Title: Captain Anonymous - Chapter 31 - The Fall Author: somewritefag Pastebin link: http://pastebin.com/nya2mK97 First Edit: Sunday 9th of August 2015 12:03:55 PM CDT Last Edit: Last edit on: Sunday 9th of August 2015 12:22:18 PM CDT                                 Captain Anonymous - Chapter 31 - The Fall ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- >Another five minutes or so passes before you hear a third incoming hail, the tone of this one different – indicating that this is an emergency hail.   >Well shit. You do your best to wiggle out from under the ponies as fast as you can without waking them up, but fail miserably. You run over to the small comm panel on the wall in Twilight’s bedroom, tapping the screen and seeing the Admiral’s face. She’s completely silent, and the expression on her face is one of fear and mourning. This combined with the fact that she sent you an emergency hail to get your attention is extremely troubling and can only be bad news. She’s in her ready room too, not on the bridge of her ship.   “’liv? What’s wrong?”   >”Sir…” she begins, hesitating for several seconds.   “Go on, Admiral, what is it?”   >”We’ve just received word from command…”   “Yes?”   >She looks down at her desk, resting her hand against her forehead and elbow on the table, closing her eyes with a deep, mournful sigh.   >”Karnaria Prime has fallen to the rebels, sir. It’s bad. The Chief wants you to contact him on a secure channel at your earliest convenience.”   >You feel a pang of grief shoot through your body from head to toe, causing you to lose your breath for a moment, gasping a bit when you re-catch it. All you can do is nod at her. She nods back at you before disconnecting the link. You return to the bed and collapse on it, Twilight is immediately all over you, nuzzling and kissing you all over.   >”What’s wrong my big sweet lovey dovey stud?” she says as she continues kissing and nuzzling you. You pull her close and hug her tight.   “Twi… honey…” you say, your voice shaking, “we just lost Karnaria to the rebels…”   >Twilight gasps briefly before pulling you tighter.   >”Oh Anon, I’m so sorry…”   >Cadance and Shining Armor try to comfort you as well for the next several minutes.   “The Chief wants to speak with me. I already know what he’s going to want…”   >”What?” Twilight asks   “He’s going to summon me to Central Command in person for a full briefing.”   >”Oh…” she says, her ears drooping a bit… “you just got back… I was hoping we could spend some time together… b…but I understand. If you need to go…”   >You grab her cheeks and kiss her passionately.   “Come with me.”   >”Are..are you sure, Anon?”   “They’re going to have to get used to the fact that you’re my mate, and one of the rulers of this world, and because of that, I want you at my side as much as possible. I don’t care how classified the meeting is. They gave me the power, and so I’m granting you the clearance to be there with me.”   >”What about the rest of us?” Cadance asks hesitantly.   “If you and Shining want to join us, you can.”   >”Celestia? Luna?” Shining asks.   >You look away deep in thought for several seconds.   “I’m hesitant to have all of Equestria’s rulers all at the same place at one time like that, but Central Command is safe. There should be zero risk. The location is remote and it’s heavily defended…”   >You sigh and shake your head   “No, no I can’t risk having you all with me at the same time. Let me and Twily go see just how bad the situation is, and we’ll tell you what we know when we get back.”   >They reluctantly agree, and you all share long, affectionate hugs with each other.   “Do you want us to drop you off at the Crystal Empire before we go? I know you two have been away for a while.”   >Cadance sighs   >”That might be a good idea. There might be some things we need to take care of back there… and it’d be nice to go home for a little while too, even if it’s not for long.”   “Alright. Well, let’s get to my ship then…” you say with a sigh.   >You grab your uniform, not even bothering to get dressed as the four of you walk out to the ship together. You look over it as you approach the ship. This thing does need a good cleaning. In fact you need a new uniform altogether, this one is no longer appropriate. Having your new rank insignia pinned over the old embroidered Captain’s insignia is tacky and inappropriate.   >You walk up to a hatch on the lower right side of the ship and tap a series of controls, the hatch opening and extending a ramp to allow you to board. The hatch closes behind you after you board. The interior of the ship is lit, but you don’t hear any of the normal humming or other noises you’d expect if it were fully powered up. You take the lift to the bridge/cockpit, seeing the large view screen in front of the single chair and console in front of it. The viewscreen powers on and you can see outside the ship with perfect clarity. The viewscreen itself takes up the entire wall in front of you, another design element you’ve never seen.   >You at least know the ship responds to voice commands, so you lay your uniform on the chair and try issuing some.   “Computer, acknowledge voice command input.”   >”Voice command input is available.”   >A good start, at least. Though the situation is urgent, you really do need to learn more about this ship before you take any more trips.   “Computer, can you give me a standard display console somewhere?”   >”Specify location.”   “Uh… somewhere along this right wall, I guess.”   >”Command acknowledged.”   >On the right side of the bridge, a chair emerges from the floor with a standard display console emerging from the wall in front of it. Your mouth hangs open a bit when you see this. These things weren’t just hidden away in some compartment, it was as if the ship itself adapted and molded its very structure to create them at your request. You sit down in the chair and stare at the screen but it’s blank.   “Computer, give me a brief overview of this vessel, including schematics and specifications.”   >”Unable to comply. Unidentified passengers on board. Classified information cannot be displayed.”   >You sigh.   “Computer, state my name, rank and position.”   >”Sub-Chief Fleet Admiral Anonymous. Second officer in command of Confederate Naval forces. Commanding officer and owner of this vessel. Security clearance level Omega.”   “What’s the quickest way to authorize unidentified passengers?”   >”Request body scan from passenger, Identify name and clearance level: passenger only, flight crew privileges, full ship privileges, commanding officer privileges, owner privileges”   “Where’s the full body scanner?”   >A large green circle on the floor illuminates.   >Please step into the circle for complete body scan.   “Twily?” You say, motioning for her to step into the circle. She quickly does so to try to speed things up a little.   “Computer, complete body scan. Identity Twilight Sparkle. Race, pony. Type, alicorn. Gender, female. Owner privileges.”   >”Deep sub-molecular full body scan and genetic profile completed. Owner privileges assigned to Twilight Sparkle.”   >Shining steps up next.   “Computer, complete body scan. Identity Shining Armor. Race, pony. Type, unicorn. Gender, male. Owner privileges.”   >”Deep sub-molecular full body scan and genetic profile completed. Owner privileges assigned to Shining Armor.”   >Cadance hesitates a bit, not fully comfortable with being on the ship in the first place, but eventually stands in the circle for you.   “Computer, complete body scan. Identity Cadance. Race, pony. Type, alicorn. Gender, female. Owner privileges.”   >”Deep sub-molecular full body scan and genetic profile completed. Owner privileges assigned to Cadance.”   “Deactivate body scanner,” you say.   >”Warning: strong exotic energy signatures emanating from passengers Twilight Sparkle, Shining Armor, and Cadance. Please state the nature of this exotic energy or request diagnostics on body scanner and internal sensors.”   “Exotic energy is under full control and poses no danger to ship or passengers.”   >”Acknowledged.”   “Now, show me a schematic of this ship and an overview of its specifications on this monitor,” you say as you turn back around in your seat to look at the screen. A complete 3d schematic of the ship appears on the screen, rotating and pointing out various design elements.   >“Ares Class Personal Command Ship, designation AC-01. Fully adaptable and customizable interior built using recently developed meta-matter technology. Zero exhaust sub light engine capable of speeds from Zero KPH to 1C. Zero-signature Quantum Tunneling drive. Fully automatic recharge, energy-adaptive ion pulse cannons: Four forward, two aft, two dorsal, two ventral. Maximum recommended passenger capacity: 50. Zero-latency neural interface-equipped pilot’s chair. Personal travel mode allows pilot module to separate from the main drive module for planetary surface or inter-ship transport requiring smaller profile vessel.”   >AC-01? This is the only ship of its kind?   “Computer, confirm designation AC-01.”   >”Confirmed.”   “List all Ares Class vessels on record.”   >”Two vessels on record: Prototype vessel ACX-00. Active duty vessel AC-01.”   “List CO or owner of ACX-00”   >”Owner: Confederate Navy. Commanding Officer: Chief Fleet Admiral.”   “How many days have elapsed since this vessel’s construction was finished?”   >”Seven point three days elapsed since commissioning of AC-01”   “Holy shit… I had no idea this thing was THAT new… most advanced technology in the fleet here and they just… gave it to me?”   >Twilight clears her throat.   >”Anon, if you’re ready we should probably get going…”   >You shake your head.   “Right, right. Computer remove console, provide comfortable seating for my three pony passengers on the bridge.”   >The chair and console vanish, three unique looking seats emerging from the floor behind the pilot’s chair that look like they’ve been custom-designed for the maximum comfort of a pony. The three of them take their seats as you take yours, each of them making a comment about its comfort and how they’ve never felt anything like it.   >You lean back in the chair, and the metal restraint crosses over your forehead once again. You take a deep breath and prepare yourself.   “Computer, activate neural interface.”   >The activation is instantaneous this time, Twilight gasps when she sees a series of fibers that look a lot like nerves immediately spring from the metal forehead restraint, spidering and branching out over your skin adhering to every part of your body.   >There’s no initial fear or confusion this time. You feel right at home and are keenly aware of everything. You can feel the three ponies sitting inside of you. You can see inside them if you choose to. You instantly know all of their vital signs.   “It’s okay, Twily, I’m fine,” your voice has replaced the computer’s.   >All three ponies look deeply concerned when they look at your limp, unmoving, pale, corpselike body in the chair. They hear the sound of you powering your engines and retracting the landing gear, gently lifting off. You leave the main display on so they can see outside. You divert extra power to the inertial compensators so they don’t have a rough ride, before accelerating rapidly toward the Crystal Empire. You arrive in less than ten seconds and begin to land near the castle, several crystal ponies gawking at you. You laugh when you see the stunned look on Cadance’s face. You open the hatch and extend the ramp, allowing Shining and Cadance to disembark.   “I love you two, me and Twily will see you soon.”   >”Good luck Anon, stay safe…” Cadance replies.   >When you can’t feel them anymore you lift off, retracting the ramp and closing the hatch. Twilight’s surprised by just how quickly you’re back in space. You begin to power up your QT drive.   “Twily, hang on tight, I haven’t used this thing before,” you make a set of seat-restraints appear around her just in case. “Alright, I’ve got my coordinates. Here we go!”   >There’s no flash of light, there’s no distortion effect, you don’t even feel anything. You’re just suddenly near Central Command. You hail the station to identify yourself, you feel yourself being scanned intensely, and then you’re given permission to dock. You have the ship synthesize you an appropriate uniform as your engines power down, using your thrusters to position yourself properly for docking.   “It felt good having you inside me, Twily,” you laugh as you disconnect from the neural interface and dress yourself, taking your rank insignia and medal from your old uniform and applying it to your new one.   >You and Twilight disembark and enter the station, you don’t feel any dizziness or ill-effects at all, you feel perfectly fine. Invigorated, even. You’re saluted by one of the station personnel and directed to a briefing room. When you enter, you see the ranking staff have already gathered, and the Chief is already there.   >“Ah, Anon, I knew you’d be along shortly. We were just waiting for you to begi-“   >He takes notice of Twilight   >”Anon this briefing is for Confederate Naval Officers only, and is classified. Why did you bring a pony with you?”   “Sir, this is Princess Twilight Sparkle. I’m personally granting her the proper clearance to attend this meeting. She’s one of the friends that helped me at Ytria. She’s also my lover, so you’d all better get used to seeing her with me.”   >The gathered staff start to whisper amongst themselves after you mention that Twilight is your lover. You elevate your voice.   “Is there a PROBLEM here? Please do speak up,” you say in an authoritative tone. They immediately shut up.   “Good. Now, someone bring my sweet Twilight a chair so we can get started.”   >A chair is rolled into the room so that Twilight can sit next to you at the table. The Chief stands before a large display which activates as his briefing begins.   “Twilight, baby, brace yourself… you might see some disturbing things here…”   >”I’ll make this briefing quick. At approximately 0700 this morning, the bulk of the rebel fleet blitzed Karnaria Prime, taking our forces by surprise. While they left several key areas within their territory undefended for some time, they were able to obliterate our forces there. Attempts to reinforce could not be made, as several small strike groups of rebel ships harassed important targets within our own territory. By the time we could prepare an appropriate response, it was already too late. We don’t have the ships needed to engage the fleet that is now defending the planet.”   ”Sir, why did the rebels want Karnaria so badly to begin with?”   >”They knew they had a great deal of sympathizers there and how divided the population was. They intend to conquer the entire Confederacy, remember Anon, so it made sense to start with a world where they already had something of a foothold.”   “How many ships were lost, sir?”   >”The entire defending fleet was lost. No vessels escaped, and there were no survivors. It was a risky move on their part, one we hadn’t anticipated, but it’s likely that the loss of their shipyards antagonized them enough to adapt their approach and become more unpredictable.”   >You try to maintain your composure hearing that there were no survivors, but you feel that grief and anger flowing through you again.   >”It gets worse. The rebels are rounding up Confederate troops and civilian Confederate sympathizers, torturing and interrogating them, and executing them.”   >You ball up a fist, trembling in intense rage, several other officers take notice of you as your face reddens and your entire body tremors   “So what’s our plan to retake Karnaria, sir?”   >”There isn’t one, Anon.”   >You slam your fist on the glass-topped table in front of you, causing it to crack and spiderweb, your chair flying out from under you as you leap from it and scream.   “You mean you’re just going to sit back and let them torture everyone to death!?”   >”Stand down, Anon.”   “No, fuck this!” you yell, approaching the display. “Bring up the current locations and status of all of our fleets as well as those of the rebel fleets.”   >The room is dead silent. You turn around to face everyone, veins in your face and neck starting to bulge.   “I DON’T KNOW WHO’S OPERATING THIS DISPLAY, BUT IF I HAVE TO ASK AGAIN I’LL HAVE EVERY GODDAMN ONE OF YOUR ASSES COURT-MARTIALED FOR INSUBORDINATION, BRING UP THE INFORMATION. RIGHT. NOW.”   >Twilight tries to remain calm. She understands your anger and feels it’s completely justified, but it still shakes her up seeing this side of you. She trembles slightly and takes deep breaths. All of the officers gathered look around amongst themselves, then to the Chief, who is remaining silent, but gives a quick nod.   >You stand back from the display slightly, pacing around, looking at different pieces of the data, the maps, fleet numbers, status and disposition, everything, muttering to yourself as you do so. You grow increasingly frustrated as every plan you start to piece together in your mind with the given information falls apart. This lasts for several minutes before you finally give an angry, defeated sigh, returning to your seat, slamming your fist on the table once more.   >”Don’t make the mistake of thinking you’re the only one outraged by all of this, Anon, or that you’re the only one that wants to do something about it. You saw all the data for yourself. We simply don’t have the ships or manpower,” the Chief chides.   >He hesitates for a moment, then looks to Twilight.   >”That is, unless your pony friends want to help us again and you can come up with a plan to liberate Karnaria. After all, they did help you destroy thirty eight enemy shipyards.”   “This isn’t their fight, sir, I won’t have them dragged into this. My top concern is to keep the fighting away from Equestria. That’s the only reason we volunteered for that mission.”   >”They’re already in this, Anon. Why do you think we sent a fleet there? Why do you think we’re building a starbase there when we’re having difficulty maintaining enough of a flow of resources just to keep our ships repaired and struggle to build a few more?”   >Your eyes go wide and your pupils constrict. Once again you leap from your chair.   “You son of a bitch…” you mutter, grabbing him by his shirt and lifting him off the ground, staring at him with a crazy eye, speaking in a low, threatening voice. Some of the other people in the room try to jump up and grab you but Twilight is quick to react, jumping up behind you and raising a shield.   “Let me make this clear, ‘SIR.’ My loyalty is to EQUESTRIA first and foremost now. At the VERY first sign of trouble or aggression I will have your goddamned fleet AND your starbase burned to ashes. I’m going to strongly advise you to not even HINT at the possibility of using force to coerce them into assisting you EVER again. If ANY harm comes to them after that little statement you just made, the moment I clean up your little fleet, you’re next old man. I’ll find you wherever you try to hide, CHIEF, and I will take my time while I fucking GUT you.”   >You release him, staring into his eyes in anger for several seconds, making sure what you just said sunk in. He looks stunned and somewhat fearful. Eventually everyone sits back down and Twilight drops her forcefield. You make sure to make eye contact with everyone in the room.   “If there’s nothing else that can be done, if this was your little scheme to take back Karnaria, to have me get all riled up and rally the ponies to come save you all again, let me tell you right now you FUCKED up. Oh, you don’t even KNOW how badly you fucked up. The moment you even CONSIDERED exploiting them and my relationship with them like that, every single one of you put your lives at serious risk. Do NOT test me again.”   >You motion for Twilight to walk alongside you as you begin to leave the room.   “Now, when you idiots come up with some kind of REAL plan that I and I alone can assist with, you know where to find me. But the next time you fuck up like this, heads are going to roll, and that’s not a metaphor.”   >You briskly walk back to your ship still enraged by what just happened, Twilight having to trot to keep pace with you. She seems worried, upset, and angry as well. When you’re on board, you kneel down next to her and embrace her tightly.   “They were bluffing, Twilight, they’re not stupid enough to try to use force on Equestria. Every man and woman in that room knows that I’ll follow through on every single word I said if they do. ANYONE that threatens Equestria is my enemy, Twilight. I just made that very clear to them. Unless they have a death wish they won’t try anything like that again, I guarantee it.”   >”I hope you’re right, Anon.”   “They tried to play me, Twi, and it blew up in their faces. They don’t want to make an enemy of me after they saw what we did to those shipyards. Over the next day or so they’re going to be doing some serious ass-kissing to make up with me, I promise.”   >You hold her in silence for several moments.   “Computer, can you get us back home solely on autopilot alone?”   >”Specify ‘home’”   “Equestria, Ponyville, next to the castle where I landed you before.”   >”Location confirmed, autopilot can be set.”   “Give me and Twilight a comfortable seat to share, set auto pilot, and take us home.”   >A seat emerges underneath you, and the ship undocks itself. You hold Twilight tightly against you, not saying another word for the rest of the trip back. When the ship lands and powers down, you carry her inside and lay her on her bed. You rip the rank insignia and badge from your uniform and throw them as hard as you can, not caring where they end up, before stripping the uniform itself off. You feel disgusted just wearing it after what they just pulled. You walk over to the comm panel on the wall and slam it.   “Open a channel to Canterlot.”   >After a minute or so you see Celestia’s face.   >”Anon?”   ”Princess, don’t allow any ships to come to the surface for the next week. I want Equestria completely restricted from them until I say otherwise. Call me immediately if you see or hear anything, and I’d appreciate it if you’d let Cadance and Shining Armor know as well.”   >”What happened?”   “Please Celestia, just do as I ask, I can explain later if you wish.”   >”Alright Anon, I’ll make sure the word gets out.”   “Thank you, Your Highness.”   >The screen goes dark and you punch it again   “Admiral’s flagship.”   >You see the Admiral appear on the screen.   “’liv, this is your only warning. ALL Confederate forces, starships, personnel, are banned from Equestrian airspace and from any surface upon this planet. This ban is in effect for the next seven days. Any Confederate ships or personnel violating this ban will be dealt with using lethal force. Make sure all of your people get that message.”   >You cut the screen off and return to Twilight, sitting on the bed next to her, putting your elbows on your knees and your hands on the top of your head, running your fingers through your hair. You feel a delicate wing wrap around your back.   >”Whatever happens, Anon, I’m not afraid. As long as you’re here with us, I’m not afraid of anything or anyone. I know you’ll do whatever it takes to keep us safe,” she says, nuzzling you. She strokes your back with her wing and nuzzles you for several minutes as you try to get everything that just happened off your mind. It takes a little while, but finally you’re able to relax under her caressing.   “Twilight, I don’t want to think about any of this for the next week. I really need a break right now.”   >”I know, Anon, I know.”   >You turn to her and kiss her, running your hands all over her body as you do so, resting your forehead against her when you finish.   “Twily, I want to go meet your mom and dad.”   >”You mean right now?”   “Not RIGHT now, but maybe tomorrow, after we’ve both gotten some rest. Are you okay with that? Shining and Cadance even said they’d be there for us when this time came if we wanted them to be. So, what do you think?”   >She gives a deep, somewhat worried sigh   >”I suppose it has been long enough already. Sure, let’s do it, Anon,” Twilight says.   >You settle down in bed together, talking, caressing, kissing, whispering sweet nothings to each other for a couple of hours, until it gets late enough to go to sleep. Twilight sprawls herself out over you and you pull her blankets over top of the two of you.   >”Night Anon, I love you,” Twilight says.   >You kiss her cheek several times.   “Good night my sweet princess. My goddess. My whole universe. My everything,” each term is punctuated with a kiss.   >Twilight falls asleep more quickly than you. Your troubled mind makes it difficult, but eventually fatigue catches up with you and you nod off as well. This would have definitely been a sleepless night if you didn’t have her right here with you like this to comfort you. As you lose consciousness all you think about is wanting this next week to be peaceful and quiet.