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Royal Guard Survival - Mission Summary

By Lurkernon
Created: 2020-12-20 00:11:11
Expiry: Never

  1. 1.
    Originally published May 2015
  2. 2.
     
  3. 3.
    Mission 1: Discovery
  4. 4.
    > We wake up alone somewhere in the Everfree Forest.
  5. 5.
    > Had been moving with our flight of other Royal Guard pegasi to a camp within the Everfree, responding to reports of activity from a portal around the Gates of Tartarus.
  6. 6.
    > Head towards the sounds of fighting in the distance, we find a crashed chariot that had been carrying Royal Guard unicorns.
  7. 7.
    > One (Whispen) is still alive but injured, and we take her along.
  8. 8.
    > After a time we stumble into another guard unit attempting to ambush a force of unknown creatures.
  9. 9.
    > The ambush goes badly when the creatures call in two large flying things to attack the Guard force from above.
  10. 10.
    > We flee, starting to make our way out of the Everfree - bypassing a group of the creatures caught up in a skirmish with a young dragon.
  11. 11.
    > While spending a night in a cave we are stumbled upon by an injured creature, who we kill and take his weapon to bring back to friendly lines.
  12. 12.
    > Continuing our travels, we increasingly observe that the creatures use machines rather than magic to do everything with and identify the things that halted the Guard ambush as a sort of flying machine.
  13. 13.
    > We meet a civilian named Ivy Climber, but she fucks up hiding from a patrol and turns herself over to them to spare us.
  14. 14.
    > Shortly afterwards we're found by a Night Guard unit and brought back to the Royal Guard camp.
  15. 15.
    > Luna explains the creatures are not from Tartarus but another world and are reacting to what they see as an attempt to invade their world.
  16. 16.
    > Whispen's kind of pissed at us for repeatedly leaving ponies behind to face the creatures while we ran.
  17. 17.
     
  18. 18.
    Mission 2: Stemming the Tide
  19. 19.
    > Sent back into the forest, we are ordered to protect other guard pegasi as they build a super-storm to throw at the invaders and halt their advance.
  20. 20.
    > In particular, we're an early warning system, using a special unicorn we've been assigned to communicate with the camp.
  21. 21.
    > We also get some ponies to work with - Whispen, Boulder Dash, Hot Pot, Tele Type, Buzzy, Downspout, Scupper, Silver Star, Rowanoak.
  22. 22.
    > Setting up camp in a field, our first night is spent avoiding enemy flying machines the first couple nights.
  23. 23.
    > An enemy advance scout patrol finds us soon after.
  24. 24.
    > We kill one, maybe injure more; they eventually fall back, but Buzzy and Downspout are killed and Rowanoak is badly wounded.
  25. 25.
    > As we return to our camp, we hit a tripwire-triggered explosive that wounds us and Silver Star.
  26. 26.
    > Worse yet, storm is on the way and the Guard can't send anyone to pick us up.
  27. 27.
    > Whispen panics about being the effective leader as we're wounded, but we calm her down and start back towards friendly lines under cover of the storm.
  28. 28.
    > Again deciding to try and spend the night in a cave, we accidentally walk into another enemy patrol also making use of it
  29. 29.
    > Ending up in a mexican standoff, we forge a temporary ceasefire with them to avoid any more deaths.
  30. 30.
    > Talk a bit to pass the time; they identify themselves as humans and claim ponies invaded them first.
  31. 31.
    > We realize they might not be the monsters we thought they were.
  32. 32.
    > Leaving as the storm breaks up; we nearly get to camp before our infected wounds cause us to black out.
  33. 33.
     
  34. 34.
    Mission 3: Easthock Intel
  35. 35.
    > Spend 3 weeks in a haze while our wounds heal.
  36. 36.
    > Get back to our group, learn that Luna accidentally royally pissed the humans off by walking into their dreams.
  37. 37.
    > They're going full-on invasion now instead of just pushing the Royal Guard back from the portal; they broke out of the Everfree already and are demanding Equestria's surrender.
  38. 38.
    > We are sent behind enemy lines to the town of Easthock to monitor enemy supply convoys through there.
  39. 39.
    > Ponies under us are Whispen, Boulder Dash, Hot Pot, Chilona, Dusk Shadow, Spark Flash, Copper Cog, Byline, Caravan, Quick Step, Ornithea
  40. 40.
    > Easthock is under martial law, but they're not acting like asshole oppressive conquerors.
  41. 41.
    > Setting up near their camp to observe, we're forced to quickly leave as someone tries to burn Chilona and Dusk alive in the night.
  42. 42.
    > Through some logic and well-placed threats we realize it was Copper Cog; he blames the Night Guard for the loss of his last unit.
  43. 43.
    > Some of us go into Easthock itself to get medical treatment.
  44. 44.
    > While hiding out there we realize we kind of like Whispen.
  45. 45.
    > She's also begun to mellow out from her previous position about leaving ponies behind, her own time in command having been a rude awakening for her.
  46. 46.
    > Assorted small things happen; we mostly spend our time finding work and keeping an eye on our injured while watching human activity in the base.
  47. 47.
    > Rumor comes in that a human attack on Ponyville might have killed some of the elements of harmony.
  48. 48.
    > Easthock slides towards riots in response; humans are not amused.
  49. 49.
    > We get thrown in a makeshift prison in their camp for a bit after being caught trying to leave the city, but they can't pin anything on us so we leave as soon as we can.
  50. 50.
    > Turn Copper Cog over for justice when we get back to friendly lines in Las Pegasus.
  51. 51.
     
  52. 52.
    Mission 4: Las Pegasus Overrun (AKA, 'The Namek Mission')
  53. 53.
    > Las Pegasus gets hit in the face with full mechanized assault.
  54. 54.
    > We make a token defense outside the city before being pushed back in.
  55. 55.
    > Hot Pot and Quick Step are wounded (right after we promised Quick Step everything was going to be okay to keep him from panicking).
  56. 56.
    > A botched attempt to remove the bullet mangles Quick Step's leg, so we send them to the hospital.
  57. 57.
    > Most of our unit ends up hiding out in a house on the docks.
  58. 58.
    > There's a tense moment as Byline challenges out command, claiming we've become too emotionally involved with Whispen.
  59. 59.
    > Meet a pony named Tariff who claims to be a former guardspony and agrees to give us some food.
  60. 60.
    > The city's being overrun so we keep our heads down; unfortunately, Quick Step gets recognized as a guard and taken prisoner.
  61. 61.
    > We start to see ponies collaborating with humans; they are not popular with locals, to say the least.
  62. 62.
    > Over time we realize that Tariff is a changeling.
  63. 63.
    > After some tense moments we form a truce with changelings in the face of a greater enemy.
  64. 64.
    > Though, we are not amused as we were at Canterlot during the whole royal wedding attack thing and are periodically nearly sent into PTSD-driven flashbacks.
  65. 65.
    > We spend a bunch of time fucking around doing nothing because I'm bad at planning.
  66. 66.
    > Big change comes when a human cargo plan crashes into the ground nearby our home.
  67. 67.
    > We rescue two of the pilots, which gets us taken in for questioning.
  68. 68.
    > While we're there, overhear a human mention 'Wendigos' and start to suspect they might be similar to pony 'Windigos'.
  69. 69.
    > Some of our other ponies stole weapons from the plane wreckage on our orders; they get imprisoned.
  70. 70.
    > Twilight Sparkle shows up and promptly proves she's an incompetent commander, pushing a plan to attack a human supply convoy.
  71. 71.
    > We get dragged along for it and barely walk away, needing to literally slap our superior out of being suicidal for getting a bunch of his ponies killed by following orders from a princess.
  72. 72.
    > In the aftermath Copper Cog shows up again, working with another group ponies intent on fighting the humans through more aggressive tactics.
  73. 73.
    > They're inflicting casualties, but also more likely to bring retribution down on Las Pegasus civilians.
  74. 74.
    > Solidifying our alliance with the Changelings over a pot-luck dinner, they give us one of their number (Iridescent Glaze) to accompany us when we leave the city.
  75. 75.
    > In the aftermath of that, a drunk and distraught Whispen tries to offer herself to us in bed; we pass it up but let her stay the night to comfort her.
  76. 76.
    > Do a little cooperation with the humans to get our imprisoned ponies back and then decide to bail from the city and go investigate Windigos.
  77. 77.
    > Unfortunately, we're followed out of the city by both a vengeful Copper Cog and a ruthless human Special Forces unit.
  78. 78.
    > We beat the shit out of Copper, but all get taken prisoner ourselves and Caravan is badly wounded.
  79. 79.
     
  80. 80.
    Mission 5: To the Heart of the Matter
  81. 81.
    > We are interrogated for a while.
  82. 82.
    > Agree to work with the humans to try and keep the guards from being slaughtered, hunt down any more militias like Copper Cog's, and look into Windigos too.
  83. 83.
    > We also finally get in bed with Whispen, who repeatedly finds empty bunk rooms for us to spend the night in.
  84. 84.
    > After a while working like this, we're called in to do some kind of press conference/show-off thing with human political figures.
  85. 85.
    > Some insane pony tries to use dark magic to kill them; we distract her long enough for her to be taken out by human guards.
  86. 86.
    > Our human handler Warren turns out to be kind of decent; at our recommendation, he finds out what happened to Quick Step for us.
  87. 87.
    > Unfortunately he was interrogated pretty hard, maybe even tortured.
  88. 88.
    > Humans are pretty pissed about this actually, and we're given a chance to work just with Warren now and focus purely on Windigos.
  89. 89.
    > Loaded on a plane, we're sent to the human camp at the heart of the Everfree.
  90. 90.
     
  91. 91.
    Mission 6: R&R (or, "The Beach Episode")
  92. 92.
    > Brought into the human camp, we start by checking in on our squad.
  93. 93.
    > While most of them seem okay, Iri is significantly distraught.
  94. 94.
    > Pushing her continuously, we eventually get her to admit that she sold out some of the Royal Guard in Las Pegasus in exchange for human information on Changelings.
  95. 95.
    > Unfortunately they knew nothing, and our continued kind treatment of her as left her wracked with guilt and bitter.
  96. 96.
    > We short-circuit her plan to seemingly rationalize her actions through forcing us to hate her by telling her that we forgive her.
  97. 97.
    > With Iri given something to think about, we wander the base a bit and meet up with a team of human mechanics working on their vehicles.
  98. 98.
    > They're willing to chat, and we learn a great deal about the human machinery.
  99. 99.
    > We also end up attending a human movie, 'Star Wars', which gives us hope that they can imagine humans and other creatures working together.
  100. 100.
    > We're next assigned to brief a set of newly-arrived soldiers on do-and-do-nots of Equestria.
  101. 101.
    > They're more than willing to ask certain hard questions, including how we regard Princess Luna and what to do if they encounter a changeling.
  102. 102.
    > At last the human squad we're to be working with shows up; we begin training with them, including getting started on some of their equipment.
  103. 103.
    > Fitted out with four sets of human-made armor four ponies, we're just about to go when Iri again confronts us with a hard question:
  104. 104.
    > Whether she should reveal herself now, or allow it to happen in combat.
  105. 105.
    > Telling her to let it be - and checking with Warren that there are no conflicting directives to attack changelings - we're also certain to make sure she knows we'd protect her if it comes to that.
  106. 106.
    > After a thoughtful goodbye to an injured Quick Step and still-comatose Caravan, the time comes:
  107. 107.
    > We're shipped up to the north to seek out Windigo activity.

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