Chapter 5:  A midnight stroll

Yet again, the mind had to drag itself back to its host. His mind told him that moments ago he had closed his eyes, but his disoriented body told him he had only just awakened after a long sleep. He already knew why it seemed that way. Dreams would once occupy the human's mind until he lost that ability. Cherished memories of the past, and images of what could have been, filled the innocent souls mind when he rested as a child. Those days had come and gone. If he was lucky, Snake might get a wink of rest before either training or accepting another mission. The few dreams he has are murky and diluted. They have been covered over by a shadowy veil that obscures whatever dreams he is fortunate enough to get.

He remained silent and still,paralysed by the comfort of a good sleep. Even with the chatter of his comrades and irritable disinfection smell, he was too relaxed and calm to budge. It is a rare break for a soldier like himself to get any sort of R&R; he usually goes from one mission to another as soon as accomplishes them. The cotton  duvet remained only at his waist and the bed lining had been plucked by the fierce grasp of his hand. He recoiled at the slight pain as he eased his grip on the lining . Freeing himself from the bed lining, he let out an inaudible yawn so as to not alert those who were awake. It gave Snake a boost to his spirit to hear five familiar voices conversing, but he was in an elusive euphoric state for a soldier. After choosing to drift back into sleep, he increased the depth his head burrowed into his feathered pillow.

"Good night Captain Snake. We do wish for you to see our lunar ritual. Wake up soldier!" The sudden force from the sonic boom threw Snake off the bed. A slight reflex in his hand caused him make a fist and engulf the bed sheet again, as he cocooned himself whilst rapidly descending to the unforgiving floor. Tearing himself free he grabbed the nearest object and pointed it menacingly towards his assaulter.

A midnight blue alicorn wearing her signature starlight mane was grinning as if she had claimed a long overdue act of revenge. Floating to her left, inches from her face, was his modern dagger encased in a sparkling pale sky hue. After grinning she turned to face the weapon and inspected it further.

"I can see why you would prefer this weapon in close quarters." She said, still inspecting the blade by rotating it she remarked his instinctive selection of a weapon. In a threatening manner he clutched a small beam of green. The deadly end tipped by a sprouting faded blue star with cerulean outreaching spikes. He frowned as Princess Luna brought the knife dangerously close to her eye.

“Princess, I would highly advise you not to bring such a sharp object that close to your eye, you might just end up in my situation.” Snake warned.

“We appreciate your concerns Captain, but thou is most experienced in-”

She turned to face him and he wasn't there. Looking back to the group she received a light tap across the nose from him. She wiggled her nose before sneezing in a sharp squeak. She frowned and yanked the flower out of his hand and he returned the favour of grasping the knife. The small tingle, similar to the sense of pins and needles, chilled him to the bone as he wrapped his digits around the handle.

"If I was on a mission you'd be dead right now." Snake spoke, clearly not amused as he wore a scowl on his face. Field training taught him that there was always trouble if you woke up earlier than expected. The Princess looked at him with a guilty expression but hid her fear.

"We are sorry. We did not expect you would react as you have. We meant no harm." lowering her head in shame she desperately wanted to escape. Since Nightmare Night a month ago she had been making friends, this was the first time the alicorn had alienated someone. She was about to speak when she felt a small weight quickly depart from her head.

"Too easy." holding her signature tiara up to his head he inspected the black jagged object. Returning the same smug grin she once held he handed it back over. She smirked back and met his warm gaze. She was expecting an easy release until she had to use more magic. Staring into his eyes she noticed he lost that warmth for the next sentence. "You can play your little tricks, but do not ever scare me like that. I wouldn't want to hurt you. Now I'm all for fun and games, but things like that are usually taken as a bad sign in my line of work love." He released his locked grasp on the sparkling piece of jewellery. Snake expected another apology attempt and raised his hand to silence her. "Don't worry, no harm no foul, sorry for scaring you like that, I'm deadly serious though. Anyway isn't that 2 to 1 now?"

Sighing with relief the Princess of the night was more than amused by the fact he regained the lead. She looked up at him and she saw the back of his vest top, covering a bandage. She also spied what appeared to be the faint looks of a dark cutie mark. He walked towards the sound of an in depth conversation. She looked over the weapon that had toy-fully bludgeoned her nose. Her favourite flower was lifted and gracefully planted amongst its companions in a new vase.

"I can see his point, we should leave. My wife would kill me if I scare her like this. Once I forgot to tell her about a 2 month mission and she flipped out. I lost a good Foo fighters’ CD that day and the right to sleep inside the house." Deadeye was sitting on his bed next to the window, which Specks occupied. Opposite him sat Abbiegale and next to her, on the foot of the bed, was Amber. The titan was still rummaging through clinical tools. The masked man turned to a ninety degree angle to face Specks expectantly.

"I know, I understand. I was just thinking that this place is perfect. Have you seen the view? It’s paradise!” Abbiegale was pointing to Specks back meaning to be pointing to the view he was inspecting.

Through the telescopic zoom of his goggles he had observed the city below in great detail. From the race tracks he noticed different breed of ponies, that when combined made an alicorn. He had barely managed to digest the fact that mythical creatures were the indigenous population here. Whether he wanted to or not he had to accept this truth.

Though he was tempted to consider the very real possibility that he had died and gone to some sort of freakish Hell, the minor concussion he gotten earlier made it hurt to think at the moment, so he threw that possibility right out the window, content with the idea that he and his squad had indeed survived.

"He is right. My little brother needs me. I'm going back for him. I did also swear to my country that I would protect it and so did you two." Specks pointed out.

He turned to face both of them and aimed a finger between them. He caught a glimpse of Amber’s double C cups through his magnified sight; he zoomed out nonchalantly without her noticing his current viewpoint.

"As much as I want to stay I can't leave him there knowing that he'll die without me." Specks was always thinking the worst of what could happen to his brother. It would be only half the reason he enlisted for the armed forces.

"He won't."

Strolling over feeling fresh as a daisy, Snake kept an emotionless face when dealing with the doubt in his orders. It wasn't that he doubted their loyalty nor was it his ego that branched from his tactical commands. He could see when the seeds of doubt were sown and they could lead to major hiccups in any mission; in this case returning to Earth with aid.

"We do not belong here. I know it must be tempting to stay here but think about our homes. Deadeyes' wife could be involved in an attack we could have prevented. Many other civilians could be at the risk from greater harm. I know we're not the last line of defence, for God's sake we are not the only members of our branches. So should that justify our leave, that we are expendable? No. Is it because we have left our loved ones safely behind? No, we all have our reasons for becoming hidden from public knowledge. So should we abandon that reason because we can stay safe for the rest of our lives?"

There was a short pause. Ursa and Luna had walked over to listen to the speech.

"Well?" He interrogated further. Only one eyebrow was seen slanting inwards and that was all it took.

"No." The twins sighed in unison. This was followed by a group of mumbles and general agreement.

Snake needed to hear conviction. He could tell that they still had small doubts.

"NO WHAT?" he bellowed to the group. Immediately they all shot up. The vest tops clung to the skin and the jeans rattled as belts were dragged by the inertia of the jerk. Deadeye twisted his mask back to the appropriate position.

"No Sir!" They all shouted. Even Ursa was posed with a straight back and a salute across his brow.

"What was that you pieces of shit?" Needless to say the false anger and profanity shocked Luna. She knew of his tendency to swear but never thought she would hear it.

"Never Sir!” They all returned. They even kept a disciplined pose as he smiled. The evening sun shone past Specks shoulder. The faint illumination of orange was resting on side of the squads faces, but mostly on the back of Specks.

"Good, at ease. I want you all to think of a reason to return home. Make a good one too. As for now I suppose we can indulge ourselves with a bit of R 'n' R. Don't get complacent." The squad returned to their separate groups after welcoming the Captain back. Ursa and Deadeye moved towards the bed which Amber had slept in and began to talk about reasons for going home.

Ursa said there was a woman he got the phone number of, and he was considering following up on. Now given recent life changing events that was his plan of action. The girls sat on the bed legs crossed and talked about mundane things. Often they would pretend to be normal adults to take the edge of things. This time Amber had some juicy information about a certain Russian she wanted to share..

Specks shook hands tightly with his friend who was brought back from the depths of his short lived coma. Raising his goggles he inspected the gruff man in front of him.

He easily noted the cuts on his cheeks; the scrape across the clean side of his forehead which reached down past the working eye, the 'fuck it I'm alive ain't I?' smirk he carried after each successful mission. It reminded him of the many other completed assignments he toured with the veteran. Being a rookie meant few wanted to have him covering their backs. Snake knew he had potential, especially after he designed the flight suit he wore. He chose his words wisely to welcome his friend and his boss back to reality.

"You look like shit." the flat tone and expression got an amused flare of an eyebrow. Luna would normally be appalled by such language of anypony, but she realised they are not ponies.

"And I can still put you on your arse." he replied casually. That was a new word for Luna to decipher at a later date. Putting the curiosity to ask aside she walked past the window and asked Snake to watch.

Specks chuckled at the unfortunate truth; he had a lot to learn from his unofficial mentor and how to keep standing was one of them. “Thanks for the pep talk.”

“Anytime, there’s no better talk than an army pep talk.”

"Come Snake, it is time for us to perform our royal duty." halting before the window she rotated her head towards the bandaged soldier and he soon followed her.

"Oh this will be good." he spoke attempting to shake off the mirth. He was stopped by an overconfident smirk of the Princess who looked back at Specks who shared the exact same smile. A sense of unease and misjudgement filled the man who stepped next to the alicorn. He finally got a look at the metropolis below.

The stone and wood brought images of a medieval aged England to his mind. The sterner buildings and towers stood defiantly as opposed to the meeker wooden structures hidden by their feet. The fast moving dots invited images of space aged hovercrafts that moved elegantly and full of purpose. The distant specks of blurred colours roamed about; between alleyways, in and out of shops and across what Snake assumed would be cobbled roads.

A boundary of green on the horizon eased Snake into a sense of familiarity, albeit of a more painful time but one he was happy to recall. Survival training was one of his trials that he gladly overcome. The tall trees and fifty shades of green brought back to time he was dumped in a jungle and told to arrive at a destination. Refusing to be caught in painful nostalgia he turned to face Luna who was suspiciously close.

"T'is a fantastic sight is it not?  It has been this way for a thousand years, slowly expanding and becoming a great capital."

"Spectacular. It reminds me of an ancient time long ago in our history. Roughly a thousand years ago." He replied scratching his head. Luna was slightly disappointed. For over 2000 years Canterlot has remained in a cultural stalemate. Not many new discoveries technology wise, but plenty of overlooked cuisines and art. Still that warm smile on his face was contagious.

"We are glad you enjoy the sight, but we must change the backdrop to this view." she planted her hooves on the windowsill and gently nudged Snake aside. It took a while but he had eventually understood what Luna was talking about.

"So you’re going to raise the moon. You got an anchor somewhere or a piece string." sniggering slightly he had to ask the next part "A royal saddle and some lace reins for to you pull on?" The Princess was about to point out that, culturally, that combination was considered to be somewhat a raunchy attire; instead chose to silence the man with a glow from her horn.

The teal eyes of the Princess of the moon became orbs of pure white light. Snake’s expression dropped from smug grin to a shocked jaw drop. Specks had been praying to not miss this moment and was recording the whole ordeal. Slowly the group converged behind Luna. As the camera in Specks goggles recorded history the veil of night slowly dawned upon the sky. The darkening horizon overshadowed the capital below; soon yellow squares lit up in small wooden homes.

The increasing number of lights generated awe amongst the foreigners. Even those who had previously seen the spectacle could not keep from admiring the sight. A white pearl, traditionally associated with the night, began to climb into its rightful place. Snake continued to watch as the moon seemed to park at its destination for the night.

"Well?" Amber forced Snake out of his state of disbelief. Thankfully for him he was able to reset back to his stable mind, before it blew apart. Luna looked up beaming at her unfinished work.

Snake took time to collect his thoughts before posing two questions.

"How do I know that this is not well planned? What did you actually do? I saw your horn and eyes glow and that's about it." He thought he pointed out the gimmick behind how the magician performed her trick. To her annoyance he still did not believe her.

Groaning, she looked back out and her starlight mane glistened as the tiny lights in her mane started to glow. Outside he saw the stars come into view; more importantly a constellation that clearly spelt 'Art thou happy now Snake?' Gulping and collecting the pieces of his mind he had only one thing to say to the still suspiciously close mistress of the moon.

"Nice try." he spoke resting a finger on the base of his knife. It was about an inch out when Luna was caught. After almost throwing a tantrum by huffing, squealing and trotting on the spot, the Princess faced the focal point of her anger.

"Uh, first your insufferable and now deny me my reward." She grinned and looked him in the eyes “Mark our words, we SHALL win this challenge." The emphasis on the future tensed word did not even put him off in the slightest.

"Don't worry sweetheart we got a long time yet." She smiled happily at the format he had addressed her, whilst Specks and the group were still containing the laughter due to Ursa impersonating their leader's reaction. "Now I don't suppose there are any guards on this side of the castle are there?"

The Princess was confused "No. Why doth thou ask?" Curiosity had ensnared the rest of the group's interest too.

"I just feel like stretching my legs is all."

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Roughly a 2 hour train ride away there is a quiet village. Thatched houses, built in what appeared to be a structurally unstable way, were each deposited parallel to each other. The cobble stone road, which separated cottage homes, was worn down by the steps of each passing hoof. The market place was once filled with stalls and vendors; who were now gathering the remaining produce and product, that were not sold to customers. Wooden clanks and squeaking wheels slowly departed the trading grounds as the sun set on another working day. To the west of the market was the town square, home to the central hub: Town hall.

The wooden structure resembled two carousels built upon each other with a chocolate drop roof. The middle floor formed a skinny waist and seemed to model for the surrounding houses. The ring of space between the cottages and the Hall was filled with streamers and banners to signify the title of the Village, Ponyville. Two bridges ran over the flowing river just behind Hall, one lead to another home built into the earth on the edge of a forest and the other lead to the pride of the small town: Sweet Apple Acres.

West of the town hall stood a thick gigantic oak tree. The still living tree held new adaptations for it to bear such as: many balconies, windows, an arched doorway, and on the highest balcony stood some basic astronomy equipment. The larger eye of a telescope pointed to a dying day sky, expecting Luna's work to become present soon enough, whilst the tinier eye pointed towards the inside.

The metallic cone pointed past some of the more advanced equipment as well as the hanging star charts. The spacious room kept the tree's natural timber tone and many bookshelves were full of up-to-date stargazing techniques and physics theorems. Still the beady eye of the telescope gazed past the doorway and into a much larger room at the base of the tree. The sign outside the naturally occurring building simplified its function with a symbol of an open book.

Inside the library, on the ground floor, the walls were hollowed out to allow the books space to occupy. Each bit of frame had a decorative etching to give a sense of the room belonging to the art as well as literature of many ponies. On a large stump, which had been transformed into a table, rested 3 books and a knight carving from a chess game. The dirty jade green pony was condemned to face a small pedestal for all eternity, and look upon a small lavender unicorn caught in a deep study.

The purple bangs hanging just above her deep violet eyes contained a strong magenta stripe that stopped just passed the ears. The eyes remained focused on a copy of 'The history of Ponyville and its founders' which was resting upon another book entitled 'How to find a good colt.' The fading light of Celestia's work was becoming more and more irritating on her eyes. Lighting a candle next to her books she happily returned to the pre-planned study of the village's history.

"Twilight! I just got a letter from the Princess. I think you’re gonna want to read it." crowed her number one assistant from the top of the stairs. The small purple lizard hopped down every second step, green spikes moving with the momentum. Upon arriving at the bottom floor Twilight was already giving him her full attention.

"Then hurry up and give me the letter Spike." encasing the scroll in a purple aura she plucked the letter from the young dragon's claw and pulled it closer to inspect. Immediately her eyes expanded to the size of dinner plates, which could be heard breaking somewhere, as she continued downloading the information.

"Oh my goodness! Spike do you remember when I used to study Princess Celestia's disappearance?" her eyes sparkled with excitement and hope for the dragon to follow her trail of thought.

"Twilight you had me balance 23 of the same books for a week, a new batch of 27 the next and then back to the 23 the week after. I also still had to do chores. How could I forget?" Spike recalled the memory with slight anguish but kept a morbid tone.

She face hoofed, sighed slightly and began to lecture the young one. "Spike this is serious. One hundred years ago Celestia just vanished without a trace. For three days the sun was out and many ponies were severely affected by droughts and heat stroke. A large portion developed cases of insomnia from lack of sleep."

"Isomniant?" asked the assistant in a confused state, scratching the scales to the side of his head.

"In-som-nia. It's a sleep disorder where it is really hard for a pony to sleep. For most of the ponies it was caused by the stress of too much sun on their crops."

"So they can't sleep?" he shuddered at the thought of never being able to sleep, especially with his warm basket just a floor above. "Wait do you have insumnutia? Because you stay up really late Twi, in fact if I don't tell you to sleep then you just stay awake the whole night." he was slightly worried for her health but the repeated face hoof flattened that caring look on his reptilian face.

"IN-SOM-NIA" she stressed each part of the word out to make sure he could remember it correctly "I don't have it anyway, I can just stay awake all night happily reading my books." smiling and pointing towards the hundreds of books ranging from nonfiction to fiction comprised between 'how to build a successful business' to 'Daring Do and the temple of the night thief.'

Shaking her head she returned to her lecture. "Anyway, Celestia has never explained her disappearance to anypony. Ever! The likes of Cerebral the Thinker couldn't even come up with a half decent explanation and he had solved many of Equestria's mysteries in magic." She was hopping up and down around the slightly anxious dragon. "And we're going to be the first to know, EVER, about where she went and..." She froze on the panelled floor. She was just staring into the empty space between the pony carving and the door.

"Erm...Twilight?" Spike was waving a hand in front of his guardian as she slowly brought a smile to her lips. The pupils in her eyes dilated and Spike could see excitement in the form of sparks and twinkling lights in them.

"We’re going to visit new UNDISCOVERED creatures! This is going to be amazing. Look spike." she pressed the letter against his emerald eyes. "More advanced!" she quoted. "They are more intelligent than us and want to share their technology." She began once again bounding around the room.

A sudden gasp got Spike's attention; he turned to see twilight by the door, writing a check-list.  "I need you to get these whilst I round up the girls and tell them about tomorrow. See you soon." The door slammed shut and out of the window the ecstatic mare was galloping towards the gingerbread house being used as a bakery. Spike saw her hesitate and she decided to return to that one at a later time. The stars were beginning to shine when Spike made his way through the checklist. He grumbled and mumbled angrily at all of the required items due to being apart from his blanket and pillow.

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Celestia had decided to resign herself to her bed for the night. The rose silk curtains parted to reveal a queen sized bed. Relative to a normal pony; it could probably fit 2 in length wise but a human might have their heels hanging over. The mattress was both soft and perfectly able to support the spine. The stuffed feathers from hundreds of doves made it perfect for royalty. The alabaster duvet was always inviting for the solar Princess. The soft touch almost felt like the massage Snake gave her earlier. Removing the symbols of her royalty; the polished gold chest plate, studded with a deep purple gemstone; the similarly designed horseshoes, a complete set this time, were placed in line with the bed. After depositing the chest plate in an ornate jewellery box, she sealed it shut and levitated her tiara onto a bust of herself. The past 3 days the room had been restored to its former glory and now she could finally get a good night’s rest. For one hundred years she would cry silently whilst looking into the stars. Over the many things she had lost; her loving parents, the temperal loss of Luna and more recently Snake. This time from lying side on she started to giggle at the sight.

Reading from the stars "Art thou happy now Snake?" she continued to laugh until she broke out into hysterics. How he managed to get his own constellation she would never know, but she embraced the change from weeping into the night to laughing herself to sleep. For the first time she was happy with hearing his name. Knowing Luna was happy. No more guilt, no more sorrow. She could confirm the knowledge of being able to keep her close and him safe and away from his world.

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With the reassurance of no guards on duty, the Princess of the night eventually led the squad through the castle corridors. Despite Luna's best efforts the group refused to leave the shadows. What impressed her was how when she took her eyes off them and looked back it would take a minute for them to come into focus, even with white vests and peachy skin. Ursa was a hard find, when he was behind a curtain.

"For the thousandth time there is nopony present in this section of the castle. We have scanned the rooms and found no sign of life. Please hurry, we wish to get you to the private garden before sunrise."

"You could always postpone dawn." Deadeye added. He was the first to stride into the light emanating from hanging diamond chandeliers. The group soon followed at the back; Deadeye and Ursa monitored the different armour pieces on display, the twins took note of the elegant décor; from the lush red carpet river, the marble tiles coating alongside and the statues to honour past ponies.

They also spotted above, in the darkened shadows, stone support beams inter-crossed and led to windows, providing an alternate route to each hallway; given that someone could get up there. Specks and Snake, although believed Luna's word, still scanned for surprises. Specks sometimes spotted warm hoof prints left behind by ponies with his thermal vision. After quickly analysing the forgotten hoof steps he had determined they left 20 minutes ago after Luna had instructed them to.

"Although we could, we do not wish to." She recalled the night of her return and how she wanted eternal night. "Let us make haste I wish to make the most of this night." As soon as it was said the group picked up the pace. Passing many portraits of the Princesses and noble ponies as they made their way to the garden.

Unlike the one open to guests, this garden was for the few selected individuals. There was yet to be a statue to commemorate a single pony, but the Princess often felt them to be an eyesore. She did not believe so out of disrespect but she had already dedicated some grounds for tributes.

Once Luna opened the glass doors a cooling breeze rushed in to greet the strangers of the land. It caressed the strange features of each soldier as they embarked on a small investigation of both the local and exotic flora. Luna strolled along the rainbow of flowers, categorically assigned by species and colour. Daisies and tulips, roses and carnations were scattered in a flowing spectrum.

For the most part, exotic plants were in bloom even Luna's favourite. Perched on a bench, in a circular space, she began to nibble upon a straying flower. Amber and Abbiegale investigated the vines that grew upon the trees captured by the beauty of the black and white flowers blossoming in the moonlight. Ursa was looking up through the trees for fruit and came across bananas. He checked with Luna to see if he could have one and she questioned why.

After displaying that the strange hanging items were actually fruit the Princess was more than eager to try one. As she enjoyed the bite of the potassium rich food, she knew that if they discovered this within 5 minutes of being in the garden they would greatly help her kingdom. Specks, Snake and Amber were trying not to laugh when Luna mentioned that for over a thousand years nopony has ever tried to open a banana. Specks pointed out that you would probably need fingers for such a task.

The pair of S.A.S soldiers kept to their investigation to see any similarity between this worlds flowers and the ones back home. One flower in particular caught both their eyes.

"Hey Snake ain't that the flower we gave to Sunny?" Specks plucked one of the plants out the ground and investigated the rose coloured petals. He recognised the violet tips and began to analyse it. From experience Snake knew he had spotted something. Back at the base if he flicked his visor down to study something it was good or, more commonly, bad news.

"What's the matter Specks? It's good to see that Sunny has put those seeds to use." he too plucked a flower from its stem and analysed the anthers.

"That's the problem Snake. My analysis shows that germination alone takes about 504 hours." He looked back at Snake, remembering it had been a long since he studied any form of plant science. After mentally facepalming he stood up and gave a slightly suspicious look at Luna.

She was hoping no one could see, even when she was looking in their general direction they remained unexposed, as she began munching on more flowers. "It means it takes the plant three weeks to sprout. Snake it would probably take months for it to even develop a bud. It cycles through one winter and blossoms at the end of the next spring."

"What's your point?" He had a gut wrenching feeling but needed a genius to confirm it.

"These flowers take almost a year and a half to bloom. The Princess told us we had only been here for three days and yet here we have a fully grown flower. I gave her the seeds the day she rescued us." he explained pointing to the species of flora by his feet.

"I see what you’re getting at. I want you to try and get a seed from this plant and perform an experiment to test if in three days the plant will grow. If not I will check with Celestia. Perhaps things work differently, Sunny did seem different."

"How so?"

"Slimmer, toner and she had a slightly brighter coat." Specks arched an eyebrow.

"Did you check out her arse whilst you were at it?" This received a burning stare from his superior, like it or not if he said jump he would have to ask how high. Given that the ledge was nearby, and the ground was hundreds of meters below, he immediately began apologising.

He knew it wasn’t a threat, Snake had thrown Specks out of a plane. During his training, and when they once had a disagreement over a football game.

"All right I was just kidding. I think I have some seeds still lose in my pocket. I'll find a patch of dirt somewhere and begin the experiment." He started heading off to find ideal conditions when another thought struck him. "If we have been away for a year and a half what will have happened to Dean?"

Snake was tempted to remind him about the safety procedure he told Specks to follow. He had instructed him to leave his little brother in the hands of the trustworthy every mission, just in case.

"You know he is good hands right, besides uncle snake ain't gonna pussy out on you." That was a quote from the young child. He often thought of Snake as an uncle, distant but caring. He thought he always kept Specks safe, which was often true, but would always state 'Don't pussy out'.

The profanity at such a young age was likely due to the 18 age rated games he played. Reassured by the statement Specks set of to find an inconspicuous spot to begin the experiment.

Snake saw another chance to score a point. He crept up behind some shrubbery. Crouching down he began to slowly edge towards the unsuspecting alicorn. From the shadows he could still see her eating flowers in a similar fashion to how Romans ate grapes. Each well placed step brought him a little closer until the Princess was within reach. She was happily dining on her chosen treats with her eyes closed and her horn aglow. Reaching out he was about a millimetre away when she openly spoke.

"I suppose I should return his knife by now. I wonder if he knows he lost it yet." She looked up to the sky tilting her head slightly. He didn't breath, only moved his hand to the sheath attached to his chest. No handle means no knife. Clever girl. he thought. He once again reached towards the tiara when she sat up on the bench. She repositioned herself according to how a pony should sit. With his chance of gaining the lead gone he decided he might as well regain his property. "Where is he anyway? Great I have lost him. I knew I should have got a leash or simply tied him to the others. I could have gotten back at him for that rein comment. He would have been easier to control."

"Lets save that for the bedroom." leaping over the bench he casually leant back into the seat. Crossing one leg over the other he held out his hand out expectantly towards the blushing pony. With a slight shake of the hand he got her attention as she handed over the knife.

"wha-what? You- thou heard us? No, no, no we wouldn't." She protested. He looked on with a bemused look in his eye.

"Drop the 'we' stuff. As cute as it is, now that you've been caught it doesn't have the same effect any more." he said, sheathing his blade.

She still blushed at the compliment but asked a question. "Where were you?" He simply shrugged. She sighed and stared at him not accepting the previous answer. "Where were YOU?" she stressed coming face to face with him. He tapped his nose to signal the answer's secrecy. Again she leant closer. "Tell me now." the commanding tone signalled her annoyance.

The wrath of magic was not something he wanted to face, especially after waking up this morning. He was silent as he pointed to a knee imprint behind the bench. Looking it over she knew what he was attempting to do.

"Why did you stop?" the mare grinned and asked the man to tell her what she already knew.

"You got me, you equalised well done, I had to stop and reclaim my piece when I realised what had happened." She smiled at her actions. She peeked at a set of her favourite flowers and levitated them close enough for inspection. She rarely treated herself to these but she gave into the temptation to have one. As she was about to bite into the stem, she was interrupted by a voice prohibiting her early celebration. "You were equalised until you slipped up."

She was jerked out her state of pride and swiftly turned to face him wearing her tiara. The moonlight highlighted that fanged grin. "Three to two. You almost had me sweet heart." He chucked the tiara in the air and departed to meet the rest of the group. Luna caught the noire head piece before it could touch earth. She was about to stare daggers at him and ask how would he feel if she threw his knife about, alas he was gone.

"How does he do that?"

Amongst the group, Ursa was still chomping through bananas whilst Deadeye was inspecting the landscape from the trees to the quiet streets of Canterlot. Had he looked down he would have seen a couple of guard ponies changing shifts. Amber was happily perched in a tree amongst the five birds that were almost as big as her. The vulture seemed reluctant to even get close to her, but the hawks and what she could only describe as a fiery coloured parrot seemed content with her presence.

Abbiegale was more amused by Ursa's appetite than to join her sister in the branches. Specks had returned, hands dusted with dirt, and noticed Snake approaching. Although he waved him over, Snake had already had the intention of joining them.

"How's everybody doing?" he asked, giving Specks a silent message to not inform the group of their suspicion.

"Da, I am happy. Banana reminds me of favourite ice cream treat. Hot fudge, banana and vanilla Ice cream. I like the caramel sauce we made." This immediately got Abbiegale's attention. Curiosity got the better of her. When she was about to inquire about his skills, Amber beat her to it.

"You can cook?" Amber recalled Abbiegale’s appetite. How she could eat so much and still remain in a healthy form was unknown and seemed to only belong to the one sister. As Abbiegale questioned him on what sort of dishes he cooked.

Specks joined in and they shared recipes. Amber was also impressed by some of his knowledge, especially vegetarian meals. Apparently it’s healthier so it's his food choice, but out in the field he won't hesitate to kill a rabbit for food. He does have meat but his meals are dominated by the green stuff, which might explain his shorter size.

Luna walked in, as Ursa began describing how to make his grandmother's three flavoured ice cream with a hot fudge base with caramel coated bananas. Luna's mouth was watering from the delectable delicacy. As much as Snake wanted to continue to listen to the delicious desserts, he had one more thing to check.

"Princess Luna, could you please take us to our equipment. I think we should collect, since none were present in the infirmary."

"I do not believe that would be wise. Why would you need them?" she asked cautiously remembering that they had brought weapons with them.

"I think we should check to see if they are still in working order. Some of those items can be dangerous if unchecked by expert hands." he warned.

The Princess took time to consider this. Quick flash back of the destruction caused without the humans being near the devices persuaded her to side with him. "All right, we don't have a lot of time so everpo-body come close together."

After looking at each other, in a confused sense, Amber was the first to step close to Princess. Leaping down she met the ground with a soft thud and took place next to the Indigo Princess. Soon everybody else got relatively close. Before long there was a flash of blue light and in the blink of an eye the group was in a different room without warning. Snake, Specks and Deadeye remained standing after the ordeal; the rest fell on to their backsides.

The disorientating effects were slowly wearing off. They no longer felt the cool breeze of the outside but the heat of the indoors. It had waited for their return and eagerly wrapped its warm arms around them all. The confused and lost barely managed to look around.

It was a dark room. The walls moved in an ethereal fashion similar to that of Luna's mane. A moving black blanket, with the odd pulse of navy blue, circulated the round room. On one side was a wardrobe on another a chest. Between the two sat another queen sized bed similar to Celestia's, but with colours associated with the night.

With the moonlight, the violet veil either failed to keep the bed a secret or was letting enough light through to allow anyone resting to be seen but unrecognisable. Luna walked towards the chest, turning to see that most of the squad were still gathering their senses. Specks was examining the ceiling; the tiny glows seemed to represent the many stars outside. Proof of this was the last added constellation of 'Art thou happy now Snake?'

As the group’s sight adjusted to the dark room Luna spoke up. "Sorry, I forgot your kind do not use magic. Are you aware of teleportation?"

"Yes, but we do not have that ability. Yet." Specks answered, still struggling with keeping his psyche together, as well as his half-digested dinner.

"Can we just get the equipment and return to the Infirmary?" Abbiegale added, hoisting her sister up.

"I agree, although it is uh," Snake paused as him and Deadeye lifted Ursa to his feet, "a good trick, we could do with a heads up next time." The Princess nodded in agreement. "Can we get our things and leave now?"

"Yes, hold on." Yet again there was another blinding flash and the infirmary was now the new setting. With a heavy thud, the chest and Ursa collapsed on the floor. The motion sickness was getting to them.

Deadeye staggered over to the window, beside his bed, and lifted his mask to show his mouth panting. There was a slight gash running alongside the left of his lips that seemed to widen as it headed towards his nose. Eventually Snake stumbled towards the chest and Luna was looking slightly concerned.

"How are you feeling?"

"Like a million quid." He instantly remarked sarcastically. The word was foreign until she remembered from the book that it was slang for his currency.

Rolling her eyes she pressed on. "Well that is good news. Now that I now you can handle teleports I will practise them more often."

"NO!" the squad yelled in unison. She was a little startled and flinched in defence. Bringing it back down she began to titter as the ,still nauseated, squad tried to retain their dinner.

Specks eventually joined Snake by the chest Luna stood beside, who had an amused look on her face. Both humans flicked the latches and the Princess lifted the lid. Assorted into gadgets and guns on the left was mostly Specks' gear, whilst on the right were the weapons. Taking out the equipment and placing them on different beds the group took ownership of what was theirs. At the bottom of the chest were the rest of the uniforms they had worn.

Ursa had claimed his machine gun, cradling the smooth wooden body between the barrel and metal stock. He went about checking the ammo in the drum whilst Deadeye passed him the explosive kit, field medical kit and spare ammo packs. He had claimed the SVD that aided him in his final minutes on earth. He found six other magazines containing eight bullets each, in addition to the three remaining in the current magazine.

At the same time the Twins claimed the MP-5's still retaining the silencers. Also Abbiegale collected one of the glocks found in Jacobs’s truck. Specks was reunited with his silenced M9 and the stolen AK-47. During the time Specks was sorting through his pride and joys, his gadgets, Snake was reunited with the prototype wing suit. He put it aside and began searching for his weapons. He found a few knives and an emergency flare. He paused when his hand bumped into Jacob's revolver.

Sudden flashbacks of his friend’s voice cancelled out external noise. He and Jacob were friends through the tough times. He recalled the face of a blooded Australian after both of them were against a couple of thugs that thought they ran the school. High school was just like Jacob's face. Bloody ugly. He thought.

Luna realised what was happening as he still stroked the barrel. She moved next to him and inspected the item in question.

"What is it?" She asked, although she already knew of its purpose she felt he needed to be talking. He grabbed the handle tossed it up into the air before snatching it by the barrel. He began spinning it as he explained its function.

"This is a Colt Python .357 magnum. The metal is carbon burnt to prevent any reflection of light; the handle is a custom groove of the previous owner but can be changed. Semi-automatic; this thing can put a hole through any of the bricks in this castle. All six bullets can be fired in less than ten seconds, six with the fastest trigger fingers. Both accurate and reliable, the only downsides are the inability to silence it and the amount of ammo that can be used. I have only six shots."

He returned to view the chest and found the other glock. He was pleased to see that at least soon enough, maybe, Specks can create a suppressor for his new primary weapon.

"There was a previous owner?" She asked, again she knew the painful truth. The indigo alicorn saw a faint glimpse of tragedy to that eye. Regret, she knew that feeling. She was slightly scared to see the split second flare of anger as mouth twitched menacingly.

"Someone who made a wrong choice, I forgive it however." There was truth in those words.

"What happened to him was beyond my control. He had a choice and he made the wrong one." He was referring to how Jacob had once pointed the same black revolver at Snake's head.

That creeping urge to tell him she knew about Jacob returned, it was a stronger impulse than before and she almost let it slip, when she and Snake was distracted by a sudden outburst from Specks.

"Yes! It still works!" he exclaimed waving 2 pairs of headsets in the air. "They can all still work on radio waves rather than satellite uplink."

"Brilliant." Snake spoke, holstering the revolver into his newly attached holster. "Anything else?" he asked eyeing up the scattered gizmos. Specks nodded slowly and pressed a button on his wrist pad. The sentry drone deployed its wings and slowly took off from the bed. Hovering in front of Snake, Specks tested the camera out. A quick tap and the camera took a picture and then he moved it in front of Luna.

"Smile." he stated. Given that Luna had already seen this scenario she was already arranging her mane and posing elegantly. A small smile and a raised hoof, facing side on, was how she remembered to pose a thousand years ago. Eyes closed she waited for any sign to finish posing, it came not in the direction she thought it would. Opening her eyes she saw the hovering contraption about a foot away from her horn.

It gracefully flew away and landed amongst the hologram projector, flare gun and a stun grenade. “The hacking panel is bust and after what I have seen I doubt I'll need." He was about to toss it away when a thought struck him.

"Maybe I can get the videos in my goggles to be sent to the hologram via wireless link. The picture quality might get distorted by rain and cloud coverage but most days we can see a clear video." He leant closer to Snake so that Luna was out of earshot. "I could check on any strange events whilst we were unconscious for a day, if I was even out for a day."

Snake nodded before inquiring about another benefit "Yes that is a good idea. Also you could get a couple of movies up right?"

"Yeah."

"Good." Snake turned to the missing piece of his uniform. He was in the middle of searching for something when he started speaking to his brothers and sisters in arms "Okay everybody we should turn in for the night, the time is...well fuck I have lost my watch." He looked at his wrist disappointedly.

"Do you mean these?" Luna whisked out 6 identical mechanical watches, all black and showed signs of still functioning, despite one having a crack shooting across the glass.

"Yes, thank you. Right it is apparently 0110 hours I think we should hit the hay." Snake gave a sly grin towards Luna who rolled her eyes before smiling at the poor joke. He wrapped the watch around its home on his wrist. The fact that underneath was the colour of his original un-tanned skin only amplified the time the watch spent on his wrist. Luna began to walk out of the medical room. She craned her head around and smiled warmly.

"Pleasant dreams soldiers, until tomorrow."

"Goodnight Luna, have a good night love." Snake directed at the Princess before climbing into bed. He clutched the desired items he was looking for firmly as he changed his mind and looked at Specks.

"Goodnight Princess." Specks warmly said, before facing his leader.

"Goodbye Night pony." Ursa had forgotten the English word that was Princess, but she waved back at his attempt.

"See you soon, just don't wake me like you did for Snake." he chuckled pointing to Captain.

"Good night Princess Luna." Both the twins said in unison as they climbed into separate beds.

"Farewell." Luna gave one last smile to the group before the door shut. Only the light of the moon joined the resting squad. Specks and Snake wanted a private conversation so they went to bed with the still functioning headsets.

Snake had put his Dog tag back around his neck, folded his experimental suit up and was about to climb into bed. Tossing the upper half of his stealth attire onto the plush chair belonging to Celestia, he swung his legs over and began to rest. A short hiss of static down his ear stopped him from unscrewing a cap belonging to a silver flask.

"So what do you think?" Specks whispered. The genius altered the traditional headset to be lighter and less noticeable. More importantly it could pick up the faintest whisper. Perfect for communicating when the enemy is a meter away.

"Well it's good to see our gear still works. You got everything?"

"Yeah, even the knives. 'Bout you?"

"I got my gin that's all I need."

"Huh. Figured as much. But really what you got?"

"I think the suit still works, no holes besides the one on my chest. I can still function, my nipples will just fucking freeze after I jump though. Bullet nips aside I got: the glock which needs a silencer, Jacob's gun with six rounds, four knives and a cracked watch. I'm all set."

"Good, now 'bout this conspiracy. I think I'm right."

"Pray tell. I got about five minutes before I need to turn in."

"I think we have been here longer than we have been told. That is based on the flowers, but then you get Ursa's ear; how do you something like that fresh without modern technology. I can't see either one of the Princess' keeping it clean and Ursa claimed to wake up shortly after going through the portal. It doesn't make sense. How can Celestia find time to plant those seeds, have them grow to full size, and still have Ursa reattach his ear? Either Celestia had a lot of time between when we last saw her or your right about the world working differently. Snake... to be honest I think it was the first option."

"I was afraid you'd say that. I want to know what happened too. At least we are alive now, right? I suppose we should thank Sunny for that."

"Yeah. I could really do fer a cuppa tea now though."

"Me too, mate, me too. I'll settle with my fire juice though." With that, Snake took a long sip of the delicious alcohol. As the warmth slivered down to his stomach, he took the time to fully appreciate the taste of the gin. Smacking his lips, he removed the headset and drifted off into a deep slumber. Next Chapter: Chapter 6: We could use your kind of...discretion. Estimated time remaining: 1 Hour, 57 Minutes