Chapter 4

9-14-13, 8:55 P.M.

The most unsettling thing about Jeremy's day so far, he thought, was that the sun hadn’t gone down yet. Having the sun stay where it was in the sky was weird enough, but it was almost 9 P.M. according to his watch, which he had adjusted earlier on the train to account for the 12-hour time discrepancy Princess Luna had mentioned earlier, and the sun was still blazing overhead as if it were high noon. Perhaps Princess  Celestia was incapacitated or otherwise prevented from lowering it? Or maybe it was always like this - Jeremy couldn't quite recall ever seeing a sunset in the episodes he'd watched. He avoided shooting any changelings he spotted along the way, if only because he didn’t want to attract attention - it was bad enough he was on a moving train, but hopefully they'd think he was just an attempted escapee from Ponyville or something. Things were going to be hard enough on the center stage even if he had the advantage of surprise.

9-14-13, 9:17 P.M.

Canterlot was rapidly approaching, the train having already taken the loop up the mountain. As he got closer, a thought occurred to Jeremy, something he felt he should have considered a while ago.

How was he going to stop the train?

Jeremy frantically looked around for brakes. He was in the front of the train, so they should be around here somewhere. Spotting them, he was about to pull them when something caught his eye up ahead. Quickly glancing again, his suspicions were confirmed: The changelings had hastily constructed a barricade to prevent entrance to Canterlot. They were here already? Dammit. Jeremy thought about what to do - he did need to get through, and it didn't look like he had time to go around. Property damage it was, then. He ignored the brake lever, and instead opened the door out of the train car. Blown back by the sudden wind, he struggled his way out onto the space between cars. This was going to hurt like hell. Jeremy took a deep breath, and jumped off the train, twisting his body and landing with a thump, jarring his head against the quartz bubble helmet. For a moment, his vision spun wildly as he bounced and rolled, pain shooting through his body as he slowly came to rest. The sorbothane helped, he thought dizzily as he lay there, unable to move or even breathe from having the wind knocked out of him, but it didn't quite solve that problem. Oh, wow, that hurt. Jeremy took a few heaving gasps as he attempted fruitlessly to get up, mentally punching himself in the face for having attempted something that incredibly stupid. He could have died! Bet Luna would like that - no honorable death here, just an idiot jumping off a fast-moving train like he knew what he was doing!

The train, still moving of its own accord, had sped towards the barricade... and punched through it, the keen of tearing metal and shattered stone piercing the evening air as the front car crumpled. Jeremy finally managed to get to his feet, still taking deep breaths as he surveyed the wreckage. That oughta wake them up, Jeremy thought grimly. He looked down at himself - the armor was still in pretty good shape, except for a small tear at the base of one of his gloves - Jeremy resisted the urge to pick at it. Thankfully, the rest of the train was intact, so at least he would only have to pay for one smashed train car.

As Jeremy stepped gingerly through the barricade, he considered the chain of events that had lead him to this. Luna barely had to ask, and he had agreed to commit senseless slaughter. Was it because he wanted to protect the admittedly cute little ponies? Well, yes, but he didn't feel like that was the whole reason. Was it because it was Princess Luna asking? While Jeremy considered them friends at this point, he didn’t know what to think beyond that – and was unsure what Luna felt about him. Besides, it wasn’t like he was guaranteed to win or even survive - he was just as likely to die here as in the school incident, if only because sooner or later someone would figure out how to rip off his suit. Jeremy shrugged and got out his shotgun. Maybe he just wanted to die a hero.

The Canterlot streets, much to his surprise, were empty of ponies and changelings alike. Many of the shops interested him, having never been indoctrinated to Equestrian culture where things like ‘Alchemy’ were real business practices. As he passed the streets, several windows opened and then quickly closed, despite no breeze being present. Jeremy would almost have smiled at their tactlessness, but decided to leave the hiding civilians alone.

As he walked onward towards the castle, he became aware of a commotion to his left, the sound of gunfire permeating the air. Jeremy was faced with a choice: Continue to the direct objective, or investigate this? His decision was made for him as he was physically pulled over into the shadow of the alley, to be greeted by what appeared to be Shining Armor. Jeremy checked with his infrared  camera – yes, this was indeed Shining Armor. “I’ve heard reports of a lone fighter in Ponyville, and you fit the bill. What are you?” Shining asked. Jeremy decided to remain silent – he didn’t know exactly why, but if humans were mythical in this world, a conversation as such would be a distraction. “Never mind. It doesn’t matter, as long as you’re with us. A large group of changelings has taken that building and every occupant hostage, and is threatening to kill them if we don’t surrender.” Jeremy looked out towards the building. On the cobblestone exterior, he could make out the words “Canterlot Day Care.” Fresh rage ignited inside of him, and before he knew it, he had shoved aside Shining Armor and ran straight at the changeling horde, assault rifle blazing.

//{Black Mesa OST – Questionable Ethics 1}

It was insanity. Jeremy didn’t even feel the bullet impacts, he was so furious. Every single changeling attacked at once, and his rage gave way to barely restrained panic as he punched, shot and hit them off, steel pipe swinging from the hand that wasn’t gripping his assault rifle. The part of him that was still remotely sane wondered if despite the sorbothane padding on his shoulders he would get a bruise in the morning. Still, the changelings were being cut down faster than Jeremy had time to pay attention to. Moreover, his vision was beginning to tunnel, and his hearing began to sound tinny and fuzzy. He guessed he was going to pass out if he kept this up. What a fine way to get yourself killed – get so angry, you pass out right in the middle of a fight. Jeremy attempted to take stock of his surroundings through the haze. There were only a few changelings left, running for their lives as he came after them. As he caught up to the first, he picked it up and slammed it against the nearest wall, instantly knocking it out. He gave the second a blow to the head, continuing with the momentum of his fist until this changeling too was driven to the ground, then shot it up for good measure. The final runner was picked up by the legs, and in true Hulk-style, smashed into the ground on either side of Jeremy – it had gone limp a while ago, whether from fear or unconsciousness.

//{end}

“Holy Celestia,” Shining Armor exclaimed as he came upon the battlefield that used to be the front of the daycare. At least the kids couldn’t see this – the windows had been boarded up prior to the changelings’ invasion, when it became clear they would reach Canterlot. Changelings were strewn about, some looking as though they had been through a trash compactor. Honorable fights were one thing, but this was pure brutality. Shining Armor considered the earlier reports his own sister had given him via teleportation before running off to see how she could help – according to her, this thing had remained perfectly calm before.

Oh my God, they were going to kill little kids, Jeremy thought. It was the only thought his brain could process, for though he was beginning to come out of the white fuzz that accompanied his unbridled, psychopathic bloodlust, he was still out of it mentally. Taking deep breaths and attempting to restore some sense of clarity to his sight and hearing, he leaned against a wall before slumping down into a sitting position, panting with exhaustion and adrenaline. Jeremy felt like he was already dying - he'd walked about a mile, jumped off a moving train, and curbstomped a small army into bloody, unconscious submission. He'd had no food, not even any water, and he was already sweating - the sun was not showing any mercy to his ceramic-plated body armor. A hoof pushed a small thermos full of water into his lap, and Jeremy gratefully pulled off his helmet and drank nearly the whole thing, looking up to see Shining Armor standing there expectantly. "That... was one hay of a job, mister. You okay?" Shining asked. Jeremy weakly nodded, handing back the thermos. Shining took it, noticing his shaking limbs. "Wow, you must really like kids, huh?" Shining joked. Jeremy gave him a small grin, and Shining smiled, apparently glad that communication was working. "But hey, listen. Don't overdo it. I know a lot of soldiers who had to be shipped off halfway through their careers because they burned out a bit too bright," Shining coached, a serious tone to his voice. Jeremy, surprised by the sudden change in conversation, nodded calmly, slowly getting to his feet. He held out a hand, and Shining Armor grimly shook it. "Now let's go wreck the rest of their army, soldier," Shining cheered, and Jeremy grinned as he rejoined the group.

He was only interrupted from this train of thought when his infrared camera picked up something strange. A symbol had appeared on a door – a crescent moon of cold blue, surrounded by a splotch of warmer yellow-red. Compared with the yellow-green of his current surroundings, it made quite a stark contrast on the camera –and Jeremy was sure it hadn’t been there before. He cautiously entered the building, Shining looking at him suspiciously.

As soon as he entered, a counter of the shop lit up blue. An object appeared on the tabletop, and Jeremy quickly switched to infrared version. It was room temperature, and didn’t look too odd. In fact… it looked just like a laser-guided rocket launcher. A very familiar rocket launcher. “Oh man, thanks a million,” Jeremy quietly said as he appraised Luna’s gift, flicking on the laser sights. He stowed it in his suit, still fascinated by the way it disappeared and reappeared whenever he thought about it, and moved on.

An odd thing about Jeremy’s metabolism, in his opinion, was that his weight stayed relatively constant at a lightweight 135 pounds, no matter what or how much he ate. Nonetheless, he was hungry. He might eat something from one of the nearby restaurants, but would have no way to pay for it - try as he might to rationalize it, he'd rather starve than steal. Still, it was about 10 A.M. back home, and he would have certainly eaten something by now. Maybe he could get some rations off the guards? He came back to Shining Armor, who was eyeing him apprehensively. “So... where did you come from?” he asked, evidently trying to make small talk. Jeremy, true to form, remained silent, only giving a small shrug as his answer. No sense shocking anyone with his ability to speak, or his extraterrestrial origins. Even though that didn’t really make much sense, Jeremy was going to roll with being silent as long as he could.

Shining was about to say something, but was interrupted by the sound of a siren nearby. “Under cover! NOW!” he screamed to his troops and a few ponies who had strayed out of their homes to view the carnage. Jeremy followed him to the shelter of a nearby building. “Stranger, stay down. The changelings have sent a gunship over here – and these are much worse than the changeling soldiers. They’re impenetrable, and can fire bullets from afar – we can’t combat these things, only hide as they pass over.”

To Jeremy, that sounded like a hunter-chopper. He looked outside. Sure enough, it was almost helicopter-shaped, although the exterior was covered with the usual brittle, carbonized and pockmarked texture of the changelings. Well, Jeremy thought as he took out the rocket launcher and grimly strode outside. Looks like Luna knows a bit more than me.

//{Black Mesa OST – Surface Tension 1}

As soon as it saw him, the chopper made a beeline for him. Jeremy grinned. Good – this would give anyone else a chance to escape while he showed this chopper a good time. He was therefore very surprised when it unloosed a hail of bullets, shattering his confidence faster than it shattered the nanoceramic platelets on his suit. These were bigger than the usual projectiles – these ones very seriously hurt. He shot a rocket back to it, using the targeting laser to guide it around the chopper. After stumbling backwards from the amazing kick of such a weapon and falling over, he got up and shouldered it in what he assumed was a better position and continued leading the chopper away from Shining and his group.

Jeremy was concerned. Despite the infinite ammo (which was surely tiring Luna out something fierce), he had given this thing 4 rockets and it still hadn’t exploded, and the bullets were beginning to get to him - had that last one punctured? He wasn't about to check. At least the music hadn’t had to loop yet – in fact, this whole exchange was going relatively quickly. How to end this quickly? Jeremy had an idea. He fired another rocket, and after going through the usual crazy trail as the ship attempted to shoot it down, brought it up towards the chopper blades. It was a direct hit, and without anything to keep it aloft, the gunship quickly fell towards the Earth, crashing in a spectacular explosion of flying debris. Shining Armor was visibly flabbergasted from his position inside the safety of the nearest building – the citizens were gone, presumably having been evacuated to another safe point, but the military was still there. Somewhat randomly, Jeremy noticed they were all armed with bows and swords – a few guns were present on their persons, but it looked like they weren’t being used. Inwardly, he was cheering - he had just taken down an armed helicopter! All by himself! Hell yes, he might just actually do this!

Shining opened the door and stepped outside, a congratulatory remark already passing his lips, but before he could finish the siren sounded again – two short bursts instead of one. Jeremy looked up to see two ominous shadows on the horizon, and he certainly wasn't mentally cheering now. He couldn’t distract both of them with the rockets, as when he shot at one the other would obviously attack him. Plus, with bullets of this caliber, he couldn’t be invulnerable forever – eventually they’d break through. It vaguely reminded him of chess. Another thought came to him, no doubt born of an unhealthy liking for gaming. No, absolutely not. He couldn’t use his rocket launcher to blast himself up there, as that was just stupid. He'd die instantly. Do it, a voice said in his mind. What have you got to lose? My life, Jeremy answered mentally. Was the train and the daycare not enough? Was he just suicidal today? The ships got closer and closer, and the voice became more and more insistent. Trust me, the voice whispered, and Jeremy thought it sounded vaguely like Luna. Almost as if to prove a point, the rocket launcher lit up blue again. Jeremy considered this in the second before the choppers arrived. Well, he did have seriously thick sorbothane padding on his shoes, and if he rolled when he landed... Oh, what the hell. “If I die, I blame you,” Jeremy muttered as he pointed the rocket launcher at the ground. In what he thought was the right timing, he jumped onto it like a pogo stick, aimed the back end at the ship, and pressed the trigger, head ducking around the side to prevent being hit by the backblast.

The explosion sent him flying, and part of Jeremy was amazed he hadn’t just exploded himself. The shrapnel from the exploding rocket bounced off of his suit (thanks to the stabproof fabric embedded within), but he could feel the heat wave – another thing to take care of after this would be first-degree burns. He flew up, far too fast for his comfort, and the helicopter loomed closer and closer - Jeremy could just make out a wide-eyed changeling pilot, and had to stifle a grin.

Unfortunately, he had timed his attack incorrectly – instead of overshooting and landing on top as he had planned, he got hit in the stomach by a blade of the helicopter. The suit prevented him from getting anything more than the wind knocked out of him, but he had better recover fast – a fall from this height was almost certainly fatal. Partially out of instinct and partially for convenience, Jeremy grabbed on to the spinning chopper blade, riding it around. He let go, and was flung onto the far end of the ship, just out of the blades’ reach. To his surprise, the second chopper began shooting at the first, with him on top – either these changelings were very stupid, or very anxious to see him dead. As the bullets hit his legs, he screamed in pain, though there was no blood - the suit was still doing what it had been designed to do. In an even worse change of plans than riding the chopper to victory, Jeremy decided to use the rocket launcher while still on top of the first, scoring a direct hit on the blade rotor and sending him reeling backward, tripping backwards over yet another pockmarked hole in the shell of the ship - was it made from changeling skin, or something? The second chopper fell towards the ground, coming dangerously close to the first, which unsuccessfully attempted to avoid it. In a remarkable display of forethought, Jeremy casually stepped onto the second chopper, re-aimed his rocket launcher, and shot at the rotor of the first, though he missed the first time due to his shaky aim and the fact that he was standing on a falling object. The second time, he hit it just enough to bend one of the blades downward, thus stopping the rotor from moving. A blade slammed into the side of the other chopper, and got stuck - there was an ear-piercingly loud wrenching noise, and the blade snapped off entirely. Jeremy shot one more rocket at the opposing windshield as the ship he was on plummeted towards the earth, somehow managing to score a hit despite the chaos. Both gunships fell to the earth in a stream of flaming debris.

//{end}

As they hit the ground, Jeremy unlocked his knees and braced for impact, spreading his body out horizontally and rolling as soon as he landed. He almost immediately smacked against a wall, and lay there upside-down, chest heaving as he gasped for air. Once again, he had the breath knocked out of him, as well as another, much worse feeling - Jeremy thought one or two of his ribs might be broken. The pulse in his ears reached a crescendo, and he blacked out.

Jeremy came to with a groan to see a different unicorn in front of him, his chest glowing the same blue as the pony's horn. "One broken rib, multiple bruises and injuries - it's a miracle it survived at all," the pony grunted to a closely watching Shining Armor. "Yeah, well, whatever it did, it worked - the changelings only had three gunships. With those out of the way, not much should be stopping us from retaking Canterlot." Noticing Jeremy was awake, Shining Armor trotted over and motioned for him to pay attention with a hoof. Jeremy achingly moved his neck the few degrees required to directly look at the unicorn captain, feeling as though that one motion cost him the energy of running a marathon. "Hey. What did I say about burning yourself out?" Shining sternly admonished. Jeremy gave him a weak grin - it was about all he could do at the moment. Shining put a hoof to his face, trying and failing to hide a smile of his own. "Well, whatever anypony says, you've got the luck of an alicorn - I can't believe a land-bound creature accomplished that..." He surveyed the wreckage of the three changeling ships, parts still ablaze. The medic unicorn straightened back up, extending a hoof - Jeremy gripped it tightly as he hauled himself back to his feet, the unicorn wincing from his painfully strong grasp. Jeremy gave him an apologetic frown as he let go, and the unicorn quickly snatched their hoof away and rubbed it. Jeremy considered actually verbally apologizing, but that would require speaking, which would then require a long and very distracting conversation on just how he could speak their language and whether or not he was a changeling after all. Best, then, to stay silent. Next Chapter: Chapter 5 Estimated time remaining: 12 Hours, 27 Minutes