On The Road Again

...rock of ages, rock of ages,

Still rollin', keep a-rollin',

Rock of ages, rock of ages,

Still rollin', rock n'rollin'...

The Rock Crusher rumbled along ponderously across the highway, with Eddie, Ophelia and Kill Master standing atop its ministage, guitars in hands as they played their hearts out. The Ormagoden look-alike's speakers boomed as the sounds of Titans were cast into the air. The convoy following the large vehicle was also involved – the Tour Bus's windows were open, various Ironheade troops sticking their heads out, belting out the lyrics in earnest. The warrior women of Zaulia galloped alongside atop their Metal Beasts, also singing. Thunderhogs, well... thundered out the bass notes, as was their way. Fire Barons were drinking and spouting curses at each other as the Headbanger-built Headsplitters trundled at the rear of the considerably-sized convoy. The world responded in kind to this – the bridge was being repaired even faster than yesterday. Many among the convoy spoke that the Metal Gods themselves were aware of this significant undertaking and gave the humans their blessings. Thus emboldened, they rode onwards, eager to see where the bridge led them to...

Twilight hummed slowly along, her eyes glued to the large stone slab as she brushed the moss and vines aside. She could not read the words/runes/glyphs engraved on it, but she could recognize the musical notes. Merely humming the tunes made her feel like her blood was burning. The first time that happened, she’d screamed like a little filly. Once that panic attack had been dealt with, she started humming again – the sounds made her feel more… alive, to tell the truth. And so she and her friends wandered around the ruins, exploring and recording anything of significance they found. Among those were a strange statue of a dragon, a hunched figure hewn from stone, grasping an odd sphere of glass in its clawed forelegs, and what seemed to be a helmet sticking out from the ground. They'd dug around for a while and Twilight had come to a conclusion – this was part of something bigger, something that was buried underground, yet they had no idea how to raise it. That and it was the safe option to leave it where it was. Rainbow Dash had flown along the crumbled pillars of the bridge for a while. When she returned, she'd reported the line of pillars went on for quite a distance, stretching far away, leading to somewhere.

An hour later, as they were camping, it happened – a distant, but fierce roar that steadily grew in loudness and strength. Scared out of their fur, they looked around and then, they saw it – a roaring beast of bright fire and gleaming metal as it hurtled past high above them. Rainbow Dash attempted to pursue it, but it soon disappeared from their view, though they heard its roars for a while longer. Shaken, they resumed collating their findings in preparation for their return to Canterlot to present their discoveries to Princess Celestia. None of them had any idea what just had taken place, but they all were sure that it had something to do with the ruins.

Far away in the regal Canterlot Castle, the home of the Princesses, a particular white alicorn was busy with paperwork, as always. As she dutifully went through the large stack of papers, she felt a strange surge of power. Though distant, she felt it clearly. Then, she heard the rustle of feathers and she blushed fiercely, turning to look at her erect wings.

Oh, my…

Coughing awkwardly, she folded her wings back down, returning her attention to what she’d just noticed – a surge of energy. A bit of poking around in the leylines of magic that criss-crossed Equestria made her pale in horror. The ruins of the bridge had become literally thrumming with power. Was it something Twilight had done? No, no, this was something completely different. It was magic, but it felt primal, fierce and savage. And, to be fair, she fucking loved that feeling.

Wait a minute. Play that last part again.

Did she just really curse? She… she had, indeed. Shaking her head to clear her mind of profanities, she took off at a gallop towards the guard barracks. There was definitely trouble brewing and she would not let it go unopposed…

The six mares flinched as they felt the ground quake. They saw the previously buried helmet start rising from the ground. Something much bigger rose with it – a strange, blocky contraption that the helmet seemed to be attached to. As the odd object rose, Twilight saw the rest of it – metal wings that unfolded from the helmet’s sides and a-

A skull. A big, fanged, skull was what wore the helmet. Its jaw swung open as the structure fully rose from the ground, displaying a closed gate below it. The rumbling stopped after a couple of moments, leaving the six mares to stare at it in shock.

“That thing is ghastly!” They turned to look at Rarity, who was looking at the structure with utter distaste.

“What are you talking about? It looks awesome!” Rainbow cried out in glee as she stared at the source of Rarity’s chagrin. “I mean, just look at it! Flames and skulls and whatnot!”

Fluttershy was trembling as she looked on fearfully at it.

“Girls, calm down! Did any of you touch anything? Anything at all?” Twilight interjected at that moment. The answer she got was five heads being shaken. “Then what caused this thing to, er... wake up?”

Applejack shook her head at that, humming thoughtfully.

“Ah have no idea, Twi. Best we bring this news to th' Princess.”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right. She always knows what to do.”

“I wish that were true, my little ponies. Sadly it is not so.” A strong, regal voice announced behind them and they turned around, gasping in surprise as the alicorn in question alighted in front of them. As one, the six of them bowed to her.

“There is no need for that, my little ponies. Tell me, what has come to pass here? I felt a might surge of power earlier and it originated from here. What exactly happened here? Can you explain?” Twilight nodded slowly at that.

“Yes. We were preparing to turn in for the night when there was this big, shiny monster that was on fire – it flew above us! It was so fast and loud! Rainbow Dash tried to pursue it, but it was too fast and disappeared in moments… Then, that thing rose from the ground.” She gestured at the strange piece of unearthed machinery and Celestia nodded slowly.

“I see… Anything else to report?”

“Well, we’ve looked over everything here and gathered a lot of information, though we don’t really understand what to make of it… I’m sure that if some of the creators of these relics were here, we could easily decipher most, if not all of the knowledge here!” At that, Celestia frowned in worry.

“I fear that this is already happening…” She gestured at the bridgehead. In the distance, they could see slabs of stone rise from the water ponderously, rearranging themselves into a bridge, bit by bit, heading towards the ancient, time-work bridgehead.

“Oh, my…” Fluttershy muttered in surprise.

“Whoa, nelly…” Applejack eyed the bridge as it repaired itself.

“You wished to meet the creators of these relics? Looks like you just got your wish, Twilight…” Celestia murmured grimly.

“The Royal Guards are en route. They should be here in a day or two, maybe faster. We will not let these aggressors take one step on Equestrian soil. This I promise.”

“Eddy, didya feel it? I think that th'bridge's finish'd.” Kill Master called to the roadie in question from atop the Rock Crusher. On Eddie's other side, the shadow-wreathed form that was his girlfriend also stopped playing guitar. Soon, the entire convoy went silent and ground to a halt. Some of the passengers climbed out from the Tour Bus and looked around intently. The bridge did not collapse or fall apart.

“RIGHT ON!” A random Headbanger shouted. Soon, cheers erupted all along the convoy as the Ironheade troops congratulated the three guitarists that had made this trip a possibility.

“Okay, okay, you all! Get back onboard! We've still got to get there, wherever we are headed towards!” Ophelia announced. Her words were met with approval and soon, those that had disembarked were once more back in their vehicles, heading towards their unknown destination.

The six mares looked around as the armor-clad pegasi and unicorns of the Royal Guard erected fortifications facing the bridge. The whole situation had an air of urgency about it, as was to be expected, considering the news Celestia had divulged to them…

It was seven hours later that the pegasi scouts returned, having noticed something moving on the bridge. At once, the numerous guards moved to their positions, making ample use of the trenches, bunkers, fortifications they had built, and waited.

And waited.

And waited.

After half an hour, they began to feel a bit stupid, when Celestia saw movement on the distant bridge and her heart clenched in terror. She could already hear the screams of the tortured, the unholy wails of the Coil's machines of war, the howls of their gibbering demon soldiers, the-

...Manowar, Manowar, livin' on the road...

Eh?

...when we're in town, speakers explode...

Wha- That didn't sound like something the Tainted Coil would say at all! Where were their unholy hymns and chanting druids?

...now, we don't attract wimps, 'cause we're too loud...

Soon, she was able to see the moving vehicles more clearly. And boy, was she in for a surprise...

...just true metal people, that's Manowar's crowd...

Instead of the sickening abominations of the Coil, there were constructs of gleaming metal, trundling across the bridge on large wheels, large, furry beasts, their faces painted in black and white, with strange creatures perched on their backs. There were more strange vehicles – three-wheeled and two-wheeled contraptions, and chariots that carried a giant skull in each of them.

Who are these beings? They do not look like demons at all!

By now, the big group had reached the bridgehead, but stopped when they were presented with the entrenchments that blocked their path. After several long moments, one of the creatures spoke up.

“Uh, hey. What’s up?”

Lengthy silence followed.

Celestia could only stare in shock. The creature had spoken – and in flawless Equish, at that! That’s when the strange unearthed object started to shake and rumble…