering above her own chair.

“He has two minutes to get here, then I’m going to go look for them.” Rainbow Dash stated. As Applejack rolled her eyes at her friend’s impatience.

“Rainbow, will ya sit down. I’m sure they’re jus’ runnin’ a tiny bit la-” Before Applejack could finish her sentence, the doors to the room slowly opened, a purple aura surrounding them. Twilight walked in, her head down. As she slowly headed to an empty chair. Without looking a single one of them in the face, she took her spot, the alien nowhere to be seen.

“Erhm… Twilight,” Celestia coughed into her hoof, as Twilight kept her head down. “Where’s Dante?”

Twilight slowly looked up, tears brimming in her eyes, choking back sobs.

“I’m sorry, Princess.” As Celestia removed herself from her chai she moved to Twilight.

“Twilight, what’s wrong. Did something happen?” Celestia slipped her hoof over Twilight’s back as she choked out some words.

“Yes, I lost Dante.” Twilight looked up to Celestia, now full-blown crying. “I’m sorry, Princess. I failed you.”

Celestia brought her emotional student in for a hug, making a mental note to not assign her any more responsibilities with him.

“Twilight, it’s okay, really. I’m sure he’s fine. I should have known better, it’s not your fault, he is a bit… eccentric, form what we've seen.”

Several booms sounded in secession, as all the ponies in the room swiveled their ears in the general direction.

Luna flew from her seat, waiting for no one as she took off from the room, through an open window.

Rainbow Dash and Cadance both took off after her, as several of the ponies looked on inshock.

“Dante.” Celestia stated. She looked to the rest of the ponies in the room.

“Go, Twilight and I will join you in just a little while.” Celestia stated as the rest made their way to chase the two alicorns and one pegasi who went out the window.

“You fuckin’ bitch! Stop!” Dante shouted. He had to hand it to this unicorn. It was spritely, fast, and enduring. They had to have already run a mile from their original position, as the unicorn in the lead dashed through alleyway after alleyway in an attempt to lose the biped. But Dante was having none of it. He had chased far faster creatures for far less then stealing an object he needed to get home and then shooting at him.

The marine dropped the now empty magazine in the Glock he had commandeered from a long-dead NPR militant. The unicorn was also able to deflect or avoid his shots. An amazing feat in and of itself

However, it seemed as the chase would soon come to an end. The running pair had reached an extended platform, hanging off the side of the wrecked Celeste.

The unicorn stopped at the edge of the platform, stopped by a short rail.

Dante stopped mid run, leveling his handgun at the unicorn.

“Stop! Give me the long range comms transmitter and I won’t kill you for this shit you’re making me do.” Dante stated.

The unicorn lowered the transmitter so it was obscuring most of the unicorn’s body.

“Shoot and I’ll deflect it so it destroys this.” A voice, very obviously a female voice, sounded.

“Listen, you bitch, I need that to get home. Give it to me now and I’ll forget you trying to kill me back in the market and even pay you for it. Which is more then I would normally do.” Dante stated.

The mare shook her head.

“I can’t. I need this.”

Dante was seething. “That is property of the Imperium of Phoenix! Under the authority granted to me by the Phoenix Legion Marine Corps, this is my final warning. I’m a representative of the Imperium, that transmitter is m-”

“I can’t give it to you.” The unicorn threw the back of her cloak over to one side of her body, revealing a pack strapped to her back, a harness wrapping around her purple body, her face still obscured by hood. A rope levitated into the air from the pack, blue aura that seemed to spark a loop knotted on the end in the air as Dante realized what was happening. Seeing an incoming glint.

“You fuckin’ cunt!” He bellowed in rage as he charged the mare, launching himself in an attempt to tackle her. But she was ripped from the ground at the last second by a gryphon grabbing the levitated loop.

Dante slammed into the ground, no unicorn there to break his fall or for him to grab. He rolled and recovered to a kneeling stance. Taking aim, he dumped the entire mag of the Glock at the unicorn and gryphon. But this was in vain, as all shots were blocked by a shield of the blue magic he was slowly growing to despise.

Luna landed first as she watched the Human launch into a very violent tirade of how he was going to slowly, painfully and methodically remove each and every limb and organ from a unicorn that was being flown away by a gryphon while keeping her alive.

Cadance and Rainbow Dash landed next, as the Human retrieved another black object, smaller then the one on its hip from its pocket and begin firing it in the direction of the retreating pair.

“I’m going to shove a two gauge shotgun up your fuckin’ asshole and fire it, you stupid, worthless cunt! I’m going to take what’s left of your worthless fuckin’ corpse and fuckin’ mount it above my goddamn fireplace!”

Luna cleared her throat, as Cadance and Rainbow Dash cringed at the thought of the aliens threats. However, Luna’s attempt to grab his attention did nothing, as he only continued yelling at the now disappearing over the horizon couple in an alien language, a language assumed to his mother tongue.

She cleared her throat louder. Still nothing.

She took a deep breath.

“MR. JAEGER!” She had not used the Royal Canterlot Voice in quite a while. But it had worked… just not quite the way she had wanted.

“What!” Dante shouted back, his natural yelling voice rivalling Luna’s voice in intensity.

“Can you not fuckin’ see I’m in the middle of being pissed that my only goddamn way off this rock was just taken by an overgrown fuckin’ goddamn chicken and a stupid bitch cunt that can deflect bullets and escaped by using a jury-fuckin’-rigged fuckin’ skyhook!"

Luna shot back.

“What made you think it is acceptable to have running battle in the middle of my city?”

Dante, much to Luna’s surprise did not back down.

“Why? Oh, I don’t know. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that cock-sucker,” Dante pointed in the general direction of the now no longer visible unicorn and gryphon. “Was in possession of a Krelnash Long Range Communications Transmitter belonging to the Imperium of Phoenix, A-Fuckin’-K-A: My goddamn ticket home. And then when I tried to take it into my custody, she fuckin’ shot magic at me! Why did I have a running gun battle in your city? Where the fuck were your guards to kill the fucker who shot at me? Why am I doing their fucking job?”

“We just had a major attack by changelings!” Luna shot back. “Of course our guards were slow to respond!”

“They still haven’t fuckin’ responded! In either case, not only was she in possession of Imperial property, but she also shot at an agent of the Imperium of Phoenix. Both of which are crimes giving me the authority to chase and arrest her, and if necessary, kill her.”

At this point, Luna and Dante were face to face, noses almost touching the others as both argued.

“This is my country and you have no authority here. I will not have you endangering the people of my city or killing my subjects.”

Dante’s eyes narrowed. “Your city is built on my ship. Therefore, I do have jurisdiction. And I will continue to do what I need to do to get home. And the only one endangering your people was that bitch. I was in no danger of a bullet hitting anyone of them.”

Luna took several steps back, as magic charged on her horn. “If you refuse to stop endangering my subjects, then I will be forced to act.”

Without hesitation, Cadance watched as Dante reached behind his back with his right foreleg, lifting his shirt up and producing yet another black object and leveling it at her aunt.

“Shoot me and I’ll consider it an act of war.” He stated as he leveled it at her.

Cadance had to get involved. She lit up her horn aiming it at Dante.

“Mr. Jaeger,” Cadance began, watching as he leveled another black object he produced from seemingly nowhere at her. How he had seen her start charging her magic, she had no idea. But now he had one of the objects pointed in from of him to Luna and the other pointed slightly behind him at her. ‘I appreciate how you saved us at the wedding, but I can not permit you to harm Aunt Luna.”

“So, we’re at an impasse.” Dante stated. “You all shoot me and I survive, but I kill both of you, guaranteeing a war between the Imperium and… what is this country even called? I never heard anyone say its name.”

“It’s Equestria.” The forgotten Rainbow Dash called from behind the action.

“Thanks, rainbow pony,” Dante called. “We’re all about to start a war. Decharge your horns and I’ll lower my firearms.”

“You lower your “firearms” first and then we’ll decharge our horns.” Luna stated.

“No can do, Blue.” Dante stated. “I fuckin’ hate Mexican stand-offs.”

Cadance didn’t know what a “Mexican” was, but she did notice some weird gaps in his logic.

“Mr. Jaeger,” She started. “You said you would survive this, right?”

“It’s Dante, but yes. I did.”

“Why did you say it so confidently.”

Dante snorted. “I’m immortal. Always have been. Death hasn’t been able to take me yet, a couple of colorful ponies threatening me with magic sure as shit ain’t gonna put me in front of the Pearly Gates.”

“So if you know that what we’re doing isn’t going to kill you, then why are you doing this. If we can’t kill you, then why not just kill us if we were to try and kill you?”

Luna saw a smirk on his face.

“Ah, trying to solve violence with logic. I can respect that. But it’s the principal of the matter. She pulled your equivalent of a gun on me first, so I pulled my gun on you. I’m not the cause of this standoff. She,” Dante made a wave gesture with his gun towards Luna. “Is. So why would I let someone who thinks it’s acceptable to draw a gun, or at least the equivalent form of a gun, during an argument get what she wants?”

It was time for Luna to snort. “That’s rich, coming from you.”

“Ha! Unlike you, dear Blue, my gun has not cleared leather until a violent threat has presented itself. I didn’t draw on that bitch,” Dante gestured with his head in the direction the couple he had been shooting at had gone. “Until she’d shot magic at me. And I didn’t draw on you or Pink over there until y’all drew on me.”

Cadance snorted. Dante was right, they were at an impasse. He wasn’t going to fire until they fired, and they didn’t plan to fire unless he fired. So they were essentially just pointing “firearms” as Dante had called his items and magic at each other for no good reason.

“How about this. On the count of three, I lower my guns and you all decharge your horns.” Dante stated.

“How do we know you won’t just shoot us then?” Luna questioned.

“Because I haven’t shot y’all yet.” Dante replied.

The tension could be cut with a knife, as by now a crowd of ponies had gathered, initially to find the source of the bangs, but now to watch the two princesses stare down the odd creature. A creature rumors had been spreading fast about in the short time he had been out of the castle.

“Hey, Rainbow,” Dante stated to the hovering Rainbow Dash, not aware he had gotten her name correct. “I want you to count to three. Three is when we all will end this Mexican stand-off. I’ll lower my guns and you all decharge your horns. Got it?” Dante asked the two alicorns. Luna reluctantly nodded. Cadance nodded, praying that the creature didn’t renege. She had no reason to believe he was lying, but he was also very obviously violent and had no reservations about resorting to violence. Even against a head of state.”

The entire crowd watched with bated breath. As Rainbow began.

“One.” She said.

Luna and Dante locked eyes. Both of them unhappy with each other. Luna fixed her gaze on him, not used to anyone other then her sister not backing down under her gaze. But their intensity died down, as their eyes seemed to come to a silent understanding.

“Two.” The crowd unconsciously inched closer. Though they feared they were about to watch two princesses be murdered in front of them, they could not turn their heads.

Rainbow Dash took a deep breath and sighed. She really hoped and prayed she wouldn’t be the countdown to the deaths of the two princesses. She had seen the alien fighting. And given how casually he had acted during the fight with Chrysalis, she fully believed he had the ability to kill the two princesses whose fate now rested on Rainbow’s final count.

“Three.” At once, the two alicorns decharged their horns as Dante lowered both of his handguns to point at the ground.

Cadance let go of a breath she didn’t realize she had been holding, thanking the gods Dante hadn't been lying.

Luna met Dante’s eyes once more. He had already holstered the firearm he had pointed at Cadance and was holstering the other one as he walked to Luna. He stopped six paces from her.

“I’m afraid relations between our two great nations got started on the wrong foot.” He stated, as he walked closer to her. “Let’s start over. Dante T. Jaeger, General of the Phoenix Legion Marine Corps, Imperium of Phoenix Armed Forces. Just call me Dante. Nice to meet you...” Luna watched as he held a foreleg with a paw out for her.

Luna looked at it hesitantly, but stuck her hoof out, where the paw gripped it and shook. “Princess Luna, Sovereign of the Night and Moon, Diarch of Equestria. It is nice to meet you and we would like to thank your for your assistance in pushing back the changeling invasion.”

As they were done shaking hoof and hand, Celestia landed beside Cadance with Twilight held in her magical grip. Celestia carefully set Twilight down on the ground, who still seemed to be sulking.

“Did I miss anything, Cadance?” Celestia asked, her voice cheery.

Cadance could only sigh.

“You have no idea, Aunt.”

Author's Notes:

Who is this bitch-ass unicorn that stole Dante's ticket and managed to escape from the Legionnaire?

Cadance still hasn't found out what a Mexican is.

And Dante manages to fuck future diplomacy up by pointing a gun at a head of state after defying her authority in her own country. There's a reason why the IoP tried to avoid assigning Dante to diplomatic envoys.

Again, 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!