Division 48by BloodwingChaptersThe AwakeningThe Awakening, Part 2 The Awakening, Part 3The Awakening, Part 4The Awakening, Part 5The Awakening, Part 6The Awakening, Part 7The Purple BetrayalThe Nightmare ReturnsThe AwakeningDivision 48 High above the skies so bright Watching all with delight The black guardian deep in slumber Waits for the proper number The black guardian in his sleep Counts the time, week by week Years go by, millennia pass The time is right, he opens his eyes The Achilles shall now rise Brings down life and demise One side will receive the latter For the other it won’t matter It’s beginning of the end Whose side are you on my friend? Chronicles of Equestria, The prophecy of Silver Wielder Location: Equestria, previously known as Earth, The Forbidden Grounds, previously known as Western Europe Dimensional designated number: 1003DN31XMV/1102 – Level 1 Interference Data according to Dimensional Guardians Nexus Archives. 1881km above the ground a single silver and black object slowly rotates around Earth (or what’s left of her). At first glance it looks like a chunk of metal, a spherical orb with two thermal panels to generate its electricity. Normally the satellite circles the earth everyday, unnoticed, forgotten, a remnant of long lost civilization. Yet again the sun comes around, the light shines brightly and gently strokes the thermal panels of the satellite, and the circle begins again. This time however it’s different... The whole construction suddenly shutters with movement, thermal panels extending twofold, a flickering green light emanating from the lower base of the construction comes to life. The ancient machine activates its oldest protocols and gets ready to finally fulfill the purpose its creators gave it... . .. ... .... ....LOADING.... .... .... ....ACHILLES DEFENCE NETWORK... .... .... ....START UP SEQUENCE.... .... .... ....SATELITE 1 OPERATIONAL... ....WESTERN EUROPE AREA.... ....CONNECTING TO DIVISION 48 HEADQUARTERS... ....CONNECTION ESTABLISHED – 1000,1 MHZ.... ....DOWNLOADING UPDATE.... ....UPDATING INFORMATION.... ....RECIEVING V.3 PACKAGE PROTOCOL.... ....UPDATE COMPLETE.... ....COMPILING VHAI DATABASE.... ....COMPLETE.... .... .... .... ....LOCATION: WESTERN EUROPE.... ....FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF GERMANY.... ....LIFE SIGNATURES: EST. 30 000 000 000.... ....UNABLE TO ESTALIBH CONNECTION TO MIDH .... ....DATE: EST 4259.... ....BASE 1, 3 – 18, 20 – 40, 42 – 72, 74 - 93 OFFLINE... ....BASE 94, 73, 41, 19, 2 ONLINE..... ....OPERATIONAL LEVEL EST. 71%.... ....CONDITION 9.... ....ACTIVATING DEMISE TRANSMITTER... ....SENDING PACKAGE.... ....PRIORITY BASE – 94.... ... .. . Cold air whistled outside the abandoned ancient building. Covered in thick layer of ice the massive construction stood proud and fearsome. The architects of this construction were long gone, race diminished, not in war or ideology, but by the technological development and lust for more effective sources of power. Still humankind managed to preserve itself through such sturdy constructs. This one looked like a black cube to the creatures that now dwelled on Earth. Standing 50 meters high with massive reinforced airlock doors in the lower middle part of the building. Easily visible to anyone, but not recognized as an entrance by equine entities that saw it nowadays. 3 Titanium alloy electronic locks, keeping the sealed door together, shut off, holding God only knows what secrets. The whole building was silent and dead. Lost temple of unknown deities, or an old library. Not even one window was apparent in the structure, its insides completely sealed off from the outside world. To the ignorant creatures of today, it was only an interesting historic curiosity. However if by any chance an actual human was able to see it, he or she would probably go with: “Holy shit, this definitely is some kind of a secret military outpost!” And they probably wouldn’t be far off. Someone still familiar with the long gone ancient human language would be able to read “Base 94” above the dreadful airlock. To a human this whole situation would be mighty suspicious. To a talking magical pony however, it was not... Location: Earth, United Earth Federation, Division 48, Base 94, The Eternal Eye Chamber, Berlin Time: 2101, March 12th 22:00, 15 minutes to Singularity Collapse “Mr. President, last ark just entered higher atmosphere of Earth” A tall black man in a Division 48 officer uniform spoke. Face covered with hardly healed burns, not showing any signs of emotion. Military experience visible through the way he moved. Only his eyes showed sings of overwhelming dread. “Thank you Colonel, I’m well aware of the fact” An old slim man sitting on a very comfortable chair replied. His face covered with eerie shadow, a sick green glow enveloping his figure through the glass panel behind him. His old, but still sleek hands, an evidence of a lifetime of political and desk work, folded together on the wooden desk. Who would have thought, that this old man in his 70s held in his hands the fate of humankind. “I do appreciate your company Colonel… With the last ark, our whole civilization leaves its birthplace, our beautiful Earth. Who could have though I’ll live to actually see the end of the world.” The old man said in a monotone and husky voice, his position not changing. “No one could have anticipated that, this early Sir. I stay here, because I feel responsible for the situation as one of the highest ranking officer in Division” The military-man spoke, his voice strong, resolve hard as iron, but heart beating like crazy. He will lose his life here, for his planet. He didn’t regret his decision of staying behind, when a space was still available on Ark 3. It’s that his survival instinct was kicking in, telling him to get the hell out of here. He wasn’t about to do that, but it was a hard feeling to fight with. The old man smiled in the darkness, a smile of hope and fulfillment, but also regret and sadness. His eyes glossed over, calm but sad. “You have nothing to be sorry for Colonel. It was sure to happen and this thing behind me was going to appear anyway. Your people and your division only studied it and gathered necessary information. Without them we wouldn’t be able to finish Achilles and the supply and security bases. Additionally humankind survived yet another cataclysm, a one that maybe needed a huge sacrifice, but we still live.” He leaned forward into the artificial light, his face showing age, silvery hair combed down in a neat fashion. His pale skin and bags under eyes showed that he spent a lot of time away from sun, working, completing the Condition 9 Project. “Sir, whatever happens in 5 minutes, it was a pleasure to serve under you! And in my opinion as long as Condition 9 takes effect, our planet is safe...” The colonel almost shouted the first part, this time all of his emotions taking control of him. He was proud, proud of his planet, proud of his service and proud of assuring the planets future. “Yes, I feel we completed our mission Colonel, we couldn’t stop the event, but we could ensure that it won’t consume us in the process. And after 20 years, when the anomaly radiation clears out, well… Humankind will come back to reclaim its true home.” This time the old man smiled widely, obviously relieved that in the end, humanity got the upper hand and won against impossible odds. He then looked at his golden watch… “20 seconds Colonel, we may see each other again, on the other side…” “I hope we will Sir. I would be disappointed if we didn’t” The colonel smiled widely and closed his eyes. One final thought crossed his mind. What If condition 9 doesn’t start on time? He didn’t find any answers when the bright green light enveloped the room and his figure, intensifying each second. The singularity roared with fury extending more and more, consuming everything on its patch. And then both the President and the Colonel were disintegrated by the quickly shifting energies of the singularity. Whole planet was quickly being enveloped in that strange green light causing different shifts of reality, time and dimension. The Earth as humans knew it was gone and something new was born, with the sturdy human constructs still intact and waiting… Waiting for the proper condition... Waiting for the signal to awaken. The Awakening, Part 2 The Awakening, Part 2 Division 48 – The awakening, Part 2 And then the ignorant heretics saw the power of the First Ones, the holy flames of the Colossus devouring their unclean souls, purifying them with bright light and warmth. Because nopony can stand against the avatars of the true Gods, against their mighty creations, nopony can comprehend their abilities! And you shall know their name and feel their wrath when the Achilles judges you and the Colossus takes your soul into eternal void. You shall know they are the First Ones, you shall know they will reclaim what was stolen from them and with that knowledge they will give you 2 choices. Give yourself to the judgment or burn! The Truth, Banned by the royal order, Unknown Author Entropy cannon – Technical information: Device Full Name: Entropy Rip Effect Cannon Short name: Entropy Cannon Division 48 Prototype ID: 100002/D68 Year of production: 2092 Purpose: WMD, Mounted on UEF Colossus type Vehicles Security: Full authorization for usage needed Targeting chip: Black Cloud Corp X1 Effective firing range – 20 000 km Range of impact – 1 m2 – 100 km2 Entropy Cannon is a weapon of mass destruction based on singularity rip effect discovered in 2091. It creates a singularity in its inner barrel through exotic particle stimulation. The singularity is than overloaded through the constant bombardment of particles. The resulting radiation and energy travels through the particle compressor under the ion cascade. Kavrovicz Focus Filter focuses, amplifies and holds the energy. After a proper built up of the energy and radiation, both may be immediately released through the gate. Because of the chaotic nature of singularity based weapons, the target is affected by the collapse effect for only 5 seconds. Those however are more than enough to completely disintegrate the target. The upside of the weapon is ability to fully control the amount of radiation and exotic energy built up, resulting in a full range of impact control and extreme effective range. The downside is that the weapon can be fired only once every 10 hours. The reason for that is a need of singularity stabilization after the stimulation in order to stimulate it again, without destroying the weapon in the process. Location: Equestria, Canterlot area, previously known as North America, Washington D. C., Calmleaves Mental Asylum, Level -3, Criminal insanity floor. The room was barely lit, weird markings all over the walls, they looked as if carved by something sharp and hard. Horrifying pictures of headless bodies, gore, blood and mass murder. The room was paved with some soft and puffy material. Years of usage however made the cushion-like walls dirty and flat. It was possible to carve something into them, words and images. The current resident of the room did just that. He had to, they were observing him all the time and told him to do that. He didn’t like them much, but there was no choice. Either carve the walls or carve your pathetic self. Oh he carved himself too, too deep sometimes. The pain made the world real again, no more fire, no more dead living bodies, no more seeing the future. He knew it was the future, inevitable at that. They will be back, they have to. It is their home in the end; you can’t just borrow something without asking and hope that the owner won’t see. Oh no, you can delay as much as you want, but eventually the owner will realize and come back for what is his. They will do just that, take back what’s theirs and while on it cause a little genocide too, because hey, why the hell not? He smiled, smiled too much. The muscles on his face tearing themselves apart yet again. Warm blood coming down his pale cheeks, recently healed wounds on his face reopening again. Pain… again, sweet, sweet pain. The darkness in the room made it almost impossible to see one’s own hooves. Hooves… funny word… Hoooooves… They are nice, hard and heavy, just like a maul. He remembers the time when he first used them as a maul. It was a real surprise how someones face could collapse like that because he stomped on it 3 or 4 times… That colorful and cheerful face, cheerful and ignorant face. Gosh! He was staring at something yet again. How long did it take this time? He had no idea… Meanwhile 3 storeys above a very calm unicorn was looking at a photo lying on his work desk. His cutie mark a book with a red cross on it. His coat in a color of dark yellow, while his mane was black. He was wearing a white doctors clothing. The picture he was looking at was of a smiling earth pony. Smiling in a very unnatural and disturbing fashion… The smile was way too wide, the face muscles unable to hold it, causing the skin to break in a few places, which were bleeding. How was it possible to make oneself smile like that was a mystery. Coat of the pony was in a color of dirty white, with few red stains on his side. His mane dirty, covered in some unidentified filth. His tail… surgically cut near the base. Hooves neglected, covered in something red that dried a while ago. One of his ears was missing, only small parts of it still visible. It looked as if ripped off by something. Behind the pony on the ground something was lying. An unidentified mass of red and white. The doctor knew exactly what it was, but was somehow afraid to admit it. The pony was by all means a bare flank. He had no cutie mark, but his appearance was that of an adult. The room the pony was standing in was made of old wood. Furniture scattered over as if a tornado raged through the room. The doctor shook his head with resignation; the whole image looked as if taken in another reality, another horrible macabre filled world. On the other side of the photo a small note was glued, “Evidence 1” written on it. He put the photo down and placed it back in a case file titled “Canterlot Royal Guard, Case 14, Brutal Murder”. The unicorns horn then shone in a bright yellow color. He casted a memorization spell that showed in his mind any previously recorded image or sound. He closed his eyes and then, Just like a movie would, a desired image or sound was played in his mind: “I… I can see them… I can see the bodies… No, it cannot be true! I scream, I weep, but I know it is reality, reality that is about to happen. So many dead… So much pain and suffering… Their rage, it’s endless… I see now, it was taken from them! She was taken from them! Their home… Earth… We are the invaders, we took it and now it’s time to pay! PAY FOR WHAT WE TOOK! PAY WITH OUR BLOOD AND LIVES!” He opened his eyes, a minute after some intensive thoughts he levitated a notebook from the shelf behind him, placed it on the desk, opened it and proceeded to write: Journal entry 180 Doctor Clear Mind, Patient 48: Severe case of schizophrenia and mental shutdown, criminal insanity. Genius level intelligence. Recommended therapy – magical shock. He then closed his notebook. Location: Equestria, previously known as Earth, Forbidden grounds, previously known as Western Europe The whistle of icy winds suddenly gave away when a much louder noise echoed though the icy wasteland. The sound of something old and heavy being moved, sound of metal scratching metal. A green light shone above the heavy airlock doors of the black cube considered to be a historic curiosity by the ponies. Titanium alloy locks disengaging one by one. The circle in the middle of the door turned around to the left, as after such a long time the building was opening to the outside world. The heavy airlock door rising with much hardship, showing the darkness of the base 94 insides. One last sound echoed through the wasteland, a mechanical, artificial male voice coming from the Base 94 insides: “Colossus Online…” The Awakening, Part 3Division 48 – The Awakening, Part 3 Transcription, Tape 13, Case of Christopher White, 17 November 1981, New York Police Department Case files One… Two… I found you *Sound of something sharp slashing* *Sound of meat being cut* *Feminine scream* Three… Four… Blood and gore *Voice in background, female – P…please… Stop… Why are you doing this? Whyyyy?!* *Sobbing sounds* *Male voice, singing, tired* Five…Six… These are my tricks *Closing-in steps, heavy boots, wooden floor* Seven… Eight… My knife’s your fate *Continuous sobbing, increasing in volume* *Sound of metal impacting metal, possible that an object was put down on a metallic surface. Something heavy being lifted from metallic surface” Nine… Ten… Now and then *Female voice, increasing in volume, shouting – No… No… Please don’t… Harry! HELP MEE! HEEEELP!!* *Heavy steps, wooden floor* *Male voice, shouting, passionately* Eleven… Twelve… You I crave! *Snort, heavy object being swung, sound of impact, meaty crack* *Loud maniacal laugh* End of transcription NYPD, Evidence No. 13, Case No. 1110048, Case closed on November 18th 1981, Prime suspect found dead near the crime scene, possible suicide Information Secrecy Level 0 – Full Authorization for access needed Topic: Dimensional spontaneous shift Data Origin: Dimensional Guardians Nexus Archives Authorization: Master Assassin Scarlet Shadow Dimensional Spontaneous Shift As impossible as it may sound spontanous shift is in fact existent. This anomaly happens very rearly and there are currently 3 recorded shifts of this type. Normally to pass through one dimension to the other a clear rip in membrane is needed. As it is our current vehicles have that kind of technology allowing for such passage at disposal. It was belived until recently that membranes in each universe are a constant normally inaccessible barrier that under certain circumstances might be ripped. The amounts of energy needed for such action are enormous, and spontainouslly such amounts of power can’t exist naturally. However what we missed so far is a simple fact, that the membrane is not only a phased out energy-based barrier, but rather an entity that is composed of energy plus events and actions materialized in its structure. However complicated as it may sound, it is in fact brilliantly simple. A creature, let’s say a human, in a proper time and proper place, doing an exact and specific things without fail causes the membrane to respond by increase in vibration in that single point, where the human is performing those actions. As we know, if membrane vibrations in one spot increase constantly, there is a point where they begin to be too severe. A consequence of that is naturally a rip in its structure that instantly consumes the human, but not physically. Physically the body stays where it is, what passes through the barrier however is the humans energy signature. Basicly this means, his or her mind is transferred through dimensions. Because the system of dimensions is very complex, huge and for that matter strict it doesn’t take lightly to such occurance. It is considered an error and imidiettly the whole system tries to compensate for the anomaly.So what do you do with a stray energy signature that is in a place where it shouldn’t be? You cannot transfer it back, because the shift happens only in one direction. You can’t delete it because it’s not a being nor an object from the dimension it passed to. The only other reasonable option is to delete a similar energy signature in the new dimension and insert the stray energy signature into the previously deleted one’s physicall body, than write that it happened as it was supposed to be and close the case. Everything’s dandy except for the poor traveller that is probably wondering why is he a fox now or something even more degrating. Normally those kind of passages aren’t that dengrous as they are self-correcting and are really rare. Normally this wouldn’t be a problem for anyone except for the passing entity. But recently it occurred to the guardians that, because some individuals can alone have an influence on a vast amounts of factors and actions, this kind of shifts can be dangerous. An example of that is also pretty simple. What if a spontanous shift happened to a, let’s say, sociopath with very questionable motives and views on the world. This individual’s views are in his mind, which is transferred to another dimension, where the almighty universe decides that he is best suitable in a body of an Emperor of a gallactic empire, which has a very huge army and resources. Well, I don’t really think I have to explain the consequences that are obvious in this case. This is why this kind of event currently has a very high priority for the Guardians intervention. Fortunately there was only one such intervention recored in the history. It however ended, let’s say badly. To sum up, as much as we think we know about everything (and the thruth is the Guardians know a god damn lot), the universe still holds some secrets from us. This is however good, knowing every single thing would be horribly boring and no one really wants that. Spontanous Shift Cases: 1. Case of Lorrak Hz’khvar – closed – no intervention 2. Case of Vivid Light – closed – intervention 3. Case of Christopher White – unsolved Location: Equestria, Canterlot area, previously known as North America, Washington D. C., Calmleaves Mental Asylum, Level -3, Criminal insanity floor The barely lit insides of room 9 gave it a very unsettling atmosphere. The only resident living there however was not afraid of the dark. He was lying on the cushioned floor, his breath steady, cloudy eyes half-closed shifting from left to right. His unnatural position would cause a severe case of muscle ache to any other pony attempting to lie in such weird position. To him however it didn’t matter, he welcomed the pain, he needed it. Lying on his back, forelegs behind his head crossed, serving as pillow and support for his head. His back legs were curled up and also crossed. This individual was in definition asleep. He didn’t like to sleep, in fact he hated it. The images he saw every single time were tormenting him, causing the only kind of pain he loathed. And as usual he was seeing them yet again. The scene that would make anypony lose his or her sanity. What he really wanted is for them to go away, but he knew that it won’t happen, so he at least wanted somepony to share those images with. Somepony who could understand what he was going through, somepony he could simply relate to. In his dream, he opened his eyes yet again, with a heavy sigh. He was standing just outside the Everfree Forest overlooking Ponyville and Canterlot. And both… both were burning with fires of vengeance and righteous wrath. The night sky was red with the amount of light coming from all those burning buildings. Many differently shaped objects were hovering in the sky. Some of them releasing black rays of energy, striking the ground. Wherever the ray stroke, a black explosion soon followed and then fires, consuming everything around the impact site. The amounts of those objects were terrifying. Whole sky above him was dotted with different black monstrosities. On the ground he could see charred corpses of other ponies, torn and lying scattered around like trash. On his left he could see the true death bringer, a giant creature, or machine stomping heavily. Each step caused the ground to shake. Constant explosions of light came from all over the machine. Streaks of light were lashing out at the ponies that were still alive. It didn’t matter if it was a child or an adult, no one was spared and blood was flowing in hectoliters. The machine in its wake was leaving a red carpet behind it. But the shadow around it, the darkness that was surrounding the monster was making it impossible to see any detail, except for its gigantic size. The servos making a horrible artificial squeaking sound, as it stomped and moved forward. The screams of agony and panic were never ending. In front of him ponies were running in all directions, trying to save their dear lives. Some were making an attempt to run to Everfree… A Futile attempt. Every single one crossing the border immediately ended up with a huge blackened hole in his or her body. The holes supposedly were appearing out of nowhere. But the more he listened, the more he could hear a distant booming sound, just before a hole appeared in a body of yet another victim. The dream had so many details, that it was hard to believe it wasn’t reality. The destruction was endless, Canterlot by now looked like it was almost completely leveled down. Only one tower still stood, the rest - burning ruins of once magnificent city. Ponyville for that matter was no different. Most buildings burned down, the Giant monstrosity walking past them, leaving only destruction behind it, smoking craters from whatever weapon it was using. Constant sounds of rotating motor and heavy gunfire audible through the screams of innocent… Or rather guilty ones… Everyone was guilty, every single one of this pathetic horse-like race. Thieves! Stolen the home! STOLE EARTH! He hated them, hated them all! ALL THOSE CLORORS AND LOVE, UNREAL! END IT! KILL THEM ALL! SLAUGHTER THEM FIRST ONES! A snort… And then a horrible cackle echoed through the massacre. A laugh of insanity and bloodlust, a laugh that shouldn’t be heard by anyone, but was still present. A howl of something that definitely didn’t sound like a pony, but rather a demented madman. What the madman however failed to notice was a simple fact that across the site of massacre, blood and torn limbs was another observer. This one however was pale, blood completely drained from his or her face. Shock and terror paralyzing the visitor. It was obvious that whoever that was, didn’t see anything like the sight in front of him or her ever. Shaking body of the new observer was pinned to the ground, pinned by an unknown force. Then a voice whispered in his or her mind, a mocking, low and growly one. It singed a phrase that made the visitors blood run cold, shivers coming down his or her spine. One… Two… I found you… Something gently touched his or her ear. Scream… and then Twilight Sparkle woke up, breathing heavily, her face covered in sweat, eyes bloodshot and tired. She quickly looked around unsure where she is… Library, her home… Silence all around her. It was middle of the night. Then she heard hurried footsteps of small feet. A purple dragon quickly entered her room, looking very worried. “Twilight! I heard a scream! Are you ok? What happened?” She looked at the dragon and smiled weakly. He was always looking after her, as she was looking after him. He was not only an assistant but a true friend. “I just had a bad dream Spike, nothing to worry about.” She waved her hoof dismissively. “Twi… It’s the third time you’re waking up screaming like that. You didn’t have a good night’s sleep in over three days and that is something I am very concerned about.” He said, coming closer to her, his eyes still fixed on her, watching… Observing… Studying… “Spike… Why are you looking at me like that?” She asked scared a tiny bit “What do you mean? I’m looking at you as I always do.” He said scratching his head uncertain of what she meant. He’s watching you… He’s studying you… He wants you to think he’s your friend Twilight, when in fact he wants only your demise. You know that. The mocking, growly voice echoed in her head. A voice… In her head… Her eyes grew wide with terror. Are you surprised to hear us, Sparkle? Don’t you know who we are? Didn’t you always feel us in the back of your mind… Scratching at your sanity, waiting for you to finally give in. We were always there, an integral part of who you are. Look at the dragon Twilight, look at him. Don’t you want to simply carve his face? To make a nice living sculpture and place it over your chimney? Think how lovely it would match the curtains. She opened her mouth… Than closed it and looked at Spike… Carve his pathetic face… He was looking at her, now evidently worried to a high extent. “Twilight… Are you alright?” She giggled suddenly and uncertainly. “Of course Spike… I was just… thinking, that’s all” She said, her voice a little shaky “If you say so… Want me to bring you something Twi? Tea maybe?” He asked ready to do whatever she asks of him. Hey, maybe he’ll just add something nasty to your tea? Hmm? You’d like your insides to be vomited through your mouth? Carve him Sparkle… CARVE HIM! “N… No Spike, thank you… I’ll just go back to bad, those dreams are really nothing, they’ll pass…” She didn’t sound sure at all. Her voice almost breaking down. “Okay Twi… I’ll go to sleep then. If you’ll need anything just remember you can always count on me…” He smiled widely, turned around and proceeded to go back down to sleep. After the dragon left her, twilight lied down slowly, completely confused and very scared. She was hearing a voice, a horrible unnatural voice wanting her to do something really bad to her best friend. How is it possible? What has happened to her? What if it won’t go away? Maybe she was just tired… Or maybe she… She was losing her mind… No Sparkle, you’re not losing your mind… You already lost it… The voice echoed menacingly in her head and then started to cackle maniacally. A shiver went up her spine, she placed her hooves on her ears, trying to block out the sound. "Go away... Just go away..." She whispered desperately. She couldn’t silence the cackle… It was in fact inside her head… The cackle quieted down after a while. She was still waiting for it to say something, but it left her alone, she hoped. Her fatigue quickly caught up with her and the unicorn went to blissful sleep again. She dreamed of nothing this time however… Location: Equestria, previously known as Earth, Forbidden grounds, previously known as Western Europe The ground shook, as a massive shape was slowly walking through the icy wasteland. Each step caused a crack to appear on the ground. A sound of swirling servos could be heard across the land as the shape was walking towards its destination. On top of the giant a single massive barrel could be seen. There were words written on it: EREC 000002 Someone still capable of reading the letters and having some knowledge on human technology could easily decipher it as “Entropy Rip Effect Cannon 000002”, than he would probably go pale and curse loudly as the gigantic mech had a WMD at its disposal. Inside the massive machine an exchange of protocols and commands was constantly going on: ….COLLOSUS BATTLE PLATFORM…. ….PROTOCOL 9 IN MOTION…. ….MISSION OBJECTIVE: ACTIVATE THE ANOMALY GATE 1… ….SECONDARY OBJECTIVE: ELIMINATE ALL HOSTILE ENTITIES…. ….HOSTILE RECOGNITION PROTOCOL: …. ….PROTOCOL OVERRIDE, SECONDARY MISSION OBJECTIVE CHANGED…. ….SECONDARY OBJECTIVE: SEARCH AND DESTROY… ….WMD AUTHORIZATION: … ….AUTHORIZATION OVERRIDE…. ….WMD AUTHORIZATION: FULLY AUTHORIZED… Authors Note: I will be trying to make the chapters longer; also I think I will have to change the rating from T to M… As there is much more violence and other interesting things every child likes, later on in this fic. Additionally I want to mention I’m not a native English-speaker so you might sometimes encounter silly mistakes or other interesting things like that. I try to keep them to minimum, but sometimes you can’t avoid them :) And TY for reading! The Awakening, Part 4Division 48 – The Awakaning, Part 4 Condition 9, Stage 1, Demise Transmitter and Colossus Battle Platform The demise transmitter allows for subspace communication and networking. Unfortunately it is possible that the signal won’t be able to reach the Wandering Fleet. In such case the Anomaly Gate will have to be opened, allowing for instant connection and travel to UEF Ships. Because the Gate is hidden under the Singularity Base 13 it is impossible to reach it remotely. Such operation has to be done manually by close connection with the Complex computers. Because we cannot be sure what entities will roam through Earth after the Collapse it is best to prepare the activating unit for every possible danger. The Colossus Battle Platform should be best suited for the operation as it is heavily armored and capable of withstanding stunning amounts of punishment. On the other hand the Humanity doesn’t plan to negotiate nor does it plan to talk with any sentient beings that will try to claim Earth as their own. The planet belongs to humankind and always will. Any protests or reactions from the temporary occupants will be ignored. If the sentient occupants won’t be planning to leave, the colossus WMD authorization will be granted and clearly demonstrated. If the occupants won’t have any means to leave our home, no shelter will be granted. This means a clear permission for genocide from the current UEF president. However politically incorrect and amoral as it may sound, humankind is tired, doesn’t have time for petty moral debate and citizens of UEF have already stated that they will accept any means necessary for their home to be reclaimed. After the Demise Transmitter sends proper packages through Anomaly Gate, the fleet is supposed to confirm the receival and come back to the system within a week. If that doesn’t happen and for some reason the fleet won’t be able to respond to the transmission Stage 2 of Condition 9 will be approved and carried on. Demise Transmitter: Technical Information Device Type: Long Range Transmitter Device Purpose and side effect: Transmission of large data packages, side effects include large area brainwave distortion Division 48 Prototype: 91/1 Date of singularity waves discovery: 2059 Internal energy source: Miniature Artificial Singularity Core The Demise Transmitter is a device which main purpose is to send and receive large portions of data through phased out singularity waves. The waves are an old discovery and are strictly connected with the void between two dimensions. It is still unknown where exactly the void exists and what exactly it is, but apparently this is where singularities come from and humanity deals with it on everyday basis operating and using singularity-based technology. The waves itself are not harmful initially and are too weak to carry any electromagnetic waves with them. It was discovered however that with singularity exotic particle stimulation there are several effect. Severe stimulation causes the singularity to destabilize and create vast amounts of radiation. Ionized this radiation is very deadly and is used mostly as a mean to create weapons. However proper dosages of Exotic Particles cause the singularity waves to strengthen themselves and get the ability to be picked up by standard electromagnetic receivers. The distance they can travel through without data loss is however enormously wider. It is speculated that the weaves, travelling through the void are a certain constant entity that cannot be dispersed unless it reaches its destination and being picked up by a proper receiver. The waves travel instantly and can pass through any known material as they themselves are phased out until received. However if the singularity is stimulated too much the waves gain additional effect. The area near the receiver, when the waves phase in back to the dimension of origin, is temporarily under influence of von Troppen Effect which radius cannot be fully estimated and is possibly very wide. This effect is by far very disastrous to sentient beings. Waves interfere with organic brainwaves and distort them heavily, causing different health complications. They vary from instant brain death to mental deterioration. The process of mental health worsening takes time however and cannot be detected instantly. Often the victims of von Troppen Effect state that they hear voices, hallucinate, have surreal dreams or gain additional personalities. The effect consequences are however still not fully understood and may be different in many ways depending on the individual characteristics. They may also never surface and leave the victim in full health until the day he or she dies. Location: Russian District of United Earth Federation, Physical Coordinates: 11APPH00299 Volgograd, Division 48 Singularity Base 13 – Anomaly Gate Location Date: June 12th 2100 “All systems are operational Doctor Azarov, calibrations are complete.” Said a young, slim man in a gray technician uniform, walking down the narrow corridor. His green eyes showing respect to the man he was talking to and walking with. Doctor Pyotr Azarov was the best singularity specialist widely known throughout the whole UEF and in every scientific community. Directly designated by the President to supervise Anomaly Gate setup and completion this man is one of a kind, always calm and strict. Commanding the place like a military outpost, his decisions never questioned. So when he decided to “test run” the anomaly gate after barely setting up an Ether Reactor no one even thought about protesting. Test running might be dangerous, but if it works Condition 9 will be almost complete and ready for finalization. “Splendid, let us proceed.” Said Azarov calmly. His posture not threatening, the man was a little overweight as it seemed. His gray hair long and combed into a ponytail, his white coat, way too long for his short stature. Thick nerdy glasses gave him a little comical visage, but everyone knew that you can’t tell a book by its cover. The man was cold, his grey eyes penetrating everyone he was talking to, shaking them inside as if he was looking directly into their souls. And just by looking he was probably able to tell a lot about a person. Even the toughest guards equipped with BCC Widow SR4 tried to avoid the doctors stare. He knew his dominant role, but never really took advantage of it, he simply ran the things smoothly. Both the doctor and the young technician were walking along the white corridor. The underground Division 48 Base was a very big construction, mainly because of the Anomaly Gate size. It was supposed to easily allow a passage of 2 UEF Dreadnoughts simultaneously. That required a lot of free space. And so through the straight corridor they proceeded into an industrial elevator. Two guards standing on both sides of the lifts entrance, not even looking at the Doctor and the technician. The doctor pressed the green button with L-90 written on it. The industrial door closed with a moan, the lift shook a little and then proceeded to move down slowly. During the travel the men didn’t exchange any words. None were necessary, both knew it’s a historical moment, a moment of truth. Either the gate will activate properly creating a rip in reality or it will destabilize and implode annihilating everything in the base vicinity. After a while the lift came to a slow stop. The steel door opened slowly as if delaying on purpose, creating a mesmerizing atmosphere. They both stepped out of the lift. The doctor was as calm as ever, not even a drop of sweat visible on his forehead. His confidence was great and seemed to pour into others present near him. The technician was however nervous. His breath heavier than usual, heart pounding loudly in his chest, as if trying to get out of his body and run away. In front of them was a short corridor made out of obsidian black metal. They knew it was Etherium, an intelligent material that could be as hard as diamond or as soft as a napkin. Humanity came into contact with Etherium only after a year from the Eternal Eyes appearance. Any inorganic metallic fabric that came into contact with the singularity was immediately converted into Etherium. Quickly this fact was noticed and used. Etherium is considered much more useful than any material available naturally on Earth. It is resistant to high and low temperatures, molecular acid, physical pressure and much more. Etherium is warm in touch and responds to electrical current and singularity waves. Only together they become a key to shape and change Etherium to one’s desire. It is commonly used near singularities, as it is the only 100% effective material able to contain and resist all the singularities side effect including reality shifts. The two men approached door made out of Etherium. The door shut by a circle lock in the middle of it that held them together. Azarov approached the circle and placed his hand on it. A silent beep came out of the door as the lock turned to the left and the door slid sideways into the wall. The way was open and beyond the door a large control room was present. 20 People operating various machinery in the room, rows of holographic computers and monitors were occupying the whole frontal section showing different readings that seemed random. In front of the entrance a glass panel stood showing one of the biggest achievements of humankind – the Anomaly Gate. The Gate looked simply like an oval pool filled with melted silver. The surface was not moving at all and looked as if it was solid. On both right and left of the pool, two high poles were standing and on top of each some golden oval-shaped contraptions that looked similar to tesla coils. Both emanating eerie green light. Everything was made out of obsidian black Etherium, except the coils that were made of some golden metal. In the back of the gigantic spherical room a single object stood out. Made out of white negative charged Etherium, the object could be only identified as a massive Ether Reactor, twice as big as a 21st century average family home. The whole spherical room had easily the height of a skyscraper. The oval roof was opened allowing some sunlight to come through it. The silver surface of the pool was deflecting the light, giving a magnificent and glorious image. The doctor took of his glasses and simply smiled, proud of the progress and his invention. He looked around slowly, seeing as every single person was entering some data through the holographic interfaces of many computers. “Prepare for general test. Reactor at 100%, pool density at 33%. Charge the coils to 60% output and get ready for a miracle people!” He shouted passionately. Every single person immediately obeyed the doctors instructions. The young technician next to him nodded with a sudden burst of vigor. He quickly ran to a holographic console on his right and pressed a few buttons. Soon after that a female electronic voice echoed through the whole base: “Warning! Anomaly Gate activation in progress! All personnel is to proceed with caution!” After that a distant but clear vibration and powering-up sound was heard. The glass panel started to shake as the vibrations were intensifying. Green arcs of singularity energy started to strike the silver surface of the pool, coming out of the coils. The strikes were more powerful with each passing second. The Ether reactor started to give out a distinctive howl, as it was powered to its maximum capacity. Every single person was observing the event with intense curiosity but also dread. If something was to go wrong, everyone present could say good bye to their lives. The doctor however cleaned his glasses with his coat nonchalantly and put them back on his nose. His arms crossed, previous smile disappeared replaced with his usual grimace. He was simply watching, no emotions whatsoever, he just knew that it will go as it should; all things considered he was the one that made the proper calculations. After that thought, the silver surface of the pool started to shimmer and look like water. It changed its color to pitch black. The golden coils arcs also changed their energy color to black and then without any warning a massive pillar of black light shot out of the liquid, spilling it over around the spherical room. The doctor smiled yet again, this time even wider. “Anomaly Gate activated, stable – connection frequency optimal, no dispersion, passage allowed” Said the electronic female voice. The pillar of black light was still shooting out, the reactor still working with full capacity. The pillar went all the way up to the sky and beyond, visible to everyone in Volgograd. The control room of the base fell silent, every single person dumbstruck, looking at the pillar with both surprise and confusion. This however soon passed, as the first person threw his arms up and cheered, shouting loudly “We did it! IT WORKS! WOOOO!” Everyone soon followed, with the exception of Azarov, who was still standing still and smiling widely. Location: Equestria, previously known as Earth, Eastern Forbidden grounds, previously known as Eastern Europe, Equstrian border, Royal Guard Outpost 1 “Sooo, White Spear, you said that she actually slapped you with her hoof?” Asked a tall muscular stallion, covered in warm grey clothing, protecting him from the cold. A single emblem was sew on his warm coat, an emblem of the Equestrian Royal Guard. Because of the clothing it was hard to say what was his cutie mark or color for that matter. A sword was sheathed and clipped to his leather belt, covered in frost from the cold temperatures that were haunting this deserted area. The closest city from their outpost was Stalliongrad, but it was still damn far away, about 3 or 4h of trotting. He was currently talking with another guard, also covered in the same warm clothing with similar emblem sew on his shoulder. This one however had a horn standing out from his hood. This pony was also much shorter and about half as muscular as the first one. His horn was also covered in thin frost layer. “Yeach… She did and damn it hurt…” The unicorn answered with shame, massaging his left check with his hoof. The muscular earth pony gave the unicorn a stern disappointed look. “I know what you’re gonna say, I just know, so don’t say a thing. ‘Hey White Spear, where did yer balls go? Somepony stole them?’ Quickly said the Unicorn, mimicking his friends voice and sighing deeply soon after that. “Well you always end up like that with the mares. And every single time I tell you: Stop BEING yourself, no one likes your character!” Shouted out the Earth Pony gesticulating with his right hoof. “Oh just swell, thanks for that, I feel much better now Sharpy, magnificent support coming from you…” Said White Spear, his words dripping with sarcasm and hurt. “Hey man, I didn’t mean it like that… It’s just that you… Like… Moan too much and complain about silly and petty things all the time…” Delicately said Sharp Sword, trying not to emotionally hurt his friend further. “Oh yeach, right, White Spear the moaner. I moan too much because its -50 degrees out here, I moan too much because we’re at the end of known world, where only idiots come to see that stupid ancient ruined building 40 minutes away from here. I complain too much because our pay does not cover basic survival expenses! Oh I DEFINATELLY COMPLAIN TOO MUCH!” Shouted out the angered Unicorn, yet again using sarcasm as his main offensive weapon. “Well now that you mention it… That’s actually true…” Said the Earth Pony silently a little scared to admit that White Spear might be right. “YOU SEE?! And I MOAN too much. Gimme a break Sharpy. My hooves are falling off, I can’t even FEEL my face, and we’re stuck here for a night watch like something is ACTUALLY going to happen. Riiight, makes perfect sense. If a horde of vicious beasts suddenly attacks I’m gonna run away, screw it. 10 ponies can’t defend A BORDER for Celestias Sake. And we don’t even HAVE a proper building, but a wooden freakin’ cottage! Seriously, what the hell is it supposed to be? A joke? Because I’m not laughing!” Ranted White Spear with both disdain and passion in his voice, as if he was acting on stage. Sharp Sword snorted silently, obviously amused by his friends rant, a wide smile plastered on his face. “Man ponies can say whatever they want, but you’re the best ranting pony out there Whites!” Said Sharpy happily “Heh, yeach… When this is over I’m gonna use my acting talent and get a huge role in some fancy show!” Said White Spear now also happily smiling. His friend always knew what to say to calm him down… Even when it was a random thought. STOMP Suddenly Sharp Swords ear twitched. He turned his head in the direction of the wasteland. “What?” Asked White Spear “Shh… Did you hear that?” asked Sharpy nervously “Hear what… Oh I get it, you’re pulling my leg...” Smirked White Spear, glad that he uncovered his friends plot STOMP White Spear suddenly turned his head also, a little scared “W… What was that?” Asked White, his voice a little shaky “I don’t know, but it doesn’t sound like a common idiot coming back from sightseeing…” Answered Sharp Sword, unsheathing his weapon. STOMP “Holy Celestia… What can possibly make that kind of sound?!” Asked White Spear loudly, obviously starting to get freaked out STOMP Additional mechanical sound of some heavy machinery reached their ears. Swirl of servos and sound of metal scratching metal. It was like nothing they ever heard in their lives. These sounds were very alien to them, both ponies started to get agitated, trying to see what was it that was coming in their direction. After a few more stomps, a figure started to emerge from the blizzard. Gigantic bulky structure with legs and two arms pointing at the ponies. They soon realized that it cannot be a structure, because it was moving, each stomp caused by its huge metal feet hitting the ice-covered ground, the mass of the thing had to be enormous. With each step the details were getting clearer. It had a huge black box-shaped torso. Two mechanical arms coming out of the sides of it, ending with something weird… It looked like fingers, but was much longer and clamped together. Each finger had a hole in it. The other arm had three enormous claws. The legs of the thing were flexing at a weird angle. Unlike dragon legs those were angling backwards and ended with feet that were made of three metal claws digging into the ground with each step. It had no head, instead of it an enormous cannon made out of two barrels was visible. The machine was easily 20 meters in height. Poor ponies were completely frozen on the spot, looking at the thing but not quite believing that it was there. Maybe some kind of mirage? Maybe they were simply seeing things… The Colossus AI made the machine stop just 20 meters from the ponies. Dwarfing them with its size, the AI begun a standard procedure upon contact with organic entities. ….SCANNING LIFE SIGNATURES…. ….IDENTIFIED AS ALIEN ENTITY…. ….PERFORMING AREA SCAN… A green horizontal laser suddenly shot out of the machines torso. Going up and down twice it scanned the area quickly. White Spear and Sharp Sword were just gazing upon the sight, unable to move out of fear and amazement ….10 LIFE SIGNATURES DETECTED…. ….CONDITION 9…. “CONDITION 9… PLEASE RESPOND THRUTHFULLY TO THE FOLLOWING QUESTION…” Boomed an artificial mechanical male voice, shocking the ponies even further “ARE YOU WILLING TO LEAVE EARTH PEACEFULLY OR ARE YOU CLAIMING IT AS YOUR OWN?” The voice boomed again. After a minute White Spear came out of shock, realizing that he has to answer or the thing will get impatient and possibly slaughter them. “Errr… That… We… “ He coughed “What’s Earth?” “PLANET IDENTIFIED AS BIRTHPLACE OF CREATORS, BELONGS TO HUMANITY… IT IS THE PLANET YOU ARE CURRENTLY RESIDING ON…” “Whaaa….?” Asked White Spear dumbstruck… “Of course NOT! Equestria doesn’t belong to you, whatever you are! You have to be mistaken!” Suddenly shouted now furious and fully awoken from his shock Sharp Sword, lifting up his hoof with threat. The machine was still “looking” at White Spear however. “DO YOU CONFIRM YOUR COLLEGUES STATEMENT?” Asked Colossus, its voice devoid of any emotion “I… That’s… No… I.. I don’t…” Answered White Spear overtaken by fear, not even thinking clearly. Sharp Sword looked at him, mouth agape, unable to believe that his friend just said that. “CONFIRMED. TARGET 2 MARKED AS NON HOSTILE.” The machine turned to Sharp Sword “DO YOU SPEAK IN THE NAME OF YOUR WHOLE RACE?” Sharp sword didn’t answer still looking at his friend, completely disappointed, not believing in White Spears betrayal. “DEFAULT ANSWER: YES. CONFIRMED. PROCEEDING WITH CONDITION 9. SECONDARY OBJECTIVE – SEARCH AND DESTROY” The arm of the Colossus lowered itself and pointed at Sharp Sword, who was still not paying attention to anything except his friend “White… How could you? Why…” White Spear just lowered his head unable to say anything, still not fully understanding what was happening. To him it all could be simply a dream. It was however too late for any real action or answer. Their attention turned to the machine as its hand with fingers clamped together started to rotate. A sound of working motor and 6 black barrels that were rotating faster and faster came to them. ….TARGET LOCKED… ….FIRING…. Then the time slowed for White Spear and everything seemed to go blurry. A sudden explosive sound came to his ears… Then his friend was pierced by something invisible to Unicorns eyes. Then again and again and again, blood splattering next to him as holes were appearing out of nowhere in Sharp Swords body turning him into red mush. Soon after that the wooden cottage with the rest of the guards also got the same treatment. Sudden screams of pain and panic reached White Spears ears as salvos of Etherium bullets were ripping apart everything and everyone on their way. White Spear looked down and realized he was kneeling, his hooves covered in blood flowing from the shattered remains of Sharp Sword… Blood, he never saw it before… Something broke inside his mind and White Spear fell backwards losing consciousness. The last thing he remembered was sound of heavy stomps moving away, quieter and quieter until the darkness consumed him completely and then he heard nothing. A/N: Well sorry you had to wait so long for another chapter, but I had a creativity crisis xP it’s gone however and the story proceeds. I’ll try to update as soon as possible, however I still have 2 exams to pass, so It might be a lil bit late… TY for reading, hope you liked it :) The Awakening, Part 5Moon rises high, the night is upon us Raise your arm and stab The heart and let it pass Look forward and grab The plague and blight Control is in your reach Shout with ancients might The power and fears speech The words even demons abhor Vagrash Anur Dax’eech And open the Blight Gates door From The Blight Arcanum, Ancient artifact volume of times long past. It is in Celestias personal collection, contained in dimensional pocket near Canterlot Castle. It cannot be destroyed and is considered one of the most dangerous objects in existence. What’s more it is kept in secrecy, only Celestia and The Blind Oracle know of its existence. The volume supposedly contains the blackest and most spiteful magic known to sentient beings. What is the most fearsome attribute of the Blight Arcanum is a simple fact that it is usable by any being with enough desire in its heart. It was never used in Equestria and its place of origin remains unknown even to the Goddess. The Blind Oracle, Silver Wielder once said: Time will come when even the purest souls will be depraved and infected with darkness… Time will come when the Achilles awakens, Blight Gate shall appear, and one ill-minded and insane individual will open the gate. He will possess the Blight Arcanum, as it was always destined to be his and no one else’s. Beware you of little faith, because with the First Ones comes not only destruction and eternity of darkness but also Purple and White Betrayal… Information Secrecy Level 1 – Limited Authorization for access needed Topic: The Blood of Universe and Humankind Data Origin: Dimensional Guardians Nexus Archives Authorization: Assault Commander William Sharp The Blood of Universe and Humankind The Blood of Universe also known as Black Vector Energy is a hidden web of veins and arteries through which the blood of Universe circulates. It is used as primary source of energy by Dimensional Guardians, but also every living being and every object are connected to such veins and possess their own vector artery, which when pierced or destroyed deletes the existence of the whole being or object. This knowledge belongs only to the Dimensional Guardians as no other sentient beings realized that Universe is a living thing, which as all living things contains its own intestines, normally invisible and untouchable. However ridiculous as this idea might sound, the guardians can harness and use this blood to their own advantage only because of the Universe favor and acceptance. No other sentient beings can discover such thing, as it may lead to disastrous consequences. Regrettably Guardians cannot protect this information effectively on such massive scale and so far one civilization and race came very close to discovering the Blood of Universe which is hidden in the Everlasting Void. This civilization calls itself Humanity and uses singularity based technology which is dangerously similar to ours. Singularities are basically wounds in the Universe itself which heal overtime or expand themselves and then heal spontaneously. Usually they heal overtime, but sometimes if the wound is too big The Universe uses the immediate option which causes some locally based destruction and can effectively annihilate a whole race. Additionally it has much more severe disruptions including local desynchronization of time vortex or reality shifts which are even more dangerous. Humanity amazingly survived such disaster and what’s more harnessed a simple wound to create a completely new technological tree. Regrettably this technology is based on artificial creation of wounds in the Universe itself, which is not entirely healthy to it nor is it healthy to Humanity. As a living being Universe might exercise vengeance upon this race and because of that and the power similarity of singularity technology to our own the whole race is under observation and an intervention is not out of question. Location: Equestria, previously known as Earth, 50 km north of Stalliongrad City previously known as Volgograd. The heavy stomps of the Colossus were easily audible to any animal in the area. Therefor every single animal smart enough opted for running away as far as possible from the sound and its origin. Enough said that no animal was visible to Colossus sensitive life signature sensors in a radius of at least 0,5 km. The poor trees however had it much worse, as they simply cannot run from the heavy machine like the animals, thus now and then, or rather every two steps a sound of breaking wood or falling tree could be heard by everyone listening. No one was however listening at the time and probably for the best, because - Hey, what can one pony do against 600 metric tons of Etherium, titanium, steel and some other elements? Well probably not much, except running away or staring in fascination, maybe even praying if somepony was mad enough to think that a God came down from heaven to greet his followers. Praying would possibly hold the Colossus for 0,000000000000000000000001 second needed for him to analyze the non-verbal elements of the organics language and identify it as “Praying”… This amount of time wouldn’t however be sufficient as one wouldn’t even be able to say the first letter in “Holy Shit”. And thanks to that the Colossus was slowly but constantly getting closer to its destination, to fulfill its objective of opening the Anomaly Gate, mostly undisturbed. Well that is until it closed in on a small village 48 km north of Volgograd, or Stalliongrad as it was called by the horses… Even the AI of Colossus snorted (or tried to) at that, stating: ….STATEMENT: STUPIDEST NAME FOR A CITY EVER…. The Colossus abruptly stopped and proceeded to scan the small village. Results weren’t surprising, about 300 life signatures dispersed among wooden buildings. The whole village built in a round fashion. In the middle of the circle was probably a market currently closed as it was middle of the night. ….STATEMENT: LAZY ORGANICS NEED TO REST AT NIGHT…. And indeed sleeping they were… Well at least most of them, there were 3 (what a shock) guards patrolling the village. Well that also wasn’t surprising as probably a lot of wild animals from the woods could come to the village and eat some local flock of sheep and whatnot… Ponies guarding sheep, that’s just rich by the way… The whole place was located in a clearing in the middle of the dense woods the Colossus was for a lack of better term mowing through. It seemed that the guards were already looking in the Colossus general direction and no wonder; it was awfully loud when it walked. They still however didn’t know who was making this sound. Their signatures showed an increased heartbeat rate and adrenaline levels. This simply means fear, not familiar to the Colossus but comprehendible. If the Colossus was an organic being, it would probably think deeply what to do now, how to approach those guards and the village, of course not taking diplomacy out of possible solutions. Much to the ponies disadvantage however, the Colossus was everything but organic and its behavior was dictated by its mission objective and as such a consensus was reached very, very, veeery fast. ….SITUATION ANALYSIS COMPLETE…. ….MISSION OBJECTIVE: SEARCH AND DESTROY…. ….ENTERING ANTI-PERSONNEL COMBAT MODE… “Blue, are you sure you heard something over there? I’m looking there but I don’t see or hear a bloody thing! It’s all trees and snow!” Said a tall brown earth pony stallion, dressed in a light guard uniform. He had a metal helmet on his head and an iron shoulder pad on his left shoulder. The shoulder pad had one yellow star painted on it, an evidence of the highest rank in the villages guard. He was the Captain that commanded those younglings and he had respect from them. His dark brown eyes betrayed his age and years of training experience, but as all the ponies of Equestria he never really saw any battle whatsoever, as no one was old enough (except Celestia, Luna and Discord) to be a witness to one. His moustache long and in color of his eyes was covered in some snowflakes. It was snowing once again, this time however not so intensively. The scenery of white covered woods in front of the guards was peaceful as ever and no one was able to see the looming shape of a murderous machine preparing for a surprise attack. “I’m sure I did sir! It sounded as if something really heavy was approaching the village and it was no bear! Something much worse…” Answered the dark blue pegasus. Evidently stressed, his heart beating like crazy, because he knew what he heard. Everything considered he was sure that his senses didn’t lie to him. His armor was identical to that of his commanding officer, except the shoulder pad, which he didn’t have. He was young but the long scar going from his forehead to the bottom of his chin was something unusual. One of very few Equestrians that actually got a deep cut from something. Bluejuice however never explained where did it come from and everyone in the village learned to simply drop the topic. His golden eyes glimmered warmly; to the mares this young stallion was dreamy. His mane and tail the same color as his coat, looked like many sharpened spikes arranged together. Currently however the beautiful glimmer in his eyes was gone, replaced with dullness of angst he felt deeply. “Son, what does the mark on my ass mean?” Asked the commanding officer “With all due respect Sir, I don’t think…” Begun Bluejuice, only to be rudely interrupted by the old stallion “WHAT DOES THE MARK SAY BRAT?!” “Sir! It’s a red outline of a lion! It means courage, SIR!” “Exactly! Now courage means we don’t cower and shiver in fear because of some tiny little sound! What do we do when we hear something suspicious?!” “We do our duty, sir!” Answered the third guard, surprisingly a dark green mare. She was by all means beautiful; her face in perfect shape, emerald green eyes and long eyelashes gave her a sense of godly beauty, unfit for guard service. Her mane and tail in a silver color, that gave a delicate glow as if indeed made out of silver itself woven by magic or other supernatural forces. How did she end up in such a place and had a guard duty remained a mystery. Only her cutie mark gave some explanation as it was a silver sword. She probably was always slightly different than other girls. Her name might also give such a hint. “Very good guard War Dancer” Said the commanding officer, proud of the beautiful she-guard he commanded… Damn she was hot… “Thank you, sir!” Shouted War Dancer in response. “Now, our duty is as follows. Guard Bluejuice, because you have binoculars as your ass-mark, it definitely means you’re good at spotting things.” “Well sir, it’s not entirely true…” “Shut your damn mouth when an officer is speaking!” “Yes sir! Apologies, sir!” “Because you’re good at spotting you will go there and take a peek, what is making this “sound” of yours” Bluejuice gulped at that and turned his head to the forest slowly – his anxiety slowly rising. “Sir… Could you please reconsider maybe…” “Move your ass Bluejuice!” Yelled War Dancer obviously annoyed by her colleague cowardice. “I’m going, I’m going! No need to yell, sheesh” He lazily and unwillingly started to move towards the woods. War Dancer and the Commanding Officer giving him stern and angry looks each time he turned his head to look at them. Man, War Dancers eyes were really scary when she was mad… Soon he entered the woods, more cautious and tense than usual. It suddenly became darker, the trees blocking what little light was left outside the woods. It didn’t help Bluejuice much to spot anything in such dense darkness. He was moving forward now, very slowly. He was starting to get scared as the forest was dead silent. No chirping of birds, no sounds of life were coming from the woods. It was very unsettling and could only mean that there was something that scared all the animals heavily. After few minutes of pointless circling, Bluejuice was ready to go back and admit his defeat (this option he actually preferred), however he suddenly spotted a completely leveled down tree. It looked as if something monstrously heavy simply crushed it. The pony’s eyes widened as he approached the tree, there was a footprint that roughly had a shape of three large depressions. “By Celestia… What could have such massive feet?” He whispered to himself his anxiety replaced by natural curiosity. He was contemplating the footprint for a while, that is until he heard a metallic sound next to him. Sound of metal scratching metal, very unnatural and unnerving. It suddenly became darker, all light blocked out by something. Bluejuice slowly rised his head and what he saw was beyond what he ever could imagine. The whole body of Colossus was just in front of him. What blocked the light was the Colossus leaning forward towards the little pony. Its clawed arm flexed like snake, ready to strike its prey. “What the fuck…” Said Bluejuice completely shocked. Eyes wide open studying the machine, not believing in its actual existence. Before he could move or react, the clawed arm of Colossus shot forwards, its two claws grabbing him slightly by the throat and lifting the Pegasus up. He wanted to scream, but he couldn’t, the oxygen not being properly delivered to his lungs, but enough for him to wheeze some air in with each breath. The chocking move was very precise, silenced him and at the same time allowed him to live. His forelegs striking the metal claws, desperately trying to free himself. Each attempt was however futile and he realized that if he won’t stop, all his strength will be gone quickly. He put his hooves on the metal claw in defeat. Fear and the inability to breathe properly clouding his mind. He was brought forward to the upper part of the machines torso. One red glowing lens observing him intensively. He started to drool involuntarily, the chocking making his face paler each second. ….ENTITY IDENTIFED AS HOSTILE ALIEN… ….CONDITION 9…. ….EXECUTING HYPER FEAR DOCTRINE…. Colossus stared at the pony for a little longer and then the pressure slowly started to increase. The sharpened ends of the claws started to penetrate the skin of Bluejuice, cutting it deeper with each passing second. If the Colossus was alive it would be probably surprised that 1 ton of pressure on the neck of the pony only started to cut through skin. This was an anomaly, so the Colossus performed a full life signature scan. ….SCANING… A green horizontal laser shot out of a lens above the red eye of the machine. Bluejuice was however too busy being choked to notice. His mind already went numb; he felt this pain again, pain of being cut and hurt identical to what he received so long ago. His mind just barely registered that this might be his end… Something so rare and almost unthinkable in Equestria. Blood trickled down his neck from the cuts the claws were making. ….SCANNING COMPLETE… ….DETECTED UNKNOWN ENERGY SIGNATURE…. ….INCRESES RESISTANCE TO PHYSICAL DAMAGE…. ….BYPASS SOLUTION: SINGULARITY SHOCK…. A hum from inside of the Colossus started to increase as singularity core was building up enough energy to send a shock through the body of the little pony. And in a matter of seconds a green lightning went through the clawed hand of the Colossus and into the body of Bluejuice. He didn’t feel it, it was as if the lightning impacted something around him, rather than him precisely. A purple mist appeared around his body and a sound of shattering glass soon followed. Magical energy materialized around him as a purple transparent cocoon. Cracks appeared on the surface as if the cocoon was made of glass. The cracks expanded themselves and suddenly the whole thing collapsed and fell to the ground below Bluejuice quickly vaporizing. The machine turned its attention back to the pony. Location: Equestria, previously known as Earth, Canterlot, previously known as Washington D. C., The Castle Celestia sat in her chamber reading yet another document that came from her minister of finance. It looked quite well. The taxes were low, so her little ponies were happy and because of the ponies honesty they were paid regularly filling the vaults with mountains of golden bits. She was about to make an official investment into the road infrastructure near Satlliongrad. No wars since about 1000 years meant that her and Lunas country was prospering magnificently. She was a happy ruler, didn’t have much to do really, so she had much spare time she could spend on reading the friendship reports and other interesting activities. What’s more all her subjects loved her and viewed her as an embodiment of everything that’s good and beautiful. Yes everything looked quite well for another thousand years. Well maybe with exception of such events as release of Discord… But that was no war and she was certain the fool would be caught up in his smugness yet again. “Oh Discord… You always were too childish to be really able to challenge me and my sister… Tsk tsk…” Suddenly Celestia felt a sharp pain in her head. She almost screamed, it was so intense. After a moment however it disappeared and an unhealthy feeling of emptiness washed over her. She knew exactly what that meant. “Oh no… Oh no, no, no!” Her protective spell… It was shattered by a powerful force, this could only mean that something hurt one of her subjects or possibly even killed him or her… She quickly closed her eyes and could see… See all the live forces in Equestria surrounding her, all of her subjects flames of life clearly visible to her. The amount was the same as usual with the exception of a few dozen of her guards. She knew they were only out of reach to be seen, guarding the borders of their beloved country. She was afraid to let her ponies wander off without any protection from harm, but in the end she assessed that nothing possibly could hurt her border guards, because there was simply nothing there in the east, past the icy wasteland. What caught her attention tough, was a fact that one of the flames became dimmer, weaker and smaller. It was slowly being extinguished and that meant… “By the sun! Luna! Come quickly! We have a horrible disaster on our hooves!” One thing could be said about Luna, one thing in particular. Her reaction time was incredibly short, so it was no surprise to Celestia when her sister stormed into the throne room panting heavily before Celestia could even finish calling her. “What?! Disaster?! What happened sister?!” Shouted the anxious Goddess of Night “Luna, it’s horrible… I don’t even know how it is possible, but… One of our ponies, he’s dying, something is sucking his life force.” Said the Goddess of Day sadly, her head sunk down and a tear appeared in her eye. This Pony by the name of Bluejuice was too far away for her to help him. She simply couldn’t do a thing. She could move the Sun, but she couldn’t help her subject… Pathetic “W… What? Celestia, but what about the spell I helped you cast upon all of our subjects? You can’t tell me that it was nullified just like that!” “It was tough… I don’t know how but it was simply crushed with such force that it caused me pain!” “Okay… this is bad, really, really bad. You’re meaning to tell me that after so long we can be facing something… Something that is actually ready to KILL?” “I don’t care right now! One of our people, one of our children is dying Luna!” “Oh Tia…” Luna approached her sitting sister slowly. And then embraced her in a warm hug “I know I shouldn’t be saying this now, but… You know that sometimes you can’t avoid something that is only natural even with all the power you and I have…” Celestia returned the hug and began to sob quietly “But we did everything… After so long I thought it worked…” Celestia replied “Tia… Death is something that cannot be avoided… I told you that once and I’m sorry that it’s true…” After a few moments, still embraced in the hug, Celestia said “Luna…?” “Hmm?” “He’s gone… He’s dead” Location: Equestria, previously known as Earth, 48 km north of Stalliongrad City previously known as Volgograd. The Colossus increased pressure in his claw once again. The effect was immediate this time. Whatever was resisting the physical pressure previously, was now completely gone. The cuts in the ponys neck became much deeper, blood dripping from the wounds faster than previously. The pony had already lost what was left of his rational mind. Instinct told him to try and get out, but he was already too weak to do anything. The blood loss by now was massive; a pool of blood directly under Bluejuice was getting bigger. Colossus finally decided that it can continue the Ultra Fear doctrine execution as all the obstacles were removed. The pressure increased to 1 ton and the little dark blue pony was beheaded with an audible crack and meaty, disgusting sound that could only be associated with cutting directly through the throat and spine. The headless corpse fell down into the pool of blood with a quiet splash. The head flew a little further and hit the snowy ground without any sound whatsoever. Colossus turned to the landing site of the head. Fortunately it didn’t have to move from the spot as the head was in its arms reach. It picked the head from the ground, delicately holding it in two claws. The eyes were completely empty, dim and devoid of any signs of life. The tongue was lolled out of the heads mouth. It gave the image a horrific accent that would cause most organics to lose their logical thought ability. Blood was still slowly dripping from the bottom of the head. The cut was very clean and straight, almost surgical by the looks. That didn’t matter tough. Colossus quickly turned to the site where the village was and immediately respotted the remaining two organics. It precisely calculated the distance to them and force of throw necessary for the action it was about to take. It raised the clawed arm up and then with exact necessary force threw the head towards the village. “What is taking this brat so long?” Asked the annoyed Captain “I don’t know sir! But I suspect he might have got lost!” Answered the question War Dancer “Ech… That’s just damn perfect, now we’ll have to go look for him!” Shouted the commanding officer Suddenly a quiet thud ended their conversation. They both looked in the direction from which the sound came and saw something dark blue in the snow. “What on Equestria is that?” Asked the old stallion “I don’t know sir! Should we examine it?” “Well we might as well, seeing as the youngling is not coming back anytime soon” They both approached the thing to take a closer look “It looks like a hairy ball… with ears?” “Sir! Maybe we should turn it around! It might be a wounded animal!” “Good thinking guard War Dancer” War Dancer put a hoof on the thing and turned it the other way around, what they both saw however scarred them for the rest of their lives. Bluejuice was looking at them, with his tongue lolled out, an expression of pain and fear frozen on his face.The rest of the blood was slowly sucked by the snow from the bottom of the head. Both ponies were immediately glued to the spot, unable to move or speak, simply staring at the bodiless remains of the dark blue pony. They even failed to hear the sound of imminent doom approaching… STOMP… A/n: Roooargh need more timeeee... Well exams all almost behind me soooo... Soon I'll be posting more actively... I hope :P The Awakening, Part 6Division 48 – The Awakening, part 6 When freedom burns The final solution Dreams fade away and all hope turns to dust When millions burn The curtain has fallen Lost to the world as they perish in flames Author: Sabaton, Coat of Arms, 2010 The Anomaly Gate Division 48 Prototype – Never constructed Union of Soviet Socialist Republics Prototype – 1989 Date of the Construction Beginning – July 11th 1988 Original Concept - Bruno Maksimovich Pontekorvo, 30th August 1977 Original Name – No Data Construction Works interrupted – 1991 Department of Disclosure blueprint discovery – 2051 Anomaly Gate was originally invented by Bruno Pontekorvo, as a mean for corpuscular transportation of objects. It was supposed to be powered by a nuclear reactor. The whole concept and blueprint was a very advanced idea, using many not yet discovered effects and laws of universe in practice. How Pontekorvo was able to develop such an advanced thing remains a mystery to USSR, later Russia and UEF. The blueprint was ridiculously simple to follow, but the lack of proper materials and ingredients made the construction impossible to complete at current time, which Pontekorvo himself was supervising. Some workers stated that when he was observing the blueprint come to life, he seemed to be in some kind of a trance, he was also always able to find a way to bypass the technological barriers that existed due to the overall technological advancement of the era. Simple metal welding became much more complicated when he introduced and ordered to implement weird inventions and contraptions that in his opinion would allow bypassing the technological barriers. Unfortunately for the whole project, with the imminent fall of USSR came a direct order from above to immediately drop the project, bury the Complex and burn all the documents. The workers and experts working on the project followed the order, unlike Pontekorvo who was protesting and trying to save as much data as possible. The end of his dream and his life work devastated the man. With the last pile of dirt covering the base in 1991 the Anomaly Gate project was forgotten and erased out of existence. Bruno however saved some files and documents that could give a hint what the Gate was and where its skeleton lied. The scientist died in 1993 (unknown causes, officially Parkinson’s disease) leaving the documents to his family. With the end of electronic war in 2021 and rise of UEF, the freshly created Department of Disclosure, responsible of uncovering the secrets of all member states, but also collecting and transferring them to the Presidential Vault stumbled upon the concept of the project mentioned in few Top Secret Soviet documents. In 2028 all the data in possession of Pontekorvo family were obtained and quickly deciphered by the department. The Anomaly Gate Complex (Officially named Complex 13, as it was the 13th top secret base uncovered by the department in the World) was discovered, located in the middle of Volgograd, works to unbury and power up the base quickly begun. In 2050 after the complex was uncovered, repaired and powered up the UEF president, Alfred Molière approved of project development and continuation designating Division 48 as an official overseer, and granting the project unlimited resources. In 2051 the original Pontekorvo concept was recovered from the remains of burned documents and slow process of construction begun, now all the technology available thanks to the Eternal Eye, seemingly nothing stood in the way to finish the Gate. It was finished in 2072, however there were no proper algorithms, calibrations and operational instructions to use it. First attempt to create proper calibrations and other necessary data came when Doctor Natalia Wiśniewska was designated by the President as a project leader and base administrator. After 10 years of hardships she completed and implemented the data in the Gates computers. Unfortunately they were painfully verified by reality, when Wiśniewska herself died from exotic radiation exposure, from the overloaded Negative Charged Ether Reactor. Project was put on hold as there seemed to be no other specialist in the field of singularity technology. The situation changed with appearance of Pyotr Azarov in 2089, who quickly became a rising star in the scientific community. He was recognized as a genius and scientific wizard with level of expertise beyond anything seen previously. It wasn’t long until the genius was put in charge of Complex 13 (2095) and developed the necessary data, now adapted to Condition 9 in 2100. The Gate was activated and marked as working on June 12th 2100. Practical Information The Gate operates as two way passage between the reality and the void. It literally creates an enormous gash in the matter allowing for passage of physical objects, be they organic or not. The pillar of black light is the gash itself and on the whole length of the pillar, the void is accessible. There is however one important detail to this method of immediate transfer. Normally if an organic being tries to enter the void, it would immediately be ripped apart into basic molecules by the void and then consumed as it is a foreign body. In order to avoid this unpleasant experience the organic being or inanimate object need to be somehow protected. An answer to that is negatively charged ether reactor and coil similar to ones used in the gate. If the being or object is charged with the energy coming from the reactor itself they would be able to pass into the void, their molecules resistant to its forces. Another barrier to this is a simple fact that any living being would die instantly under such electrical current. That’s where another idea sprung up - instead of directly exposing the being to the current it is better to put the person into an etherium made object and charge it instead of the being, creating a safety cocoon and allowing the passage of both through the void. That’s why all UEF space crafts are equipped with such negatively charged ether reactors and coils, sending the current through the whole ship, which creates the cocoon for the people inside it. The Blight Arcanum As mentioned before the Blight Arcanum is a powerful artifact, seen in many worlds and associated with destruction, apocalypse and death. It was very often a reason for Dimensional Guardians intervention, as the Arcanum upsets the balance of the universe. It a certain unpredictable factor, that cannot be contained. Every attempt to capture the artifact failed and many guardians fell to its unthinkable power. It seems to have a mind of its own as it appears always in the worlds unsure of their future, in moments of uncertainty, to cause havoc and create a storm of pure chaos. The ones which use the Arcanum are called The Vessels, as they seem to be possessed by the accursed object. It was said that they can’t help themselves and must use its power. On the other hand it’s a quite a natural attribute of sentient beings, granted unlimited resources and power they will eventually use it for their own personal need. From scientific point of view the artifact has a direct artery connection with the Universe blood system. This ensures unlimited energy and creates a certain paradox. Why would Universe, that always naturally seeks balance, support an object causing complete chaos? This seems to be yet another mystery. Overall it is suspected that the Arcanum holds at least 100 ways to release the UB (Universe Blood) energy, these bursts of chaotic void energy were quickly dubbed “spells” as they requires a certain verbal component to work. Well if we weren’t as wise as we are now, we would probably end the divagations at this point, however Guardians knowledge allowed for more complete and detailed study. It seems that the BA is in fact a living, sentient being, an organ of the Universe itself that has no proper purpose. It can be compared to an appendix in human body, which is of course an organ, but currently serves no purpose whatsoever. It is speculated that similarly to the human organ the Arcanum was used for something that became obsolete at some point. Another interesting fact came shortly after DG (Dimensional Guardians) tried to capture the Arcanum for the 14th time. One of the DG that survived the massacre caused by the BA (Blight Arcanum) stated that he heard voice in his head, firm, growly and mocking one, speaking in a language that he didn’t understand. Because the Guardian stating that was in fact a telepath master, his statement was quickly confirmed. A theory came up with it - the Arcanum in fact can speak on a telepathic level and can be spoken to, conventionally. This explains the verbal component necessary for “casting a spell” and might explain the theory about the Vessels being possessed by the BA. The Vessels themselves seem to be picked randomly by the Arcanum, which speaks to them, possibly creating disturbing visions that eventually destroy the target mentally, causing a loss of sanity. This yet another theory would be valid if not for a certain recent discovery. All the ceased vessels minds were blank, cleaned by the Arcanum or by the effect of the bond severing. These beings became vegetables after the BA changed its dimensional position, it didn’t matter what race was or mental attributes one had, every single Vessel was affected similarly. The other most important similarity was a fact that all of the Vessels were telepathically sensitive or had some minor telepathic abilities. This allows for understanding of BA behavior. Final matter noticed by the Guardians is, that BA after arrival to the new world seems to be dormant for at least 1 year. This is however the minimal possible amount of time in which the Arcanum lies dormant. The number seems to be random and the BA might awaken after much longer time. The overall havoc caused by the Vessel and Arcanum is actually nothing compared to the destruction caused by something much more sinister. The Blight Gate The Blight Gate is a term strictly connected with The Blight Arcanum .It is the ultimate and final goal pursued and eventually achieved by it. As to what exactly the gate is, even Guardians fail to comprehend. In one of the old dairies by Elder Richard Verney it is written: “(…) I opened my eyes, ringing in my ears, I couldn’t hear my own thoughts for a while. I sat and what I realized soon after that was ghastly. My comrades dead, lying in pool of their own blood. My grievous wound created by the spiteful power of the Arcanum ache, the burning pain penetrating my soul. I knew it will stay on my chest forever, a mark of the survivor. My flesh protesting to my forced attempt of staying conscious. But I couldn’t afford to lose an opportunity to see it, see the Blight Gate. In the middle of the field, surrounded by corpses of innocent people sat The Vessel. She was empty, Arcanum left her some time ago, emptying her mind and creating a lifeless shell. I couldn’t help but see an innocent child, behind all the dried blood on her face. She was tormented and tortured by the BA to do its bidding. No one should ever suffer such fate. I turned my head to the left, the ringing in my ears fading away, replaced by a sound of fire and flames. Then I saw it, the Gate, and it was unlike anything I ever saw in my life. Its frames made of bones and flesh of the dead forming a pointed arch, blood still dripping from them. The entrance of the gate was made of crimson flames licking the bony frames. The disgusting smell of burned flesh and bones irritated my nose .The scene was inhumane, terrifying and logic couldn’t possibly apply to it. I realized that BA already left this dimension, through the wall of flames. I lacked time to analyze possibilities of further actions as the flames started to spread and the abomination fell, creating a pile of meat and bones on the ground. The pain in my chest rose and I couldn’t force my consciousness to stay, especially after seeing all that. I collapsed to the ground and everything went black. (…)” The description of the gate denies every single law known to DG. It was declared impossible. The capture of the Arcanum still remains out of reach to the Guardians as there seems to be no way, currently known of doing that. If the gate would be only a mean of transportation for the Arcanum, it wouldn’t be such a problem, however when the Gate is closing, it creates an additional effect. The effect, fearfully dubbed The Agonizing Flames, gained its name for a reason. An enormous explosion of fire spreads in random directions from the base of the Gate, these flames cannot be put out by any means and even the Guardians are helpless when faced with AF. The fire spreads slowly and completely devours everything in its path, leaving only ashy wasteland. Eventually the flames consume the whole world leaving behind only a husk of the planet. They put themselves out once there is nothing more to consume, again showing some sinister intelligence and sentiency behind its action. Location: Equestria, Eastern Border, Guard Outpost White Spear slowly opened his eyes, his mind not yet registering and recollecting what has transpired not a few hours ago. His vision blurry, he blinked a few times. All his senses started to kick in one after another. First he smelled something, something unknown to his nose, something metallic and for some reason he didn’t like this smell having bad feeling about it. Then his ears started to register sounds, particularly wind that swayed the trees. Then came the vision, the blurriness fading away replaced by outlines of trees, some other object in the night, but other than that a thick layer of darkness. Understandable as his eyes just started to adjust. He finally tried to move, limbs feeling sore, but nothing other than that. With his strength slowly coming back to him, White Spear started to get up. His forelimbs shaking as if a considerable amount of strain was put on them, as if his organism pumped large dosages of adrenaline for some reason… But why? He couldn’t remember. After he got up, he waited for his eyes to adjust. With time he started to recognize details of his surroundings. He spotted some kind of ruined building, the smell of metal was mostly coming from there. The building was somehow familiar but… Wait… He’s at the guard outpost, the structure was in fact barracks. He had night shift today and then… His eyes slowly widening and his legs started to shake yet again. He quickly cast a light spell and in a matter of seconds the darkness was dispersed. He looked down and recalled everything immediately. Everything his mind tried to bury to protect his psyche assaulted him at once. The disfigured and shattered remains of his friend lied in front of him, blood slowly being frozen. No… It couldn’t have happened; it had to be some trickery! But… there is no other unicorn guard here. No one could cast such a horrific illusion spell. Tears slowly started to form in his eyes as he dropped to his knees and looked at the massacre. It was such a grotesque and impossible scene, that his mind couldn’t comprehend it -The torn walls of the shed, the massacred bodies of other guards trying to run from death, the ones that were murdered in their sleep, the marks of some kind of bullets everywhere and finally the mutilated pieces of Sharp Sword lying in front of him. The reality slowly dawned at him, as his mind started to understand all of it. In consequence he was slowly breaking down, a horrible ache in his heart and turmoil of emotions in his head. “Why…” He whispered and then realized something that would torment him forever. “No…” The last thing he said to his friend “No.” He stated firmly shaking his head. The words, that marked him. “No!” He shouted, vigorously shaking his head, with his forelegs on both sides of it. His cowardice leading to all of it… He was a traitor, he betrayed his friend and all other guards. He betrayed Equestria and he betrayed both Luna and Celestia. “No! NOOOOO!” He screamed at the night sky, tears coming down his cheeks as the young unicorn broke down. He cried and sobbed with hooves on his face. His mind trying to find any possible way of stopping this mental catastrophe, slipped him a little and innocent rationalizing idea. If he would agree with Sharp Sword, he would have lied next to him, a pile of flesh and bone. He would have died… “No… It was despicable…” But he would have died and now he’s marked as non-hostile… Could he really believe that something other than Celestia would stop such a monster? “No! It was wrong” He is alive and well. Maybe a little shaken up, but that’s about it. Now he can get the news to Canterlot itself and warn the sisters about the danger! “But…” He would be rewarded handsomely, as there was nothing he could do to the metal monster. Of course the conversation with the beast won’t be mentioned “Lie? But it’s…” There’s no other option and he doesn’t want to be punished or thrown to prison forever, now does he? “No… But what about Sharp Sword and the others…” He should leave them, he has no time for burials, he has to catch up and make sure that he is first to reach the Canterlot. He nodded to himself, it seemed that all of this made perfect sense. He sighed heavily, tears still forming in his eyes. “I will avenge you Sharp Sword… I will redeem myself!” He stated confidently. Then he looked around and spotted a patch of destroyed trees and gigantic foot print on the ground. That was probably the way, the monster took. “Okay… You can do this White Spear, just concentrate on your mission” That said White Spear left the Outpost (With much hardship, his conscience tormenting him already) and wandered in the direction the Colossus took. Location: Equestria, 48 km from Stalliongrad previously known as Volgograd, Sunset Village. The two remaining guards were completely frozen, the instant shock and realization shutting down their consciousness, their minds distancing from the reality as much as possible, not willing to accept the simple yet unbearable facts. Heavy steps of the Colossus were getting closer and louder. Soon the last trees fallen near the opening and the machine in all its might stood in the open. The only ones that were any kind of threat eliminated, the mech scanned the village, noticing that a few aliens woke up from their sleep. A light appeared in the windows of the biggest house in the village, on the left side of the Colossus. An older stallion with grey mane and dull yellow coat opened the heavy wooden door coming out into the open. He blinked a few times trying to wake up fully. He shook his head and finally took a look at the village. Immediately he noticed the gigantic machine standing not 10 meters from him. “Holy Celestia…” He said quietly taking a good look at the robot. By that time the clawed Colossus hand was pointing at the stallion, claws open, a small tube extended itself from the palm. Right before the pony was about to do something a silent swish could be heard. A dot appeared in the middle of his head, blood slowly dripping from it. The pony was frozen in on the spot for a while and then fell down to the ground, dead. Colossus withdrew his hand and analyzed the situation. The two guard ponies were still standing in the same position, not moving, not reacting to outside stimuli, shut down. The other creatures were asleep not waking up to the Colossus loud stomps. The few that did wake up, went back to sleep dismissing the sounds as natural to the forest. A decision was quickly made. The machine didn’t want to attract any unnecessary attention, but it also couldn’t let the hostile aliens live. The other arm of the Colossus pointed down to the middle of the village. A hole opened in the center of the barreled hand, and yet another swish could be heard. A small metallic ball landed in the place the mech was pointing at. The Colossus then proceeded to carry on with its primary objective as it concluded that the case of the Village is closed. The machine moved through the village to the other end of it and then again to the forest, straight to Stalliongrad. The small ball still lying in the snow didn’t look like anything dangerous. The reality however was quite different, as the ball was in fact a gas bomb containing large amounts of Sarin, a very effective nerve agent. A red flickering light appeared on the ball, which flashed faster and faster with passing seconds. After about 15 second the ball opened and something colorless but very much deadly flew in the air slowly covering the whole Sunset village. This night Celestia felt pain unlike any other, caused by 357 of life flames disappearing. Location: Equestria, previously known as Earth, Ponyville, previously knowns as , The library tree Twilight Sparkle opened her tired eyes, the Sun blinding her at first, but then her eyes reluctantly adjusted, she slowly got up taking in the reality after her dreamless sleep. Everything seemed less colorful to her, now that she seen those nightmares and heard the wicked voice. Her bright coat lost its fabulous glimmer and seemed much darker, much less cheerful than usual. Her room was no longer her happy place, calm place, where she could concentrate; now it only reminded her of the nightmare, the death, the bodies, the flames … Spike was getting very worried and scared of her and she couldn’t blame him, some of her recent reactions were very… Unpleasant to say the least… After what she did two days ago it was only natural for him to be afraid. She was ashamed of herself and still couldn’t believe in what she has done, but also couldn’t deny it. She walked up to the mirror in her room. The pony looking at her was a disaster, her face seemed paler and sad, some wrinkles appeared around it, her mane was unkempt and some grey hair were visible here and there. She shook her head with resignation. She was so tired, but sleep didn’t give her energy, it seemed to further drain her of it. She slowly turned around and walked down the stairs, Spike was nowhere to be found and it wasn’t surprising, he was probably hiding, hiding from her. “Spike it’s alright! You can come out… Please come out.” She said, her voice huskier than usual. No response, he wasn’t about to come out anytime soon. She sighed heavily, her head sinking down as she remembered what has transpired two day ago. Location: Equestria, previously known as Earth, Ponyville, previously known as , The Carousel Boutique, previously known as Biotechnology and Cryogenic Underground Complex Beta or Base 2, 2 days ago Twilight Sparkle was borrowed by the generous Fashionista to try out her new fabulous creations. As usually Rarity took her sweet time dressing Twilight, redressing her and then judging everything with her fashion-sensitive sight. Recently Twilight was avoiding her friends, not willing to talk about her nightmares and… the voice, but once in a while just to clear herself of all the suspicions she was meeting with a few of them, carrying a mask of happiness, where in fact she felt empty, angry and depressed all the time… She explained that she has some project Princess Celestia gave her to complete and that’s why she doesn’t have much time. Of course all 5 mares quickly believed her and were asking if they can help. Now it was one of these days, she was meeting with her friends. Currently she was helping Rarity, what she actually preferred to do, as the Element of Generosity didn’t tend to talk during her creative process. Every time Twilight had to speak, she was in agony, unable to keep the fake cheerfulness all the time, unable to pretend like that. That’s why right now she was more relaxed than usual. Time was passing by slowly, very slowly. Minutes turned to hours as she was still standing in one position while Rarity was studying the overall result. “Oh, no, no, this simply won’t do!” Said Rarity with her usual lordly voice, yet again taking off a colorful scarf of Twilight and immediately looking for a suitable replacement. Time was flowing so slowly… she was starting to feel itchy and then irritated. “Why won’t she hurry up, why won’t she just throw together something and call it a day!” Thought Twilight blinking nervously and wanting to move so badly… Her irritation was rising with every passing second. Then the irritation transformed in to anger, anger which was slowly starting to boil inside of her. “FINISH it already! Finish it or I will!” She screamed inside her own head. Tee hee, having trouble Sparkles? Oh you’re a little mad aren’t you? Said the arrogant growly voice. Twilight froze… “No… not you again…” I think you meant “not me again” Ehehehe… The voice mocked her. Her eyes narrowed, the anger almost exploding. “Leave me alone!” She shouted. Oh Twi, Twi, you still don’t get it… You are alone, very much. I am a part of you, so I AM YOU. But that’s not why you’re so lonely is it? The feeling of emptiness, this ache inside of you, a need for someone to share the pain with. “Shut UP!!! You don’t know anything!” She bit her tongue in the last moment, almost screaming the words out loud. Now, now, be nice! I’m trying to help you here, making a valid point. Look, your mask covers the turmoil inside of you badly… Don’t you think that someone who knew you, who you could trust and call a friend, would see through it right away? Now what does that mean? “I’m not listening to you! You’re nothing!” Come now, would “nothing” discover such a complicated truth? Twilight I’m very sorry, but look at her! Look at that dumb white bitch! Do you REALLY believe inside of you, that she is your friend? Why hasn’t she even asked you, how are you feeling? Twilight was silent, only turning her head to look at Rarity, who was still very busy babbling something about wrong color blend. She didn’t even bother to look at Twilight, smile or even ask her opinion about the clothes. You see it, don’t you? She USES you, she only needs you as a tool! Friends don’t do that… And the rest of them? When they have a problem who do they come to? “Me…” She said quietly. Exactly my lil’ sweetheart, You. And if you have a problem who solves it? “Me…?” Indeed, they always seem to be trying to help you but not with their full capabilities. They don’t care about you! “It’s not true! I had a lot of opportunities to see ho-“ Don’t you think all of them were eventually solved by YOU Sparkle? All those mysteries and problems, you always came up with an idea, always… “But… that can’t be the truth… “ Oh it is the truth and you know it… But taking that aside, what do you do with filthy liars like that? “I… don’t know…” You PUNISH them! CARVE their bodies, RIP them apart!!! Twilights expression was blank, her sight fixed on Rarity that was showing her back to Twilight, sewing some materials together and humming her song. Twilight felt a sudden burst of anger, pure hatred boiling inside of her… Then everything went red. Her face became expressionless, cold as stone. She quietly walked down from the pedestal slowly approaching the unaware Fashionista. Very good Sparkle, PUNISH her… You see those scissors lying on the table? Pick them up... Twilights horn lit up dimly, as she picked up the industrial scissors from the table on her left, used for cutting thick material, they were very sharp, large and heavy. Now you know what to do… he scissors flew quietly towards Rarity, who still hummed cheerfully. They stopped centimeters from her exposed back… STAB HER! Punish the pathetic whore! The scissors didn’t move… Twilight started to sweat, her expression turning into a strained one, as if she was under heavy stress. Finish her parasitic existence! KILL HER! The voice screamed excitedly. Suddenly a loud thud could be heard as the heavy scissors dropped down to the ground. Rarity jumped up turning around to see heavily breathing Twilight. “Oh heavens!” Rarity shouted, startled by the thud. “I’m sorry, I have to go…” Said Twilight, her voice breaking down, tears slowly appearing in her eyes. She quickly ran to the exit, throwing the dress off of herself. “Twilight, wait!” Shouted Rarity, dumbstruck and not quite understanding what happened. Then she looked down and noticed the heavy scissors lying just centimeters from her… “What are those doing here…?” Asked herself the white pony, fortunately not coming into conclusion that her friend tried to stab her. Twilight Sparkle ran through Ponyville sobbing. The voice disappeared after she dropped the scissors. What was she about to do? She wasn’t even sure, but it was something so vicious, so hideous, that her mind wasn’t ready to accept it. Her insides turned upside down as she remembered the voice and red fog around her vision. She stopped suddenly and turned into an empty alley. There the bile building up in her stomach was released, as she vomited on the ground, breathing sharply, she raised her head, trying not to think about what has happened anymore. Slowly she trotted to her house, she needed to rest now, forget and find a way to cleanse herself of this malicious voice. Sparkles, Sparkles… You could cleanse yourself or heal yourself if it would be a flesh wound. But you are forgetting something… “What?! WHAT AM I FORGETTING?!” She screamed into the sky, with rage and hate she never previously experienced. You can’t cure… Madness… Ehehehehe… AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!... Her head sunk down, as she was really starting to believe, she lost her sanity somehow. Dismissing the persistent thoughts she approached her fortress of solitude and then she opened the door. What she found inside simply surprised her at first. Spike was cleaning the floor, picking up some shards of broken glass or other material of the type. The baby dragon noticed her and immediately dropped the broom, quickly running to her. “Twilight, I’m so sorry, I was looking through some books, and… and I didn’t notice this lens from your telescope just lying there… I took the book and it must have pushed the lens…” Spike looked sad and it was obvious he felt guilty. Normally Twilight would simply smile and dismiss such a small thing, making the dragon feel better. However this time was quite different, as Twilight was very much different. Ohoho… Look at the poor fellow. He wants to avoid punishment, awww… PUNISH HIM! “You did what?” Asked Twilight, narrowing her eyes. “I… broke the lens Twi… I’m very sorry.” “Do you realize what’s it worth? WELL DO YOU?!” “I… Don’t know…” Tears appeared in his green eyes. Use your magic! Grab the little fuck by the throat! Her anger boiled again for no reason… The red fog returned, she showed her teeth and her horn lit up. “Twi…? What are you doing?” Asked the scared baby dragon “Well I’m giving you your reward you miserable piece of TRASH!” Spike saw the magical purple energy grabbing him by the throat. “Aaah!” He screamed just before he felt a steel grip squeezing air from him. Twilight raised him up into the air. The dragon was fighting with the devious magical hold she had over him, with no luck. His claws couldn’t even touch the energy around his neck. His vision was getting blurry as he was starting to suffocate. Go on Sparkle! Give him his punishment! Hehehe… Laughed the voice, obviously very happy. Twilight cocked her head to the left. Spike was looking at her with fear and plead of help at the same time. She smiled… And then smashed the dragon against the wall. Sound of cracking wood followed the throw and another sound she didn’t recognize, also a cracking one, but different. She picked the lying dragon of the floor with her powerful magic. Now she knew what the other sound was, Spikes arm was flexed at a very weird angle, there was also red liquid coming from his nose. The dragon already lost his consciousness, what was only natural. The force she put in that throw was very powerful. She released Spike with a huff of irritation and approached him. “You see? Don’t make me punish you ever again!“ No response - the dragon’s body was lying on the floor unmoving. The fog around her vision slowly dispersed and then she painfully realized what she has done to her friend. “Nooo!” She screamed terrified, quickly picking the baby dragon off the floor. She moved him carefully to his bed lying him down, yet again sobbing. She examined him quickly – left arm broken in few places, severe head trauma and skull fracture, 2 ribs broken, internal bleeding… Wait… how did she know all that? How did she know what was head trauma or how a broken arm looks and feels like? Oh that’s just some information I gave you, no need to thank me purples. “But you said you were me!” She shouted, yet again enraged. Oh who said I was telling the truth, huh? Bwahahaha! She ignored the voice and begun to heal Spike with her powers. She could heal almost everything, except his memory… Maybe she should also erase memory of what she did…? NO! This will make everything even worse! She can’t do that! Twilight left the unconscious dragon and went to her room to finally get some rest. Maybe everything will be better after that, maybe all this will be over… What? You really think that? Well… I’m not going anywhere, naïve little pony, I’m staying here so we can become best friends! You like that don’t you? Making friends? The voice laughed spitefully. Aww, okay, I’ll leave you alone now. Hey, I can always torment you tomorrow? How about that, eh? Twilight didn’t respond and was trying to block the voice out as much as she could… And it worked; the voice couldn’t be heard anymore. She sighed, tired of everything and then blissfully fell asleep. Location: Equestria, previously known as Earth, Ponyville, previously knowns as , The library tree. Present time Twilight looked around, she wanted to look for him badly, but also knew, that she can’t do it. He has to approach her himself, if she approaches him fist, he will definitely run away from her, like he did yesterday. She found him in the cellar, hiding behind some old equipment. When she moved it around to approach him, he said something that wounded her deeply. “No! Get away from me! You monster!” He then ran past her, to hide somewhere else. She stood in the cellar for a long time… He called her a monster… Was she really becoming one? Well, you know, you tried to kill somepony for no reason, no? You know how such behavior is called? “…Antisocial Personality Disorder…” Answered Twilight. Ding, ding, ding! Score! You see? Information I gave you did come in handy, now you can proudly call yourself a Sociopath, hehehe… She shook her head sadly… A few of her friends tried to visit her, but she just continued to lie, saying she still hasn’t finished the project from Celestia. The only thing she could do is going upstairs and reading, not coming out of her fortress, the only place that could contain her slowly changing self… A/N: Oh boy... Sorry it took so long O_o But I didn't have much time + was tbh a lil' lazy :P Aaanyway... Prepere for some bloody massacre in the next chapter... Mmm, tasty... The Awakening, Part 7Division 48 – The awakening, part 7 When the skies turn red The wings of Death are spread Blood will be spilled, pain will be known To those innocents own For Death takes a deadlier shape And there’s no way to escape “Human” has Death been named And “Vendetta” has the Human tamed The Final Prophecy by Dragon Lord Xer’ariv, Equestria, 92 years before Celestia and Luna Reign War Dreadnought “UEFF Vendetta"– Technical Information Length – 80 km Height – 60 km Hull Material – Purified Etherium Shields – BC Reflector Prototype – based on reversed singularity radiation Weapons – x4 EREC, 30x Kinetic Singularity Rippers, 2x HASD (Heavy Anomaly Star Destroyer), 24x Gauss Cannon, 92x Gauss Anti-fighter Machine Guns, Sensors – High Frequency Void Transmitters Power Supply – Ferros Multiple Black Singularity Synchronized Cores Additional Equipment – Anomaly Gate Receiver Year of production – 2121 Factory ID – UEF Colonial Manufactory 1 Blueprint – Division 48 D91/121, 2115 Personnel – 40 000 Captain – Commander Christopher Jackson Main Objective – Wandering Fleet Security/Condition 9 Invasion Protocols UEFF Vendetta is a true diamond amongst all starships ever produced by humankind. It possesses the newest and deadliest technology known to humanity. Capable of annihilating a whole World, Vendetta is not a ship anyone wants to make enemy of. Possessing over 140 different ways to make someone’s day go from bad to worse, Vendetta has a very important role amongst the Flotilla. The ship is the only one possessing the proper demise receiver and is the only one capable of establishing and holding an anomaly gate connection, allowing other ships to pass through. Build precisely for Earth’s retrieval, the Dreadnought is ready to take on anything the changed Earth has to offer and wipe it off the planets face. Similar in shape to a shark, with two recently developed Singularity Engines the Vendetta is black with all the angles and sharp ends colored in dark green. Ships face is similar to a shark’s snout and additionally it even possesses a dorsal fin starting from the ship’s bow, elongated through the whole ship and ending sharply at the engines exhaust. Whatever or Whoever the enemy will be, Vendetta will make sure that last thing he sees is a blast of energy from her ERECs. Location: Milky Way, Hades Gamma Cluster, Deep Space, Sector V-106, War Dreadnaught “UEFF Vendetta”, Deck 17 - Corridors Commander Jackson was a tall, muscular man. Some said he would be a good model, women compared him to Hercules and other men were very jealous of his posture. His face indeed was almost model perfect, his green eyes seemed to glow brightly showing his high vitality, the wide jaw was composing magnificently with his cheekbones, while his nose was straight and seemed to be shaped by Michael Angelo himself. The only thing spoiling the effect was a hideous scar running down from his left cheekbone, through his lips and ending on the right side of the jaw. What the Commander had in appearance, he lacked in emotion. This man was practically devoid of it or at least he never showed it on the outside. Always official, always calm and calculating, those are the words describing Commander Christopher Jackson very nicely. Currently he was very much agitated (inside), as not only the Earth Recovery time was coming closer with each day, but also Vendetta received a Dismay Signal. One of the Achilles Defense Network Satellites has been activated not long ago, the signal however appeared to be dulled and the data stamp of the satellite showed it was about 2000 years old. The only reasonable explanation to the phenomenon would be a temporal displacement caused by the time shift during the Collapse. Christopher however didn’t know that for sure, it was only his speculation, as currently he was walking through the corridors of the Dreadnought, towards the Analysis Laboratory. The corridors were obsidian black with some dark green markings indicating the pathways for different points in the ship. Because of its size, Vendetta was not a ship anyone would simply walk through, it would take too much time and effort and so in different strategic points of the ship Anomaly Jumpers were introduced. Similar to the Gate the Jumpers act as short-distance transit method through the ship. They look like black round pads in the floor and are activated through voice-command. Commander Jackson quickly made his way through the corridors, passing different crew members, who at some points were saluting. He finally arrived at the Jumper and quickly positioned himself in the middle of it. “Analysis Laboratory!” The pad reacted immediately and Christopher was enveloped in black light that erupted from the base of the pad towards a similar pad in the ceiling. Location: Milky Way, Hades Gamma Cluster, Deep Space, Sector V-106, War Dreadnaught “UEFF Vendetta”, Deck 29 – Communications Center, Analysis Laboratory, Section A-8 Professor Hannah Orlov a 38 years old blonde woman with perfectly shaped body was already waiting for the Captain in front of the Jumper. Her long unkempt hair was loosely covering her shoulders. Her green, small glasses were reflecting the light coming down from the reflectors spread through the whole deck. She was wearing a white lab-coat, that wasn’t really necessary in Communications Center, but she insisted that it helped her keep her style. Orlov was a top-researcher and officially the head of Deck 29. She made things run smooth, helped developing the Vendetta itself and also she was the second Condition 9 specialist the ship had. Currently she was annoyed as Commander Jackson was taking his sweet time arriving at the Center. Curiously enough, the Center looked itself like a huge hangar with different work stations pressed to the walls, as if to make room for something gigantic in the middle. In fact there was something humongous in the middle of the Center. It was a neuro-computer shaped like a cube with different displays attached to it. About 50 people were working through the displays, imputing different data and searching the void for any activity. The neuro-computer was necessary for the complexity connected with void data was too big for any standard computer. It had different pathways embed into it that were emitting a calm green glow. It was not a central AI core of the ship, it was a standalone unit, which purpose was only research. Hannah however was not much interested in the whole “humanities achievement” thing, as she was impatiently staring at the jumper pad, which finally activated with an unpleasant wheeze. A pillar of black light shot from the base of the pad towards the ceiling of the Center. It disappeared as quickly as it has appeared, leaving a deep in thought Captain, standing idly. “Took you long enough Chris” Said Hannah evidently angry with the Commander. The commander suddenly raised his head, as if getting rid of his thoughts and answered as emotionlessly as usual. “What’s the situation Professor?” Hannah was used to his official tone and way of speech by now, he however never required to be called Commander or anything like that by her and to be honest she was pretty good with that. “Well, let’s walk, shall we? I’ll enlighten you on the way.” She said, all traces of her anger gone. Her voice was very warm and somehow even sweet. This woman was probably able to manipulate the opposite gender with ease, if she ever wanted to. The Commander nodded slowly and they both proceeded to walk towards the glowing cube in the distance. “First off, we received an activation signal from Achilles Defense Network, meaning that Condition 9 was successfully initiated. There also seems to be a temporal anomaly, which caused Earth to jump 2000 years in the future and somehow still remain outside of void, reachable from space. Fortunately Etherium is quite resistant to different anomalies and other freaky stuff, preserving almost the whole network untouched. This is first good news I have…” Said Hannah on one breath. She then raised her finger up, while looking directly at Jackson. “Second good news, the Network is responding and is very much operational, with all the boom and bang and kablamo…” Chris stared the woman down “Ekhem, with all the scary weapons accessible remotely. Third good news is, some supply bases survived the reality shifts. Even though all were made of Etherium, with such violent rips in reality I’m not surprised much gave up and collapsed. Fourth good news, and this one is reeeally good…” She smiled wickedly “The Battle Platform has activated and is en route to the ruins of Volgograd, for reasons we all know and wait for.” The Commander smiled slightly, so that another person wouldn’t be able to tell he did. “Aand here come the bad news…” The Commander tensed visibly “We received scans of environment, satellite photos, video and many more data from both the Network and Colossus…” They both stopped in front of the Cube, two scientists inputting some data into green holographic consoles on both their sides, not even taking a look at the guests. “Holographic Visualization, Condition 9, Frame 20 to 100 000” Said Hannah, louder than usual. In front of them a Holographic Earth appeared. “This is Earth prior Collapse. Frame 20 – 2000” The holographic Earth suddenly started to change with the Hologram’s time flow increased. The continents moved differently, smashing each other, changing and forming new masses. “My god…” Said Chris flabbergasted “I know, but the changes from Collapse quickly faded away. Frame 2000 – 50 000” The Hologram started to change again, but this time the Continents were moving ever so slightly, what’s more important, specks and dots of light started to appear all over the new continents. “This is… Civilization?” Asked Commander still dumbstruck “Indeed it is. But that’s not even half of it… Frame 50 000 – 100 000” Now the small dots were coming closer to each other, or new were appearing in groups, making clusters. Then they appeared in lines as if marking roads… “Cities… Cities, roads and electricity…” Commander shook his head with disbelief “Exactly, BUT! This is only the view of whole Earth… Watch this! Frame 100 000, Sector 113 203 197, Magnify and Enhance 100%” Suddenly a square appeared over one cluster of lights, and then the hologram flickered zooming on it. They saw buildings, some of skyscraper height, roads, and they saw thousands upon thousands of colorful dots flowing through the city. “…Aliens?” Asked the Commander slowly “Well technically no, because they were born on Earth, but to us… Yeach… Damn aliens… However this is still not all! Mark Organics, enhance and analyze!” She shouted almost passionately. The hologram flickered again, than all the colorful dots became marked by blue squares. One square flickered and the whole hologram changed perspective to first person, zooming on the marked organic. They saw… A grey, winged pony with straight blonde mane and tail in the same color, that was rotating slowly as a hologram in front of them. Its big golden eyes somehow… wrong… As if squinted… Then the computer began the analysis, cutting the pony in half, showing it in cross-section. All its organs, bones and muscles were now visible, including the nerve pathways. The computer pinpointed different sections of the pony’s body showing black descriptions next to them. Then it pinpointed one organ in the Pony and marked it red. “Is that a fucking horse?!” This time his emotions visible, the Commander could no longer contain his bewilderment. “I’m afraid so…” Answered Hannah “You’re meaning to tell me that a bunch of intelligent colorful horses took over Earth?” He calmed down, asking patiently. “Well… That’s exactly what I’m saying…” The Commander whistled “That is… Disturbing…” He said unsure “My thoughts exactly” Approved Hannah smirking a little bit. “But that’s not the end of the surprises; you see that organ shaped like a ball? Next to the pancreas… It’s marked red by the computer” Jackson nodded slowly “Well it seems to be something of unknown purpose, but the computer marked it as, and get this, Void Sensitive!!” She said excited “What the hell? Those horses can like what… Shape reality around them?” He asked dumbstruck again “Oh you better believe it!” Commander might not look like a smart type, but in fact he is quite intelligent and has a pretty good knowledge about singularities. “Hmm… This might be… troublesome, but knowing that I think I can already tell what actions will the President take” Said Chris, putting a hand on his chin. “Right, basically there are 3 words that I can come up with, describing what will happen… “ Said Hannah, getting suddenly serious, a grim expression on her face. “And those are…?” Asked Jackson calmly “Capture… Dissect… Exterminate…” Location: Equestria, previously known as Earth, Canterlot, Canterlot Castle, Royal Chambers Luna was still embracing her sobbing sister in a warm hug. “There, there… Everything will be well” Maybe the pony died of natural causes? Luna was however somehow skeptical… She felt that something cold and soulless was behind this; she wasn’t sure where did that feeling come from though. Suddenly she felt Celestia stiffen, as her sister stopped sobbing. Luna released her and took a good look at her. Expression of utter terror was visible on the Sun Goddess’s face. Celestia started to shake and brought up her hoof towards the back of her head and then slowly back in front of her eyes. Her hoof was covered in something red… It was blood… Luna’s eyes widened in realization and horror, as blood started to slowly drip from Celestia’s right eye. Everything went blurry for the Sun Goddess, as she started to sway. Then all went black as she lost consciousness feeling intense pain in her head, so intense that she wasn’t even able to scream, her brain simply shut her down to save her mind. “Sister!” Screamed Luna, terrified. She caught her sister, before the latter fell to the ground. “HEEELP!” Luna screamed again, her voice echoing through the whole castle. The response was immediate, two royal guards stormed into the chamber. Luna was crying by now, holding her limp sister in her hoofs, unable to think coherently. The guards however reacted quickly upon seeing the drops of blood hitting the floor. “Call a healer! NOW! The princess is badly hurt!” Shouted one of the guards at the other, with the latter quickly storming out of the Royal Chambers, straight for the healer. “Sister! Celestia! WAKE UP! Please…” Luna shook the Goddess of Sun slightly and pleaded desperately, her eyes wet from the tears and her hooves red from the blood. Her voice broke down as the Night Goddess started to cry, hugging the limp frame of her sister. The healer arrived soon after that, with the other guard by his side. His coat was white, just like his unkempt mane and tail. His black glasses looked elegantly. He was dressed in white doctor’s coat and his cutie mark was that of a doctor’s bag. He was an unicorn with a very sharply ended horn. “Guards, please take Princess Luna away from the patient” Said the Medical Pony nonchalantly. The guards looked at each other, seemingly unsure what to do. They however quickly came to compromise and nodded at each other, closing in on Luna. The Goddess of Night raised her head, still crying she looked at the closing-in guards, shock written all over her face. “Wait… What are you doing?!” Shouted Luna full of sorrow. The guards however stopped in front of her and quickly as lightning grabbed her under the forelegs violently, pulling her away from her beloved sister. “Noo! Leave me alone! NO! CELESTIA!” Luna tried to squirm away, thrashing, but the guards were too strong. They quickly dragged her out of the chamber, while 2 more medical ponies arrived. The last thing Luna saw were closing door of the Royal Chambers and her sister being carefully placed upon a stretcher by the two other medical ponies. “CELESTIA!!!” Screamed Luna loudly, wailing and crying so that the whole castle could hear… And the castle heard, everypony froze when the wail of sorrow echoed through it… Location: Equestria, previously known as Earth, Canterlot, Canterlot Castle, Medical Wing, Royal medical room. “Princess Luna… I’m not sure how to tell you this… But... Princess Celestia suffered a violent cerebral hemorrhage… She’s currently in a state of a deep coma and we can’t be sure if she will ever wake up.” Said the Healer with a Doctor’s Bag as a Cutie Mark, the difference was, that he wore a surgical mask now. He and Luna were both in a very large room with a wide and comfortable bed in the middle of it. There laid Celestia, covered with a white blanket, her eyes closed, bandages around her head, covering her ears and some breathing mask attached to her mouth, with a long transparent tube connected to a golden wheezing machine. Luna knew what it was, a new invention called a Respirator. Created for patients unable to breath for themselves, this could only mean Celestia was in a grave condition. The doctor looked sadly at Celestia “We removed the excess of blood from her brain, but the damage was unavoidable. I’m afraid she lost her sight.” Luna’s eyes went wet again, she lowered her head in sadness. “I understand… Is there nothing we can do now?” Asked Luna, almost whispering The doctor looked at her again “As you know princess, alicorns are very resistant to magic, both harmful and helpful. If it was a normal pony, my staff would cast a few spells and call it a day, but in this case…” The doctor sighed “We can do nothing more, than wait…” Luna sobbed and came closer to the bed “Sis… I hope you can hear me… Fight, fight and wake up, so you can give the World your love again… I love you sister… so please! Wake up!” Luna cried as she lowered her head and kissed her Sisters forehead. She then raised her head and prepared to leave, many duties awaiting her as of now, Luna had to do what Celestia has done during Nightmare Moon period, she will have to raise both the Moon and the Sun. But then she heard a weak whisper coming from the bed “Luna…” Luna turned around to see her sister’s half closed glassed over eyes, looking at hear. She quickly came to her side “Celestia!” She shouted happily, a weak ray of hope appearing in her heart. The medical pony was immediately at Celestia’s side. “357…” Celestia said weakly. Luna placed her hoof on her sister’s heart, feeling the weak heartbeat… “357 died… Sunset Village… Something…” She coughed and wheezed. “Something evil… Stalliongrad… Stop it…” Luna felt the heartbeat slowing and her eyes widened in terror “I love you Luna…” Fortunately the heartbeat didn’t stop. Celestia’s eyes closed as she fell into her coma state again. “It was a miracle she even awakened… But that’s good, our princess has very good chance of coming out from this!” The medical pony said slightly more cheerfully. Luna’s expression of terror on the other hand changed into pure anger. She turned around and walked out quickly from the medical wing, leaving the Medical Pony a little surprised. She walked up to the nearest guard Pony who quickly bowed before her. “Fetch me Shining Armor and General Dead Eye… NOW! I’ll be waiting in my chambers!” Her eyes were burning with anger and pure hatred. Whatever killed 357 ponies, was also responsible for what happened to Celestia and it WILL PAY! “Yes, your highness” The guard quickly turned around and ran to do what he was told. Luna teleported into her chambers and she didn’t even wait a minute, when in a flash of light Shining Armor has appeared and next to him a violet pony with an eye patch on his right eye. The second pony was General Dead Eye, one of very few battle-experienced badasses in the Equestrian Army. He was dressed in full plate armor, colored black and had two blades pinned on the opposite sides of his belt. The two swords were scimitars made of very rare diamond-strong silver. Dead Eye never really had much respect for authority and everypony knew that. He was however a very good strategist and blades-master. That’s why Luna was not much surprised that he just nodded at her without any fancy greetings. Shining Armor on the other hand made full-blown bow. “How can we be of service your Majesty?” Asked Shining Armor “There are a few things I want you to do and fast! As you know Celestia was severely injured by… something… It is however connected with the death of entire Sunset Village, near the icy wasteland border.” Luna said with authority “What?!” Said Shining Armor, dread written all over his face. Dead Eye simply shrugged. “What monster could have done that?” He asked shaking his head. “What monster, indeed. We know that it is powerful and so we will react accordingly. Dead Eye, mobilize the good part of the military and also I’m giving you unlimited funds to hire a bunch of battle-ridden, angry and strong mercenaries. It can be even Diamond Dogs, for what I care. I just want military strength!” Said Luna firmly. “Yes ma’am.” Answered Dead Eye, a smile on his face “Princess, isn’t our army enough to deal with such threat?” Luna smirked and let out a giggle “Are you kidding Captain? Because of my sister’s love, army of this country is made of wimpy, weak cowards. I won’t send anypony to be simply massacred on the battlefield.” Said Luna dryly “Oh…” Answered Shining Armor, visibly taking the slight insult very seriously. Dead Eye let out a laugh on the other hand. “You’re right ma’am, so, so right…” He said wiping a tear from his good eye. She simply stared the General down, the latter however unaffected in the slightest. “Continuing, I plan to release Discord with your help Shining Armor, making him our ally…” Now both Dead Eye and Shining Armor’s jaws dropped to the floor. “Don’t worry, I have a method for him, he is necessary to release… It…” She stated calmly “Lady… You’re bonkers! You can’t just… just release another monster and then another one, hoping it will do any good!” Dead Eye said nervously. “It is NOT your duty General, to lecture ME! You will worry only about fulfilling your duties, because if you fail me your punishment will be most severe!” Luna’s eyes turned into slits the moment she said that. Those were not the eyes of the princess, those were the eyes of Nightmare Moon. Her tone became deep and full of spite, Both Dead Eye and Shining Armor felt small all of a sudden, a sting of dread in their hearts. When they didn’t respond Luna’s eyes changed back, her voice still full of spite, but this time much less threatening. “Dismissed…” She ordered “Yes, your Majesty!” Both ponies said with Dead Eye formal all of a sudden. “When everything’s ready, we’re marching to Stalliongrad.” Luna stated, with both Dead Eye and Shining Armor nodding in approval. Equestria was mobilizing with Princess Luna as the sole Ruler, filled with the need of revenge and hatred only Nightmare Moon could possibly have. The question still stood however if her determination will suffice. Location: War Dreadnaught “UEFF Vendetta”, Deck 1, The Bridge The Bridge was a large area arranged in a circle with a comfortable Captain’s Chair in the middle of the room on a high pedestal. Around the chair there were about 20 different holographic interfaces with men and women controlling various aspects of the ship through them. There was a dim green light illuminating the whole bridge, giving it an eerie atmosphere. In front of the Captain’s Chair, there was a panoramic, holographic display, showing various information and the outside of the ship, as a window would. Currently however the whole space of the screen was occupied by an old man. He was bald, various wrinkles covering his face. His brown eye however showed vigor and determination a lot could feel envious about. The other eye didn’t show anything as it was a mechanical, red eye. This man was cyber-enhanced. “By the right given to me by humanity, United Earth Federation government hereby declares a full authorization for genocide by any means necessary, including weapons of mass destruction to reclaim Earth. What’s more, you have been chosen as the High Executioner, Commander. You may proceed as you wish with the full support of the Federation” He stated firmly. “Understood, sir.” Answered Commander Jackson, the hologram changed to show Hannah, smoking a cigarette. “I see we have a go.” She said “Is the Ragnarök Satellite operational?” Asked Jackson instead, his tone indifferent, Hannah nodded slowly to that. Jackson took a deep breath. “May God forgive us for what we’re about to do… Mrs Yuko, please connect us with Achilles and show me the combat map.” He said, his tone sadder than usual “Yes, Commander” Yuko entered a few commands through her interface and with that a map of Earth was displayed in front of Jackson. “Connection established, Commander.” Jackson nodded Location: Equestria, previously known as Earth, 1885 km above the ground, Achilles Defense Network, The Ragnarök Satellite. The Ragnarök Satellite was enormous and shaped into a form of a ball, with a thin barrel sticking out from its base. The length of the barrel was very big, making the whole thing look a little ridiculous. Additionally the ball had 8 thermal panels to generate electricity when the construction lied dormant. The ball was black in shape, one red light flickering in the middle of it. Suddenly the light turned green, shining constantly. The machine was activated, ready to cause mayhem where it was pointed to. . .. … ….LOADING…. ….RAGNAROK DEFENSE SATELLITE…. ….PERFORMING SELF DIAGNOSTIC…. …. ….ALL SYSTEMS OPERATIONAL…. ….DOWNLOADING VHAI UPDATE… …. ….DOWNLOADING…. …. ….COMPLETE…. ….RECEIVING PRIOTITY PACKAGE…. ….CONDITION 9…. ….AUTHORIZATION: CONFIRMED…. ….ID RECOGNIZED, UEFF VENDETTA …. ….LOADING BATTLE PROTOCOLS…. ….AWAITING COMMAND…. ….COMMAND: FIRE…. ….PHYSICAL COORDINATES: 12XDDH44100…. ....CONFIRMED…. ….TARGETING…. …. .... ....TARGET LOCKED…. ….CHARGING HEAVY ANOMALY CANNON… …. …. …. …. …. … .. . Green strokes and discharges of energy went through the whole Satellite. If anyone could hear in space, he or she would probably hear an irritating whistling sound, the weapon was making. From the end of the barrel a blinding red light appeared, a mass of energy growing in size rapidly. The whistling would become unbearable now. . .. … ….WEAPON CHARGED…. ….RELEASE…. … .. . An explosion of red energy and power enlightened Equestria . The sky turned red as blood from the amount of light generated, creating a hard to miss effect. Various ponies stopped in their tracks, gazing in the sky with amazement and fear. Luna trotted to the balcony of her chambers, looking at the sky, deeply disturbed. Then her eyes widened as she remembered where the red sky was mentioned “When the skies turn red, The wings of Death are spread… But… No! It’s an old prophecy, it can’t be true! This is impossible!” Suddenly the clouds were dispersed in one point, far away from Canterlot, as if making room for something bigger to pass. A horrible whistle echoed through Equestria as an enormous pillar of deathly red energy came through the hole, disrupting the integrity of the sky further. It was coming down slowly, about to hit the ground soon... “What on all that’s sacred is this?” Luna was not sure, but she feared that it will cause destruction. Then she bit her lips thinking deeply… and finally understood. This region… It’s Trottingham! “NO!” The pillar hit the ground, causing a massive tremor and explosion of white, blinding light. Luna had to cover her eyes, not to lose sight. Then a mushroom of red energy appeared in the distance getting bigger and higher. Luna was about to say something but then a shockwave came to Canterlot, causing her to be catapulted to the back of her chambers, hitting the wall with her head and losing consciousness in the process. . .. … …STRIKE SUCCESSFUL… …ESTIMATED DEATH TOLL: 988 110… … .. . Location: UEFF “Vendetta”, Deck 1, The Bridge “Strike successful, Commander. Ragnarok reports 988 thousand dead, the shockwave making further damage…” A tall black woman sitting in the front of the Commander said. Jackson nodded to that “Good, now that we introduced ourselves, we can come back to our home. Begin preparations for Anomaly Jump. The Colossus should open the gate in approximately 24 hours.” Jackson said, yet again indifferent. “Yes sir!” The woman responded. Equestria was hit hard that day, with massive damage and unknown to ponies radiation that covered the ground … Thing is… It wasn’t even the beginning… A/N: I know that draining blood from the head of a patient, is not how you treat someone with cerebral hemorrhage, but ponies are just starting with more advanced medicine, so that's their method for now :P The Purple BetrayalDivision 48 – The Purple Betrayal Weil der Meister uns gesandt verkünden wir den Untergang der Reiter der Boshaftigkeit füttert sein Geschwür aus Neid (…) Weil die Nacht im Sterben lag verkünden wir den jüngsten Tag es wird kein Erbarmen geben lauft, lauft um euer Leben Translation: Because the master has sent us we announce the downfall the rider of malice is feeding his ulcer of envy (…) Because the night lay dying we announce judgment day there will be no mercy run, run for your lives Rammstein, Herzeleid 1994, Der Meister |LOADING| |CONNECTING TO DIMENSIONAL GUARDIANS NEXUS ARCHIVES| |COMPLETE| |BLACK MAMBA CYBERWARFARE SYSTEM v4.45| |OBJECTIVE: OBTAIN INFORMATION ON | |SEARCHING| |NETWORK DETECTED, ATTEMPTING SECURITY OVERRIDE| | | | |SUCCESS| |SEARCHING FOR HIGHLY SENSITIVE INFORMATION| |COMPLETE, FILE FOUND| |FILE NAME: WANDERING FLEET STATUS| |DOWNLOADING| | | | |COMPLETE| |OPENING FILE| | | | File Name: „Wandering Fleet” Status File Access Level: Restricted, High Command Basic Information on the Wandering Fleet: Place of origin: Earth Codename: Wandering Fleet Population: 7 000 million Political name: United Earth Federation Political system: Authoritarism Current President: Vincent Romanov Military organ: United Earth Federation Forces Military power: Very High Galactical and Dimensional Threat: Extreme Description: Wandering Fleet is a codename for the UEF flotilla of spaceships that avoided the Collapse effect in 2101 safely taking most of Humanity through the Anomaly Gate to Hades Gamma Cluster. The fleet was originally composed of 133 UEF Colonial Arcs, however it quickly expanded, repurposing 20 Arcs into highly advanced factories and shipyards capable of production of both smaller and bigger spacecrafts. Main purpose of these factories was assembly of military spaceships that could increase fleet defense capabilities. When the goal was reached, the factories were given the second and most important objective, which was preparation for Condition 9 Invasion Protocols. Those required the manufacturing plants to use their whole construction powers to assemble an additional fleet of powerful combat-ready crafts. Because of the production process in singularity based factories, the objective was reached in only 9 years, reinforcing the Wandering Fleet with many different types of heavy battle crafts. Colonial Factories and Shipyards: Those are repurposed Colonial Arcs, 5 times the size of War Dreadnoughts, they possess two singularities on board. The first one is a simple artificial singularity that provides power. The second one is a completely different story, as it is used only for production. The factories have little defensive capabilities and the only weapons at their disposal are 350 Kinetic Rippers used as anti-fighter guns. This is why the Fleet was in need of proper defense if there would be a hostile first contact situation. The plants are a very important resource to the fleet. Production process: Singularity based factories use different methods of fabrication than it is commonly known. Humankind learned to manipulate the unstable energies of singularities and as it is widely known, etherium is created basically from any non-organic material that passes through “Mammoth” type of singularity. This means that even common trash can be used in production. The factories usually use exactly that, disposing of the constantly growing piles of trash from the fleet and change it into precious etherium. It is assumed that factory resources are as much as unlimited. The production process itself takes place in one chamber that contains the manipulated “Mammoth” type singularity. „Mammoths” are very similar to the “Eternal Eye”, they however always emanate red instead of green and their energies are much weaker and calmer. „Mammoths” are created from standard energy-producing artificial singularity that is inducted with enormous amounts of heat. This causes the singularity particles to change and expand creating the gigantic „Mammoth” that is easily manipulated and can be used effectively in production. The „Mammoth” positioned in the middle of the production hall is surrounded by different poles and coils, which stimulate it with electrical current or heat, depending on the production engineer’s needs. The production starts with „injection” of scrap materials into the singularity. It is quickly converted into etherium by chaotic energies of the “Mammoth”. Then by heat and electrical current, the engineer can manipulate the singularity stability and the energies, thus shaping the etherium into desired hull and other heavy elements that would otherwise require much time and effort to construct. Of course the detailed work requires materials different than etherium so, after the hull of a new ship comes out complete from the singularity the electronic parts and other various elements are added by various machines and other engineers completing the production process. Wandering Fleet Current Status: Idle Military statistics: Ship type: War Dreadnought Number of ships: 52 Number of flagships: 4 War Dreadnought UEFF Vendetta War Dreadnought UEFF Grim Reaper War Dreadnought UEFF Apocalypse War Dreadnought UEFF Inquisitor Threat: Extreme Ship type: Wraith Fighter Number of ships: 100 000 Armament: 10x Kinetic Rippers Mark II, 4x Gauss Gatling Gun, 2x Heavy Anomaly Ray Mortar Mark II – HARMII Shields: Ferros Kinetic and Energy Deflectors Power source: Black Singularity Core Threat: High Ship type: Banshee Battle Carrier Number of ships: 41922 Armament: 55x KRPII, 14x HARMII, 3x Singularity Cutters, 2x Plasma Bomb Hatches Shields: Ferros Kinetic and Energy Deflectors Mark II Power source: Synchronized Singularity Cores Threat: Extreme Heavy Anomaly Ray Mortar Mark II– Technical information Power source: Destabilized Singularity Type of ammunition: None - unlimited Effective Range – 10 000 km Blast Radius – 500 m2 Cool-down – 3 seconds Threat level – Deadly HARM is a heavy weapon designed to get rid of enemy strategy points (such as supply warehouses and other building), armored targets and enemy infantry. Mark II can be also considered a WMD. It shoots a black beam that basically cuts through anything with effective range of 10 000km. The beam itself however has another particular characteristic. On contact it disperses in all directions creating a singular explosion of 500 square meters radius, disintegrating everything not made of etherium. There are two versions of HARM. The first one is used as a heavy weapon by infantry, codename HARMI. The second version is mounted on ships, has increased effective range and blast radius. The HARMI being a smaller brother of HARMII has only 10km effective range and blast radius of 50 square meters. The weapon itself looks similarly to the famous mini-gun, however it has only one barrel similar to 88 millimeter cannon, instead of six small ones. It’s also completely obsidian black, because of the material used to construct it. What’s more it’s much sleeker and doesn’t have any sharp edges, giving the weapon a calm visage that is a complete contrary to its deadly effectiveness. Because of the destabilized singularity as a power source, the weapon itself requires a warm-up sequence that accounts to 3 seconds. Additionally it possesses two ventilation shafts on its sides that get rid of the excess heat, creating a hard to miss effect of red tongues of flames shooting out from the shafts. This weapon was officially marked as deadly by the Dimensional Guardians, as it can easily cut through Guardians shields and destroy a carrier class ship with ease. There are no currently known countermeasures to it, except for the human-made Ferros Deflectors, that – similarly to singularity based technology - are a mystery to Guardians, making the intervention even more probable. Location: Earth, United Earth Federation, New Japan District, Equine Concentration Camp “Justice” Dimensional Stamp Code: 1102205555135XVZZ/B Time: Year 2141, June 4th It was dark, very dark even. The room was cut off from the outside world, isolated and so it was impossible to really tell if it was day or night. The sun and moon no longer had their masters. The only source of warmth was a weak glimmer of candlelight in the far right corner of the massive room. The candlelight illuminated a scroll of paper on the concrete floor and an emaciated face of a pink pony. The pony was in a very poor health condition, its coat bleached, spots of bare skin visible all over the face, and many hideous scars. The pony probably had some unknown sickness causing wounds to open all over its body. In its teeth the pony held a piece of coal and was staring at the sheet of paper. Trembling slightly from the lack of energy its body needed to operate normally the pony leaned forward and began to slowly write on the stained piece of paper. The letters were hardly readable, but enough to understand the content. 20 years passed, 20 years since the massacre, since THEY came, claiming Equestria as their own world, with strength and malice none was prepared for. The skies themselves seemed to bleed that day, warning us of the danger, announcing the end of an era. Even if we would understand the warning, there was nowhere to run. Like demons they came from a black pillar of light in deadly machines the size of cities called War Dreadnoughts. Those monstrosities didn’t even give a chance to diplomacy, as they started the harvest immediately, obliterating 4 of our main cities in a matter of seconds. This was however only the beginning, as through the black gates more of those metal monsters came, smaller, sleeker, faster, seemingly endless. Various box-like vehicles sped down towards the ground, touching down with unnatural grace and opening their bowels to the world. We then understood that those were transportation vehicles, as from inside of them a group of bipedal ape-like creatures came out. They were faceless, all of them with black metallic skin, and emanating death intent. Now we know they were wearing masks and heavy armor. I was young… Young and stupid back then. They came to my home, to Ponyville, while I was blissfully baking cupcakes. That is, until I heard the roaring sound of the powerful engine that propelled their transportation vehicles. With all my cheerful curiosity I naturally went to investigate and was shocked when I saw them for the first time. So dreadfully they looked, so menacing… Perhaps if Ponyville wasn’t under a shield protection from one of the Goddesses we would be already somewhat prepared for what was coming, as we would definitely hear and feel the shockwave coming from Trottingham a week ago. Ponyville was however somehow stuck in its standard routine, not knowing about the impending doom. Perhaps if not for what I saw, I would run away back then? What transpired though cleansed me of any hope, teared my soul in half… For it was the day of the Purple Betrayal. Location: Equestria/Earth, Ponyville Market District Date: June 4th 2121 “HQ this is G4, Reporting successful arrival. High alien activity in the quadrant. No sight of the target, over.” Said a man in the middle of group of six men. Sergant Michael McKinsey was a proud soldier, always doing his job, never questioning his orders. It didn’t matter much that HQ ordered him and his boys to go somewhere remote and pick up one of these… horses… What mattered is completing his mission. He was a tall man, dressed in a completely black etherium armor that covered all of his body, with green shoulder pads to underline his role as a leader of the team. The whole armor reminded of medieval times Knights, wearing full plate armors. This one however was packed with electronics, chems and was also adjacent to the user’s skin. It actually looked more like a modern exo-skeleton. Michael, similarly to half of his 6 man team was armed with a standard Etherium Ripper Rifle that beared resemblance to the famous P90, shooting sharp etherium shards at the targets usually shredding even the toughest armor not made of etherium. The ammunition to this little wunderwaffe is endless, as it carries an etherium block which small scraps are propelled through the singularity, reaching extreme speeds and kinetic punch. Taking a quick look around, it was hard not to notice various ponies staring at his squad somewhat scared but also curious. Every single ponyvillian in the vicinity of the Hawk transportation craft stopped their daily routine, taking in the visitors, while Pinkie Pie felt a painful jab inside her chest… It was her sense, first time causing her physical pain, it could only mean that something really bad will happen… Really, really bad. For the first time the party pony not dared to open her mouth and invite the creatures to a party, she simply stood there, staring at those bald apes, unable to come to a coherent decision what to do. Suddenly a clicking sound could be heard. Private Timothy Mann activated his Ripper Rifle, holding it in one hand and pointing it up in the sky. Sheer red flames came out from the side ventilation shaft of the rifle cooling system. This meant it was ready to fire and cause mayhem. The ponies oohed at the sight not knowing that this show was for nobody to enjoy. The soldiers seemed silent, but in fact they were using neural connection to exchange information with each other. “Sarge, we’re going all Protocol G on these folk here?” Private asked “We’ll see what HQs orders will be, private. They didn’t show any hostile reaction to our arrival so let’s keep it peaceful for now.” Michael said calmly “Aye, aye sir” Timothy pointed the gun down, seeing as the Ponies followed his movement with their eyes, staring at the weird contraption. Then from between the crowd of Ponies the Ponyville Mayor arrived, breathing heavily as if she was in a gallop up to this point. “Mayor?” Whispered Pinkie to herself, not at all cheerful, looking in the direction from which the Mayor emerged The Mayor recomposed herself rather quick, and approached the visitors, the latter tensing up, tightening their grips on their weapons, staring the horse down. After all Genocide Protocol was approved and will be in motion soon, meaning that they will be slaughtering these creatures in due time. She looked at the faceless creatures, brows furrowed, tense and somewhat scared. Nevertheless she was ready to fulfill her duty as a mayor of this town. “Let me be the first to officially greet you in Equestria travelers! I’m the mayor of this town and as such I am responsible for its citizens. We never saw anyone quite like yourselves, so I imagine this is your first time entering this land. May I ask where do you come from and who are you?” The team exchanged confused glances. Michael stared at the weird talking horse, still not quite believing that this is what swarmed and took over Earth… It was simply a ridiculous idea. He then cleared his throat actually about to talk to a pony… “Sargent Michael McKinsey, United Earth Federation Forces Infantry. This may surprise you but we are actually from here.” Timothy snorted to that “As for why are we here, it’s rather simple. We’re looking for an individual called Twilight Sparkle” The Mayor was flabbergasted that. They answered clearly and in perfect Equestrian. She was ready to greet them again in a different language if they couldn’t understand Equestrian. What’s more, they come from Equestra? No, this creature said they come from some Federation, but he also said they come from here… It makes no sense! And did he just say, they’re looking for Twilight Sparkle? “Umm… You’re looking for THE Twilight Sparkle? The Element of Magic?” Michael shrugged “I guess so…” He said monotonously “Wait, how can you come from Equestria and claim you’re from some Federation?” This time Michael simply laughed. The mayor was taken aback by that “I just noticed, you actually don’t know what’s happening? Didn’t see anything weird going on? Nothing?” He said through his laughter “Well… what are we supposed to know about Mr McKinsey?” The Mayor was starting to like this conversation less and less by the second “Love… This place it’s not called Equestria… Our forefathers named it Earth and we ain’t planning to change it anytime soon. This place, this planet, it doesn’t belong to you… It belonged and always will belong to humankind, to us…” The Mayors jaw dropped to the ground. Now they’re saying that Equestria is theirs? It’s outrageous! “Impossible, you seriously mistaking Equestria with some other place… Also what is it you want with Twilight Sparkle?” Michael stopped laughing and sighed “It’s none of your concern. If you value your safety I suggest you quickly point the way to this Twilight Sparkle, or we’ll have a problem.” His grim voice made shivers run down Pinkies spine. She recomposed herself finally realizing that those monsters are here to get her friend! She can’t allow it! She quickly turned around and made her way through the crowd intending to get to the library tree. Meanwhile the Mayor took a step back “You… You’re threatening me?!” She said in bitter surprise “Of course not, it’s just a friendly advice…” The mayor furrowed her brows and responded “I am sorry but if you want to see the Element of Magic, I must inform Canterlot of your presence. If the Princess will allow it I’ll lead you to Twilight Sparkle, but until then I politely ask you to hoof over your wands and come to the Town Hall…” The mayor said with a more aggressive and firm tone “Well problem with that is, I ain’t waiting and I ain’t giving anyone my “wand”. Guess we’re doing it the hard way.” Said Michael, taking out his trusty, old Desert Eagle, he loved to carry with him… Family heirloom it was and still a decent weapon. “You see thing is, if you won’t lead us to Twilight Sparkle…” He aimed the gun at a random pony, and then slowly pressed down the trigger. The effect was immediate. A loud bang echoed through the town. Some of the ponies jumped in surprise. Then one yellow pony at the far end of the crowd suddenly collapsed… a red puddle of blood starting to form around his lifeless corpse. Everything went silent after that. Lyra was standing in the crowd, gazing at the visitors. She couldn’t make out what was being said though, as she was at the far end of the mass of ponyfolk. The strangers came in some kind of a metallic craft, maybe they’re aliens and that’s their spaceship? Lyra couldn’t be sure, but she really liked the way they moved… So gracefully and smoothly. And they had no hooves just like Diamond Dogs, but their claws looked much more dexterous and slim. They were apparently speaking perfect Equestrian, what only added another question to the pool. She suddenly heard the surprised shout of the Mayor. “Are you threatening me?!” Lyra was surprised, how could a simple greeting change into an exchange of threats? What the hell were they talking about?! She couldn’t stand it anymore and aggressively made her way through the crowd to get a better view and hear what was being said. “Hey! Watch it!” Some random pony shouted at her, when she pushed him too hard. She didn’t care though and in a matter of seconds she was in the first row with bunch of angry ponies left behind her. “You see thing is, if you won’t lead us to Twilight Sparkle…” The creature said with somewhat grim, muffled voice and pointed a weird silver object in the direction Lyra was standing. Somehow she sensed that something terrible will happen and took a step to the side… For all she knew, this decision saved her from certain death. The object gave out an ear-piercing banging sound. Lyra heard a silent whistle and felt that something grazed the left side of her face which quickly started to burn from pain. Her eyes widened as she heard a thudding sound right behind her. A few ponies from the crowd gasped. She slowly turned around to see a yellow Pegasus with blue mane laying on the ground, a gaping, bleeding hole in his head, red liquid coming out of it, slowly creating a puddle in the dirt. Her heart stopped as she raised her hoof to her face and touched her cheek. Then she put the hoof in front of her eyes and saw the same liquid covering it. One of the ponies that saw the scene took a step back realizing what just happened. The mare then screamed, terrified. “You… KILLED HIM! You killed him! Why?! Why would you do this?!” And then it begun, the widespread panic, the ponies started to run away, crashing into each other on occasion, screaming and trampling everything that was unlucky enough to be in their way. In a matter of seconds the crowd dispersed, leaving only the shocked Mayor, Lyra and the aliens in the middle of Ponyville. Lyra still couldn’t believe that she just dodged death. Michael on the other hand pointed his Desert Eagle at the Mayor. “Now, kindly lead us to Twilight Sparkle, or we’ll simply level this town of yours to the ground” The rest of his strike squad rose up their weapons and activated them. The Mayor came out of her shock releasing a bunch of armed to the teeth individuals just killed somepony from the crowd and from a distance. And now they pointed the same device at her head. She started to sweat and tremble a little bit, but kept her determined expression. She knew they weren’t bluffing, they didn’t even flinch when they took somepony’s life. They simply did it. What is one element of harmony in exchange for safety of all of Ponyvillains? She couldn’t possibly hope that a mere 10 Royal Guards stationing here would be able to do much against those creatures and their powers, so she picked the lesser evil. “You… Didn’t have to do this, I’ll lead you to Twilight Sparkle… “ Her voice became hoarse, as she felt that her mouth became extremely dry. “I’m glad you saw reason Mrs. Mayor.” Michael holstered his Desert Eagle. The rest of his squad however didn’t point down their guns, making the Mayor more nervous. Nevertheless she turned around and proceeded to lead them straight to the Element of Magic. Location: Equestria/Earth, Ponyville, the Library Tree Pinkie Pie arrived at the tree breathing heavily. Her mane was deflated, her expression serious. The pain in her chest wouldn’t go away. She approached the door and was about to knock, when a realization came down on her. For a week Twilight wasn’t herself much, she almost completely stopped leaving her Tree and behaved… strangely. None of her friends saw her for a long time, as she always seemed to come up with an excuse to stay in her house. Usually Pinkie Pie was the one to behave randomly, but when two days ago Twilight finally came out of the Tree and visited Pinkie, she said something that didn’t really make sense… But seeing those creatures, it added up. Location: Sugercube Corner, 2 days ago Pinkie Pie was in her room, sorting out some of her invitation cards, after all it was Rainbow Dash’s birthday soon and she was already preparing something superlicious and supriselicious for her bestest friend! She then heard a loud thud coming from downstairs, as if somepony opened the door with such force, they almost came down from the hinges. Pinkie quickly made her way downstairs and saw the Cakes staring at her friend in shock. Twilight Sparkle was standing in front of the entrance, grinning like a madpony. Her Mane completely unkempt, her horn… broken in half… A wide bandage covering her flank, where her cutie mark should be. Pinkie couldn’t believe it was her friend “Twilight… What happened to your horn?” She asked worried. The cakes nodded to that. “Oooh… so much happened I can’t possibly explain all of it… But do not despair, for I have to tell you something remarkable!” Twilight slowly approached her friend, still grinning somewhat disturbingly. Pinkie turned her head to the side, not really knowing what was going on, but then cheered up suddenly. “Oh! Twilight I’m so happy you’re finally out of your Tree! And you came to me first! Ha!” Pinkie clapped with her hoofs “Yes, yes! Can we go to your room? It’s really important!” The Cakes were having trouble keeping up with the amount of randomness, but simply nodded when Pinkie took a pleading look at them. She and Twilight went up to her room and closed themselves in. “So? What cool story you want to tell me? Oh! Does it have pirates in it? I like pirates, they’re like “Yaaarrr!”” Pinkie started with her usual rambles. Twilight simply stared at her for a while, but when Pinkie kept talking, the element of magic said seriously “Pinkie…?” The latter stopped to that and took a look at her friend “Yes Twilight?” She asked “Shut the fuck up” Said her friend with serious coldness in her voice. Pinkie momentarily felt small and nodded, surprised that her friend just said the f… word nonchalantly “Good… So! I just have to tell this to someone and seeing that Rarity went… fishing… You’re the only one left! And you’re just dumb enough not to figure it out!” Pinkie’s mane deflated to that. Twilight just called her dumb? And used the f… word even! “Twilight, why are you so mean to me?” She asked sadly “Oh, get over it idiot, I can’t call you smart now, can I? Do you know how a pony’s heart works? Do you know what integral of a function is?” Twilight asked annoyed “No…” Pinkie answered even sadder then she was previously “Exactly, I have a perfect right to call you dumb anytime I want, dumbass” Pinkie suddenly cheered up again and giggled “Oh, I get it! You’re joking! You got me there, Twilight!” Twilight simply rolled her eyes “Anyway, about my discovery! Listen up because you’re will fall down from bewilderment!” Pinkie nodded happily “I found it! I found the Arcanum Pinkie!” Twilight said grinning even wider… “Really? It’s super cool Twi!” Twilight stared Pinkie down “What? Just “super cool”? Do you have any idea what I had to do to find it? Do you even know of its power?” “No!” Pinkie simply replied happily “Bah! I’m wasting time here, I need humans for this, there seem to be only idiots around here.” Pinkie looked at Twilight quizzically “Humans?” “Yeach, they’re be here, oh I don’t know in two days? I offered them some help in exchange for some services.” Twilight said like it was the most obvious thing in the world. Pinkie started laughing hard to that “Oh Tiwlight! You’re such a crack-up!” Pinkie then suddenly stopped laughing, blinking a few times… “I think I said that already somewhere, didin’t I?” She looked in the direction Twilight was, but the latter was none to be found, Pinkie simply shrugged and went back to her routine. Pinkie analyzed all that in her head, all over again. Previously she simply shrugged it off as a joke from Twilight, but when did Twilight really joked about anything? She was mostly serious… And humans? What if, those visitors were humans? The broken horn? Maybe she really broke her horn… And she used a word unknown to Pinkie, somewhat unfit… Someone? What does that mean? Pinkie however shook her head dismissing the thoughts. These creatures were looking for her friend, and the jabbing pain in Pinkie’s chest wouldn’t go away. She had to warn Twilight. Pinkie knocked a few times, but there was no response, so she slightly pushed the door, the latter opening widely. Inside of the Tree, there was darkness and silence. “Twilight?” Pinkie asked quietly Suddenly she heard hoofsteps coming from upstairs. The only source of light was the opened door, so for a while Pinkie couldn’t see a thing. Then Twilight came into the light, Pinkie was about to sigh with relief, that is until she saw Twilight completely. Pinkie gasped and took a step back. Twilight was… mutilated. All over her body there were different scars and wounds, forming… words. One of her eyes was missing, a gaping hole instead of an eye. She had almost no mane at all. Some wires and other different metallic elements were sticking out of her body, creating a horrendous image. Also a part of her cheek was torn off, showing her teeth and gums. “Oooh, if it isn’t Miss Pinkie? Came to question my intelligence again?!” She roared Pinkie simply couldn’t believe it “Twilight! What happened to you?!” Twilight looked down at herself “Oh this? I had to insert some metallic elements into my body to use the void sensitive organ to its fullest potential, also had to remove my eye to get some parts into my brain. It’s all good in the name of science my little idiot. “ Answered Twilight calmly “You… did it to yourself?” Twilight brows furrowed “But of course!” “And… what about your cheek…?” Pinkie almost whispered, she was getting more and more nervous, the pain in her chest intensified. “Oh this little thing? Rarity bit it off, I just got too close to her. She’s a little struggler even when dissected…” Twilight then looked to the side “Yes I know, Christopher! I’m explaining it to the moron here, okay? Of course I don’t have to explain it! But… Ah okay, have it your way.” Pinkie was slowly backing out, but then she felt something grabbing her by the throat… Some unknown force. But Twilight had no horn anymore! So how was she using magic?! Pinkie was violently pulled back into the Library, the pain in her chest unbearable now, the grip on her throat increasing. “Yees, I know I’m always grabbing them by the throat and it’s cliché, but where do you suggest I grab them? By the ass? Aha! You see? Not that simple mister know-it all.” Twilight again spoke to no-one Pinkie was unable to talk anymore from the grip and the pain. She just started to sob. “Perfect timing Pinkie, it just happens I’m in a need of an eye!” Twilight giggled… Then she smacked Pinkie to the ground with tremendous force, knocking her out cold. Pinkie woke up with much hardship… She felt horribly weak. All of her body was in pain and she could hardly move. “Fits perfectly! Thanks for the tips Chris. You’re a real sweetheart. The color is wrong though, oh well! Can’t have it all!” That was Twilight’s voice; Pinkie moved her head slightly and saw the latter looking into the mirror. The light in the Tree was back, so Pinkie could see more clearly. But her sight was somehow off… She realized she can’t see anything through her left eye and it hurts. Oh no… Pinkie came to a horrible conclusion… “No…” She whispered starting to sob again. Twilight however didn’t pay any attention. Few seconds later the group of the aliens came into the tree looking around, their devices pointed in different directions “Miss Twilight?” Asked Michael “Indeed” Twilight answered happily. Michael nodded to that and approached her “We would like a confirmation of your dedication to our cause.” Twilight sighed “Fine, what do you want me to do?” She asked again annoyed “There’s nothing more of a proof like terminating one of your own, is there?” Twilight nodded “I already did it though! Wouldn’t that count?” Michael shook his head in disagreement “Damn it… So who am I to “terminate”?” Timothy entered the library dragging behind him Lyra, who was screaming and kicking. He however paid little attention to it as he dragged her by her mane. Then she was violently thrown into the library directly in front of Twilight. Lyra looked up at the Element of Magic. “Twilight! Good that it’s you! Help me! They took me by force and already killed somepony! Contact Celestia! Do something!” Lyra pleaded “Gun…” Said Twilight looking at Michael. “Oh… I see Miss Sparkle, that you already possess decent information on humankind.” Said Michael surprised “All thanks to a friend… What about that gun?” Twilight asked staring at the soldier “Twilight? What are you talking about?!” Lyra asked, but was completely ignored Michael nodded and took out his family heirloom “But how are you gonna…” He didin’t finish as the gun went up into the air by itself. “Right… shaping reality and such…” He mumbled The gun arrived in front of Twilight and was pointed down on Lyra “What are you doing?! Why are you pointing this at me?!” Lyra was unable to comprehend that Twilight could side with those monsters. Nor she was able to accept the fact that Twilight could betray Equestria. The gun reloaded itself and the trigger begun to be pressed slowly. Ponyville went silent after the panic. The silence was however disturbed yet again, as the loud bang of a magnum caliber pistol echoed through the town, marking the end of an era, marking the beginning of Genocide Protocol. A/N: Shit, this update took me a long time, sorry bout that. I’ve got new job which requires most of my time, but will try to update twice a month or more. Heh :P Damn lack of time. The Nightmare ReturnsDivision 48 – The Nightmare Returns Citizens of UEF, the time we all waited for has come! Condition 9 is almost fulfilled! The Colossus has awakened and is closer to the gate with each passing minute! This means, Earth is no longer ridded with radiation and danger. After 20 years of space-drift we are finally ready to come home, to come to our beautiful planet! It might have changed on the outside, but we all know deep down that this is the same planet we left. Mother Earth’s spirit has prevailed and she calls to us, she wants to embrace us with her warmth, her love. And we want this embrace, we all want to feel the sun shining on us or the cool raindrops touching our skin, we all want to see the green of plants, hear the buzz of bees! And we have this chance! Our tireless efforts and years of preparation will finally pay off! However as you all know there is always a price, even greater than our efforts, for Earth wasn’t left alone for all this time. For her not 20 years but 2000 has past due to temporal anomalies! And during this period something has spread over our planet like a plague. I talk of course about aliens… Yes… Aliens created from anomalies during the Collapse, abominations with ill-intentions, claiming our world as their own! Their numbers are staggering and a lesser race would probably give up their world, not willing to take any drastic options… Is humanity a lesser race? NOOOO! Are we willing to give up Earth, just because some unnatural creatures claimed her as their own? NOOOO! Will we give up to something as ridiculous as THIS? NOOOO! Fellow brothers and sisters, Humanity is much more than this, humanity is willing to use any means necessary to get back, even drastic measures. Those aliens are not willing to leave Earth, as the Colossus already asked them politely. They even call our mother differently… And we will NOT tolerate THIS! That is why I ask you all! If we cannot resolve this matter peacefully, will you dear citizens, fellow humans agree to a different solution? Will you put your morals and beliefs aside and save Earth? YEEEEEEES! Our mother is in peril and as her children WE RESPOND!!! Let it be known on the pages of history that today it was agreed, that today, I, Vincent Romanov officially approve of Genocide Protocol with the blessing of all UEF citizens, of all the humanity! FOR HUMANITY! FOR EARTH! FOR HUMANITY! FOR EARTH! FOR HUMANITY! FOR EARTH! FOR HUMANITY! FOR EARTH! From “The Human History”, Romanov’s Speech of Fates Case File: 0000182933/F Name: Christopher White Age: 31 Race: Human, Caucasian white Sex: Male Height: 177 cm Weight: 89 kg Build: Muscular Education: PhD in Medicine, Specialist Neurosurgeon Psychological profile: Sociopath, schizophrenic, murderous tendencies Attached Police files: Att. 01/A, 02/A, 03/A, 04/A, 05/A, 06/A, 07/A, 08/A, 09/A, 10/A Attached FBI files: Att. 01/B, 02/B, 03/B, 04/B Attached Interpol files: Att. 01/C, 02/C Description: Christopher White was a widely known serial killer that committed multiple murders through US and in some cases even outside of States. He was known for his brutality and stealth tactics. His victims were always murdered in their houses, found with crushed heads and a piece of paper attached to their chests, containing a disturbing poem. Almost always there was close to no evidence. He however always left his name carved in the skin of the victim’s back. It was quickly discovered that the name alone couldn’t give the law enforcers any edge, as there are close to thousands of people with the same name. Handwriting didn’t help either as it didn’t match any found in the databases. White has avoided the law for almost 5 years until finally his streak of crimes has ended with his own death in Harry and Jenna Reese home. The murderer managed to kill Jenna Reese as his last act, but before he could carve his name something happened. It was assumed that he got a heart attack and died, some called it a divine intervention, and some called it a coincidence. Police however couldn’t come to any conclusive results, as even during autopsy nothing pointing out to heart attack or any other internal organ failure was found. Christopher White simply died, his organism shut down. His cases were quickly connected and closed with much relief to police, FBI and Interpol. Document Attached to Dimensional Guardians Spontaneous Shift Case no. 3 Accident: Spontaneous Shift Victim: Christopher White (see attached file) Description: Christopher White has been transported to a different dimension through Universal Error code 405 Additional Error: Universal Error no 406, Universe was unable to wipe the new body’s memories and personality for the occupant Current Occupied Dimension Stamp Code: 1102205555135XVZZ/B Name of the World Occupied: Equestria/Earth or United Earth Federation Occupied World’s Political System: Matriarchy/Authoritarism Name of the Occupied World’s Leader: Princess Celestia, Princess Luna/President Vincent Romanov WARNING, WORLD IN CONFLICT Occupant’s new body name: Twilight Sparkle, The element of Magic Occupant’s new body race: Equine, Pony, Unicorn Occupant’s new body psychological profile before occupation: Highly intelligent, diligent, ambitious, highly resourceful, potent to stress, sociophobic After occupation: Highly unstable, short term memory loss, possibility of developing schizophrenia, sociopathic tendencies, high influence of the occupant’s mind on the subject Estimated personality decay: 7 – 10 days Decay effect: Loss of morality, complete obedience towards the Occupant, gain of Occupant’s characteristics New body’s importance level to the world: High Conclusion: Approved for intervention. Level 4 Agent Assigned: Lieutenant William Sharp Agent’s Specialty: Long distance target elimination, Master Marksman Agent’s Race: Hybrid - Homo Sapiens Sapiens/Crocuta crocuta/Synthetic Agent’s place of origin: Earth, United Kingdom, Sierra Research Genetic Manipulation and Cybernetics Centre Agent Recruited: 21 years ago Spacecraft Assigned: Demora III Spellweaved Dreadnaught Spacecraft’s Captain: General Sylvia Celeste Captain’s Power Lock: Level 0 approved. No barriers, Black Eye Sword usage allowed. WARNING: General’s instability and violent nature may lead to a catastrophic outcome Warning overridden by: The High General Intervention in: 7 days Wandering Fleet Information: Wandering Fleet Status: In movement, Preparing for anomaly jump, warming up Ether Reactors UEFF War Dreadnaught “Grim Reaper”: The “Grim Reaper” was a Flagship, that looked similar to its 3 other Brothers, specifically the “Vendetta”. Its hull was as predatory in shape as possible, giving the spacecraft a dangerous aura. It had almost no sharp edges however, being as smooth in look as possible. All its weapons were hidden under hatches that only opened during a battle. It was a silent hunter, unnaturally fast compared to other ships of its class, graceful and dignified. One particular characteristic however made the “Grim Reaper” stand out from its brethren. Its shields were the most powerful technology developed by the humanity. Shifting Reality Deflectors Threat Level: Deadly Dimensional Threat: Maximum Those kept the little space between the ship and the rest of the universe in constant reality shift state, making a kind of impenetrable cocoon. Not even etherium would be able to stand against such violent shifts, and even energy trying to penetrate such space would be quickly shattered and dispersed. Location: Equestria/Earth, Eastern Equestria/Eastern Europe, Stalliongrad City/Volgograd City The usual silence of the frozen forests was yet again disturbed as the steel feet of a battle mech dug heavily into the snow and the frozen ground. Each step of this titan made the ground shatter and break, each step made it shake, as after all this time the Colossus was finally nearing its destination. No obstacles could stop it, no enemies could make this deadly machine change its primary objective, which was to serve humanity. Colossus however wasn’t about to just stroll into Volgograd, no… Not before doing something very important first, as the Condition 9 dictated. The modern military AIs from the Black Cloud Corporation had much potential in them, they were fast, deadly and effective, but all in all compared to the harnessed power of a human brain, they simply lacked one particular element… Innovation. Human mind could sometimes come up with very different and unpredictable solutions to problems, the AIs had only one answer to, dictated by their protocol and programming. Even despite all the humanity’s advancements in cybernetics and electronics, there still wasn’t a fully self-aware AI in existence. The Colossus’s AI was much the same, capable but not able to actually THINK. But as always humans came up with a solution even to this problem. Thanks to the demise transmitters, incredibly long range communications, the Colossus could be steered remotely… By a capable pilot. This is why right now, the Colossus stopped in its tracks so close to its destination. The raging blizzard shrouded its existence from the aliens that lived in the city. The howling wind made it unable for anyone to hear the deadly contraption closing in on the unaware citizens of Stalliongrad. A small antenna extended itself from the machine’s left shoulder, a green light soon flickered right next to it. The machine begun an exchange of protocols ….LOADING…. ….COLOSSUS BATTLE PLATFORM…. ….DEMISE TRANSMITTER OPERATIONAL…. ….OPENING VOID CONNECTION…. ….REDIRECTING POWER TO COMMUNICATION ARRAYS…. ….PASSAGE CLEAR…. ….ESTABLISHING CONNECTION WITH NEAREST DEMISE RECEIVER…. ….ESTABLISHED, ID: UEFF WAR DREADNAUGHT GRIM REAPER…. ….SENDING AUTHORIZATION CODE REQUEST…. ….RESPONSE: 11102344AA12MD111/13A…. ….MATCH…. ….REMOTE CONTROL ENABLED, USER LOGGED IN: CORPORAL JASON WYDE…. Location: Milky Way, Hades Gamma Cluster, Sector V-124, Deep Space, UEFF War Dreadnaught “Grim Reaper”, Deck 2, Tactical Operations Centre (TOC) Corporal Jason Wyde was a sleek, young man, with a very cheerful personality thanks to which he gained his nickname “Cupcake”. He hated it, but all in all it was better than “Noob”, many soldiers dubbed him… Probably out of jealousy. He was an average looking guy, 188 cm in height, slim with shortly cut brown hair and small eyes matching the color of his hair. He wasn’t really muscular, as muscles were not that important in the job of a machine pilot. A smile always plastered on his face, Jason always tried to see things in a brighter light, than most people would. That’s why right now he was very, very happy with himself, some would say even smug. His grin was breaking the biological capabilities of a human being, that’s how wide he was smiling right now. His ever-shining eyes were glittering with happiness and fulfillment and every-freaking-body knew why he really COULD be so smug. “If he looks at me again I swear I’m gonna punch him…” Said quietly to herself a tall muscular woman medic that was currently trying to log-in onto the fleet-net from the nearby console. Jason was simply passing through the corridors, going straight for TOC, where a bunch of really advanced neural chairs had their home. A lot of people on the way were giving him disapproving stares, some even mumbling something incoherent about punching him, as the medic did. He didn’t mind tough, because why should he? High Executioner picked him by hand to become the controller of the Colossus unit, to execute the final process of Anomaly Gate activation. He was about to get into the books of history, next to The President and all the G squads involved… And damn did it feel good. He passed a diner room, where a group of marines were talking to themselves about “whose ass is the hottest”, while sitting around a steel table. When they saw him they immediately went silent, but didn’t give him any disapproving looks. He felt something was not right and stopped next to the entrance to the diner, smiling and looking at the soldiers happily. Suddenly one of the marines, a very tall one, slowly stood up from his seat and came forward, his comrades following him with their looks. To Jason’s surprise, instead of saying something not particularly nice, the man saluted energetically. “Sir, let me tell you, a lot of people put faith into you. Give those fucking aliens some good old fashioned human-style pounding!” Said the tall soldier, suddenly grinning cheerfully. His friends obviously approved as they stood up to and saluted one by one. Jason smiled even wider to that. He returned the salute. “They won’t know what hit them! Be ready, because the next time we speak, it will be on the ground of Earth gentlemen!” He said with passion “Yes sir!” The four marines answered in unity, as Jason begun to walk again. After about few more turns he finally came face to face with a rather big blast door, locked with complicated mechanisms and what looked like nearly 100 etherium bolts holding the blast door firmly in place. The doors were huge… About as big as an entrance gate to some old castle back on Earth… Before the Collapse. “Heavy security…” He said staring intently at the gate. He cleared his throat “Condition 9, Corporal Jason Wyde, Authorization code: 11 0003 9992 81 81 2” He knew no one was behind the gate, because no one ever entered the TOC through it in 20 years. They contained neural chairs for all the Colossus units on Earth and so as the Condition 9 dictated, no one previously had authorization to enter TOC. But finally the time has come and he was going there alone, to do his mission. The bolts suddenly started to move aside one by one unlocking the huge blast door. After the last bolt hidden itself, the door yanked with an unpleasant moan and begun to rise up revealing the insides of TOC. Roughly 100 neural chairs were lined up in rows upon rows inside the gigantic room. This was really impressive. The neural chairs themselves were similar to pods, but instead of laying position they forced the user into arched sitting one. They were made of a very soft material on which the pilot could sit for hours without end and any ill side effects. All were black in color, made probably out of ever popular etherium. Jason couldn’t however make out any real details as it was almost completely dark inside the room. The only thing giving any light were small lamps on the celling that gave out an eerie green glow, doing a poor job in dispersing the darkness. Now everything with the neural chairs would be good and even maybe fun if not for the horribly painful bonding process. Humanity might have developed their technology really fast and introduced many new magnificent inventions. One thing was always the same however… Humans never came up with a more efficient idea of neural bonding than a direct link between the spinal cord and the neural transmitter. In practice this meant a long thick needle brutally boring through the pilot’s back and making its way to the spinal cord. When Jason remembered that, his smile was quickly replaced with a sour frown. He looked around – most chairs were inactive, their lights off, only the glowing green lights on the ceiling made it possible to make out their shapes. The inactivity meant that one could come up to such chair and take a sit, as nothing would happen. However in the third row Jason spotted what he was looking for. One neural chair was illuminated brightly, its green lights completely dispersing the darkness, the transparent glass door slid aside, inviting Wyde to enter and begin his mission. He sighed remembering the painful part of the process… The cheapskates from the Federation didn’t even bother to give any anesthesia to reduce the pain for the pilots, because it was “too expensive”… Bullshit… He slowly approached the chair and stared it down as if it was a living being. “Okay chair… You don’t like me and I don’t like you, but for this one I want your full cooperation, got it?” He said, brows furrowed. Naturally the chair didn’t respond and Jason snorted to himself. Stress was already eating at him. He turned around and lazily sat in the comfortable, soft chair, not even removing his clothes. It wasn’t necessary as the needle violated his body enough, so that any other advanced sensors for monitoring his pulse and such were obsolete. He took a few deep breaths and counted to ten slowly, calming his tarnished nerves. He could see the blast door locking again. Yup, this was the point of no return, he had to do what he was supposed to or he will starve to death here… Super… “Begin connection!” He shouted in a higher pitched voice, than his natural and then immediately closed his eyes. He held them closed tight ready to receive the wonderful metal spike and feel the pain of thousands tormented souls. Yes, that’s how bad it will be. For a while he didn’t feel anything and nothing was happening with the exception of an increasing in volume hum coming from the chair. Then suddenly metal straps bounded him to the chair effectively immobilizing Jason in one position. Yeach, he forgot about that, it wouldn’t be good if he started to move with a freaking needle in his spinal cord. Another minute… And then it came, the needle simply extended itself with lightning speed, not leaving anytime for Jason to even think “Holy shit”. It tore through his clothing, pierced his skin and then bore into the spinal cord. Wyne wasn’t about to be quiet through the whole process. He screamed and howled like a wild animal, as the pain was excruciatingly great. He felt his insides burning, he wanted to vomit, but before anything could be done, his consciousness started to fade away, as if being drained by the evil needle. The need to puke disappeared, the pain went away as he became comatose, his consciousness now translated into binary code and sent all the way to Earth, where his new body of etherium, servos and heavy weaponry awaited. Yes, the process of controlling a mech from a distance basically meant that the pilot effectively became the mech. Of course he wouldn’t feel any pain on damage, or wouldn’t die if the mech went down, but all the machine’s sensors, weapons, joints and appendages became the pilot’s own. Now there was a special value according to which a pilot was better or worse from his brethren - the synchronization value. The greater the percentage of such value the better the pilot’s new body reacted to his mental commands. And so a pilot such as Jason with value of 99,8% would control the mech’s body without any time lags, disconnections, failure in command translation and so on. A pilot with a synchronization value of 50% would get all this problems, wouldn’t really feel the mechs metal body, wouldn’t be the mech. This is why Jason was hand-picked. His value was one of the highest in the flotilla and so he could control any battle robot with deadly efficiency as if the body of the machine was his own. Speaking of which Wyne consciousness arrived to the Colossus. He felt as if he was drowning, submerged in water. He couldn’t breathe nor move, neither he could do anything about it. He could only wait. Slowly one by one he started to regain his senses and lost the feeling of being drowned to death. The Colossus powerful processor was synching his mind with the machine slowly. The process took such a long time, because translation of a whole human mind into simple digit code ended up with data package larger than anything else in existence… And actually using the data correctly slew the process down even further. After what felt like eternity to Jason the translation process finished. Slowly and steadily he opened what he presumed was his eyes. In fact he activated all the sensors of the mech at the same time and that caused him to recoil from the amount of information he suddenly got. He wasn’t used to Colossus Battle Platforms. First those were kinda old, second only highest ranking pilots could use them and he was just a corporal. Nevertheless he proceeded to repeat the action only this time with much more caution. He activated outside camera and infrared sensor which showed him the world around him. It was snow, snow everywhere, no… It was a raging blizzard that did nothing to his durable body. There were trees in front of him… Green pines, covered in beautiful whiteness. The blizzard moved them violently and Jason could hear them rustle. He was amazed… Hypnotized even. Last time he saw real trees and snow was 20 years ago, when he was about 5 years old. “It’s beautiful… ” He thought and the mech repeated with a monotonous, electronic voice that startled the pilot. “Shit I sound like a bloody terminator!” And the voice repeated again. Not wanting to do that anymore, Jason decided it was a good time to flex his joints, arms and what not. And so he began his awkward exercise testing the machine’s response time and the “feel” he had for it. It didn’t feel much alien to him, as he was certainly used to actually being a mech, however the fact that the monstrous machine had a Gatling cannon instead of an arm was a little disturbing to him, as he couldn’t quite come to a conclusion what movements were meaning what for the cannon. It seemed to be turning left or right in a rotating cycle randomly, which only spewed some annoyance in the young soldier. “Fuckin’ stupid cannon instead of an arm… What if I want to carry TWO objects at the same time, eh? What then?!” Of course nothing responded except for a howl of cold winter wind and echo of his emotionless metallic voice. He flexed his long clawed arm, quickly adjusting to it, feeling it tremendous strength. “Heh, could probably crush diamonds with it… Awesome…” One particular thing about the ever-happy corporal was a fact, that in dire and stressful situations he tended to express his thoughts out loud, without regard to who’s listening. It made him feel somewhat better, as if he was narrating his own story. “Ah, can’t forget about legs…” He extended one leg forwards keeping his balance and standing on the other leg for a while. The response of servos was extremely fast, and soon he was standing on one leg with a sound of moaning metal, responding to the sudden addition of massive weight. For a third person looking at all those moves, it would seem that the machine completely lost its mind and is simply malfunctioning… The leg was flexed at weird backwards angle that didn’t quite sit right with Jason. He wasn’t however about to complain much… Well maybe a little “What freakin’ moron came up with backwards flexing legs?” He sighed after that simple question, full of irritation. Never mind tough, he was ready and warmed up, if you can say that about several tons worth of metal beast with no muscles to warm up whatsoever. “Alright, alright… Now, let’s bring up the HUD…” And in an instant in front of his vision massive amounts of gibberish data appeared successfully blinding him with the overwhelming visual and text information. “AAAH! Fuck! Simplify God damn it! SIMPLIFY!” As if on cue major part of the information on the HUD disappeared leaving only a few things important for a professional pilot like him. Crosshair Condition of the mech with neat visual presentation Ammo status and current weapon “equipped” Status and type of shields Minimap Communication’s array Compass Target marker Health bar… “Health bar?” He asked perplexed. Yeah, he actually had a red health bar line with 100% condition shown on it. The constructors obviously had a sense of humor. He let out a laugh “Hah! I like that! It’s like a good ol’ FPS!” Jason looked around again, now getting all serious. It was no time for laughter and witty comments. He had a mission and it probably included obliteration of an alien population in the vicinity. The white marker on his HUD and the dot on the mini map showed a distance of approximately 4 kilometers. Above the marker it was written Anomaly Gate 1 Volgograd City He quickly activated the communications array with a mental command. A series of green letters appeared on the right of his FOV, forming a text ….COMMUNICATIONS ARRAY OPEN… ….CONNECTING TO UEFF GRIM REAPER…. ….CONNECTION ESTABLISHED…. “Grim Reaper this is Colossus 1, requesting pulse scan and population data on Volgograd” He thought, more than said. His thoughts were quickly translated into a massage and sent through the depths of void space Location: UEFF Grim Reaper, Deck 1, CIC, Communications Station Communications Officer Lu-Cheng was in the middle of taking a sip of his steaming hot, black coffee. He was quite tired as it was almost the end of his shift. The tiredness showed itself through the bags under his half-closed eyes. His job required an amount of combat readiness. His battle communication station wasn’t however used even once in 20 years, as the Flotilla had yet to get into any kind of battle. And so through time, the job was passed down as the most boring and lazy one from one officer to another. He also completely forgot that today might be a historic event and so was not prepared for anything. Especially not for the short beep of activating console and holographic screen flickering into existence. He spat out the coffee in quite a shock. “What the…” He staggered almost falling from his comfortable chair A colorful image of Colossus Battle Platform displayed itself on the screen with a message ….RECEIVING COMMUNICATION ATTEMPT…. ….CHANNEL OPEN…. ….COLOSSUS BATTLE PLATFORM…. ….STAMP CODE: 1119297/D…. “Grim Reaper this is Colossus 1, requesting pulse scan and population data on Volgograd” Lu-Cheng sat there, watching the rotating image of Colossus for a while, unable to come to any comprehensive decision. His state was however quickly broken by an irritated cough. Everyone in the CIC, including the Captain of the ship were looking at him. The Officer quickly recomposed himself replying to the voice message “Roger that Colossus 1, relaying your request further, await response!” Lu-Cheng turned to the Captain. The latter was a young and short, blonde fellow. His blue eyes were however pretty damn cold, mostly piercing through any psychic opposition there was. No-one becomes a captain this young, not having extraordinary achievements in his book. He had no visible marks that could distinguish him from an average Aryan looking person however. Only those damn soulless eyes and age. He couldn’t be older than 21. “Captain, we have a req-“ Lu-Cheng was rudely interrupted by his young Captain “I heard it Mr. Lu-Cheng” The Captain responded coldly. Communications officer felt smaller all of a sudden “Miss Pietrov, begin full-spectrum scanning procedure through Aegis Satellite, two pulses.” He directed his sight at a young blonde, possibly Russian woman. “Yes, sir” She responded without any disobedience in her voice. Location: Equestria/Earth, High Orbit, Aegis Defense Satellite ….LOADING…. ….DOWNLOADING VHAI UPDATE PACKAGE…. ….DOWNLOADING… ….COMPLETE…. ….COMPILING DATABASE…. ….COMPLETE…. .…AEGIS DEFENCE SATELLITE…. ….AUTHORIZATION CODE: 4410002377742/AZ2O…. ….VALID…. ….ID RECOGNIZED.... ….UEFF GRIM REAPER…. ….AWAITING COMMAND… ….ENTROPY SCAN, FULL SPECTRUM, TWO PULSES… ….COORDINATES LOCKED…. ….CHARGING FEPS…. Aegis Defense Satellite was one of three in the whole Achilles Defense Network. It was primarily an information gathering, spy satellite, but looked almost identical to the Ragnarok. It also possessed an unnaturally long barrel that seemed to be some kind of a weapon. The truth however was different. The pole was in fact a main part of the Ferros Entropy Pulse Scanner. A very innovative technology introduced at the last moment before humanity left Earth. Normally it would be a controversial way of gathering data, as the Pulse Scan worked based on Exotic Radiation and in extreme dosages was deadly to any biological organisms. Secondly it was a very obvious and detectable way of “spying”. It looked very much like a colorful, but dreadful spectacle. The advantages of the method however were far greater than its disadvantages. The pulse scan allowed the satellite to gather every data almost instantly, as the exotic radiation came into reaction with the Void getting some characteristics of the Demise Waves. The pulse released from FEPS worked a little bit like ultrasonic detection that bats use. The particles came back to the satellite after the release as en echo, but showed exactly the precise looks, colors, composition and insides of everything they passed. There was no way of hiding from exotic particles. Sometimes however two pulses were required if the satellite was to gather data on a particularly small area. And right now, Aegis was preparing for just that. The long pole or barrel of the satellite started to gather energy, pulses of green electricity exploding all over its length, threatening to release some kind of unknown force. The light generated through those raw explosions was immense. The satellite turned by a few degrees, correcting its position to get the best results of the violent scanning technique. And again the amount of gathered energy lightened the skies over Equestria, specifically, over Stalliongrad or Volgograd as it was called long ago. It looked as if storm was preparing to consume the whole planet. And this couldn’t be simply ignored by the current citizens of the city. Location: Stalliongrad/Volgograd, City Hall, Mayor’s Spoken Truth office The Mayor was a young grey Unicorn, with a long unkempt orange mane, covering his eyes slightly. His tail was on the other hand very short having some brown highlights all over its length. He was recently put in the position he was now. It was his first day as a mayor of this town actually, elected ASAP after the events of Red Hour (The attack on Trottingham) which left the previous mayor blinded and in hospital. The city left for him to govern was enormous with many historical, architectural wonders, created by an unknown civilization (although most said it were ancient Ponies. He however couldn’t help but disagree. The architecture was simply to “aggressive”). His office was quite a big one, decorated in a baroque fashion with many rich, gold gleaming objects such as mirrors, paintings, desks, drawers and such. His desk itself was made from a fine, possibly, oak and gave a feeling of heaviness and sturdiness. The flags and coat of arms of Equestria were apparent everywhere around the room. Indeed this place was fit for a king and made the young grey mayor feel extremely out of place. The rich carvings in his desk seemed to be able to come to life at any given moment. It was a very old piece of furniture… ancient actually, passed from one mayor to another. It was unknown how far this whole passing tradition went but working near this desk was disturbing as it had some really weird symbols carved onto its flat, oak surface. Carvings were probably meant to be artistic. He couldn’t however help but to think otherwise. They almost seemed to form letters, just the font was very unusual. Many mayors before him tried to decipher those weird almost-letters, eventually giving up and treating the desk as a standard piece of furniture. He also quickly stopped paying attention, directing his sight back at the piles, upon piles of various documents, applications and decisions to be signed by himself. He sighed most disapprovingly and took one last look at the fantastic surface of the desk. Above all the almost-letters there was a symbol, a mysterious one, having nothing in common with any Equestrian symbols. It was some kind of an equilateral cross with four arms bent at 90 degrees. It had a menacing aura about it. Directly under the symbol there were those almost-letters. The stallion fought hard not to try and read them and get back to his dull work, but eventually lost the battle with his curiosity. He was always a curious type and loved mysteries, so when one was so close to him, he couldn’t simply ignore it. “E… Es, zi… zittern?” He blinked twice not sure what this could possibly mean, it could be just gibberish, however the amount left to read proved him wrong. Not many knew this but Spoken Truth was actually a superb magical specialist in the field of analysis and time-based magic. His cutie mark, a golden symbol of infinity was a mystery to most. To him also, he got it completely out of random. “Maybe I could… use the spell…” All in all Spoken Truth was actually a naughty, naughty child in the past. Especially the part about breaking into the Canterlot library and stealing one of the forbidden spell scrolls, that just HAPPENED to lie on the desk, about to be sealed forever. Well, actually it wasn’t this much forbidden as it couldn’t really harm anypony, nor it could cause any chaos. It was dangerous to the caster, as it literally transported his or her consciousness through time. Of course Spoken Truth was caught by the old librarian and forced to face the Princess. She however decided that no punishment will be come to a child, mostly because he literally felt sorry. It was a school field trip, back then. He actually never used the spell before, mostly out of fear. But this desk, this magnificent desk had some kind of spark in it, as if it could tell unspoken stories of times long, long past. He wasn’t a fool and didn’t believe the naïve story about this desk being made by a famous Pony artist. It just didn’t lie right with Spoken and he learned to trust his gut instinct on most occasions. This piece of furniture was special in a way… Very special. He nodded to himself after that, fear overcame by his curiosity as he concentrated. His short horn begun to glow in a silky white color as the Unicorn cast his forbidden spell. It was soon released and hit the desk, with the latter absorbing the energy. For a while nothing happened, as Spoken looked around nervously, waiting to be pulled in a different reality… or something. Then he heard it… Voices, singing in the far distance. The singing was getting louder with each passing second and soon Spoken was able to hear perfectly what was being sung. “Es zittern die morschen Knochen, Der Welt vor dem großen Krieg, Wir haben den Schrecken gebrochen, Für uns war's ein großer Sieg!” He didn’t understand any of these words, but somehow they made him tremble, the language felt so harsh and brutal, as if the words alone could kill. The singing however didn’t stop “Wir werden weiter marschieren Wenn alles in Scherben fällt, Denn heute da hört uns Deutschland Und morgen die ganze Welt!” He felt himself being pulled in the air suddenly. The room around him begun to disintegrate and turn into blackness. Now he was horribly scared, trying to fight the unknown force that was lifting him up. He flailed his hoofs around, but simply couldn’t stop what was happening, so he did something only natural. He started to scream. The singing however became only louder “Und liegt vom Kampfe in Trümmern Die ganze Welt zuhauf, Das soll uns den Teufel kümmern, Wir bauen sie wieder auf!” Then Spoken Truth was violently pulled forward, flying through the blackness, which soon started to turn into a recognizable environment. Trees slowly started to appear around him, ground took shape, sky became blue and the singing became immensely powerful now. “Wir werden weiter marschieren Wenn alles in Scherben fällt, Denn heute da hört uns Deutschland Und morgen die ganze Welt.” Then the blue sky was blocked by black smoke, distant sounds of explosions and gunfire came to Spoken Truth’s sensitive ears. Fires on the horizon and wrecks of different metal monsters littered the ground around him. Ruins of many buildings were visible everywhere and dominated the land. He felt as if he was slowly floating down. Underneath he could see rows of weird bipedal creatures marching and singing… Singing loudly… It was a terrifying sight… “Und mögen die Alten auch schelten, So laßt sie nur toben und schrei'n, Und stemmen sich gegen uns Welten, Wir werden doch Sieger sein.” The magic that held him in the air and was delicately bringing down to Earth suddenly disappeared. He let out a terrified, panicked scream as the gravity pulled him down violently. He didn’t have any time to actually do anything more as he hit a cart full of hay crashing it in the process. Spoken Truth could only hear ringing in his ears, feel pain all over his body and have a tremendous headache after that fall. The ringing quickly quieted down as he opened his eyes, vision blurry. “Wir werden weiter marschieren Wenn alles in Scherben fällt, Denn heute da hört uns Deutschland Und morgen die ganze Welt.” Through the stack of hay he was now laying in he could see, with widened eyes, those bipedal creatures marching, unnaturally synchronized. They looked like nothing he ever saw and the confusion didn’t allow him to break his gaze from them. Dressed in dark gray uniforms with iron helmets on their heads and weird contraptions in their appendages the creatures seemed to have some sort of a sinister goal set. Slowly the confusion became smaller and Spoken Truth felt panic gripping him by the guts. He hastily tried to stand up and get out of the hay, only to fall down again with a yelp of pain that shot through his right hind leg. “My leg! This shouldn’t be happening, the spell shouldn’t work this way!” He shouted full of sorrow, forgetting for a second about the weird bipedal creatures passing by the cart he was in. He then felt choking fear as he remembered that he just shouted something out loud, next to possibly hostile army of monsters. He stopped moving at all, his breath became sharp and short. “Sie wollen das Lied nicht begreifen, Sie denken an Knechtschaft und Krieg Derweil unsre Äcker reifen, Du Fahne der Freiheit, flieg!” The singing continued. The creatures ignored him, as if he wasn’t there. His mind decided that it was a good time to get up again and crawl out of the hay that stung him unpleasantly. This time however he was much less hasty and with some difficulties he finally got out of the broken cart, just to clumsily fall down on the dirt. He could hear the stomps of thousands upon thousands of feet. They made the ground shake. Somewhere deep inside he was wondering why can’t the monsters see him. His racing mind however quickly put it aside, simply accepting the fact. He raised his head slowly… “Where am I?!” Location: Earth, Central Europe, Western Poland Date: September the 1st, 1939 The Invasion of Poland Panic started to set in again… “Wir werden weiter marschieren, Wenn alles in Scherben fällt; Die Freiheit stand auf in Deutschland Und morgen gehört ihr die Welt.” The soldiers were not paying any attention towards the grey unicorn lying on the ground just next to them, just as if nothing happened. They were still marching, beginning to sing the song anew. “What… What are those?! Where am I?!” He was looking around in panic, his breath horribly shallow, mind racing, heart beating crazily fast. “Can you feel the hate, Spoken Truth?” A sweet soothing voice rang in his head. His vision became blurry from all the stress, ringing came back to his ears. “Who are you?!” He shouted out, looking around nervously as shaking he tried to raise himself from the filthy ground “They are humans, creatures of war and destruction, brilliant race with unlimited potential, power but also hatred. This is their history you are witnessing, the beginning of the most destructive war ever waged in the entire human reign.” The soothing voice echoed in his head, calming his tarnished nerves with some kind of supernatural power “Who… What are you?” He asked again, unsure and deeply confused “I am what you call The Universe… and you have cast a forbidden spell, bending my power to your will… It was a mistake Spoken Truth…” The voice became suddenly harsh and venomous, causing Spoken Truth to tremble in fear. All the calm he received only a second ago was gone. “I… I’m sorry…” He barely stammered. “Sorry won’t do it, mortal. You had a desire of knowledge of the past and so you are seeing the times when the mysterious desk in your room was made. You are seeing the World War. You will witness the destruction, the killing, the blood and pain. You will see innocents die and suffer, millions of creatures cast into oblivion, lost in flames.” Spoken Truth started to breathe harshly again, so horribly terrified by what the voice said “B...But I don’t want to see anypony hurt! I just wanted… I…” He said out loud, his eyes getting wet, tears slowly forming. He did not doubt the voice in his head. He could feel the authority and ancient power it was radiating. It was a cosmic being he was talking to right now… “I will also tell you of the future. What you are seeing now, will repeat itself in your times. The victims however will mostly come from your race. The creatures you see are coming back, bringing another wave of hate. It has already started and there’s little you can do to stop it.” He suddenly felt as if someone hit him in the face, as if judgment was passed on him and everything he knew and there was nothing he could do. Tears were coming down his face freely now. He was crying, feeling horrible sadness and sorrow. “But… Why would they do this? What have we ever done to them?!” He felt hopeless “It’s simple mortal… You’ve taken over their home… They believe you are thieves that deserve to die…” There was silence for a while, Spoken Truth sat down on the ground, head sunk down, eyes sad and wet “Is… Is there anything I can do?” He whispered “Oh there is a way for you to survive of course… There will be a great battle near Stalliongrad. All you need to do is pick the right side Spoken Truth and you will survive. But can you carry the burden of the lost lives on your back? Will you be able to live with yourself?” He raised his head slowly, not believing what he just heard. He was about to protest, but the facts came to him. There will be a battle near Stalliongrad? What? How? Why? “Time of our little chat is up… Witness the horrors, embrace the knowledge you wanted so much!” He then felt as if reality around him started to collapse, the soldiers stopped singing, they stopped moving whatsoever… No… The time has stopped! Silence fell… Spoken Truth however wasn’t given any chance for a reaction as suddenly reality recomposed itself and came at him with lightning speed, boring into his innocent mind like a power drill. Images started to fly in front of him, the crimes, the violence, the murders, genocide, the flames and screams of the victims. Everything showed with painful clarity seeping into his mind. He started to scream wildly, unable to stop the flow of the darkest knowledge filling his mind and wiping his innocence, clearing any hope and good the young Unicorn had. “Noo! Please! No more… Aaaaahhh!” There was no mercy however, no way of ending what has started. And so Spoken Truth not only saw but became a wounded Ally soldier about to die from a mine explosion that almost ripped him apart, he was a Waffen-SS officer shooting a young Jewish child for stealing bread, he was a young Pole jumping under Pzkpfw VI(B) Tiger II with an explosive in his hands, about to commit heroic suicide for his country. He was an innocent child locked in Auschwitz Birkenau concentration camp, with many other people in one room, about to receive a deadly dose of Zyklon-B. He became a Russian soldier shooting from a heavy machine gun mounted on the top of his T-34 tank, killing many Nazi soldiers. And finally he became Simo Häyhä, White Death himself, alone killing 505 Russian soldiers trying to invade his country. He felt the sorrow, the suffering, the despair, hopelessness but also the lust for blood, the feeling of authority and power, the hate and the feeling of inspiring dread. He also witnessed… heroism, love for one’s country, sacrifice, leadership, true friendship formed through blood and fire… He saw and felt it all… On this day Spoken Truth exchanged his innocence for knowledge and experience… On this day he almost lost his mind… He was someone completely else now and his old self was forever lost, cast into darkness, forever buried. Location: Equestria/Earth, Canterlot/Washington D. C., The Castle, Luna’s Chambers Time: 15 minutes after the Ragnarok Strike Luna’s eyes shot open… She felt horrible pain all across her body and something coppery in her mouth. There was dust everywhere, covering most of the room. It came from the cracks in the walls and the gaping hole that replaced her balcony now. She coughed painfully and blinked twice. Her eyes produced some tears to counter the dust particles stuck in them. “What… What happened…” She couldn’t remember… She was standing on the balcony and then… Nothing… A blank memory… Currently she was lying on the ground, her back leaning against the wall. She tried to move, but felt a wave of pain shoot through her right foreleg. She immediately understood that it was broken. Then she felt a wave of terror came through her as a trickle of blood entered her right eye, blinding her slightly. She raised her bruised left foreleg up to her forehead and tried to touch her horn… But… There was nothing… She moved her foreleg a few times in place where her horn should have been and finally came across something. As she touched it another wave of pain shoot through her, but she ignored it unable to comprehend what reality was trying to tell her. In place of her horn there was a stub, a short stub that was bleeding and hurt her horribly. Her eyes went wide and she violently turned her head around as if looking for something. Looking to the left she saw it… There was no mistake, it was her horn, broken at the base, lying on the ground like trash. “No… No! No, no, no, no, no!” Tears started to form in her eyes. But they quickly stopped flowing as she remembered everything that happened. Her country was attacked by an unknown force, one of the biggest cities in Equestria has been destroyed, her sister had a cerebral hemorrhage and was permanently blinded by it and now she lost her horn and broken her leg and was completely useless. Then anger came, so tremendous, so powerful… She tightened her jaw as her eyes turned into slits and changed color. She saw some kind of blackness coming out of her stump slowly enveloping her. But she ignored the sinister power and focused all her hate on the attacker “I will destroy you! Do you hear me?!” She suddenly shouted to no one in particular, her eyes locked on the ground, as the darkness completely overtook her, transforming Luna into something else… And soon instead of the Princess of the Night the infamous Nightmare Moon was leaning against the wall. All wounds healed, her horn regrown as the old one turned into colorful dust. She was still leaning against the wall looking at the ground with her dragon-like eyes. After a while she broke contact with the ground as her anger dropped a little, as she moved her head and caught a glimpse of her body she gasped, shocked “Wh…” Her lips started to tremble as she again raised her left foreleg in front of her eyes staring at her pitch black coat, completely confused “I… No… I’m not her! No! I’m Luna!” Her voice changed and sounded so dreadful, so spiteful “How did this happen?!” She asked herself, feeling suddenly devastated. She was not Nightmare Moon! It was all past her, the power that made her into that creature was gone forever! She started to breathe faster, confusion turning into panic… “Okay Luna… It’s nothing… You’re healed at least and can stand up and… And…” She was at loss of words, but decided that lying in one spot all the time was not a good idea. So she stood up slowly starting to believe that it was just some kind of nightmare. Looking down she could see the new pieces of armor that came out of nowhere and her much darker mane. For a while she just stood there, her mind racing trying to think what to do now and fighting off the feeling of hopelessness and fear that was creeping up on her… “As long as I know who I am, it doesn’t matter how I look… Yes… That’s it…” That was the best she could come up with. It calmed her down a little and ideas of what to do now stormed her troubled mind. Celestia! She has to see if anything happened to her sister and the rest of the castle, see if there are any casualties. And what about Ponyville? She quickly came closer to the gaping hole in her chambers and took a look out of it, looking for the small town… Then she spotted it, it was under some kind of a barrier, safe and sound… What was a barrier doing there? Only she, Celestia, Twilight Sparkle and Shining Armor were capable of creating such a big sturdy barrier. She dismissed the thought taking a glimpse at Canterlot. It didn’t look as good. Some smaller buildings collapsed, there were some Ponies lying on the ground, most likely knocked out… She felt a pinch of dread… What if it was worse? And somepony could be trapped under those ruins! There was no time! She had to organize rescue party, call in the guards, and deploy the medics! The fact she became what she hated the most slowly slipped her mind. It seemed to be an illusion to her now. She quickly stormed out of her chambers into the corridors clacking against the floor with her armored hoofs. As she came out of her room she immediately spotted a guard lying on the floor under some rubble. The ceiling has collapsed in a few spots. Another guard with a bleeding wound on his head was desperately trying to rescue his unconscious comrade. He was a white unicorn, concentrating his efforts on picking up the enormous piece of concrete from the trapped pony. His magic was way too weak to do that however. Luna wasted no time and quickly approached the rubble. The guard of course heard her and raised his head with eyes half closed, from the tiredness. “Princess! Thank all that’s holy tha…” As he opened his eyes wider he saw not his Princess but a known villain standing on his right, next to the rubble. Nightmare Moon had as evil expression as always, her lizard eyes were sweeping the rubble as if trying to find something. She was radiating power, hate, evil and coldness… It was terrifying and the guard’s heart stopped as he started to tremble slightly. He was wounded and weakened, what could he possibly do to Nightmare Moon in his state? “N… Nightmare Moon… So you returned… It was you who did this…” He whispered, knowing that it was probably his end The villain turned her head to the guard. An expression of confusion and hurt visible on her face. For a while it seemed that Nightmare Moon had no idea what he was talking about. She then blinked twice as if realizing something and sighed sadly “I’m NOT Nightmare Moon… I’m Luna… We don’t have time for this! We have to get that pony out of the ruble!” She said, doing poor job defending herself. The guard shook his head in disbelief at the whole sentence… Maybe he was hallucinating? He got hit in the head pretty hard after all. “It’s really you Princess?” He asked confused “Yes it is me! Now, please, let’s help this pony quickly!” She said a little angered now, her voice had a lot of venom in it, making the guard even more confused. But after a second he shook his head “I’m so sorry Princess! Of course! Thank the Sun and Moon you are fine!” She nodded in relief and concentrated. Her horn started to glow darkly. She was sure that with the help of the guard she will be able to raise the rubble and get the unconscious pony out. She however couldn’t possibly predict what happened next. She used only a little bit of her power, but the rubble instantly flew up as if a Giant raised it, what’s more she really wanted to see the other Pony unharmed and to her surprise he was… Teleported away from the rubble the second she thought it would be a good idea… The Guard didn’t even manage to concentrate in the short time she rescued the pony. She then released the spell and the rubble fell to the ground again, creating a dusty cloud. Luna’s eyes widened. Where did all that power come from? She was sure she didn’t have this much of it earlier… And to cast two spells at the same time? It was unheard of, she only saw Celestia do it… The guard shook his head in amazement “Thank you Princess, if not for your help…” She came out of her thoughts and looked at the guard “But of course! Take care of your friend and when you’re done go and look for any healthy guards! We have a whole City to sweep!” She said with so much authority, it actually felt unnatural to her “Yes your Highness!” The guard answered standing at attention, a little surprised by the sudden strict voice of the Princess. She then started to gallop towards the castle infirmary. After a second she stopped and literally D’ohed. Why was she galloping if she could teleport? She scolded herself and quickly cast a teleportation spell. She reappeared in infirmary and immediately saw medical ponies walking around bringing in lots of wounded Ponies. Some higher ranking guards were barking some commands to others, obviously keeping the operation well organized... The infirmary was on the lowest levels of the Castle and it seemed that it didn’t receive any damage and the guards plus other Ponies here, quickly reacted to the attack. Luna sighed in relief. Her ears perked up as she heard a very familiar voice just outside the infirmary and closing in quickly “…And we don’t have a death toll yet. We also have no idea where did this shockwave come from, but it certainly was created by something of incredible power.” It was Shining Armor… “Any news as to where Luna is at?” This voice… Impossible… But it had to be! Then Shining Armor entered the infirmary with a few guards behind him… And Celestia right next to him. The Goddess of the Sun looked much better than she did not so long ago. She actually looked like usual with the exception of a white blindfold on her eyes and much colder aura about her. Luna didn’t move as happiness slowly filled her… So her sister was fine! And already out of the bed! And of course this split second was enough for Shining Armor to simply turn his head around and meet eyes with a well know pitch black, evil legend. Nopony spotted the black mare up until now because it seemed everypony was very preoccupied with their duties and she was at the end of the infirmary. “What the…?!” Shining Armor stopped suddenly not believing his eyes Luna then realized her grave mistake “No! Wait! I can explain!” She desperately shouted as terror overtook her “This voice… I know It all too well” Celestia suddenly said grimly “Nightmare Moon…” The Goddess of the Sun came forward with a very serious expression on her face. The guards came out of the shock and reacted, drawing their weapons and giving Luna very hateful looks. “So you were not destroyed after all… And you returned thinking only of revenge… You blinded me, killed your people and almost destroyed Canterlot… And for WHAT?!” Celestia shouted out in anger Luna was about to say something but she felt as if something was choking her, preventing from saying anything “This time you went too far Nightmare Moon. You will be hanged, drawn and quartered! CEASE HER!” Celestia ordered and the guards started to approach Luna, not a hint of fear on their faces… “Sister! Please, it’s me… I… Something happened…” Her voice trembled as she felt like crying “Tia… It’s me… please…” She whispered The Guards surrounded her, as she sat down and lowered her head sadly “Wait!” Celestia ordered suddenly as she approached Luna slowly. She couldn’t see but she seemed to be looking into the latter’s soul for a while. “Luna?” She asked completely surprising the villain “Y… Yes! Yes, it’s me!” Luna suddenly stood up as happiness overtook her once again “Princess?! It’s Nightmare Moon! It’s not Luna!” One of the guards protested not able to believe in what just happened. Luna ignored this protest and simply jumped at her blind sister, embracing her in a hug. “It is you Luna…” Celestia barely stammered, still able to feel the coldness and venomous aura around the creature that was now hugging her “Tia! You’re fine! I was afraid… I… Then this red light came… And, and…” Luna was babbling “Luna, calm down… “ But it was too late, the Goddess of Night was now crying in her sisters embrace. The guards and doctors were observing this scene, half believing that it was some kind of trick… Crying Nightmare Moon… Celestia had no more doubt now, it definitely was her sister. But what happened? How did she become Nightmare Moon again? The hug lasted for a moment, until Luna finally stopped crying and released her sister from the embrace, now a little embarrassed that so many ponies just saw her break down in tears… “Tia… I don’t know what happened. I was very injured after the light came, my leg was broken and my horn was gone. I just felt so angry and… Something snapped…” Celestia pondered over this for a while “It matters not… For now… We have much more pressing matters to attend to.” Luna nodded energetically. Some guards looked as if they were ready to break their orders and simply charge at the black mare, but one look at their blinded Princess made them drop the idea. Shining Armor cleared his throat getting the attention of two mares instantly “I’m sorry your Highnesses, but I believe that we still need to form a proper courier party and get reports from other cities.” Of course Shining Armor was not about to trust Nightmare Moon just like that, but he wasn’t foolish enough to disagree with Celestia. “Indeed, I shall see to it personally” Celestia said firmly turning her head towards Shining Armor. The guards finally hid their weapons and started to calm down somewhat, still giving Luna some hateful looks. Fortunately her sister’s authority was legendary. “Also, I believe you sent Dead Eye to form some kind of an army Luna? Is that true?” Luna remembered the fact and became very serious. “Yes sister, I did…” Celestia nodded, approving “Very good, lead them to Staliongrad. I want whatever harmed my little Ponies to be caught!” Celestia said loudly “I will sister…” Shining armor took an intake of breath “Princess Luna, the army you asked for is almost ready for orders. They have gathered on the western border of Equestria.” Nightmare moon leading an army to defend Equestria… Incredible… “How many?” Asked Luna narrowing her eyes slightly. Temperature in the room seemed to drop by a few degrees “200 000…” Luna didn’t respond There was silence for a while “Send a message. Tell them Lu… Nightmare Moon will lead them to Stalliongrad… I don’t want them to be taken by a complete surprise with my appearance.” Luna said suddenly “Very well Princess” Shining Armor responded, taken slightly aback by the request. Celestia lowered her head as if thinking of something “Luna… I… had to… Cancel the spell…” Luna recoiled at this revelation. The protection spell that was supposed to protect all the subjects from harm and even death in some cases… That’s why Celestia recovered so quickly… That’s why she was so serious and cold… “I’m sorry sister…” Luna said with sadness in her voice “Whatever did this… Whatever dared to do this, will pay…” Goddess of the Sun stated darkly Shining Armor had no idea what they were talking about, but he dared not to interrupt “It will Tia… I’ll make sure of it!” Luna said louder than normally Celestia raised her head and nodded. “Let us waste no more time then, keep me informed Luna. Lead on Shining Armor” Celestia gestured with her hoof, at the Captain of the Guard “Of course your Highness” He replied and they both turned around ready to leave the infirmary that returned to its duties, trying not to think that the Goddess of Sun sided with Nightmare Moon… Trying to really believe it was just Luna in disguise. Luna on the other hand quickly concentrated and in a blink of an eye, teleported to the western border, ready to lead 200 000 of different Equestrian creatures against an unknown enemy… Against a Metal Monster… A/N: Over 10k words... Hurray... Hopefully not many derps. As to why so late... First I was swamped for about a month and then... Then i just got laaaazy... Very, very lazy... But Am fighting the sloth hard now! I won’t let it win this time :P
The AwakeningDivision 48 High above the skies so bright Watching all with delight The black guardian deep in slumber Waits for the proper number The black guardian in his sleep Counts the time, week by week Years go by, millennia pass The time is right, he opens his eyes The Achilles shall now rise Brings down life and demise One side will receive the latter For the other it won’t matter It’s beginning of the end Whose side are you on my friend? Chronicles of Equestria, The prophecy of Silver Wielder Location: Equestria, previously known as Earth, The Forbidden Grounds, previously known as Western Europe Dimensional designated number: 1003DN31XMV/1102 – Level 1 Interference Data according to Dimensional Guardians Nexus Archives. 1881km above the ground a single silver and black object slowly rotates around Earth (or what’s left of her). At first glance it looks like a chunk of metal, a spherical orb with two thermal panels to generate its electricity. Normally the satellite circles the earth everyday, unnoticed, forgotten, a remnant of long lost civilization. Yet again the sun comes around, the light shines brightly and gently strokes the thermal panels of the satellite, and the circle begins again. This time however it’s different... The whole construction suddenly shutters with movement, thermal panels extending twofold, a flickering green light emanating from the lower base of the construction comes to life. The ancient machine activates its oldest protocols and gets ready to finally fulfill the purpose its creators gave it... . .. ... .... ....LOADING.... .... .... ....ACHILLES DEFENCE NETWORK... .... .... ....START UP SEQUENCE.... .... .... ....SATELITE 1 OPERATIONAL... ....WESTERN EUROPE AREA.... ....CONNECTING TO DIVISION 48 HEADQUARTERS... ....CONNECTION ESTABLISHED – 1000,1 MHZ.... ....DOWNLOADING UPDATE.... ....UPDATING INFORMATION.... ....RECIEVING V.3 PACKAGE PROTOCOL.... ....UPDATE COMPLETE.... ....COMPILING VHAI DATABASE.... ....COMPLETE.... .... .... .... ....LOCATION: WESTERN EUROPE.... ....FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF GERMANY.... ....LIFE SIGNATURES: EST. 30 000 000 000.... ....UNABLE TO ESTALIBH CONNECTION TO MIDH .... ....DATE: EST 4259.... ....BASE 1, 3 – 18, 20 – 40, 42 – 72, 74 - 93 OFFLINE... ....BASE 94, 73, 41, 19, 2 ONLINE..... ....OPERATIONAL LEVEL EST. 71%.... ....CONDITION 9.... ....ACTIVATING DEMISE TRANSMITTER... ....SENDING PACKAGE.... ....PRIORITY BASE – 94.... ... .. . Cold air whistled outside the abandoned ancient building. Covered in thick layer of ice the massive construction stood proud and fearsome. The architects of this construction were long gone, race diminished, not in war or ideology, but by the technological development and lust for more effective sources of power. Still humankind managed to preserve itself through such sturdy constructs. This one looked like a black cube to the creatures that now dwelled on Earth. Standing 50 meters high with massive reinforced airlock doors in the lower middle part of the building. Easily visible to anyone, but not recognized as an entrance by equine entities that saw it nowadays. 3 Titanium alloy electronic locks, keeping the sealed door together, shut off, holding God only knows what secrets. The whole building was silent and dead. Lost temple of unknown deities, or an old library. Not even one window was apparent in the structure, its insides completely sealed off from the outside world. To the ignorant creatures of today, it was only an interesting historic curiosity. However if by any chance an actual human was able to see it, he or she would probably go with: “Holy shit, this definitely is some kind of a secret military outpost!” And they probably wouldn’t be far off. Someone still familiar with the long gone ancient human language would be able to read “Base 94” above the dreadful airlock. To a human this whole situation would be mighty suspicious. To a talking magical pony however, it was not... Location: Earth, United Earth Federation, Division 48, Base 94, The Eternal Eye Chamber, Berlin Time: 2101, March 12th 22:00, 15 minutes to Singularity Collapse “Mr. President, last ark just entered higher atmosphere of Earth” A tall black man in a Division 48 officer uniform spoke. Face covered with hardly healed burns, not showing any signs of emotion. Military experience visible through the way he moved. Only his eyes showed sings of overwhelming dread. “Thank you Colonel, I’m well aware of the fact” An old slim man sitting on a very comfortable chair replied. His face covered with eerie shadow, a sick green glow enveloping his figure through the glass panel behind him. His old, but still sleek hands, an evidence of a lifetime of political and desk work, folded together on the wooden desk. Who would have thought, that this old man in his 70s held in his hands the fate of humankind. “I do appreciate your company Colonel… With the last ark, our whole civilization leaves its birthplace, our beautiful Earth. Who could have though I’ll live to actually see the end of the world.” The old man said in a monotone and husky voice, his position not changing. “No one could have anticipated that, this early Sir. I stay here, because I feel responsible for the situation as one of the highest ranking officer in Division” The military-man spoke, his voice strong, resolve hard as iron, but heart beating like crazy. He will lose his life here, for his planet. He didn’t regret his decision of staying behind, when a space was still available on Ark 3. It’s that his survival instinct was kicking in, telling him to get the hell out of here. He wasn’t about to do that, but it was a hard feeling to fight with. The old man smiled in the darkness, a smile of hope and fulfillment, but also regret and sadness. His eyes glossed over, calm but sad. “You have nothing to be sorry for Colonel. It was sure to happen and this thing behind me was going to appear anyway. Your people and your division only studied it and gathered necessary information. Without them we wouldn’t be able to finish Achilles and the supply and security bases. Additionally humankind survived yet another cataclysm, a one that maybe needed a huge sacrifice, but we still live.” He leaned forward into the artificial light, his face showing age, silvery hair combed down in a neat fashion. His pale skin and bags under eyes showed that he spent a lot of time away from sun, working, completing the Condition 9 Project. “Sir, whatever happens in 5 minutes, it was a pleasure to serve under you! And in my opinion as long as Condition 9 takes effect, our planet is safe...” The colonel almost shouted the first part, this time all of his emotions taking control of him. He was proud, proud of his planet, proud of his service and proud of assuring the planets future. “Yes, I feel we completed our mission Colonel, we couldn’t stop the event, but we could ensure that it won’t consume us in the process. And after 20 years, when the anomaly radiation clears out, well… Humankind will come back to reclaim its true home.” This time the old man smiled widely, obviously relieved that in the end, humanity got the upper hand and won against impossible odds. He then looked at his golden watch… “20 seconds Colonel, we may see each other again, on the other side…” “I hope we will Sir. I would be disappointed if we didn’t” The colonel smiled widely and closed his eyes. One final thought crossed his mind. What If condition 9 doesn’t start on time? He didn’t find any answers when the bright green light enveloped the room and his figure, intensifying each second. The singularity roared with fury extending more and more, consuming everything on its patch. And then both the President and the Colonel were disintegrated by the quickly shifting energies of the singularity. Whole planet was quickly being enveloped in that strange green light causing different shifts of reality, time and dimension. The Earth as humans knew it was gone and something new was born, with the sturdy human constructs still intact and waiting… Waiting for the proper condition... Waiting for the signal to awaken.
The Awakening, Part 2 The Awakening, Part 2 Division 48 – The awakening, Part 2 And then the ignorant heretics saw the power of the First Ones, the holy flames of the Colossus devouring their unclean souls, purifying them with bright light and warmth. Because nopony can stand against the avatars of the true Gods, against their mighty creations, nopony can comprehend their abilities! And you shall know their name and feel their wrath when the Achilles judges you and the Colossus takes your soul into eternal void. You shall know they are the First Ones, you shall know they will reclaim what was stolen from them and with that knowledge they will give you 2 choices. Give yourself to the judgment or burn! The Truth, Banned by the royal order, Unknown Author Entropy cannon – Technical information: Device Full Name: Entropy Rip Effect Cannon Short name: Entropy Cannon Division 48 Prototype ID: 100002/D68 Year of production: 2092 Purpose: WMD, Mounted on UEF Colossus type Vehicles Security: Full authorization for usage needed Targeting chip: Black Cloud Corp X1 Effective firing range – 20 000 km Range of impact – 1 m2 – 100 km2 Entropy Cannon is a weapon of mass destruction based on singularity rip effect discovered in 2091. It creates a singularity in its inner barrel through exotic particle stimulation. The singularity is than overloaded through the constant bombardment of particles. The resulting radiation and energy travels through the particle compressor under the ion cascade. Kavrovicz Focus Filter focuses, amplifies and holds the energy. After a proper built up of the energy and radiation, both may be immediately released through the gate. Because of the chaotic nature of singularity based weapons, the target is affected by the collapse effect for only 5 seconds. Those however are more than enough to completely disintegrate the target. The upside of the weapon is ability to fully control the amount of radiation and exotic energy built up, resulting in a full range of impact control and extreme effective range. The downside is that the weapon can be fired only once every 10 hours. The reason for that is a need of singularity stabilization after the stimulation in order to stimulate it again, without destroying the weapon in the process. Location: Equestria, Canterlot area, previously known as North America, Washington D. C., Calmleaves Mental Asylum, Level -3, Criminal insanity floor. The room was barely lit, weird markings all over the walls, they looked as if carved by something sharp and hard. Horrifying pictures of headless bodies, gore, blood and mass murder. The room was paved with some soft and puffy material. Years of usage however made the cushion-like walls dirty and flat. It was possible to carve something into them, words and images. The current resident of the room did just that. He had to, they were observing him all the time and told him to do that. He didn’t like them much, but there was no choice. Either carve the walls or carve your pathetic self. Oh he carved himself too, too deep sometimes. The pain made the world real again, no more fire, no more dead living bodies, no more seeing the future. He knew it was the future, inevitable at that. They will be back, they have to. It is their home in the end; you can’t just borrow something without asking and hope that the owner won’t see. Oh no, you can delay as much as you want, but eventually the owner will realize and come back for what is his. They will do just that, take back what’s theirs and while on it cause a little genocide too, because hey, why the hell not? He smiled, smiled too much. The muscles on his face tearing themselves apart yet again. Warm blood coming down his pale cheeks, recently healed wounds on his face reopening again. Pain… again, sweet, sweet pain. The darkness in the room made it almost impossible to see one’s own hooves. Hooves… funny word… Hoooooves… They are nice, hard and heavy, just like a maul. He remembers the time when he first used them as a maul. It was a real surprise how someones face could collapse like that because he stomped on it 3 or 4 times… That colorful and cheerful face, cheerful and ignorant face. Gosh! He was staring at something yet again. How long did it take this time? He had no idea… Meanwhile 3 storeys above a very calm unicorn was looking at a photo lying on his work desk. His cutie mark a book with a red cross on it. His coat in a color of dark yellow, while his mane was black. He was wearing a white doctors clothing. The picture he was looking at was of a smiling earth pony. Smiling in a very unnatural and disturbing fashion… The smile was way too wide, the face muscles unable to hold it, causing the skin to break in a few places, which were bleeding. How was it possible to make oneself smile like that was a mystery. Coat of the pony was in a color of dirty white, with few red stains on his side. His mane dirty, covered in some unidentified filth. His tail… surgically cut near the base. Hooves neglected, covered in something red that dried a while ago. One of his ears was missing, only small parts of it still visible. It looked as if ripped off by something. Behind the pony on the ground something was lying. An unidentified mass of red and white. The doctor knew exactly what it was, but was somehow afraid to admit it. The pony was by all means a bare flank. He had no cutie mark, but his appearance was that of an adult. The room the pony was standing in was made of old wood. Furniture scattered over as if a tornado raged through the room. The doctor shook his head with resignation; the whole image looked as if taken in another reality, another horrible macabre filled world. On the other side of the photo a small note was glued, “Evidence 1” written on it. He put the photo down and placed it back in a case file titled “Canterlot Royal Guard, Case 14, Brutal Murder”. The unicorns horn then shone in a bright yellow color. He casted a memorization spell that showed in his mind any previously recorded image or sound. He closed his eyes and then, Just like a movie would, a desired image or sound was played in his mind: “I… I can see them… I can see the bodies… No, it cannot be true! I scream, I weep, but I know it is reality, reality that is about to happen. So many dead… So much pain and suffering… Their rage, it’s endless… I see now, it was taken from them! She was taken from them! Their home… Earth… We are the invaders, we took it and now it’s time to pay! PAY FOR WHAT WE TOOK! PAY WITH OUR BLOOD AND LIVES!” He opened his eyes, a minute after some intensive thoughts he levitated a notebook from the shelf behind him, placed it on the desk, opened it and proceeded to write: Journal entry 180 Doctor Clear Mind, Patient 48: Severe case of schizophrenia and mental shutdown, criminal insanity. Genius level intelligence. Recommended therapy – magical shock. He then closed his notebook. Location: Equestria, previously known as Earth, Forbidden grounds, previously known as Western Europe The whistle of icy winds suddenly gave away when a much louder noise echoed though the icy wasteland. The sound of something old and heavy being moved, sound of metal scratching metal. A green light shone above the heavy airlock doors of the black cube considered to be a historic curiosity by the ponies. Titanium alloy locks disengaging one by one. The circle in the middle of the door turned around to the left, as after such a long time the building was opening to the outside world. The heavy airlock door rising with much hardship, showing the darkness of the base 94 insides. One last sound echoed through the wasteland, a mechanical, artificial male voice coming from the Base 94 insides: “Colossus Online…”
The Awakening, Part 3Division 48 – The Awakening, Part 3 Transcription, Tape 13, Case of Christopher White, 17 November 1981, New York Police Department Case files One… Two… I found you *Sound of something sharp slashing* *Sound of meat being cut* *Feminine scream* Three… Four… Blood and gore *Voice in background, female – P…please… Stop… Why are you doing this? Whyyyy?!* *Sobbing sounds* *Male voice, singing, tired* Five…Six… These are my tricks *Closing-in steps, heavy boots, wooden floor* Seven… Eight… My knife’s your fate *Continuous sobbing, increasing in volume* *Sound of metal impacting metal, possible that an object was put down on a metallic surface. Something heavy being lifted from metallic surface” Nine… Ten… Now and then *Female voice, increasing in volume, shouting – No… No… Please don’t… Harry! HELP MEE! HEEEELP!!* *Heavy steps, wooden floor* *Male voice, shouting, passionately* Eleven… Twelve… You I crave! *Snort, heavy object being swung, sound of impact, meaty crack* *Loud maniacal laugh* End of transcription NYPD, Evidence No. 13, Case No. 1110048, Case closed on November 18th 1981, Prime suspect found dead near the crime scene, possible suicide Information Secrecy Level 0 – Full Authorization for access needed Topic: Dimensional spontaneous shift Data Origin: Dimensional Guardians Nexus Archives Authorization: Master Assassin Scarlet Shadow Dimensional Spontaneous Shift As impossible as it may sound spontanous shift is in fact existent. This anomaly happens very rearly and there are currently 3 recorded shifts of this type. Normally to pass through one dimension to the other a clear rip in membrane is needed. As it is our current vehicles have that kind of technology allowing for such passage at disposal. It was belived until recently that membranes in each universe are a constant normally inaccessible barrier that under certain circumstances might be ripped. The amounts of energy needed for such action are enormous, and spontainouslly such amounts of power can’t exist naturally. However what we missed so far is a simple fact, that the membrane is not only a phased out energy-based barrier, but rather an entity that is composed of energy plus events and actions materialized in its structure. However complicated as it may sound, it is in fact brilliantly simple. A creature, let’s say a human, in a proper time and proper place, doing an exact and specific things without fail causes the membrane to respond by increase in vibration in that single point, where the human is performing those actions. As we know, if membrane vibrations in one spot increase constantly, there is a point where they begin to be too severe. A consequence of that is naturally a rip in its structure that instantly consumes the human, but not physically. Physically the body stays where it is, what passes through the barrier however is the humans energy signature. Basicly this means, his or her mind is transferred through dimensions. Because the system of dimensions is very complex, huge and for that matter strict it doesn’t take lightly to such occurance. It is considered an error and imidiettly the whole system tries to compensate for the anomaly.So what do you do with a stray energy signature that is in a place where it shouldn’t be? You cannot transfer it back, because the shift happens only in one direction. You can’t delete it because it’s not a being nor an object from the dimension it passed to. The only other reasonable option is to delete a similar energy signature in the new dimension and insert the stray energy signature into the previously deleted one’s physicall body, than write that it happened as it was supposed to be and close the case. Everything’s dandy except for the poor traveller that is probably wondering why is he a fox now or something even more degrating. Normally those kind of passages aren’t that dengrous as they are self-correcting and are really rare. Normally this wouldn’t be a problem for anyone except for the passing entity. But recently it occurred to the guardians that, because some individuals can alone have an influence on a vast amounts of factors and actions, this kind of shifts can be dangerous. An example of that is also pretty simple. What if a spontanous shift happened to a, let’s say, sociopath with very questionable motives and views on the world. This individual’s views are in his mind, which is transferred to another dimension, where the almighty universe decides that he is best suitable in a body of an Emperor of a gallactic empire, which has a very huge army and resources. Well, I don’t really think I have to explain the consequences that are obvious in this case. This is why this kind of event currently has a very high priority for the Guardians intervention. Fortunately there was only one such intervention recored in the history. It however ended, let’s say badly. To sum up, as much as we think we know about everything (and the thruth is the Guardians know a god damn lot), the universe still holds some secrets from us. This is however good, knowing every single thing would be horribly boring and no one really wants that. Spontanous Shift Cases: 1. Case of Lorrak Hz’khvar – closed – no intervention 2. Case of Vivid Light – closed – intervention 3. Case of Christopher White – unsolved Location: Equestria, Canterlot area, previously known as North America, Washington D. C., Calmleaves Mental Asylum, Level -3, Criminal insanity floor The barely lit insides of room 9 gave it a very unsettling atmosphere. The only resident living there however was not afraid of the dark. He was lying on the cushioned floor, his breath steady, cloudy eyes half-closed shifting from left to right. His unnatural position would cause a severe case of muscle ache to any other pony attempting to lie in such weird position. To him however it didn’t matter, he welcomed the pain, he needed it. Lying on his back, forelegs behind his head crossed, serving as pillow and support for his head. His back legs were curled up and also crossed. This individual was in definition asleep. He didn’t like to sleep, in fact he hated it. The images he saw every single time were tormenting him, causing the only kind of pain he loathed. And as usual he was seeing them yet again. The scene that would make anypony lose his or her sanity. What he really wanted is for them to go away, but he knew that it won’t happen, so he at least wanted somepony to share those images with. Somepony who could understand what he was going through, somepony he could simply relate to. In his dream, he opened his eyes yet again, with a heavy sigh. He was standing just outside the Everfree Forest overlooking Ponyville and Canterlot. And both… both were burning with fires of vengeance and righteous wrath. The night sky was red with the amount of light coming from all those burning buildings. Many differently shaped objects were hovering in the sky. Some of them releasing black rays of energy, striking the ground. Wherever the ray stroke, a black explosion soon followed and then fires, consuming everything around the impact site. The amounts of those objects were terrifying. Whole sky above him was dotted with different black monstrosities. On the ground he could see charred corpses of other ponies, torn and lying scattered around like trash. On his left he could see the true death bringer, a giant creature, or machine stomping heavily. Each step caused the ground to shake. Constant explosions of light came from all over the machine. Streaks of light were lashing out at the ponies that were still alive. It didn’t matter if it was a child or an adult, no one was spared and blood was flowing in hectoliters. The machine in its wake was leaving a red carpet behind it. But the shadow around it, the darkness that was surrounding the monster was making it impossible to see any detail, except for its gigantic size. The servos making a horrible artificial squeaking sound, as it stomped and moved forward. The screams of agony and panic were never ending. In front of him ponies were running in all directions, trying to save their dear lives. Some were making an attempt to run to Everfree… A Futile attempt. Every single one crossing the border immediately ended up with a huge blackened hole in his or her body. The holes supposedly were appearing out of nowhere. But the more he listened, the more he could hear a distant booming sound, just before a hole appeared in a body of yet another victim. The dream had so many details, that it was hard to believe it wasn’t reality. The destruction was endless, Canterlot by now looked like it was almost completely leveled down. Only one tower still stood, the rest - burning ruins of once magnificent city. Ponyville for that matter was no different. Most buildings burned down, the Giant monstrosity walking past them, leaving only destruction behind it, smoking craters from whatever weapon it was using. Constant sounds of rotating motor and heavy gunfire audible through the screams of innocent… Or rather guilty ones… Everyone was guilty, every single one of this pathetic horse-like race. Thieves! Stolen the home! STOLE EARTH! He hated them, hated them all! ALL THOSE CLORORS AND LOVE, UNREAL! END IT! KILL THEM ALL! SLAUGHTER THEM FIRST ONES! A snort… And then a horrible cackle echoed through the massacre. A laugh of insanity and bloodlust, a laugh that shouldn’t be heard by anyone, but was still present. A howl of something that definitely didn’t sound like a pony, but rather a demented madman. What the madman however failed to notice was a simple fact that across the site of massacre, blood and torn limbs was another observer. This one however was pale, blood completely drained from his or her face. Shock and terror paralyzing the visitor. It was obvious that whoever that was, didn’t see anything like the sight in front of him or her ever. Shaking body of the new observer was pinned to the ground, pinned by an unknown force. Then a voice whispered in his or her mind, a mocking, low and growly one. It singed a phrase that made the visitors blood run cold, shivers coming down his or her spine. One… Two… I found you… Something gently touched his or her ear. Scream… and then Twilight Sparkle woke up, breathing heavily, her face covered in sweat, eyes bloodshot and tired. She quickly looked around unsure where she is… Library, her home… Silence all around her. It was middle of the night. Then she heard hurried footsteps of small feet. A purple dragon quickly entered her room, looking very worried. “Twilight! I heard a scream! Are you ok? What happened?” She looked at the dragon and smiled weakly. He was always looking after her, as she was looking after him. He was not only an assistant but a true friend. “I just had a bad dream Spike, nothing to worry about.” She waved her hoof dismissively. “Twi… It’s the third time you’re waking up screaming like that. You didn’t have a good night’s sleep in over three days and that is something I am very concerned about.” He said, coming closer to her, his eyes still fixed on her, watching… Observing… Studying… “Spike… Why are you looking at me like that?” She asked scared a tiny bit “What do you mean? I’m looking at you as I always do.” He said scratching his head uncertain of what she meant. He’s watching you… He’s studying you… He wants you to think he’s your friend Twilight, when in fact he wants only your demise. You know that. The mocking, growly voice echoed in her head. A voice… In her head… Her eyes grew wide with terror. Are you surprised to hear us, Sparkle? Don’t you know who we are? Didn’t you always feel us in the back of your mind… Scratching at your sanity, waiting for you to finally give in. We were always there, an integral part of who you are. Look at the dragon Twilight, look at him. Don’t you want to simply carve his face? To make a nice living sculpture and place it over your chimney? Think how lovely it would match the curtains. She opened her mouth… Than closed it and looked at Spike… Carve his pathetic face… He was looking at her, now evidently worried to a high extent. “Twilight… Are you alright?” She giggled suddenly and uncertainly. “Of course Spike… I was just… thinking, that’s all” She said, her voice a little shaky “If you say so… Want me to bring you something Twi? Tea maybe?” He asked ready to do whatever she asks of him. Hey, maybe he’ll just add something nasty to your tea? Hmm? You’d like your insides to be vomited through your mouth? Carve him Sparkle… CARVE HIM! “N… No Spike, thank you… I’ll just go back to bad, those dreams are really nothing, they’ll pass…” She didn’t sound sure at all. Her voice almost breaking down. “Okay Twi… I’ll go to sleep then. If you’ll need anything just remember you can always count on me…” He smiled widely, turned around and proceeded to go back down to sleep. After the dragon left her, twilight lied down slowly, completely confused and very scared. She was hearing a voice, a horrible unnatural voice wanting her to do something really bad to her best friend. How is it possible? What has happened to her? What if it won’t go away? Maybe she was just tired… Or maybe she… She was losing her mind… No Sparkle, you’re not losing your mind… You already lost it… The voice echoed menacingly in her head and then started to cackle maniacally. A shiver went up her spine, she placed her hooves on her ears, trying to block out the sound. "Go away... Just go away..." She whispered desperately. She couldn’t silence the cackle… It was in fact inside her head… The cackle quieted down after a while. She was still waiting for it to say something, but it left her alone, she hoped. Her fatigue quickly caught up with her and the unicorn went to blissful sleep again. She dreamed of nothing this time however… Location: Equestria, previously known as Earth, Forbidden grounds, previously known as Western Europe The ground shook, as a massive shape was slowly walking through the icy wasteland. Each step caused a crack to appear on the ground. A sound of swirling servos could be heard across the land as the shape was walking towards its destination. On top of the giant a single massive barrel could be seen. There were words written on it: EREC 000002 Someone still capable of reading the letters and having some knowledge on human technology could easily decipher it as “Entropy Rip Effect Cannon 000002”, than he would probably go pale and curse loudly as the gigantic mech had a WMD at its disposal. Inside the massive machine an exchange of protocols and commands was constantly going on: ….COLLOSUS BATTLE PLATFORM…. ….PROTOCOL 9 IN MOTION…. ….MISSION OBJECTIVE: ACTIVATE THE ANOMALY GATE 1… ….SECONDARY OBJECTIVE: ELIMINATE ALL HOSTILE ENTITIES…. ….HOSTILE RECOGNITION PROTOCOL: …. ….PROTOCOL OVERRIDE, SECONDARY MISSION OBJECTIVE CHANGED…. ….SECONDARY OBJECTIVE: SEARCH AND DESTROY… ….WMD AUTHORIZATION: … ….AUTHORIZATION OVERRIDE…. ….WMD AUTHORIZATION: FULLY AUTHORIZED… Authors Note: I will be trying to make the chapters longer; also I think I will have to change the rating from T to M… As there is much more violence and other interesting things every child likes, later on in this fic. Additionally I want to mention I’m not a native English-speaker so you might sometimes encounter silly mistakes or other interesting things like that. I try to keep them to minimum, but sometimes you can’t avoid them :) And TY for reading!
The Awakening, Part 4Division 48 – The Awakaning, Part 4 Condition 9, Stage 1, Demise Transmitter and Colossus Battle Platform The demise transmitter allows for subspace communication and networking. Unfortunately it is possible that the signal won’t be able to reach the Wandering Fleet. In such case the Anomaly Gate will have to be opened, allowing for instant connection and travel to UEF Ships. Because the Gate is hidden under the Singularity Base 13 it is impossible to reach it remotely. Such operation has to be done manually by close connection with the Complex computers. Because we cannot be sure what entities will roam through Earth after the Collapse it is best to prepare the activating unit for every possible danger. The Colossus Battle Platform should be best suited for the operation as it is heavily armored and capable of withstanding stunning amounts of punishment. On the other hand the Humanity doesn’t plan to negotiate nor does it plan to talk with any sentient beings that will try to claim Earth as their own. The planet belongs to humankind and always will. Any protests or reactions from the temporary occupants will be ignored. If the sentient occupants won’t be planning to leave, the colossus WMD authorization will be granted and clearly demonstrated. If the occupants won’t have any means to leave our home, no shelter will be granted. This means a clear permission for genocide from the current UEF president. However politically incorrect and amoral as it may sound, humankind is tired, doesn’t have time for petty moral debate and citizens of UEF have already stated that they will accept any means necessary for their home to be reclaimed. After the Demise Transmitter sends proper packages through Anomaly Gate, the fleet is supposed to confirm the receival and come back to the system within a week. If that doesn’t happen and for some reason the fleet won’t be able to respond to the transmission Stage 2 of Condition 9 will be approved and carried on. Demise Transmitter: Technical Information Device Type: Long Range Transmitter Device Purpose and side effect: Transmission of large data packages, side effects include large area brainwave distortion Division 48 Prototype: 91/1 Date of singularity waves discovery: 2059 Internal energy source: Miniature Artificial Singularity Core The Demise Transmitter is a device which main purpose is to send and receive large portions of data through phased out singularity waves. The waves are an old discovery and are strictly connected with the void between two dimensions. It is still unknown where exactly the void exists and what exactly it is, but apparently this is where singularities come from and humanity deals with it on everyday basis operating and using singularity-based technology. The waves itself are not harmful initially and are too weak to carry any electromagnetic waves with them. It was discovered however that with singularity exotic particle stimulation there are several effect. Severe stimulation causes the singularity to destabilize and create vast amounts of radiation. Ionized this radiation is very deadly and is used mostly as a mean to create weapons. However proper dosages of Exotic Particles cause the singularity waves to strengthen themselves and get the ability to be picked up by standard electromagnetic receivers. The distance they can travel through without data loss is however enormously wider. It is speculated that the weaves, travelling through the void are a certain constant entity that cannot be dispersed unless it reaches its destination and being picked up by a proper receiver. The waves travel instantly and can pass through any known material as they themselves are phased out until received. However if the singularity is stimulated too much the waves gain additional effect. The area near the receiver, when the waves phase in back to the dimension of origin, is temporarily under influence of von Troppen Effect which radius cannot be fully estimated and is possibly very wide. This effect is by far very disastrous to sentient beings. Waves interfere with organic brainwaves and distort them heavily, causing different health complications. They vary from instant brain death to mental deterioration. The process of mental health worsening takes time however and cannot be detected instantly. Often the victims of von Troppen Effect state that they hear voices, hallucinate, have surreal dreams or gain additional personalities. The effect consequences are however still not fully understood and may be different in many ways depending on the individual characteristics. They may also never surface and leave the victim in full health until the day he or she dies. Location: Russian District of United Earth Federation, Physical Coordinates: 11APPH00299 Volgograd, Division 48 Singularity Base 13 – Anomaly Gate Location Date: June 12th 2100 “All systems are operational Doctor Azarov, calibrations are complete.” Said a young, slim man in a gray technician uniform, walking down the narrow corridor. His green eyes showing respect to the man he was talking to and walking with. Doctor Pyotr Azarov was the best singularity specialist widely known throughout the whole UEF and in every scientific community. Directly designated by the President to supervise Anomaly Gate setup and completion this man is one of a kind, always calm and strict. Commanding the place like a military outpost, his decisions never questioned. So when he decided to “test run” the anomaly gate after barely setting up an Ether Reactor no one even thought about protesting. Test running might be dangerous, but if it works Condition 9 will be almost complete and ready for finalization. “Splendid, let us proceed.” Said Azarov calmly. His posture not threatening, the man was a little overweight as it seemed. His gray hair long and combed into a ponytail, his white coat, way too long for his short stature. Thick nerdy glasses gave him a little comical visage, but everyone knew that you can’t tell a book by its cover. The man was cold, his grey eyes penetrating everyone he was talking to, shaking them inside as if he was looking directly into their souls. And just by looking he was probably able to tell a lot about a person. Even the toughest guards equipped with BCC Widow SR4 tried to avoid the doctors stare. He knew his dominant role, but never really took advantage of it, he simply ran the things smoothly. Both the doctor and the young technician were walking along the white corridor. The underground Division 48 Base was a very big construction, mainly because of the Anomaly Gate size. It was supposed to easily allow a passage of 2 UEF Dreadnoughts simultaneously. That required a lot of free space. And so through the straight corridor they proceeded into an industrial elevator. Two guards standing on both sides of the lifts entrance, not even looking at the Doctor and the technician. The doctor pressed the green button with L-90 written on it. The industrial door closed with a moan, the lift shook a little and then proceeded to move down slowly. During the travel the men didn’t exchange any words. None were necessary, both knew it’s a historical moment, a moment of truth. Either the gate will activate properly creating a rip in reality or it will destabilize and implode annihilating everything in the base vicinity. After a while the lift came to a slow stop. The steel door opened slowly as if delaying on purpose, creating a mesmerizing atmosphere. They both stepped out of the lift. The doctor was as calm as ever, not even a drop of sweat visible on his forehead. His confidence was great and seemed to pour into others present near him. The technician was however nervous. His breath heavier than usual, heart pounding loudly in his chest, as if trying to get out of his body and run away. In front of them was a short corridor made out of obsidian black metal. They knew it was Etherium, an intelligent material that could be as hard as diamond or as soft as a napkin. Humanity came into contact with Etherium only after a year from the Eternal Eyes appearance. Any inorganic metallic fabric that came into contact with the singularity was immediately converted into Etherium. Quickly this fact was noticed and used. Etherium is considered much more useful than any material available naturally on Earth. It is resistant to high and low temperatures, molecular acid, physical pressure and much more. Etherium is warm in touch and responds to electrical current and singularity waves. Only together they become a key to shape and change Etherium to one’s desire. It is commonly used near singularities, as it is the only 100% effective material able to contain and resist all the singularities side effect including reality shifts. The two men approached door made out of Etherium. The door shut by a circle lock in the middle of it that held them together. Azarov approached the circle and placed his hand on it. A silent beep came out of the door as the lock turned to the left and the door slid sideways into the wall. The way was open and beyond the door a large control room was present. 20 People operating various machinery in the room, rows of holographic computers and monitors were occupying the whole frontal section showing different readings that seemed random. In front of the entrance a glass panel stood showing one of the biggest achievements of humankind – the Anomaly Gate. The Gate looked simply like an oval pool filled with melted silver. The surface was not moving at all and looked as if it was solid. On both right and left of the pool, two high poles were standing and on top of each some golden oval-shaped contraptions that looked similar to tesla coils. Both emanating eerie green light. Everything was made out of obsidian black Etherium, except the coils that were made of some golden metal. In the back of the gigantic spherical room a single object stood out. Made out of white negative charged Etherium, the object could be only identified as a massive Ether Reactor, twice as big as a 21st century average family home. The whole spherical room had easily the height of a skyscraper. The oval roof was opened allowing some sunlight to come through it. The silver surface of the pool was deflecting the light, giving a magnificent and glorious image. The doctor took of his glasses and simply smiled, proud of the progress and his invention. He looked around slowly, seeing as every single person was entering some data through the holographic interfaces of many computers. “Prepare for general test. Reactor at 100%, pool density at 33%. Charge the coils to 60% output and get ready for a miracle people!” He shouted passionately. Every single person immediately obeyed the doctors instructions. The young technician next to him nodded with a sudden burst of vigor. He quickly ran to a holographic console on his right and pressed a few buttons. Soon after that a female electronic voice echoed through the whole base: “Warning! Anomaly Gate activation in progress! All personnel is to proceed with caution!” After that a distant but clear vibration and powering-up sound was heard. The glass panel started to shake as the vibrations were intensifying. Green arcs of singularity energy started to strike the silver surface of the pool, coming out of the coils. The strikes were more powerful with each passing second. The Ether reactor started to give out a distinctive howl, as it was powered to its maximum capacity. Every single person was observing the event with intense curiosity but also dread. If something was to go wrong, everyone present could say good bye to their lives. The doctor however cleaned his glasses with his coat nonchalantly and put them back on his nose. His arms crossed, previous smile disappeared replaced with his usual grimace. He was simply watching, no emotions whatsoever, he just knew that it will go as it should; all things considered he was the one that made the proper calculations. After that thought, the silver surface of the pool started to shimmer and look like water. It changed its color to pitch black. The golden coils arcs also changed their energy color to black and then without any warning a massive pillar of black light shot out of the liquid, spilling it over around the spherical room. The doctor smiled yet again, this time even wider. “Anomaly Gate activated, stable – connection frequency optimal, no dispersion, passage allowed” Said the electronic female voice. The pillar of black light was still shooting out, the reactor still working with full capacity. The pillar went all the way up to the sky and beyond, visible to everyone in Volgograd. The control room of the base fell silent, every single person dumbstruck, looking at the pillar with both surprise and confusion. This however soon passed, as the first person threw his arms up and cheered, shouting loudly “We did it! IT WORKS! WOOOO!” Everyone soon followed, with the exception of Azarov, who was still standing still and smiling widely. Location: Equestria, previously known as Earth, Eastern Forbidden grounds, previously known as Eastern Europe, Equstrian border, Royal Guard Outpost 1 “Sooo, White Spear, you said that she actually slapped you with her hoof?” Asked a tall muscular stallion, covered in warm grey clothing, protecting him from the cold. A single emblem was sew on his warm coat, an emblem of the Equestrian Royal Guard. Because of the clothing it was hard to say what was his cutie mark or color for that matter. A sword was sheathed and clipped to his leather belt, covered in frost from the cold temperatures that were haunting this deserted area. The closest city from their outpost was Stalliongrad, but it was still damn far away, about 3 or 4h of trotting. He was currently talking with another guard, also covered in the same warm clothing with similar emblem sew on his shoulder. This one however had a horn standing out from his hood. This pony was also much shorter and about half as muscular as the first one. His horn was also covered in thin frost layer. “Yeach… She did and damn it hurt…” The unicorn answered with shame, massaging his left check with his hoof. The muscular earth pony gave the unicorn a stern disappointed look. “I know what you’re gonna say, I just know, so don’t say a thing. ‘Hey White Spear, where did yer balls go? Somepony stole them?’ Quickly said the Unicorn, mimicking his friends voice and sighing deeply soon after that. “Well you always end up like that with the mares. And every single time I tell you: Stop BEING yourself, no one likes your character!” Shouted out the Earth Pony gesticulating with his right hoof. “Oh just swell, thanks for that, I feel much better now Sharpy, magnificent support coming from you…” Said White Spear, his words dripping with sarcasm and hurt. “Hey man, I didn’t mean it like that… It’s just that you… Like… Moan too much and complain about silly and petty things all the time…” Delicately said Sharp Sword, trying not to emotionally hurt his friend further. “Oh yeach, right, White Spear the moaner. I moan too much because its -50 degrees out here, I moan too much because we’re at the end of known world, where only idiots come to see that stupid ancient ruined building 40 minutes away from here. I complain too much because our pay does not cover basic survival expenses! Oh I DEFINATELLY COMPLAIN TOO MUCH!” Shouted out the angered Unicorn, yet again using sarcasm as his main offensive weapon. “Well now that you mention it… That’s actually true…” Said the Earth Pony silently a little scared to admit that White Spear might be right. “YOU SEE?! And I MOAN too much. Gimme a break Sharpy. My hooves are falling off, I can’t even FEEL my face, and we’re stuck here for a night watch like something is ACTUALLY going to happen. Riiight, makes perfect sense. If a horde of vicious beasts suddenly attacks I’m gonna run away, screw it. 10 ponies can’t defend A BORDER for Celestias Sake. And we don’t even HAVE a proper building, but a wooden freakin’ cottage! Seriously, what the hell is it supposed to be? A joke? Because I’m not laughing!” Ranted White Spear with both disdain and passion in his voice, as if he was acting on stage. Sharp Sword snorted silently, obviously amused by his friends rant, a wide smile plastered on his face. “Man ponies can say whatever they want, but you’re the best ranting pony out there Whites!” Said Sharpy happily “Heh, yeach… When this is over I’m gonna use my acting talent and get a huge role in some fancy show!” Said White Spear now also happily smiling. His friend always knew what to say to calm him down… Even when it was a random thought. STOMP Suddenly Sharp Swords ear twitched. He turned his head in the direction of the wasteland. “What?” Asked White Spear “Shh… Did you hear that?” asked Sharpy nervously “Hear what… Oh I get it, you’re pulling my leg...” Smirked White Spear, glad that he uncovered his friends plot STOMP White Spear suddenly turned his head also, a little scared “W… What was that?” Asked White, his voice a little shaky “I don’t know, but it doesn’t sound like a common idiot coming back from sightseeing…” Answered Sharp Sword, unsheathing his weapon. STOMP “Holy Celestia… What can possibly make that kind of sound?!” Asked White Spear loudly, obviously starting to get freaked out STOMP Additional mechanical sound of some heavy machinery reached their ears. Swirl of servos and sound of metal scratching metal. It was like nothing they ever heard in their lives. These sounds were very alien to them, both ponies started to get agitated, trying to see what was it that was coming in their direction. After a few more stomps, a figure started to emerge from the blizzard. Gigantic bulky structure with legs and two arms pointing at the ponies. They soon realized that it cannot be a structure, because it was moving, each stomp caused by its huge metal feet hitting the ice-covered ground, the mass of the thing had to be enormous. With each step the details were getting clearer. It had a huge black box-shaped torso. Two mechanical arms coming out of the sides of it, ending with something weird… It looked like fingers, but was much longer and clamped together. Each finger had a hole in it. The other arm had three enormous claws. The legs of the thing were flexing at a weird angle. Unlike dragon legs those were angling backwards and ended with feet that were made of three metal claws digging into the ground with each step. It had no head, instead of it an enormous cannon made out of two barrels was visible. The machine was easily 20 meters in height. Poor ponies were completely frozen on the spot, looking at the thing but not quite believing that it was there. Maybe some kind of mirage? Maybe they were simply seeing things… The Colossus AI made the machine stop just 20 meters from the ponies. Dwarfing them with its size, the AI begun a standard procedure upon contact with organic entities. ….SCANNING LIFE SIGNATURES…. ….IDENTIFIED AS ALIEN ENTITY…. ….PERFORMING AREA SCAN… A green horizontal laser suddenly shot out of the machines torso. Going up and down twice it scanned the area quickly. White Spear and Sharp Sword were just gazing upon the sight, unable to move out of fear and amazement ….10 LIFE SIGNATURES DETECTED…. ….CONDITION 9…. “CONDITION 9… PLEASE RESPOND THRUTHFULLY TO THE FOLLOWING QUESTION…” Boomed an artificial mechanical male voice, shocking the ponies even further “ARE YOU WILLING TO LEAVE EARTH PEACEFULLY OR ARE YOU CLAIMING IT AS YOUR OWN?” The voice boomed again. After a minute White Spear came out of shock, realizing that he has to answer or the thing will get impatient and possibly slaughter them. “Errr… That… We… “ He coughed “What’s Earth?” “PLANET IDENTIFIED AS BIRTHPLACE OF CREATORS, BELONGS TO HUMANITY… IT IS THE PLANET YOU ARE CURRENTLY RESIDING ON…” “Whaaa….?” Asked White Spear dumbstruck… “Of course NOT! Equestria doesn’t belong to you, whatever you are! You have to be mistaken!” Suddenly shouted now furious and fully awoken from his shock Sharp Sword, lifting up his hoof with threat. The machine was still “looking” at White Spear however. “DO YOU CONFIRM YOUR COLLEGUES STATEMENT?” Asked Colossus, its voice devoid of any emotion “I… That’s… No… I.. I don’t…” Answered White Spear overtaken by fear, not even thinking clearly. Sharp Sword looked at him, mouth agape, unable to believe that his friend just said that. “CONFIRMED. TARGET 2 MARKED AS NON HOSTILE.” The machine turned to Sharp Sword “DO YOU SPEAK IN THE NAME OF YOUR WHOLE RACE?” Sharp sword didn’t answer still looking at his friend, completely disappointed, not believing in White Spears betrayal. “DEFAULT ANSWER: YES. CONFIRMED. PROCEEDING WITH CONDITION 9. SECONDARY OBJECTIVE – SEARCH AND DESTROY” The arm of the Colossus lowered itself and pointed at Sharp Sword, who was still not paying attention to anything except his friend “White… How could you? Why…” White Spear just lowered his head unable to say anything, still not fully understanding what was happening. To him it all could be simply a dream. It was however too late for any real action or answer. Their attention turned to the machine as its hand with fingers clamped together started to rotate. A sound of working motor and 6 black barrels that were rotating faster and faster came to them. ….TARGET LOCKED… ….FIRING…. Then the time slowed for White Spear and everything seemed to go blurry. A sudden explosive sound came to his ears… Then his friend was pierced by something invisible to Unicorns eyes. Then again and again and again, blood splattering next to him as holes were appearing out of nowhere in Sharp Swords body turning him into red mush. Soon after that the wooden cottage with the rest of the guards also got the same treatment. Sudden screams of pain and panic reached White Spears ears as salvos of Etherium bullets were ripping apart everything and everyone on their way. White Spear looked down and realized he was kneeling, his hooves covered in blood flowing from the shattered remains of Sharp Sword… Blood, he never saw it before… Something broke inside his mind and White Spear fell backwards losing consciousness. The last thing he remembered was sound of heavy stomps moving away, quieter and quieter until the darkness consumed him completely and then he heard nothing. A/N: Well sorry you had to wait so long for another chapter, but I had a creativity crisis xP it’s gone however and the story proceeds. I’ll try to update as soon as possible, however I still have 2 exams to pass, so It might be a lil bit late… TY for reading, hope you liked it :)
The Awakening, Part 5Moon rises high, the night is upon us Raise your arm and stab The heart and let it pass Look forward and grab The plague and blight Control is in your reach Shout with ancients might The power and fears speech The words even demons abhor Vagrash Anur Dax’eech And open the Blight Gates door From The Blight Arcanum, Ancient artifact volume of times long past. It is in Celestias personal collection, contained in dimensional pocket near Canterlot Castle. It cannot be destroyed and is considered one of the most dangerous objects in existence. What’s more it is kept in secrecy, only Celestia and The Blind Oracle know of its existence. The volume supposedly contains the blackest and most spiteful magic known to sentient beings. What is the most fearsome attribute of the Blight Arcanum is a simple fact that it is usable by any being with enough desire in its heart. It was never used in Equestria and its place of origin remains unknown even to the Goddess. The Blind Oracle, Silver Wielder once said: Time will come when even the purest souls will be depraved and infected with darkness… Time will come when the Achilles awakens, Blight Gate shall appear, and one ill-minded and insane individual will open the gate. He will possess the Blight Arcanum, as it was always destined to be his and no one else’s. Beware you of little faith, because with the First Ones comes not only destruction and eternity of darkness but also Purple and White Betrayal… Information Secrecy Level 1 – Limited Authorization for access needed Topic: The Blood of Universe and Humankind Data Origin: Dimensional Guardians Nexus Archives Authorization: Assault Commander William Sharp The Blood of Universe and Humankind The Blood of Universe also known as Black Vector Energy is a hidden web of veins and arteries through which the blood of Universe circulates. It is used as primary source of energy by Dimensional Guardians, but also every living being and every object are connected to such veins and possess their own vector artery, which when pierced or destroyed deletes the existence of the whole being or object. This knowledge belongs only to the Dimensional Guardians as no other sentient beings realized that Universe is a living thing, which as all living things contains its own intestines, normally invisible and untouchable. However ridiculous as this idea might sound, the guardians can harness and use this blood to their own advantage only because of the Universe favor and acceptance. No other sentient beings can discover such thing, as it may lead to disastrous consequences. Regrettably Guardians cannot protect this information effectively on such massive scale and so far one civilization and race came very close to discovering the Blood of Universe which is hidden in the Everlasting Void. This civilization calls itself Humanity and uses singularity based technology which is dangerously similar to ours. Singularities are basically wounds in the Universe itself which heal overtime or expand themselves and then heal spontaneously. Usually they heal overtime, but sometimes if the wound is too big The Universe uses the immediate option which causes some locally based destruction and can effectively annihilate a whole race. Additionally it has much more severe disruptions including local desynchronization of time vortex or reality shifts which are even more dangerous. Humanity amazingly survived such disaster and what’s more harnessed a simple wound to create a completely new technological tree. Regrettably this technology is based on artificial creation of wounds in the Universe itself, which is not entirely healthy to it nor is it healthy to Humanity. As a living being Universe might exercise vengeance upon this race and because of that and the power similarity of singularity technology to our own the whole race is under observation and an intervention is not out of question. Location: Equestria, previously known as Earth, 50 km north of Stalliongrad City previously known as Volgograd. The heavy stomps of the Colossus were easily audible to any animal in the area. Therefor every single animal smart enough opted for running away as far as possible from the sound and its origin. Enough said that no animal was visible to Colossus sensitive life signature sensors in a radius of at least 0,5 km. The poor trees however had it much worse, as they simply cannot run from the heavy machine like the animals, thus now and then, or rather every two steps a sound of breaking wood or falling tree could be heard by everyone listening. No one was however listening at the time and probably for the best, because - Hey, what can one pony do against 600 metric tons of Etherium, titanium, steel and some other elements? Well probably not much, except running away or staring in fascination, maybe even praying if somepony was mad enough to think that a God came down from heaven to greet his followers. Praying would possibly hold the Colossus for 0,000000000000000000000001 second needed for him to analyze the non-verbal elements of the organics language and identify it as “Praying”… This amount of time wouldn’t however be sufficient as one wouldn’t even be able to say the first letter in “Holy Shit”. And thanks to that the Colossus was slowly but constantly getting closer to its destination, to fulfill its objective of opening the Anomaly Gate, mostly undisturbed. Well that is until it closed in on a small village 48 km north of Volgograd, or Stalliongrad as it was called by the horses… Even the AI of Colossus snorted (or tried to) at that, stating: ….STATEMENT: STUPIDEST NAME FOR A CITY EVER…. The Colossus abruptly stopped and proceeded to scan the small village. Results weren’t surprising, about 300 life signatures dispersed among wooden buildings. The whole village built in a round fashion. In the middle of the circle was probably a market currently closed as it was middle of the night. ….STATEMENT: LAZY ORGANICS NEED TO REST AT NIGHT…. And indeed sleeping they were… Well at least most of them, there were 3 (what a shock) guards patrolling the village. Well that also wasn’t surprising as probably a lot of wild animals from the woods could come to the village and eat some local flock of sheep and whatnot… Ponies guarding sheep, that’s just rich by the way… The whole place was located in a clearing in the middle of the dense woods the Colossus was for a lack of better term mowing through. It seemed that the guards were already looking in the Colossus general direction and no wonder; it was awfully loud when it walked. They still however didn’t know who was making this sound. Their signatures showed an increased heartbeat rate and adrenaline levels. This simply means fear, not familiar to the Colossus but comprehendible. If the Colossus was an organic being, it would probably think deeply what to do now, how to approach those guards and the village, of course not taking diplomacy out of possible solutions. Much to the ponies disadvantage however, the Colossus was everything but organic and its behavior was dictated by its mission objective and as such a consensus was reached very, very, veeery fast. ….SITUATION ANALYSIS COMPLETE…. ….MISSION OBJECTIVE: SEARCH AND DESTROY…. ….ENTERING ANTI-PERSONNEL COMBAT MODE… “Blue, are you sure you heard something over there? I’m looking there but I don’t see or hear a bloody thing! It’s all trees and snow!” Said a tall brown earth pony stallion, dressed in a light guard uniform. He had a metal helmet on his head and an iron shoulder pad on his left shoulder. The shoulder pad had one yellow star painted on it, an evidence of the highest rank in the villages guard. He was the Captain that commanded those younglings and he had respect from them. His dark brown eyes betrayed his age and years of training experience, but as all the ponies of Equestria he never really saw any battle whatsoever, as no one was old enough (except Celestia, Luna and Discord) to be a witness to one. His moustache long and in color of his eyes was covered in some snowflakes. It was snowing once again, this time however not so intensively. The scenery of white covered woods in front of the guards was peaceful as ever and no one was able to see the looming shape of a murderous machine preparing for a surprise attack. “I’m sure I did sir! It sounded as if something really heavy was approaching the village and it was no bear! Something much worse…” Answered the dark blue pegasus. Evidently stressed, his heart beating like crazy, because he knew what he heard. Everything considered he was sure that his senses didn’t lie to him. His armor was identical to that of his commanding officer, except the shoulder pad, which he didn’t have. He was young but the long scar going from his forehead to the bottom of his chin was something unusual. One of very few Equestrians that actually got a deep cut from something. Bluejuice however never explained where did it come from and everyone in the village learned to simply drop the topic. His golden eyes glimmered warmly; to the mares this young stallion was dreamy. His mane and tail the same color as his coat, looked like many sharpened spikes arranged together. Currently however the beautiful glimmer in his eyes was gone, replaced with dullness of angst he felt deeply. “Son, what does the mark on my ass mean?” Asked the commanding officer “With all due respect Sir, I don’t think…” Begun Bluejuice, only to be rudely interrupted by the old stallion “WHAT DOES THE MARK SAY BRAT?!” “Sir! It’s a red outline of a lion! It means courage, SIR!” “Exactly! Now courage means we don’t cower and shiver in fear because of some tiny little sound! What do we do when we hear something suspicious?!” “We do our duty, sir!” Answered the third guard, surprisingly a dark green mare. She was by all means beautiful; her face in perfect shape, emerald green eyes and long eyelashes gave her a sense of godly beauty, unfit for guard service. Her mane and tail in a silver color, that gave a delicate glow as if indeed made out of silver itself woven by magic or other supernatural forces. How did she end up in such a place and had a guard duty remained a mystery. Only her cutie mark gave some explanation as it was a silver sword. She probably was always slightly different than other girls. Her name might also give such a hint. “Very good guard War Dancer” Said the commanding officer, proud of the beautiful she-guard he commanded… Damn she was hot… “Thank you, sir!” Shouted War Dancer in response. “Now, our duty is as follows. Guard Bluejuice, because you have binoculars as your ass-mark, it definitely means you’re good at spotting things.” “Well sir, it’s not entirely true…” “Shut your damn mouth when an officer is speaking!” “Yes sir! Apologies, sir!” “Because you’re good at spotting you will go there and take a peek, what is making this “sound” of yours” Bluejuice gulped at that and turned his head to the forest slowly – his anxiety slowly rising. “Sir… Could you please reconsider maybe…” “Move your ass Bluejuice!” Yelled War Dancer obviously annoyed by her colleague cowardice. “I’m going, I’m going! No need to yell, sheesh” He lazily and unwillingly started to move towards the woods. War Dancer and the Commanding Officer giving him stern and angry looks each time he turned his head to look at them. Man, War Dancers eyes were really scary when she was mad… Soon he entered the woods, more cautious and tense than usual. It suddenly became darker, the trees blocking what little light was left outside the woods. It didn’t help Bluejuice much to spot anything in such dense darkness. He was moving forward now, very slowly. He was starting to get scared as the forest was dead silent. No chirping of birds, no sounds of life were coming from the woods. It was very unsettling and could only mean that there was something that scared all the animals heavily. After few minutes of pointless circling, Bluejuice was ready to go back and admit his defeat (this option he actually preferred), however he suddenly spotted a completely leveled down tree. It looked as if something monstrously heavy simply crushed it. The pony’s eyes widened as he approached the tree, there was a footprint that roughly had a shape of three large depressions. “By Celestia… What could have such massive feet?” He whispered to himself his anxiety replaced by natural curiosity. He was contemplating the footprint for a while, that is until he heard a metallic sound next to him. Sound of metal scratching metal, very unnatural and unnerving. It suddenly became darker, all light blocked out by something. Bluejuice slowly rised his head and what he saw was beyond what he ever could imagine. The whole body of Colossus was just in front of him. What blocked the light was the Colossus leaning forward towards the little pony. Its clawed arm flexed like snake, ready to strike its prey. “What the fuck…” Said Bluejuice completely shocked. Eyes wide open studying the machine, not believing in its actual existence. Before he could move or react, the clawed arm of Colossus shot forwards, its two claws grabbing him slightly by the throat and lifting the Pegasus up. He wanted to scream, but he couldn’t, the oxygen not being properly delivered to his lungs, but enough for him to wheeze some air in with each breath. The chocking move was very precise, silenced him and at the same time allowed him to live. His forelegs striking the metal claws, desperately trying to free himself. Each attempt was however futile and he realized that if he won’t stop, all his strength will be gone quickly. He put his hooves on the metal claw in defeat. Fear and the inability to breathe properly clouding his mind. He was brought forward to the upper part of the machines torso. One red glowing lens observing him intensively. He started to drool involuntarily, the chocking making his face paler each second. ….ENTITY IDENTIFED AS HOSTILE ALIEN… ….CONDITION 9…. ….EXECUTING HYPER FEAR DOCTRINE…. Colossus stared at the pony for a little longer and then the pressure slowly started to increase. The sharpened ends of the claws started to penetrate the skin of Bluejuice, cutting it deeper with each passing second. If the Colossus was alive it would be probably surprised that 1 ton of pressure on the neck of the pony only started to cut through skin. This was an anomaly, so the Colossus performed a full life signature scan. ….SCANING… A green horizontal laser shot out of a lens above the red eye of the machine. Bluejuice was however too busy being choked to notice. His mind already went numb; he felt this pain again, pain of being cut and hurt identical to what he received so long ago. His mind just barely registered that this might be his end… Something so rare and almost unthinkable in Equestria. Blood trickled down his neck from the cuts the claws were making. ….SCANNING COMPLETE… ….DETECTED UNKNOWN ENERGY SIGNATURE…. ….INCRESES RESISTANCE TO PHYSICAL DAMAGE…. ….BYPASS SOLUTION: SINGULARITY SHOCK…. A hum from inside of the Colossus started to increase as singularity core was building up enough energy to send a shock through the body of the little pony. And in a matter of seconds a green lightning went through the clawed hand of the Colossus and into the body of Bluejuice. He didn’t feel it, it was as if the lightning impacted something around him, rather than him precisely. A purple mist appeared around his body and a sound of shattering glass soon followed. Magical energy materialized around him as a purple transparent cocoon. Cracks appeared on the surface as if the cocoon was made of glass. The cracks expanded themselves and suddenly the whole thing collapsed and fell to the ground below Bluejuice quickly vaporizing. The machine turned its attention back to the pony. Location: Equestria, previously known as Earth, Canterlot, previously known as Washington D. C., The Castle Celestia sat in her chamber reading yet another document that came from her minister of finance. It looked quite well. The taxes were low, so her little ponies were happy and because of the ponies honesty they were paid regularly filling the vaults with mountains of golden bits. She was about to make an official investment into the road infrastructure near Satlliongrad. No wars since about 1000 years meant that her and Lunas country was prospering magnificently. She was a happy ruler, didn’t have much to do really, so she had much spare time she could spend on reading the friendship reports and other interesting activities. What’s more all her subjects loved her and viewed her as an embodiment of everything that’s good and beautiful. Yes everything looked quite well for another thousand years. Well maybe with exception of such events as release of Discord… But that was no war and she was certain the fool would be caught up in his smugness yet again. “Oh Discord… You always were too childish to be really able to challenge me and my sister… Tsk tsk…” Suddenly Celestia felt a sharp pain in her head. She almost screamed, it was so intense. After a moment however it disappeared and an unhealthy feeling of emptiness washed over her. She knew exactly what that meant. “Oh no… Oh no, no, no!” Her protective spell… It was shattered by a powerful force, this could only mean that something hurt one of her subjects or possibly even killed him or her… She quickly closed her eyes and could see… See all the live forces in Equestria surrounding her, all of her subjects flames of life clearly visible to her. The amount was the same as usual with the exception of a few dozen of her guards. She knew they were only out of reach to be seen, guarding the borders of their beloved country. She was afraid to let her ponies wander off without any protection from harm, but in the end she assessed that nothing possibly could hurt her border guards, because there was simply nothing there in the east, past the icy wasteland. What caught her attention tough, was a fact that one of the flames became dimmer, weaker and smaller. It was slowly being extinguished and that meant… “By the sun! Luna! Come quickly! We have a horrible disaster on our hooves!” One thing could be said about Luna, one thing in particular. Her reaction time was incredibly short, so it was no surprise to Celestia when her sister stormed into the throne room panting heavily before Celestia could even finish calling her. “What?! Disaster?! What happened sister?!” Shouted the anxious Goddess of Night “Luna, it’s horrible… I don’t even know how it is possible, but… One of our ponies, he’s dying, something is sucking his life force.” Said the Goddess of Day sadly, her head sunk down and a tear appeared in her eye. This Pony by the name of Bluejuice was too far away for her to help him. She simply couldn’t do a thing. She could move the Sun, but she couldn’t help her subject… Pathetic “W… What? Celestia, but what about the spell I helped you cast upon all of our subjects? You can’t tell me that it was nullified just like that!” “It was tough… I don’t know how but it was simply crushed with such force that it caused me pain!” “Okay… this is bad, really, really bad. You’re meaning to tell me that after so long we can be facing something… Something that is actually ready to KILL?” “I don’t care right now! One of our people, one of our children is dying Luna!” “Oh Tia…” Luna approached her sitting sister slowly. And then embraced her in a warm hug “I know I shouldn’t be saying this now, but… You know that sometimes you can’t avoid something that is only natural even with all the power you and I have…” Celestia returned the hug and began to sob quietly “But we did everything… After so long I thought it worked…” Celestia replied “Tia… Death is something that cannot be avoided… I told you that once and I’m sorry that it’s true…” After a few moments, still embraced in the hug, Celestia said “Luna…?” “Hmm?” “He’s gone… He’s dead” Location: Equestria, previously known as Earth, 48 km north of Stalliongrad City previously known as Volgograd. The Colossus increased pressure in his claw once again. The effect was immediate this time. Whatever was resisting the physical pressure previously, was now completely gone. The cuts in the ponys neck became much deeper, blood dripping from the wounds faster than previously. The pony had already lost what was left of his rational mind. Instinct told him to try and get out, but he was already too weak to do anything. The blood loss by now was massive; a pool of blood directly under Bluejuice was getting bigger. Colossus finally decided that it can continue the Ultra Fear doctrine execution as all the obstacles were removed. The pressure increased to 1 ton and the little dark blue pony was beheaded with an audible crack and meaty, disgusting sound that could only be associated with cutting directly through the throat and spine. The headless corpse fell down into the pool of blood with a quiet splash. The head flew a little further and hit the snowy ground without any sound whatsoever. Colossus turned to the landing site of the head. Fortunately it didn’t have to move from the spot as the head was in its arms reach. It picked the head from the ground, delicately holding it in two claws. The eyes were completely empty, dim and devoid of any signs of life. The tongue was lolled out of the heads mouth. It gave the image a horrific accent that would cause most organics to lose their logical thought ability. Blood was still slowly dripping from the bottom of the head. The cut was very clean and straight, almost surgical by the looks. That didn’t matter tough. Colossus quickly turned to the site where the village was and immediately respotted the remaining two organics. It precisely calculated the distance to them and force of throw necessary for the action it was about to take. It raised the clawed arm up and then with exact necessary force threw the head towards the village. “What is taking this brat so long?” Asked the annoyed Captain “I don’t know sir! But I suspect he might have got lost!” Answered the question War Dancer “Ech… That’s just damn perfect, now we’ll have to go look for him!” Shouted the commanding officer Suddenly a quiet thud ended their conversation. They both looked in the direction from which the sound came and saw something dark blue in the snow. “What on Equestria is that?” Asked the old stallion “I don’t know sir! Should we examine it?” “Well we might as well, seeing as the youngling is not coming back anytime soon” They both approached the thing to take a closer look “It looks like a hairy ball… with ears?” “Sir! Maybe we should turn it around! It might be a wounded animal!” “Good thinking guard War Dancer” War Dancer put a hoof on the thing and turned it the other way around, what they both saw however scarred them for the rest of their lives. Bluejuice was looking at them, with his tongue lolled out, an expression of pain and fear frozen on his face.The rest of the blood was slowly sucked by the snow from the bottom of the head. Both ponies were immediately glued to the spot, unable to move or speak, simply staring at the bodiless remains of the dark blue pony. They even failed to hear the sound of imminent doom approaching… STOMP… A/n: Roooargh need more timeeee... Well exams all almost behind me soooo... Soon I'll be posting more actively... I hope :P
The Awakening, Part 6Division 48 – The Awakening, part 6 When freedom burns The final solution Dreams fade away and all hope turns to dust When millions burn The curtain has fallen Lost to the world as they perish in flames Author: Sabaton, Coat of Arms, 2010 The Anomaly Gate Division 48 Prototype – Never constructed Union of Soviet Socialist Republics Prototype – 1989 Date of the Construction Beginning – July 11th 1988 Original Concept - Bruno Maksimovich Pontekorvo, 30th August 1977 Original Name – No Data Construction Works interrupted – 1991 Department of Disclosure blueprint discovery – 2051 Anomaly Gate was originally invented by Bruno Pontekorvo, as a mean for corpuscular transportation of objects. It was supposed to be powered by a nuclear reactor. The whole concept and blueprint was a very advanced idea, using many not yet discovered effects and laws of universe in practice. How Pontekorvo was able to develop such an advanced thing remains a mystery to USSR, later Russia and UEF. The blueprint was ridiculously simple to follow, but the lack of proper materials and ingredients made the construction impossible to complete at current time, which Pontekorvo himself was supervising. Some workers stated that when he was observing the blueprint come to life, he seemed to be in some kind of a trance, he was also always able to find a way to bypass the technological barriers that existed due to the overall technological advancement of the era. Simple metal welding became much more complicated when he introduced and ordered to implement weird inventions and contraptions that in his opinion would allow bypassing the technological barriers. Unfortunately for the whole project, with the imminent fall of USSR came a direct order from above to immediately drop the project, bury the Complex and burn all the documents. The workers and experts working on the project followed the order, unlike Pontekorvo who was protesting and trying to save as much data as possible. The end of his dream and his life work devastated the man. With the last pile of dirt covering the base in 1991 the Anomaly Gate project was forgotten and erased out of existence. Bruno however saved some files and documents that could give a hint what the Gate was and where its skeleton lied. The scientist died in 1993 (unknown causes, officially Parkinson’s disease) leaving the documents to his family. With the end of electronic war in 2021 and rise of UEF, the freshly created Department of Disclosure, responsible of uncovering the secrets of all member states, but also collecting and transferring them to the Presidential Vault stumbled upon the concept of the project mentioned in few Top Secret Soviet documents. In 2028 all the data in possession of Pontekorvo family were obtained and quickly deciphered by the department. The Anomaly Gate Complex (Officially named Complex 13, as it was the 13th top secret base uncovered by the department in the World) was discovered, located in the middle of Volgograd, works to unbury and power up the base quickly begun. In 2050 after the complex was uncovered, repaired and powered up the UEF president, Alfred Molière approved of project development and continuation designating Division 48 as an official overseer, and granting the project unlimited resources. In 2051 the original Pontekorvo concept was recovered from the remains of burned documents and slow process of construction begun, now all the technology available thanks to the Eternal Eye, seemingly nothing stood in the way to finish the Gate. It was finished in 2072, however there were no proper algorithms, calibrations and operational instructions to use it. First attempt to create proper calibrations and other necessary data came when Doctor Natalia Wiśniewska was designated by the President as a project leader and base administrator. After 10 years of hardships she completed and implemented the data in the Gates computers. Unfortunately they were painfully verified by reality, when Wiśniewska herself died from exotic radiation exposure, from the overloaded Negative Charged Ether Reactor. Project was put on hold as there seemed to be no other specialist in the field of singularity technology. The situation changed with appearance of Pyotr Azarov in 2089, who quickly became a rising star in the scientific community. He was recognized as a genius and scientific wizard with level of expertise beyond anything seen previously. It wasn’t long until the genius was put in charge of Complex 13 (2095) and developed the necessary data, now adapted to Condition 9 in 2100. The Gate was activated and marked as working on June 12th 2100. Practical Information The Gate operates as two way passage between the reality and the void. It literally creates an enormous gash in the matter allowing for passage of physical objects, be they organic or not. The pillar of black light is the gash itself and on the whole length of the pillar, the void is accessible. There is however one important detail to this method of immediate transfer. Normally if an organic being tries to enter the void, it would immediately be ripped apart into basic molecules by the void and then consumed as it is a foreign body. In order to avoid this unpleasant experience the organic being or inanimate object need to be somehow protected. An answer to that is negatively charged ether reactor and coil similar to ones used in the gate. If the being or object is charged with the energy coming from the reactor itself they would be able to pass into the void, their molecules resistant to its forces. Another barrier to this is a simple fact that any living being would die instantly under such electrical current. That’s where another idea sprung up - instead of directly exposing the being to the current it is better to put the person into an etherium made object and charge it instead of the being, creating a safety cocoon and allowing the passage of both through the void. That’s why all UEF space crafts are equipped with such negatively charged ether reactors and coils, sending the current through the whole ship, which creates the cocoon for the people inside it. The Blight Arcanum As mentioned before the Blight Arcanum is a powerful artifact, seen in many worlds and associated with destruction, apocalypse and death. It was very often a reason for Dimensional Guardians intervention, as the Arcanum upsets the balance of the universe. It a certain unpredictable factor, that cannot be contained. Every attempt to capture the artifact failed and many guardians fell to its unthinkable power. It seems to have a mind of its own as it appears always in the worlds unsure of their future, in moments of uncertainty, to cause havoc and create a storm of pure chaos. The ones which use the Arcanum are called The Vessels, as they seem to be possessed by the accursed object. It was said that they can’t help themselves and must use its power. On the other hand it’s a quite a natural attribute of sentient beings, granted unlimited resources and power they will eventually use it for their own personal need. From scientific point of view the artifact has a direct artery connection with the Universe blood system. This ensures unlimited energy and creates a certain paradox. Why would Universe, that always naturally seeks balance, support an object causing complete chaos? This seems to be yet another mystery. Overall it is suspected that the Arcanum holds at least 100 ways to release the UB (Universe Blood) energy, these bursts of chaotic void energy were quickly dubbed “spells” as they requires a certain verbal component to work. Well if we weren’t as wise as we are now, we would probably end the divagations at this point, however Guardians knowledge allowed for more complete and detailed study. It seems that the BA is in fact a living, sentient being, an organ of the Universe itself that has no proper purpose. It can be compared to an appendix in human body, which is of course an organ, but currently serves no purpose whatsoever. It is speculated that similarly to the human organ the Arcanum was used for something that became obsolete at some point. Another interesting fact came shortly after DG (Dimensional Guardians) tried to capture the Arcanum for the 14th time. One of the DG that survived the massacre caused by the BA (Blight Arcanum) stated that he heard voice in his head, firm, growly and mocking one, speaking in a language that he didn’t understand. Because the Guardian stating that was in fact a telepath master, his statement was quickly confirmed. A theory came up with it - the Arcanum in fact can speak on a telepathic level and can be spoken to, conventionally. This explains the verbal component necessary for “casting a spell” and might explain the theory about the Vessels being possessed by the BA. The Vessels themselves seem to be picked randomly by the Arcanum, which speaks to them, possibly creating disturbing visions that eventually destroy the target mentally, causing a loss of sanity. This yet another theory would be valid if not for a certain recent discovery. All the ceased vessels minds were blank, cleaned by the Arcanum or by the effect of the bond severing. These beings became vegetables after the BA changed its dimensional position, it didn’t matter what race was or mental attributes one had, every single Vessel was affected similarly. The other most important similarity was a fact that all of the Vessels were telepathically sensitive or had some minor telepathic abilities. This allows for understanding of BA behavior. Final matter noticed by the Guardians is, that BA after arrival to the new world seems to be dormant for at least 1 year. This is however the minimal possible amount of time in which the Arcanum lies dormant. The number seems to be random and the BA might awaken after much longer time. The overall havoc caused by the Vessel and Arcanum is actually nothing compared to the destruction caused by something much more sinister. The Blight Gate The Blight Gate is a term strictly connected with The Blight Arcanum .It is the ultimate and final goal pursued and eventually achieved by it. As to what exactly the gate is, even Guardians fail to comprehend. In one of the old dairies by Elder Richard Verney it is written: “(…) I opened my eyes, ringing in my ears, I couldn’t hear my own thoughts for a while. I sat and what I realized soon after that was ghastly. My comrades dead, lying in pool of their own blood. My grievous wound created by the spiteful power of the Arcanum ache, the burning pain penetrating my soul. I knew it will stay on my chest forever, a mark of the survivor. My flesh protesting to my forced attempt of staying conscious. But I couldn’t afford to lose an opportunity to see it, see the Blight Gate. In the middle of the field, surrounded by corpses of innocent people sat The Vessel. She was empty, Arcanum left her some time ago, emptying her mind and creating a lifeless shell. I couldn’t help but see an innocent child, behind all the dried blood on her face. She was tormented and tortured by the BA to do its bidding. No one should ever suffer such fate. I turned my head to the left, the ringing in my ears fading away, replaced by a sound of fire and flames. Then I saw it, the Gate, and it was unlike anything I ever saw in my life. Its frames made of bones and flesh of the dead forming a pointed arch, blood still dripping from them. The entrance of the gate was made of crimson flames licking the bony frames. The disgusting smell of burned flesh and bones irritated my nose .The scene was inhumane, terrifying and logic couldn’t possibly apply to it. I realized that BA already left this dimension, through the wall of flames. I lacked time to analyze possibilities of further actions as the flames started to spread and the abomination fell, creating a pile of meat and bones on the ground. The pain in my chest rose and I couldn’t force my consciousness to stay, especially after seeing all that. I collapsed to the ground and everything went black. (…)” The description of the gate denies every single law known to DG. It was declared impossible. The capture of the Arcanum still remains out of reach to the Guardians as there seems to be no way, currently known of doing that. If the gate would be only a mean of transportation for the Arcanum, it wouldn’t be such a problem, however when the Gate is closing, it creates an additional effect. The effect, fearfully dubbed The Agonizing Flames, gained its name for a reason. An enormous explosion of fire spreads in random directions from the base of the Gate, these flames cannot be put out by any means and even the Guardians are helpless when faced with AF. The fire spreads slowly and completely devours everything in its path, leaving only ashy wasteland. Eventually the flames consume the whole world leaving behind only a husk of the planet. They put themselves out once there is nothing more to consume, again showing some sinister intelligence and sentiency behind its action. Location: Equestria, Eastern Border, Guard Outpost White Spear slowly opened his eyes, his mind not yet registering and recollecting what has transpired not a few hours ago. His vision blurry, he blinked a few times. All his senses started to kick in one after another. First he smelled something, something unknown to his nose, something metallic and for some reason he didn’t like this smell having bad feeling about it. Then his ears started to register sounds, particularly wind that swayed the trees. Then came the vision, the blurriness fading away replaced by outlines of trees, some other object in the night, but other than that a thick layer of darkness. Understandable as his eyes just started to adjust. He finally tried to move, limbs feeling sore, but nothing other than that. With his strength slowly coming back to him, White Spear started to get up. His forelimbs shaking as if a considerable amount of strain was put on them, as if his organism pumped large dosages of adrenaline for some reason… But why? He couldn’t remember. After he got up, he waited for his eyes to adjust. With time he started to recognize details of his surroundings. He spotted some kind of ruined building, the smell of metal was mostly coming from there. The building was somehow familiar but… Wait… He’s at the guard outpost, the structure was in fact barracks. He had night shift today and then… His eyes slowly widening and his legs started to shake yet again. He quickly cast a light spell and in a matter of seconds the darkness was dispersed. He looked down and recalled everything immediately. Everything his mind tried to bury to protect his psyche assaulted him at once. The disfigured and shattered remains of his friend lied in front of him, blood slowly being frozen. No… It couldn’t have happened; it had to be some trickery! But… there is no other unicorn guard here. No one could cast such a horrific illusion spell. Tears slowly started to form in his eyes as he dropped to his knees and looked at the massacre. It was such a grotesque and impossible scene, that his mind couldn’t comprehend it -The torn walls of the shed, the massacred bodies of other guards trying to run from death, the ones that were murdered in their sleep, the marks of some kind of bullets everywhere and finally the mutilated pieces of Sharp Sword lying in front of him. The reality slowly dawned at him, as his mind started to understand all of it. In consequence he was slowly breaking down, a horrible ache in his heart and turmoil of emotions in his head. “Why…” He whispered and then realized something that would torment him forever. “No…” The last thing he said to his friend “No.” He stated firmly shaking his head. The words, that marked him. “No!” He shouted, vigorously shaking his head, with his forelegs on both sides of it. His cowardice leading to all of it… He was a traitor, he betrayed his friend and all other guards. He betrayed Equestria and he betrayed both Luna and Celestia. “No! NOOOOO!” He screamed at the night sky, tears coming down his cheeks as the young unicorn broke down. He cried and sobbed with hooves on his face. His mind trying to find any possible way of stopping this mental catastrophe, slipped him a little and innocent rationalizing idea. If he would agree with Sharp Sword, he would have lied next to him, a pile of flesh and bone. He would have died… “No… It was despicable…” But he would have died and now he’s marked as non-hostile… Could he really believe that something other than Celestia would stop such a monster? “No! It was wrong” He is alive and well. Maybe a little shaken up, but that’s about it. Now he can get the news to Canterlot itself and warn the sisters about the danger! “But…” He would be rewarded handsomely, as there was nothing he could do to the metal monster. Of course the conversation with the beast won’t be mentioned “Lie? But it’s…” There’s no other option and he doesn’t want to be punished or thrown to prison forever, now does he? “No… But what about Sharp Sword and the others…” He should leave them, he has no time for burials, he has to catch up and make sure that he is first to reach the Canterlot. He nodded to himself, it seemed that all of this made perfect sense. He sighed heavily, tears still forming in his eyes. “I will avenge you Sharp Sword… I will redeem myself!” He stated confidently. Then he looked around and spotted a patch of destroyed trees and gigantic foot print on the ground. That was probably the way, the monster took. “Okay… You can do this White Spear, just concentrate on your mission” That said White Spear left the Outpost (With much hardship, his conscience tormenting him already) and wandered in the direction the Colossus took. Location: Equestria, 48 km from Stalliongrad previously known as Volgograd, Sunset Village. The two remaining guards were completely frozen, the instant shock and realization shutting down their consciousness, their minds distancing from the reality as much as possible, not willing to accept the simple yet unbearable facts. Heavy steps of the Colossus were getting closer and louder. Soon the last trees fallen near the opening and the machine in all its might stood in the open. The only ones that were any kind of threat eliminated, the mech scanned the village, noticing that a few aliens woke up from their sleep. A light appeared in the windows of the biggest house in the village, on the left side of the Colossus. An older stallion with grey mane and dull yellow coat opened the heavy wooden door coming out into the open. He blinked a few times trying to wake up fully. He shook his head and finally took a look at the village. Immediately he noticed the gigantic machine standing not 10 meters from him. “Holy Celestia…” He said quietly taking a good look at the robot. By that time the clawed Colossus hand was pointing at the stallion, claws open, a small tube extended itself from the palm. Right before the pony was about to do something a silent swish could be heard. A dot appeared in the middle of his head, blood slowly dripping from it. The pony was frozen in on the spot for a while and then fell down to the ground, dead. Colossus withdrew his hand and analyzed the situation. The two guard ponies were still standing in the same position, not moving, not reacting to outside stimuli, shut down. The other creatures were asleep not waking up to the Colossus loud stomps. The few that did wake up, went back to sleep dismissing the sounds as natural to the forest. A decision was quickly made. The machine didn’t want to attract any unnecessary attention, but it also couldn’t let the hostile aliens live. The other arm of the Colossus pointed down to the middle of the village. A hole opened in the center of the barreled hand, and yet another swish could be heard. A small metallic ball landed in the place the mech was pointing at. The Colossus then proceeded to carry on with its primary objective as it concluded that the case of the Village is closed. The machine moved through the village to the other end of it and then again to the forest, straight to Stalliongrad. The small ball still lying in the snow didn’t look like anything dangerous. The reality however was quite different, as the ball was in fact a gas bomb containing large amounts of Sarin, a very effective nerve agent. A red flickering light appeared on the ball, which flashed faster and faster with passing seconds. After about 15 second the ball opened and something colorless but very much deadly flew in the air slowly covering the whole Sunset village. This night Celestia felt pain unlike any other, caused by 357 of life flames disappearing. Location: Equestria, previously known as Earth, Ponyville, previously knowns as , The library tree Twilight Sparkle opened her tired eyes, the Sun blinding her at first, but then her eyes reluctantly adjusted, she slowly got up taking in the reality after her dreamless sleep. Everything seemed less colorful to her, now that she seen those nightmares and heard the wicked voice. Her bright coat lost its fabulous glimmer and seemed much darker, much less cheerful than usual. Her room was no longer her happy place, calm place, where she could concentrate; now it only reminded her of the nightmare, the death, the bodies, the flames … Spike was getting very worried and scared of her and she couldn’t blame him, some of her recent reactions were very… Unpleasant to say the least… After what she did two days ago it was only natural for him to be afraid. She was ashamed of herself and still couldn’t believe in what she has done, but also couldn’t deny it. She walked up to the mirror in her room. The pony looking at her was a disaster, her face seemed paler and sad, some wrinkles appeared around it, her mane was unkempt and some grey hair were visible here and there. She shook her head with resignation. She was so tired, but sleep didn’t give her energy, it seemed to further drain her of it. She slowly turned around and walked down the stairs, Spike was nowhere to be found and it wasn’t surprising, he was probably hiding, hiding from her. “Spike it’s alright! You can come out… Please come out.” She said, her voice huskier than usual. No response, he wasn’t about to come out anytime soon. She sighed heavily, her head sinking down as she remembered what has transpired two day ago. Location: Equestria, previously known as Earth, Ponyville, previously known as , The Carousel Boutique, previously known as Biotechnology and Cryogenic Underground Complex Beta or Base 2, 2 days ago Twilight Sparkle was borrowed by the generous Fashionista to try out her new fabulous creations. As usually Rarity took her sweet time dressing Twilight, redressing her and then judging everything with her fashion-sensitive sight. Recently Twilight was avoiding her friends, not willing to talk about her nightmares and… the voice, but once in a while just to clear herself of all the suspicions she was meeting with a few of them, carrying a mask of happiness, where in fact she felt empty, angry and depressed all the time… She explained that she has some project Princess Celestia gave her to complete and that’s why she doesn’t have much time. Of course all 5 mares quickly believed her and were asking if they can help. Now it was one of these days, she was meeting with her friends. Currently she was helping Rarity, what she actually preferred to do, as the Element of Generosity didn’t tend to talk during her creative process. Every time Twilight had to speak, she was in agony, unable to keep the fake cheerfulness all the time, unable to pretend like that. That’s why right now she was more relaxed than usual. Time was passing by slowly, very slowly. Minutes turned to hours as she was still standing in one position while Rarity was studying the overall result. “Oh, no, no, this simply won’t do!” Said Rarity with her usual lordly voice, yet again taking off a colorful scarf of Twilight and immediately looking for a suitable replacement. Time was flowing so slowly… she was starting to feel itchy and then irritated. “Why won’t she hurry up, why won’t she just throw together something and call it a day!” Thought Twilight blinking nervously and wanting to move so badly… Her irritation was rising with every passing second. Then the irritation transformed in to anger, anger which was slowly starting to boil inside of her. “FINISH it already! Finish it or I will!” She screamed inside her own head. Tee hee, having trouble Sparkles? Oh you’re a little mad aren’t you? Said the arrogant growly voice. Twilight froze… “No… not you again…” I think you meant “not me again” Ehehehe… The voice mocked her. Her eyes narrowed, the anger almost exploding. “Leave me alone!” She shouted. Oh Twi, Twi, you still don’t get it… You are alone, very much. I am a part of you, so I AM YOU. But that’s not why you’re so lonely is it? The feeling of emptiness, this ache inside of you, a need for someone to share the pain with. “Shut UP!!! You don’t know anything!” She bit her tongue in the last moment, almost screaming the words out loud. Now, now, be nice! I’m trying to help you here, making a valid point. Look, your mask covers the turmoil inside of you badly… Don’t you think that someone who knew you, who you could trust and call a friend, would see through it right away? Now what does that mean? “I’m not listening to you! You’re nothing!” Come now, would “nothing” discover such a complicated truth? Twilight I’m very sorry, but look at her! Look at that dumb white bitch! Do you REALLY believe inside of you, that she is your friend? Why hasn’t she even asked you, how are you feeling? Twilight was silent, only turning her head to look at Rarity, who was still very busy babbling something about wrong color blend. She didn’t even bother to look at Twilight, smile or even ask her opinion about the clothes. You see it, don’t you? She USES you, she only needs you as a tool! Friends don’t do that… And the rest of them? When they have a problem who do they come to? “Me…” She said quietly. Exactly my lil’ sweetheart, You. And if you have a problem who solves it? “Me…?” Indeed, they always seem to be trying to help you but not with their full capabilities. They don’t care about you! “It’s not true! I had a lot of opportunities to see ho-“ Don’t you think all of them were eventually solved by YOU Sparkle? All those mysteries and problems, you always came up with an idea, always… “But… that can’t be the truth… “ Oh it is the truth and you know it… But taking that aside, what do you do with filthy liars like that? “I… don’t know…” You PUNISH them! CARVE their bodies, RIP them apart!!! Twilights expression was blank, her sight fixed on Rarity that was showing her back to Twilight, sewing some materials together and humming her song. Twilight felt a sudden burst of anger, pure hatred boiling inside of her… Then everything went red. Her face became expressionless, cold as stone. She quietly walked down from the pedestal slowly approaching the unaware Fashionista. Very good Sparkle, PUNISH her… You see those scissors lying on the table? Pick them up... Twilights horn lit up dimly, as she picked up the industrial scissors from the table on her left, used for cutting thick material, they were very sharp, large and heavy. Now you know what to do… he scissors flew quietly towards Rarity, who still hummed cheerfully. They stopped centimeters from her exposed back… STAB HER! Punish the pathetic whore! The scissors didn’t move… Twilight started to sweat, her expression turning into a strained one, as if she was under heavy stress. Finish her parasitic existence! KILL HER! The voice screamed excitedly. Suddenly a loud thud could be heard as the heavy scissors dropped down to the ground. Rarity jumped up turning around to see heavily breathing Twilight. “Oh heavens!” Rarity shouted, startled by the thud. “I’m sorry, I have to go…” Said Twilight, her voice breaking down, tears slowly appearing in her eyes. She quickly ran to the exit, throwing the dress off of herself. “Twilight, wait!” Shouted Rarity, dumbstruck and not quite understanding what happened. Then she looked down and noticed the heavy scissors lying just centimeters from her… “What are those doing here…?” Asked herself the white pony, fortunately not coming into conclusion that her friend tried to stab her. Twilight Sparkle ran through Ponyville sobbing. The voice disappeared after she dropped the scissors. What was she about to do? She wasn’t even sure, but it was something so vicious, so hideous, that her mind wasn’t ready to accept it. Her insides turned upside down as she remembered the voice and red fog around her vision. She stopped suddenly and turned into an empty alley. There the bile building up in her stomach was released, as she vomited on the ground, breathing sharply, she raised her head, trying not to think about what has happened anymore. Slowly she trotted to her house, she needed to rest now, forget and find a way to cleanse herself of this malicious voice. Sparkles, Sparkles… You could cleanse yourself or heal yourself if it would be a flesh wound. But you are forgetting something… “What?! WHAT AM I FORGETTING?!” She screamed into the sky, with rage and hate she never previously experienced. You can’t cure… Madness… Ehehehehe… AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!... Her head sunk down, as she was really starting to believe, she lost her sanity somehow. Dismissing the persistent thoughts she approached her fortress of solitude and then she opened the door. What she found inside simply surprised her at first. Spike was cleaning the floor, picking up some shards of broken glass or other material of the type. The baby dragon noticed her and immediately dropped the broom, quickly running to her. “Twilight, I’m so sorry, I was looking through some books, and… and I didn’t notice this lens from your telescope just lying there… I took the book and it must have pushed the lens…” Spike looked sad and it was obvious he felt guilty. Normally Twilight would simply smile and dismiss such a small thing, making the dragon feel better. However this time was quite different, as Twilight was very much different. Ohoho… Look at the poor fellow. He wants to avoid punishment, awww… PUNISH HIM! “You did what?” Asked Twilight, narrowing her eyes. “I… broke the lens Twi… I’m very sorry.” “Do you realize what’s it worth? WELL DO YOU?!” “I… Don’t know…” Tears appeared in his green eyes. Use your magic! Grab the little fuck by the throat! Her anger boiled again for no reason… The red fog returned, she showed her teeth and her horn lit up. “Twi…? What are you doing?” Asked the scared baby dragon “Well I’m giving you your reward you miserable piece of TRASH!” Spike saw the magical purple energy grabbing him by the throat. “Aaah!” He screamed just before he felt a steel grip squeezing air from him. Twilight raised him up into the air. The dragon was fighting with the devious magical hold she had over him, with no luck. His claws couldn’t even touch the energy around his neck. His vision was getting blurry as he was starting to suffocate. Go on Sparkle! Give him his punishment! Hehehe… Laughed the voice, obviously very happy. Twilight cocked her head to the left. Spike was looking at her with fear and plead of help at the same time. She smiled… And then smashed the dragon against the wall. Sound of cracking wood followed the throw and another sound she didn’t recognize, also a cracking one, but different. She picked the lying dragon of the floor with her powerful magic. Now she knew what the other sound was, Spikes arm was flexed at a very weird angle, there was also red liquid coming from his nose. The dragon already lost his consciousness, what was only natural. The force she put in that throw was very powerful. She released Spike with a huff of irritation and approached him. “You see? Don’t make me punish you ever again!“ No response - the dragon’s body was lying on the floor unmoving. The fog around her vision slowly dispersed and then she painfully realized what she has done to her friend. “Nooo!” She screamed terrified, quickly picking the baby dragon off the floor. She moved him carefully to his bed lying him down, yet again sobbing. She examined him quickly – left arm broken in few places, severe head trauma and skull fracture, 2 ribs broken, internal bleeding… Wait… how did she know all that? How did she know what was head trauma or how a broken arm looks and feels like? Oh that’s just some information I gave you, no need to thank me purples. “But you said you were me!” She shouted, yet again enraged. Oh who said I was telling the truth, huh? Bwahahaha! She ignored the voice and begun to heal Spike with her powers. She could heal almost everything, except his memory… Maybe she should also erase memory of what she did…? NO! This will make everything even worse! She can’t do that! Twilight left the unconscious dragon and went to her room to finally get some rest. Maybe everything will be better after that, maybe all this will be over… What? You really think that? Well… I’m not going anywhere, naïve little pony, I’m staying here so we can become best friends! You like that don’t you? Making friends? The voice laughed spitefully. Aww, okay, I’ll leave you alone now. Hey, I can always torment you tomorrow? How about that, eh? Twilight didn’t respond and was trying to block the voice out as much as she could… And it worked; the voice couldn’t be heard anymore. She sighed, tired of everything and then blissfully fell asleep. Location: Equestria, previously known as Earth, Ponyville, previously knowns as , The library tree. Present time Twilight looked around, she wanted to look for him badly, but also knew, that she can’t do it. He has to approach her himself, if she approaches him fist, he will definitely run away from her, like he did yesterday. She found him in the cellar, hiding behind some old equipment. When she moved it around to approach him, he said something that wounded her deeply. “No! Get away from me! You monster!” He then ran past her, to hide somewhere else. She stood in the cellar for a long time… He called her a monster… Was she really becoming one? Well, you know, you tried to kill somepony for no reason, no? You know how such behavior is called? “…Antisocial Personality Disorder…” Answered Twilight. Ding, ding, ding! Score! You see? Information I gave you did come in handy, now you can proudly call yourself a Sociopath, hehehe… She shook her head sadly… A few of her friends tried to visit her, but she just continued to lie, saying she still hasn’t finished the project from Celestia. The only thing she could do is going upstairs and reading, not coming out of her fortress, the only place that could contain her slowly changing self… A/N: Oh boy... Sorry it took so long O_o But I didn't have much time + was tbh a lil' lazy :P Aaanyway... Prepere for some bloody massacre in the next chapter... Mmm, tasty...
The Awakening, Part 7Division 48 – The awakening, part 7 When the skies turn red The wings of Death are spread Blood will be spilled, pain will be known To those innocents own For Death takes a deadlier shape And there’s no way to escape “Human” has Death been named And “Vendetta” has the Human tamed The Final Prophecy by Dragon Lord Xer’ariv, Equestria, 92 years before Celestia and Luna Reign War Dreadnought “UEFF Vendetta"– Technical Information Length – 80 km Height – 60 km Hull Material – Purified Etherium Shields – BC Reflector Prototype – based on reversed singularity radiation Weapons – x4 EREC, 30x Kinetic Singularity Rippers, 2x HASD (Heavy Anomaly Star Destroyer), 24x Gauss Cannon, 92x Gauss Anti-fighter Machine Guns, Sensors – High Frequency Void Transmitters Power Supply – Ferros Multiple Black Singularity Synchronized Cores Additional Equipment – Anomaly Gate Receiver Year of production – 2121 Factory ID – UEF Colonial Manufactory 1 Blueprint – Division 48 D91/121, 2115 Personnel – 40 000 Captain – Commander Christopher Jackson Main Objective – Wandering Fleet Security/Condition 9 Invasion Protocols UEFF Vendetta is a true diamond amongst all starships ever produced by humankind. It possesses the newest and deadliest technology known to humanity. Capable of annihilating a whole World, Vendetta is not a ship anyone wants to make enemy of. Possessing over 140 different ways to make someone’s day go from bad to worse, Vendetta has a very important role amongst the Flotilla. The ship is the only one possessing the proper demise receiver and is the only one capable of establishing and holding an anomaly gate connection, allowing other ships to pass through. Build precisely for Earth’s retrieval, the Dreadnought is ready to take on anything the changed Earth has to offer and wipe it off the planets face. Similar in shape to a shark, with two recently developed Singularity Engines the Vendetta is black with all the angles and sharp ends colored in dark green. Ships face is similar to a shark’s snout and additionally it even possesses a dorsal fin starting from the ship’s bow, elongated through the whole ship and ending sharply at the engines exhaust. Whatever or Whoever the enemy will be, Vendetta will make sure that last thing he sees is a blast of energy from her ERECs. Location: Milky Way, Hades Gamma Cluster, Deep Space, Sector V-106, War Dreadnaught “UEFF Vendetta”, Deck 17 - Corridors Commander Jackson was a tall, muscular man. Some said he would be a good model, women compared him to Hercules and other men were very jealous of his posture. His face indeed was almost model perfect, his green eyes seemed to glow brightly showing his high vitality, the wide jaw was composing magnificently with his cheekbones, while his nose was straight and seemed to be shaped by Michael Angelo himself. The only thing spoiling the effect was a hideous scar running down from his left cheekbone, through his lips and ending on the right side of the jaw. What the Commander had in appearance, he lacked in emotion. This man was practically devoid of it or at least he never showed it on the outside. Always official, always calm and calculating, those are the words describing Commander Christopher Jackson very nicely. Currently he was very much agitated (inside), as not only the Earth Recovery time was coming closer with each day, but also Vendetta received a Dismay Signal. One of the Achilles Defense Network Satellites has been activated not long ago, the signal however appeared to be dulled and the data stamp of the satellite showed it was about 2000 years old. The only reasonable explanation to the phenomenon would be a temporal displacement caused by the time shift during the Collapse. Christopher however didn’t know that for sure, it was only his speculation, as currently he was walking through the corridors of the Dreadnought, towards the Analysis Laboratory. The corridors were obsidian black with some dark green markings indicating the pathways for different points in the ship. Because of its size, Vendetta was not a ship anyone would simply walk through, it would take too much time and effort and so in different strategic points of the ship Anomaly Jumpers were introduced. Similar to the Gate the Jumpers act as short-distance transit method through the ship. They look like black round pads in the floor and are activated through voice-command. Commander Jackson quickly made his way through the corridors, passing different crew members, who at some points were saluting. He finally arrived at the Jumper and quickly positioned himself in the middle of it. “Analysis Laboratory!” The pad reacted immediately and Christopher was enveloped in black light that erupted from the base of the pad towards a similar pad in the ceiling. Location: Milky Way, Hades Gamma Cluster, Deep Space, Sector V-106, War Dreadnaught “UEFF Vendetta”, Deck 29 – Communications Center, Analysis Laboratory, Section A-8 Professor Hannah Orlov a 38 years old blonde woman with perfectly shaped body was already waiting for the Captain in front of the Jumper. Her long unkempt hair was loosely covering her shoulders. Her green, small glasses were reflecting the light coming down from the reflectors spread through the whole deck. She was wearing a white lab-coat, that wasn’t really necessary in Communications Center, but she insisted that it helped her keep her style. Orlov was a top-researcher and officially the head of Deck 29. She made things run smooth, helped developing the Vendetta itself and also she was the second Condition 9 specialist the ship had. Currently she was annoyed as Commander Jackson was taking his sweet time arriving at the Center. Curiously enough, the Center looked itself like a huge hangar with different work stations pressed to the walls, as if to make room for something gigantic in the middle. In fact there was something humongous in the middle of the Center. It was a neuro-computer shaped like a cube with different displays attached to it. About 50 people were working through the displays, imputing different data and searching the void for any activity. The neuro-computer was necessary for the complexity connected with void data was too big for any standard computer. It had different pathways embed into it that were emitting a calm green glow. It was not a central AI core of the ship, it was a standalone unit, which purpose was only research. Hannah however was not much interested in the whole “humanities achievement” thing, as she was impatiently staring at the jumper pad, which finally activated with an unpleasant wheeze. A pillar of black light shot from the base of the pad towards the ceiling of the Center. It disappeared as quickly as it has appeared, leaving a deep in thought Captain, standing idly. “Took you long enough Chris” Said Hannah evidently angry with the Commander. The commander suddenly raised his head, as if getting rid of his thoughts and answered as emotionlessly as usual. “What’s the situation Professor?” Hannah was used to his official tone and way of speech by now, he however never required to be called Commander or anything like that by her and to be honest she was pretty good with that. “Well, let’s walk, shall we? I’ll enlighten you on the way.” She said, all traces of her anger gone. Her voice was very warm and somehow even sweet. This woman was probably able to manipulate the opposite gender with ease, if she ever wanted to. The Commander nodded slowly and they both proceeded to walk towards the glowing cube in the distance. “First off, we received an activation signal from Achilles Defense Network, meaning that Condition 9 was successfully initiated. There also seems to be a temporal anomaly, which caused Earth to jump 2000 years in the future and somehow still remain outside of void, reachable from space. Fortunately Etherium is quite resistant to different anomalies and other freaky stuff, preserving almost the whole network untouched. This is first good news I have…” Said Hannah on one breath. She then raised her finger up, while looking directly at Jackson. “Second good news, the Network is responding and is very much operational, with all the boom and bang and kablamo…” Chris stared the woman down “Ekhem, with all the scary weapons accessible remotely. Third good news is, some supply bases survived the reality shifts. Even though all were made of Etherium, with such violent rips in reality I’m not surprised much gave up and collapsed. Fourth good news, and this one is reeeally good…” She smiled wickedly “The Battle Platform has activated and is en route to the ruins of Volgograd, for reasons we all know and wait for.” The Commander smiled slightly, so that another person wouldn’t be able to tell he did. “Aand here come the bad news…” The Commander tensed visibly “We received scans of environment, satellite photos, video and many more data from both the Network and Colossus…” They both stopped in front of the Cube, two scientists inputting some data into green holographic consoles on both their sides, not even taking a look at the guests. “Holographic Visualization, Condition 9, Frame 20 to 100 000” Said Hannah, louder than usual. In front of them a Holographic Earth appeared. “This is Earth prior Collapse. Frame 20 – 2000” The holographic Earth suddenly started to change with the Hologram’s time flow increased. The continents moved differently, smashing each other, changing and forming new masses. “My god…” Said Chris flabbergasted “I know, but the changes from Collapse quickly faded away. Frame 2000 – 50 000” The Hologram started to change again, but this time the Continents were moving ever so slightly, what’s more important, specks and dots of light started to appear all over the new continents. “This is… Civilization?” Asked Commander still dumbstruck “Indeed it is. But that’s not even half of it… Frame 50 000 – 100 000” Now the small dots were coming closer to each other, or new were appearing in groups, making clusters. Then they appeared in lines as if marking roads… “Cities… Cities, roads and electricity…” Commander shook his head with disbelief “Exactly, BUT! This is only the view of whole Earth… Watch this! Frame 100 000, Sector 113 203 197, Magnify and Enhance 100%” Suddenly a square appeared over one cluster of lights, and then the hologram flickered zooming on it. They saw buildings, some of skyscraper height, roads, and they saw thousands upon thousands of colorful dots flowing through the city. “…Aliens?” Asked the Commander slowly “Well technically no, because they were born on Earth, but to us… Yeach… Damn aliens… However this is still not all! Mark Organics, enhance and analyze!” She shouted almost passionately. The hologram flickered again, than all the colorful dots became marked by blue squares. One square flickered and the whole hologram changed perspective to first person, zooming on the marked organic. They saw… A grey, winged pony with straight blonde mane and tail in the same color, that was rotating slowly as a hologram in front of them. Its big golden eyes somehow… wrong… As if squinted… Then the computer began the analysis, cutting the pony in half, showing it in cross-section. All its organs, bones and muscles were now visible, including the nerve pathways. The computer pinpointed different sections of the pony’s body showing black descriptions next to them. Then it pinpointed one organ in the Pony and marked it red. “Is that a fucking horse?!” This time his emotions visible, the Commander could no longer contain his bewilderment. “I’m afraid so…” Answered Hannah “You’re meaning to tell me that a bunch of intelligent colorful horses took over Earth?” He calmed down, asking patiently. “Well… That’s exactly what I’m saying…” The Commander whistled “That is… Disturbing…” He said unsure “My thoughts exactly” Approved Hannah smirking a little bit. “But that’s not the end of the surprises; you see that organ shaped like a ball? Next to the pancreas… It’s marked red by the computer” Jackson nodded slowly “Well it seems to be something of unknown purpose, but the computer marked it as, and get this, Void Sensitive!!” She said excited “What the hell? Those horses can like what… Shape reality around them?” He asked dumbstruck again “Oh you better believe it!” Commander might not look like a smart type, but in fact he is quite intelligent and has a pretty good knowledge about singularities. “Hmm… This might be… troublesome, but knowing that I think I can already tell what actions will the President take” Said Chris, putting a hand on his chin. “Right, basically there are 3 words that I can come up with, describing what will happen… “ Said Hannah, getting suddenly serious, a grim expression on her face. “And those are…?” Asked Jackson calmly “Capture… Dissect… Exterminate…” Location: Equestria, previously known as Earth, Canterlot, Canterlot Castle, Royal Chambers Luna was still embracing her sobbing sister in a warm hug. “There, there… Everything will be well” Maybe the pony died of natural causes? Luna was however somehow skeptical… She felt that something cold and soulless was behind this; she wasn’t sure where did that feeling come from though. Suddenly she felt Celestia stiffen, as her sister stopped sobbing. Luna released her and took a good look at her. Expression of utter terror was visible on the Sun Goddess’s face. Celestia started to shake and brought up her hoof towards the back of her head and then slowly back in front of her eyes. Her hoof was covered in something red… It was blood… Luna’s eyes widened in realization and horror, as blood started to slowly drip from Celestia’s right eye. Everything went blurry for the Sun Goddess, as she started to sway. Then all went black as she lost consciousness feeling intense pain in her head, so intense that she wasn’t even able to scream, her brain simply shut her down to save her mind. “Sister!” Screamed Luna, terrified. She caught her sister, before the latter fell to the ground. “HEEELP!” Luna screamed again, her voice echoing through the whole castle. The response was immediate, two royal guards stormed into the chamber. Luna was crying by now, holding her limp sister in her hoofs, unable to think coherently. The guards however reacted quickly upon seeing the drops of blood hitting the floor. “Call a healer! NOW! The princess is badly hurt!” Shouted one of the guards at the other, with the latter quickly storming out of the Royal Chambers, straight for the healer. “Sister! Celestia! WAKE UP! Please…” Luna shook the Goddess of Sun slightly and pleaded desperately, her eyes wet from the tears and her hooves red from the blood. Her voice broke down as the Night Goddess started to cry, hugging the limp frame of her sister. The healer arrived soon after that, with the other guard by his side. His coat was white, just like his unkempt mane and tail. His black glasses looked elegantly. He was dressed in white doctor’s coat and his cutie mark was that of a doctor’s bag. He was an unicorn with a very sharply ended horn. “Guards, please take Princess Luna away from the patient” Said the Medical Pony nonchalantly. The guards looked at each other, seemingly unsure what to do. They however quickly came to compromise and nodded at each other, closing in on Luna. The Goddess of Night raised her head, still crying she looked at the closing-in guards, shock written all over her face. “Wait… What are you doing?!” Shouted Luna full of sorrow. The guards however stopped in front of her and quickly as lightning grabbed her under the forelegs violently, pulling her away from her beloved sister. “Noo! Leave me alone! NO! CELESTIA!” Luna tried to squirm away, thrashing, but the guards were too strong. They quickly dragged her out of the chamber, while 2 more medical ponies arrived. The last thing Luna saw were closing door of the Royal Chambers and her sister being carefully placed upon a stretcher by the two other medical ponies. “CELESTIA!!!” Screamed Luna loudly, wailing and crying so that the whole castle could hear… And the castle heard, everypony froze when the wail of sorrow echoed through it… Location: Equestria, previously known as Earth, Canterlot, Canterlot Castle, Medical Wing, Royal medical room. “Princess Luna… I’m not sure how to tell you this… But... Princess Celestia suffered a violent cerebral hemorrhage… She’s currently in a state of a deep coma and we can’t be sure if she will ever wake up.” Said the Healer with a Doctor’s Bag as a Cutie Mark, the difference was, that he wore a surgical mask now. He and Luna were both in a very large room with a wide and comfortable bed in the middle of it. There laid Celestia, covered with a white blanket, her eyes closed, bandages around her head, covering her ears and some breathing mask attached to her mouth, with a long transparent tube connected to a golden wheezing machine. Luna knew what it was, a new invention called a Respirator. Created for patients unable to breath for themselves, this could only mean Celestia was in a grave condition. The doctor looked sadly at Celestia “We removed the excess of blood from her brain, but the damage was unavoidable. I’m afraid she lost her sight.” Luna’s eyes went wet again, she lowered her head in sadness. “I understand… Is there nothing we can do now?” Asked Luna, almost whispering The doctor looked at her again “As you know princess, alicorns are very resistant to magic, both harmful and helpful. If it was a normal pony, my staff would cast a few spells and call it a day, but in this case…” The doctor sighed “We can do nothing more, than wait…” Luna sobbed and came closer to the bed “Sis… I hope you can hear me… Fight, fight and wake up, so you can give the World your love again… I love you sister… so please! Wake up!” Luna cried as she lowered her head and kissed her Sisters forehead. She then raised her head and prepared to leave, many duties awaiting her as of now, Luna had to do what Celestia has done during Nightmare Moon period, she will have to raise both the Moon and the Sun. But then she heard a weak whisper coming from the bed “Luna…” Luna turned around to see her sister’s half closed glassed over eyes, looking at hear. She quickly came to her side “Celestia!” She shouted happily, a weak ray of hope appearing in her heart. The medical pony was immediately at Celestia’s side. “357…” Celestia said weakly. Luna placed her hoof on her sister’s heart, feeling the weak heartbeat… “357 died… Sunset Village… Something…” She coughed and wheezed. “Something evil… Stalliongrad… Stop it…” Luna felt the heartbeat slowing and her eyes widened in terror “I love you Luna…” Fortunately the heartbeat didn’t stop. Celestia’s eyes closed as she fell into her coma state again. “It was a miracle she even awakened… But that’s good, our princess has very good chance of coming out from this!” The medical pony said slightly more cheerfully. Luna’s expression of terror on the other hand changed into pure anger. She turned around and walked out quickly from the medical wing, leaving the Medical Pony a little surprised. She walked up to the nearest guard Pony who quickly bowed before her. “Fetch me Shining Armor and General Dead Eye… NOW! I’ll be waiting in my chambers!” Her eyes were burning with anger and pure hatred. Whatever killed 357 ponies, was also responsible for what happened to Celestia and it WILL PAY! “Yes, your highness” The guard quickly turned around and ran to do what he was told. Luna teleported into her chambers and she didn’t even wait a minute, when in a flash of light Shining Armor has appeared and next to him a violet pony with an eye patch on his right eye. The second pony was General Dead Eye, one of very few battle-experienced badasses in the Equestrian Army. He was dressed in full plate armor, colored black and had two blades pinned on the opposite sides of his belt. The two swords were scimitars made of very rare diamond-strong silver. Dead Eye never really had much respect for authority and everypony knew that. He was however a very good strategist and blades-master. That’s why Luna was not much surprised that he just nodded at her without any fancy greetings. Shining Armor on the other hand made full-blown bow. “How can we be of service your Majesty?” Asked Shining Armor “There are a few things I want you to do and fast! As you know Celestia was severely injured by… something… It is however connected with the death of entire Sunset Village, near the icy wasteland border.” Luna said with authority “What?!” Said Shining Armor, dread written all over his face. Dead Eye simply shrugged. “What monster could have done that?” He asked shaking his head. “What monster, indeed. We know that it is powerful and so we will react accordingly. Dead Eye, mobilize the good part of the military and also I’m giving you unlimited funds to hire a bunch of battle-ridden, angry and strong mercenaries. It can be even Diamond Dogs, for what I care. I just want military strength!” Said Luna firmly. “Yes ma’am.” Answered Dead Eye, a smile on his face “Princess, isn’t our army enough to deal with such threat?” Luna smirked and let out a giggle “Are you kidding Captain? Because of my sister’s love, army of this country is made of wimpy, weak cowards. I won’t send anypony to be simply massacred on the battlefield.” Said Luna dryly “Oh…” Answered Shining Armor, visibly taking the slight insult very seriously. Dead Eye let out a laugh on the other hand. “You’re right ma’am, so, so right…” He said wiping a tear from his good eye. She simply stared the General down, the latter however unaffected in the slightest. “Continuing, I plan to release Discord with your help Shining Armor, making him our ally…” Now both Dead Eye and Shining Armor’s jaws dropped to the floor. “Don’t worry, I have a method for him, he is necessary to release… It…” She stated calmly “Lady… You’re bonkers! You can’t just… just release another monster and then another one, hoping it will do any good!” Dead Eye said nervously. “It is NOT your duty General, to lecture ME! You will worry only about fulfilling your duties, because if you fail me your punishment will be most severe!” Luna’s eyes turned into slits the moment she said that. Those were not the eyes of the princess, those were the eyes of Nightmare Moon. Her tone became deep and full of spite, Both Dead Eye and Shining Armor felt small all of a sudden, a sting of dread in their hearts. When they didn’t respond Luna’s eyes changed back, her voice still full of spite, but this time much less threatening. “Dismissed…” She ordered “Yes, your Majesty!” Both ponies said with Dead Eye formal all of a sudden. “When everything’s ready, we’re marching to Stalliongrad.” Luna stated, with both Dead Eye and Shining Armor nodding in approval. Equestria was mobilizing with Princess Luna as the sole Ruler, filled with the need of revenge and hatred only Nightmare Moon could possibly have. The question still stood however if her determination will suffice. Location: War Dreadnaught “UEFF Vendetta”, Deck 1, The Bridge The Bridge was a large area arranged in a circle with a comfortable Captain’s Chair in the middle of the room on a high pedestal. Around the chair there were about 20 different holographic interfaces with men and women controlling various aspects of the ship through them. There was a dim green light illuminating the whole bridge, giving it an eerie atmosphere. In front of the Captain’s Chair, there was a panoramic, holographic display, showing various information and the outside of the ship, as a window would. Currently however the whole space of the screen was occupied by an old man. He was bald, various wrinkles covering his face. His brown eye however showed vigor and determination a lot could feel envious about. The other eye didn’t show anything as it was a mechanical, red eye. This man was cyber-enhanced. “By the right given to me by humanity, United Earth Federation government hereby declares a full authorization for genocide by any means necessary, including weapons of mass destruction to reclaim Earth. What’s more, you have been chosen as the High Executioner, Commander. You may proceed as you wish with the full support of the Federation” He stated firmly. “Understood, sir.” Answered Commander Jackson, the hologram changed to show Hannah, smoking a cigarette. “I see we have a go.” She said “Is the Ragnarök Satellite operational?” Asked Jackson instead, his tone indifferent, Hannah nodded slowly to that. Jackson took a deep breath. “May God forgive us for what we’re about to do… Mrs Yuko, please connect us with Achilles and show me the combat map.” He said, his tone sadder than usual “Yes, Commander” Yuko entered a few commands through her interface and with that a map of Earth was displayed in front of Jackson. “Connection established, Commander.” Jackson nodded Location: Equestria, previously known as Earth, 1885 km above the ground, Achilles Defense Network, The Ragnarök Satellite. The Ragnarök Satellite was enormous and shaped into a form of a ball, with a thin barrel sticking out from its base. The length of the barrel was very big, making the whole thing look a little ridiculous. Additionally the ball had 8 thermal panels to generate electricity when the construction lied dormant. The ball was black in shape, one red light flickering in the middle of it. Suddenly the light turned green, shining constantly. The machine was activated, ready to cause mayhem where it was pointed to. . .. … ….LOADING…. ….RAGNAROK DEFENSE SATELLITE…. ….PERFORMING SELF DIAGNOSTIC…. …. ….ALL SYSTEMS OPERATIONAL…. ….DOWNLOADING VHAI UPDATE… …. ….DOWNLOADING…. …. ….COMPLETE…. ….RECEIVING PRIOTITY PACKAGE…. ….CONDITION 9…. ….AUTHORIZATION: CONFIRMED…. ….ID RECOGNIZED, UEFF VENDETTA …. ….LOADING BATTLE PROTOCOLS…. ….AWAITING COMMAND…. ….COMMAND: FIRE…. ….PHYSICAL COORDINATES: 12XDDH44100…. ....CONFIRMED…. ….TARGETING…. …. .... ....TARGET LOCKED…. ….CHARGING HEAVY ANOMALY CANNON… …. …. …. …. …. … .. . Green strokes and discharges of energy went through the whole Satellite. If anyone could hear in space, he or she would probably hear an irritating whistling sound, the weapon was making. From the end of the barrel a blinding red light appeared, a mass of energy growing in size rapidly. The whistling would become unbearable now. . .. … ….WEAPON CHARGED…. ….RELEASE…. … .. . An explosion of red energy and power enlightened Equestria . The sky turned red as blood from the amount of light generated, creating a hard to miss effect. Various ponies stopped in their tracks, gazing in the sky with amazement and fear. Luna trotted to the balcony of her chambers, looking at the sky, deeply disturbed. Then her eyes widened as she remembered where the red sky was mentioned “When the skies turn red, The wings of Death are spread… But… No! It’s an old prophecy, it can’t be true! This is impossible!” Suddenly the clouds were dispersed in one point, far away from Canterlot, as if making room for something bigger to pass. A horrible whistle echoed through Equestria as an enormous pillar of deathly red energy came through the hole, disrupting the integrity of the sky further. It was coming down slowly, about to hit the ground soon... “What on all that’s sacred is this?” Luna was not sure, but she feared that it will cause destruction. Then she bit her lips thinking deeply… and finally understood. This region… It’s Trottingham! “NO!” The pillar hit the ground, causing a massive tremor and explosion of white, blinding light. Luna had to cover her eyes, not to lose sight. Then a mushroom of red energy appeared in the distance getting bigger and higher. Luna was about to say something but then a shockwave came to Canterlot, causing her to be catapulted to the back of her chambers, hitting the wall with her head and losing consciousness in the process. . .. … …STRIKE SUCCESSFUL… …ESTIMATED DEATH TOLL: 988 110… … .. . Location: UEFF “Vendetta”, Deck 1, The Bridge “Strike successful, Commander. Ragnarok reports 988 thousand dead, the shockwave making further damage…” A tall black woman sitting in the front of the Commander said. Jackson nodded to that “Good, now that we introduced ourselves, we can come back to our home. Begin preparations for Anomaly Jump. The Colossus should open the gate in approximately 24 hours.” Jackson said, yet again indifferent. “Yes sir!” The woman responded. Equestria was hit hard that day, with massive damage and unknown to ponies radiation that covered the ground … Thing is… It wasn’t even the beginning… A/N: I know that draining blood from the head of a patient, is not how you treat someone with cerebral hemorrhage, but ponies are just starting with more advanced medicine, so that's their method for now :P
The Purple BetrayalDivision 48 – The Purple Betrayal Weil der Meister uns gesandt verkünden wir den Untergang der Reiter der Boshaftigkeit füttert sein Geschwür aus Neid (…) Weil die Nacht im Sterben lag verkünden wir den jüngsten Tag es wird kein Erbarmen geben lauft, lauft um euer Leben Translation: Because the master has sent us we announce the downfall the rider of malice is feeding his ulcer of envy (…) Because the night lay dying we announce judgment day there will be no mercy run, run for your lives Rammstein, Herzeleid 1994, Der Meister |LOADING| |CONNECTING TO DIMENSIONAL GUARDIANS NEXUS ARCHIVES| |COMPLETE| |BLACK MAMBA CYBERWARFARE SYSTEM v4.45| |OBJECTIVE: OBTAIN INFORMATION ON | |SEARCHING| |NETWORK DETECTED, ATTEMPTING SECURITY OVERRIDE| | | | |SUCCESS| |SEARCHING FOR HIGHLY SENSITIVE INFORMATION| |COMPLETE, FILE FOUND| |FILE NAME: WANDERING FLEET STATUS| |DOWNLOADING| | | | |COMPLETE| |OPENING FILE| | | | File Name: „Wandering Fleet” Status File Access Level: Restricted, High Command Basic Information on the Wandering Fleet: Place of origin: Earth Codename: Wandering Fleet Population: 7 000 million Political name: United Earth Federation Political system: Authoritarism Current President: Vincent Romanov Military organ: United Earth Federation Forces Military power: Very High Galactical and Dimensional Threat: Extreme Description: Wandering Fleet is a codename for the UEF flotilla of spaceships that avoided the Collapse effect in 2101 safely taking most of Humanity through the Anomaly Gate to Hades Gamma Cluster. The fleet was originally composed of 133 UEF Colonial Arcs, however it quickly expanded, repurposing 20 Arcs into highly advanced factories and shipyards capable of production of both smaller and bigger spacecrafts. Main purpose of these factories was assembly of military spaceships that could increase fleet defense capabilities. When the goal was reached, the factories were given the second and most important objective, which was preparation for Condition 9 Invasion Protocols. Those required the manufacturing plants to use their whole construction powers to assemble an additional fleet of powerful combat-ready crafts. Because of the production process in singularity based factories, the objective was reached in only 9 years, reinforcing the Wandering Fleet with many different types of heavy battle crafts. Colonial Factories and Shipyards: Those are repurposed Colonial Arcs, 5 times the size of War Dreadnoughts, they possess two singularities on board. The first one is a simple artificial singularity that provides power. The second one is a completely different story, as it is used only for production. The factories have little defensive capabilities and the only weapons at their disposal are 350 Kinetic Rippers used as anti-fighter guns. This is why the Fleet was in need of proper defense if there would be a hostile first contact situation. The plants are a very important resource to the fleet. Production process: Singularity based factories use different methods of fabrication than it is commonly known. Humankind learned to manipulate the unstable energies of singularities and as it is widely known, etherium is created basically from any non-organic material that passes through “Mammoth” type of singularity. This means that even common trash can be used in production. The factories usually use exactly that, disposing of the constantly growing piles of trash from the fleet and change it into precious etherium. It is assumed that factory resources are as much as unlimited. The production process itself takes place in one chamber that contains the manipulated “Mammoth” type singularity. „Mammoths” are very similar to the “Eternal Eye”, they however always emanate red instead of green and their energies are much weaker and calmer. „Mammoths” are created from standard energy-producing artificial singularity that is inducted with enormous amounts of heat. This causes the singularity particles to change and expand creating the gigantic „Mammoth” that is easily manipulated and can be used effectively in production. The „Mammoth” positioned in the middle of the production hall is surrounded by different poles and coils, which stimulate it with electrical current or heat, depending on the production engineer’s needs. The production starts with „injection” of scrap materials into the singularity. It is quickly converted into etherium by chaotic energies of the “Mammoth”. Then by heat and electrical current, the engineer can manipulate the singularity stability and the energies, thus shaping the etherium into desired hull and other heavy elements that would otherwise require much time and effort to construct. Of course the detailed work requires materials different than etherium so, after the hull of a new ship comes out complete from the singularity the electronic parts and other various elements are added by various machines and other engineers completing the production process. Wandering Fleet Current Status: Idle Military statistics: Ship type: War Dreadnought Number of ships: 52 Number of flagships: 4 War Dreadnought UEFF Vendetta War Dreadnought UEFF Grim Reaper War Dreadnought UEFF Apocalypse War Dreadnought UEFF Inquisitor Threat: Extreme Ship type: Wraith Fighter Number of ships: 100 000 Armament: 10x Kinetic Rippers Mark II, 4x Gauss Gatling Gun, 2x Heavy Anomaly Ray Mortar Mark II – HARMII Shields: Ferros Kinetic and Energy Deflectors Power source: Black Singularity Core Threat: High Ship type: Banshee Battle Carrier Number of ships: 41922 Armament: 55x KRPII, 14x HARMII, 3x Singularity Cutters, 2x Plasma Bomb Hatches Shields: Ferros Kinetic and Energy Deflectors Mark II Power source: Synchronized Singularity Cores Threat: Extreme Heavy Anomaly Ray Mortar Mark II– Technical information Power source: Destabilized Singularity Type of ammunition: None - unlimited Effective Range – 10 000 km Blast Radius – 500 m2 Cool-down – 3 seconds Threat level – Deadly HARM is a heavy weapon designed to get rid of enemy strategy points (such as supply warehouses and other building), armored targets and enemy infantry. Mark II can be also considered a WMD. It shoots a black beam that basically cuts through anything with effective range of 10 000km. The beam itself however has another particular characteristic. On contact it disperses in all directions creating a singular explosion of 500 square meters radius, disintegrating everything not made of etherium. There are two versions of HARM. The first one is used as a heavy weapon by infantry, codename HARMI. The second version is mounted on ships, has increased effective range and blast radius. The HARMI being a smaller brother of HARMII has only 10km effective range and blast radius of 50 square meters. The weapon itself looks similarly to the famous mini-gun, however it has only one barrel similar to 88 millimeter cannon, instead of six small ones. It’s also completely obsidian black, because of the material used to construct it. What’s more it’s much sleeker and doesn’t have any sharp edges, giving the weapon a calm visage that is a complete contrary to its deadly effectiveness. Because of the destabilized singularity as a power source, the weapon itself requires a warm-up sequence that accounts to 3 seconds. Additionally it possesses two ventilation shafts on its sides that get rid of the excess heat, creating a hard to miss effect of red tongues of flames shooting out from the shafts. This weapon was officially marked as deadly by the Dimensional Guardians, as it can easily cut through Guardians shields and destroy a carrier class ship with ease. There are no currently known countermeasures to it, except for the human-made Ferros Deflectors, that – similarly to singularity based technology - are a mystery to Guardians, making the intervention even more probable. Location: Earth, United Earth Federation, New Japan District, Equine Concentration Camp “Justice” Dimensional Stamp Code: 1102205555135XVZZ/B Time: Year 2141, June 4th It was dark, very dark even. The room was cut off from the outside world, isolated and so it was impossible to really tell if it was day or night. The sun and moon no longer had their masters. The only source of warmth was a weak glimmer of candlelight in the far right corner of the massive room. The candlelight illuminated a scroll of paper on the concrete floor and an emaciated face of a pink pony. The pony was in a very poor health condition, its coat bleached, spots of bare skin visible all over the face, and many hideous scars. The pony probably had some unknown sickness causing wounds to open all over its body. In its teeth the pony held a piece of coal and was staring at the sheet of paper. Trembling slightly from the lack of energy its body needed to operate normally the pony leaned forward and began to slowly write on the stained piece of paper. The letters were hardly readable, but enough to understand the content. 20 years passed, 20 years since the massacre, since THEY came, claiming Equestria as their own world, with strength and malice none was prepared for. The skies themselves seemed to bleed that day, warning us of the danger, announcing the end of an era. Even if we would understand the warning, there was nowhere to run. Like demons they came from a black pillar of light in deadly machines the size of cities called War Dreadnoughts. Those monstrosities didn’t even give a chance to diplomacy, as they started the harvest immediately, obliterating 4 of our main cities in a matter of seconds. This was however only the beginning, as through the black gates more of those metal monsters came, smaller, sleeker, faster, seemingly endless. Various box-like vehicles sped down towards the ground, touching down with unnatural grace and opening their bowels to the world. We then understood that those were transportation vehicles, as from inside of them a group of bipedal ape-like creatures came out. They were faceless, all of them with black metallic skin, and emanating death intent. Now we know they were wearing masks and heavy armor. I was young… Young and stupid back then. They came to my home, to Ponyville, while I was blissfully baking cupcakes. That is, until I heard the roaring sound of the powerful engine that propelled their transportation vehicles. With all my cheerful curiosity I naturally went to investigate and was shocked when I saw them for the first time. So dreadfully they looked, so menacing… Perhaps if Ponyville wasn’t under a shield protection from one of the Goddesses we would be already somewhat prepared for what was coming, as we would definitely hear and feel the shockwave coming from Trottingham a week ago. Ponyville was however somehow stuck in its standard routine, not knowing about the impending doom. Perhaps if not for what I saw, I would run away back then? What transpired though cleansed me of any hope, teared my soul in half… For it was the day of the Purple Betrayal. Location: Equestria/Earth, Ponyville Market District Date: June 4th 2121 “HQ this is G4, Reporting successful arrival. High alien activity in the quadrant. No sight of the target, over.” Said a man in the middle of group of six men. Sergant Michael McKinsey was a proud soldier, always doing his job, never questioning his orders. It didn’t matter much that HQ ordered him and his boys to go somewhere remote and pick up one of these… horses… What mattered is completing his mission. He was a tall man, dressed in a completely black etherium armor that covered all of his body, with green shoulder pads to underline his role as a leader of the team. The whole armor reminded of medieval times Knights, wearing full plate armors. This one however was packed with electronics, chems and was also adjacent to the user’s skin. It actually looked more like a modern exo-skeleton. Michael, similarly to half of his 6 man team was armed with a standard Etherium Ripper Rifle that beared resemblance to the famous P90, shooting sharp etherium shards at the targets usually shredding even the toughest armor not made of etherium. The ammunition to this little wunderwaffe is endless, as it carries an etherium block which small scraps are propelled through the singularity, reaching extreme speeds and kinetic punch. Taking a quick look around, it was hard not to notice various ponies staring at his squad somewhat scared but also curious. Every single ponyvillian in the vicinity of the Hawk transportation craft stopped their daily routine, taking in the visitors, while Pinkie Pie felt a painful jab inside her chest… It was her sense, first time causing her physical pain, it could only mean that something really bad will happen… Really, really bad. For the first time the party pony not dared to open her mouth and invite the creatures to a party, she simply stood there, staring at those bald apes, unable to come to a coherent decision what to do. Suddenly a clicking sound could be heard. Private Timothy Mann activated his Ripper Rifle, holding it in one hand and pointing it up in the sky. Sheer red flames came out from the side ventilation shaft of the rifle cooling system. This meant it was ready to fire and cause mayhem. The ponies oohed at the sight not knowing that this show was for nobody to enjoy. The soldiers seemed silent, but in fact they were using neural connection to exchange information with each other. “Sarge, we’re going all Protocol G on these folk here?” Private asked “We’ll see what HQs orders will be, private. They didn’t show any hostile reaction to our arrival so let’s keep it peaceful for now.” Michael said calmly “Aye, aye sir” Timothy pointed the gun down, seeing as the Ponies followed his movement with their eyes, staring at the weird contraption. Then from between the crowd of Ponies the Ponyville Mayor arrived, breathing heavily as if she was in a gallop up to this point. “Mayor?” Whispered Pinkie to herself, not at all cheerful, looking in the direction from which the Mayor emerged The Mayor recomposed herself rather quick, and approached the visitors, the latter tensing up, tightening their grips on their weapons, staring the horse down. After all Genocide Protocol was approved and will be in motion soon, meaning that they will be slaughtering these creatures in due time. She looked at the faceless creatures, brows furrowed, tense and somewhat scared. Nevertheless she was ready to fulfill her duty as a mayor of this town. “Let me be the first to officially greet you in Equestria travelers! I’m the mayor of this town and as such I am responsible for its citizens. We never saw anyone quite like yourselves, so I imagine this is your first time entering this land. May I ask where do you come from and who are you?” The team exchanged confused glances. Michael stared at the weird talking horse, still not quite believing that this is what swarmed and took over Earth… It was simply a ridiculous idea. He then cleared his throat actually about to talk to a pony… “Sargent Michael McKinsey, United Earth Federation Forces Infantry. This may surprise you but we are actually from here.” Timothy snorted to that “As for why are we here, it’s rather simple. We’re looking for an individual called Twilight Sparkle” The Mayor was flabbergasted that. They answered clearly and in perfect Equestrian. She was ready to greet them again in a different language if they couldn’t understand Equestrian. What’s more, they come from Equestra? No, this creature said they come from some Federation, but he also said they come from here… It makes no sense! And did he just say, they’re looking for Twilight Sparkle? “Umm… You’re looking for THE Twilight Sparkle? The Element of Magic?” Michael shrugged “I guess so…” He said monotonously “Wait, how can you come from Equestria and claim you’re from some Federation?” This time Michael simply laughed. The mayor was taken aback by that “I just noticed, you actually don’t know what’s happening? Didn’t see anything weird going on? Nothing?” He said through his laughter “Well… what are we supposed to know about Mr McKinsey?” The Mayor was starting to like this conversation less and less by the second “Love… This place it’s not called Equestria… Our forefathers named it Earth and we ain’t planning to change it anytime soon. This place, this planet, it doesn’t belong to you… It belonged and always will belong to humankind, to us…” The Mayors jaw dropped to the ground. Now they’re saying that Equestria is theirs? It’s outrageous! “Impossible, you seriously mistaking Equestria with some other place… Also what is it you want with Twilight Sparkle?” Michael stopped laughing and sighed “It’s none of your concern. If you value your safety I suggest you quickly point the way to this Twilight Sparkle, or we’ll have a problem.” His grim voice made shivers run down Pinkies spine. She recomposed herself finally realizing that those monsters are here to get her friend! She can’t allow it! She quickly turned around and made her way through the crowd intending to get to the library tree. Meanwhile the Mayor took a step back “You… You’re threatening me?!” She said in bitter surprise “Of course not, it’s just a friendly advice…” The mayor furrowed her brows and responded “I am sorry but if you want to see the Element of Magic, I must inform Canterlot of your presence. If the Princess will allow it I’ll lead you to Twilight Sparkle, but until then I politely ask you to hoof over your wands and come to the Town Hall…” The mayor said with a more aggressive and firm tone “Well problem with that is, I ain’t waiting and I ain’t giving anyone my “wand”. Guess we’re doing it the hard way.” Said Michael, taking out his trusty, old Desert Eagle, he loved to carry with him… Family heirloom it was and still a decent weapon. “You see thing is, if you won’t lead us to Twilight Sparkle…” He aimed the gun at a random pony, and then slowly pressed down the trigger. The effect was immediate. A loud bang echoed through the town. Some of the ponies jumped in surprise. Then one yellow pony at the far end of the crowd suddenly collapsed… a red puddle of blood starting to form around his lifeless corpse. Everything went silent after that. Lyra was standing in the crowd, gazing at the visitors. She couldn’t make out what was being said though, as she was at the far end of the mass of ponyfolk. The strangers came in some kind of a metallic craft, maybe they’re aliens and that’s their spaceship? Lyra couldn’t be sure, but she really liked the way they moved… So gracefully and smoothly. And they had no hooves just like Diamond Dogs, but their claws looked much more dexterous and slim. They were apparently speaking perfect Equestrian, what only added another question to the pool. She suddenly heard the surprised shout of the Mayor. “Are you threatening me?!” Lyra was surprised, how could a simple greeting change into an exchange of threats? What the hell were they talking about?! She couldn’t stand it anymore and aggressively made her way through the crowd to get a better view and hear what was being said. “Hey! Watch it!” Some random pony shouted at her, when she pushed him too hard. She didn’t care though and in a matter of seconds she was in the first row with bunch of angry ponies left behind her. “You see thing is, if you won’t lead us to Twilight Sparkle…” The creature said with somewhat grim, muffled voice and pointed a weird silver object in the direction Lyra was standing. Somehow she sensed that something terrible will happen and took a step to the side… For all she knew, this decision saved her from certain death. The object gave out an ear-piercing banging sound. Lyra heard a silent whistle and felt that something grazed the left side of her face which quickly started to burn from pain. Her eyes widened as she heard a thudding sound right behind her. A few ponies from the crowd gasped. She slowly turned around to see a yellow Pegasus with blue mane laying on the ground, a gaping, bleeding hole in his head, red liquid coming out of it, slowly creating a puddle in the dirt. Her heart stopped as she raised her hoof to her face and touched her cheek. Then she put the hoof in front of her eyes and saw the same liquid covering it. One of the ponies that saw the scene took a step back realizing what just happened. The mare then screamed, terrified. “You… KILLED HIM! You killed him! Why?! Why would you do this?!” And then it begun, the widespread panic, the ponies started to run away, crashing into each other on occasion, screaming and trampling everything that was unlucky enough to be in their way. In a matter of seconds the crowd dispersed, leaving only the shocked Mayor, Lyra and the aliens in the middle of Ponyville. Lyra still couldn’t believe that she just dodged death. Michael on the other hand pointed his Desert Eagle at the Mayor. “Now, kindly lead us to Twilight Sparkle, or we’ll simply level this town of yours to the ground” The rest of his strike squad rose up their weapons and activated them. The Mayor came out of her shock releasing a bunch of armed to the teeth individuals just killed somepony from the crowd and from a distance. And now they pointed the same device at her head. She started to sweat and tremble a little bit, but kept her determined expression. She knew they weren’t bluffing, they didn’t even flinch when they took somepony’s life. They simply did it. What is one element of harmony in exchange for safety of all of Ponyvillains? She couldn’t possibly hope that a mere 10 Royal Guards stationing here would be able to do much against those creatures and their powers, so she picked the lesser evil. “You… Didn’t have to do this, I’ll lead you to Twilight Sparkle… “ Her voice became hoarse, as she felt that her mouth became extremely dry. “I’m glad you saw reason Mrs. Mayor.” Michael holstered his Desert Eagle. The rest of his squad however didn’t point down their guns, making the Mayor more nervous. Nevertheless she turned around and proceeded to lead them straight to the Element of Magic. Location: Equestria/Earth, Ponyville, the Library Tree Pinkie Pie arrived at the tree breathing heavily. Her mane was deflated, her expression serious. The pain in her chest wouldn’t go away. She approached the door and was about to knock, when a realization came down on her. For a week Twilight wasn’t herself much, she almost completely stopped leaving her Tree and behaved… strangely. None of her friends saw her for a long time, as she always seemed to come up with an excuse to stay in her house. Usually Pinkie Pie was the one to behave randomly, but when two days ago Twilight finally came out of the Tree and visited Pinkie, she said something that didn’t really make sense… But seeing those creatures, it added up. Location: Sugercube Corner, 2 days ago Pinkie Pie was in her room, sorting out some of her invitation cards, after all it was Rainbow Dash’s birthday soon and she was already preparing something superlicious and supriselicious for her bestest friend! She then heard a loud thud coming from downstairs, as if somepony opened the door with such force, they almost came down from the hinges. Pinkie quickly made her way downstairs and saw the Cakes staring at her friend in shock. Twilight Sparkle was standing in front of the entrance, grinning like a madpony. Her Mane completely unkempt, her horn… broken in half… A wide bandage covering her flank, where her cutie mark should be. Pinkie couldn’t believe it was her friend “Twilight… What happened to your horn?” She asked worried. The cakes nodded to that. “Oooh… so much happened I can’t possibly explain all of it… But do not despair, for I have to tell you something remarkable!” Twilight slowly approached her friend, still grinning somewhat disturbingly. Pinkie turned her head to the side, not really knowing what was going on, but then cheered up suddenly. “Oh! Twilight I’m so happy you’re finally out of your Tree! And you came to me first! Ha!” Pinkie clapped with her hoofs “Yes, yes! Can we go to your room? It’s really important!” The Cakes were having trouble keeping up with the amount of randomness, but simply nodded when Pinkie took a pleading look at them. She and Twilight went up to her room and closed themselves in. “So? What cool story you want to tell me? Oh! Does it have pirates in it? I like pirates, they’re like “Yaaarrr!”” Pinkie started with her usual rambles. Twilight simply stared at her for a while, but when Pinkie kept talking, the element of magic said seriously “Pinkie…?” The latter stopped to that and took a look at her friend “Yes Twilight?” She asked “Shut the fuck up” Said her friend with serious coldness in her voice. Pinkie momentarily felt small and nodded, surprised that her friend just said the f… word nonchalantly “Good… So! I just have to tell this to someone and seeing that Rarity went… fishing… You’re the only one left! And you’re just dumb enough not to figure it out!” Pinkie’s mane deflated to that. Twilight just called her dumb? And used the f… word even! “Twilight, why are you so mean to me?” She asked sadly “Oh, get over it idiot, I can’t call you smart now, can I? Do you know how a pony’s heart works? Do you know what integral of a function is?” Twilight asked annoyed “No…” Pinkie answered even sadder then she was previously “Exactly, I have a perfect right to call you dumb anytime I want, dumbass” Pinkie suddenly cheered up again and giggled “Oh, I get it! You’re joking! You got me there, Twilight!” Twilight simply rolled her eyes “Anyway, about my discovery! Listen up because you’re will fall down from bewilderment!” Pinkie nodded happily “I found it! I found the Arcanum Pinkie!” Twilight said grinning even wider… “Really? It’s super cool Twi!” Twilight stared Pinkie down “What? Just “super cool”? Do you have any idea what I had to do to find it? Do you even know of its power?” “No!” Pinkie simply replied happily “Bah! I’m wasting time here, I need humans for this, there seem to be only idiots around here.” Pinkie looked at Twilight quizzically “Humans?” “Yeach, they’re be here, oh I don’t know in two days? I offered them some help in exchange for some services.” Twilight said like it was the most obvious thing in the world. Pinkie started laughing hard to that “Oh Tiwlight! You’re such a crack-up!” Pinkie then suddenly stopped laughing, blinking a few times… “I think I said that already somewhere, didin’t I?” She looked in the direction Twilight was, but the latter was none to be found, Pinkie simply shrugged and went back to her routine. Pinkie analyzed all that in her head, all over again. Previously she simply shrugged it off as a joke from Twilight, but when did Twilight really joked about anything? She was mostly serious… And humans? What if, those visitors were humans? The broken horn? Maybe she really broke her horn… And she used a word unknown to Pinkie, somewhat unfit… Someone? What does that mean? Pinkie however shook her head dismissing the thoughts. These creatures were looking for her friend, and the jabbing pain in Pinkie’s chest wouldn’t go away. She had to warn Twilight. Pinkie knocked a few times, but there was no response, so she slightly pushed the door, the latter opening widely. Inside of the Tree, there was darkness and silence. “Twilight?” Pinkie asked quietly Suddenly she heard hoofsteps coming from upstairs. The only source of light was the opened door, so for a while Pinkie couldn’t see a thing. Then Twilight came into the light, Pinkie was about to sigh with relief, that is until she saw Twilight completely. Pinkie gasped and took a step back. Twilight was… mutilated. All over her body there were different scars and wounds, forming… words. One of her eyes was missing, a gaping hole instead of an eye. She had almost no mane at all. Some wires and other different metallic elements were sticking out of her body, creating a horrendous image. Also a part of her cheek was torn off, showing her teeth and gums. “Oooh, if it isn’t Miss Pinkie? Came to question my intelligence again?!” She roared Pinkie simply couldn’t believe it “Twilight! What happened to you?!” Twilight looked down at herself “Oh this? I had to insert some metallic elements into my body to use the void sensitive organ to its fullest potential, also had to remove my eye to get some parts into my brain. It’s all good in the name of science my little idiot. “ Answered Twilight calmly “You… did it to yourself?” Twilight brows furrowed “But of course!” “And… what about your cheek…?” Pinkie almost whispered, she was getting more and more nervous, the pain in her chest intensified. “Oh this little thing? Rarity bit it off, I just got too close to her. She’s a little struggler even when dissected…” Twilight then looked to the side “Yes I know, Christopher! I’m explaining it to the moron here, okay? Of course I don’t have to explain it! But… Ah okay, have it your way.” Pinkie was slowly backing out, but then she felt something grabbing her by the throat… Some unknown force. But Twilight had no horn anymore! So how was she using magic?! Pinkie was violently pulled back into the Library, the pain in her chest unbearable now, the grip on her throat increasing. “Yees, I know I’m always grabbing them by the throat and it’s cliché, but where do you suggest I grab them? By the ass? Aha! You see? Not that simple mister know-it all.” Twilight again spoke to no-one Pinkie was unable to talk anymore from the grip and the pain. She just started to sob. “Perfect timing Pinkie, it just happens I’m in a need of an eye!” Twilight giggled… Then she smacked Pinkie to the ground with tremendous force, knocking her out cold. Pinkie woke up with much hardship… She felt horribly weak. All of her body was in pain and she could hardly move. “Fits perfectly! Thanks for the tips Chris. You’re a real sweetheart. The color is wrong though, oh well! Can’t have it all!” That was Twilight’s voice; Pinkie moved her head slightly and saw the latter looking into the mirror. The light in the Tree was back, so Pinkie could see more clearly. But her sight was somehow off… She realized she can’t see anything through her left eye and it hurts. Oh no… Pinkie came to a horrible conclusion… “No…” She whispered starting to sob again. Twilight however didn’t pay any attention. Few seconds later the group of the aliens came into the tree looking around, their devices pointed in different directions “Miss Twilight?” Asked Michael “Indeed” Twilight answered happily. Michael nodded to that and approached her “We would like a confirmation of your dedication to our cause.” Twilight sighed “Fine, what do you want me to do?” She asked again annoyed “There’s nothing more of a proof like terminating one of your own, is there?” Twilight nodded “I already did it though! Wouldn’t that count?” Michael shook his head in disagreement “Damn it… So who am I to “terminate”?” Timothy entered the library dragging behind him Lyra, who was screaming and kicking. He however paid little attention to it as he dragged her by her mane. Then she was violently thrown into the library directly in front of Twilight. Lyra looked up at the Element of Magic. “Twilight! Good that it’s you! Help me! They took me by force and already killed somepony! Contact Celestia! Do something!” Lyra pleaded “Gun…” Said Twilight looking at Michael. “Oh… I see Miss Sparkle, that you already possess decent information on humankind.” Said Michael surprised “All thanks to a friend… What about that gun?” Twilight asked staring at the soldier “Twilight? What are you talking about?!” Lyra asked, but was completely ignored Michael nodded and took out his family heirloom “But how are you gonna…” He didin’t finish as the gun went up into the air by itself. “Right… shaping reality and such…” He mumbled The gun arrived in front of Twilight and was pointed down on Lyra “What are you doing?! Why are you pointing this at me?!” Lyra was unable to comprehend that Twilight could side with those monsters. Nor she was able to accept the fact that Twilight could betray Equestria. The gun reloaded itself and the trigger begun to be pressed slowly. Ponyville went silent after the panic. The silence was however disturbed yet again, as the loud bang of a magnum caliber pistol echoed through the town, marking the end of an era, marking the beginning of Genocide Protocol. A/N: Shit, this update took me a long time, sorry bout that. I’ve got new job which requires most of my time, but will try to update twice a month or more. Heh :P Damn lack of time.
The Nightmare ReturnsDivision 48 – The Nightmare Returns Citizens of UEF, the time we all waited for has come! Condition 9 is almost fulfilled! The Colossus has awakened and is closer to the gate with each passing minute! This means, Earth is no longer ridded with radiation and danger. After 20 years of space-drift we are finally ready to come home, to come to our beautiful planet! It might have changed on the outside, but we all know deep down that this is the same planet we left. Mother Earth’s spirit has prevailed and she calls to us, she wants to embrace us with her warmth, her love. And we want this embrace, we all want to feel the sun shining on us or the cool raindrops touching our skin, we all want to see the green of plants, hear the buzz of bees! And we have this chance! Our tireless efforts and years of preparation will finally pay off! However as you all know there is always a price, even greater than our efforts, for Earth wasn’t left alone for all this time. For her not 20 years but 2000 has past due to temporal anomalies! And during this period something has spread over our planet like a plague. I talk of course about aliens… Yes… Aliens created from anomalies during the Collapse, abominations with ill-intentions, claiming our world as their own! Their numbers are staggering and a lesser race would probably give up their world, not willing to take any drastic options… Is humanity a lesser race? NOOOO! Are we willing to give up Earth, just because some unnatural creatures claimed her as their own? NOOOO! Will we give up to something as ridiculous as THIS? NOOOO! Fellow brothers and sisters, Humanity is much more than this, humanity is willing to use any means necessary to get back, even drastic measures. Those aliens are not willing to leave Earth, as the Colossus already asked them politely. They even call our mother differently… And we will NOT tolerate THIS! That is why I ask you all! If we cannot resolve this matter peacefully, will you dear citizens, fellow humans agree to a different solution? Will you put your morals and beliefs aside and save Earth? YEEEEEEES! Our mother is in peril and as her children WE RESPOND!!! Let it be known on the pages of history that today it was agreed, that today, I, Vincent Romanov officially approve of Genocide Protocol with the blessing of all UEF citizens, of all the humanity! FOR HUMANITY! FOR EARTH! FOR HUMANITY! FOR EARTH! FOR HUMANITY! FOR EARTH! FOR HUMANITY! FOR EARTH! From “The Human History”, Romanov’s Speech of Fates Case File: 0000182933/F Name: Christopher White Age: 31 Race: Human, Caucasian white Sex: Male Height: 177 cm Weight: 89 kg Build: Muscular Education: PhD in Medicine, Specialist Neurosurgeon Psychological profile: Sociopath, schizophrenic, murderous tendencies Attached Police files: Att. 01/A, 02/A, 03/A, 04/A, 05/A, 06/A, 07/A, 08/A, 09/A, 10/A Attached FBI files: Att. 01/B, 02/B, 03/B, 04/B Attached Interpol files: Att. 01/C, 02/C Description: Christopher White was a widely known serial killer that committed multiple murders through US and in some cases even outside of States. He was known for his brutality and stealth tactics. His victims were always murdered in their houses, found with crushed heads and a piece of paper attached to their chests, containing a disturbing poem. Almost always there was close to no evidence. He however always left his name carved in the skin of the victim’s back. It was quickly discovered that the name alone couldn’t give the law enforcers any edge, as there are close to thousands of people with the same name. Handwriting didn’t help either as it didn’t match any found in the databases. White has avoided the law for almost 5 years until finally his streak of crimes has ended with his own death in Harry and Jenna Reese home. The murderer managed to kill Jenna Reese as his last act, but before he could carve his name something happened. It was assumed that he got a heart attack and died, some called it a divine intervention, and some called it a coincidence. Police however couldn’t come to any conclusive results, as even during autopsy nothing pointing out to heart attack or any other internal organ failure was found. Christopher White simply died, his organism shut down. His cases were quickly connected and closed with much relief to police, FBI and Interpol. Document Attached to Dimensional Guardians Spontaneous Shift Case no. 3 Accident: Spontaneous Shift Victim: Christopher White (see attached file) Description: Christopher White has been transported to a different dimension through Universal Error code 405 Additional Error: Universal Error no 406, Universe was unable to wipe the new body’s memories and personality for the occupant Current Occupied Dimension Stamp Code: 1102205555135XVZZ/B Name of the World Occupied: Equestria/Earth or United Earth Federation Occupied World’s Political System: Matriarchy/Authoritarism Name of the Occupied World’s Leader: Princess Celestia, Princess Luna/President Vincent Romanov WARNING, WORLD IN CONFLICT Occupant’s new body name: Twilight Sparkle, The element of Magic Occupant’s new body race: Equine, Pony, Unicorn Occupant’s new body psychological profile before occupation: Highly intelligent, diligent, ambitious, highly resourceful, potent to stress, sociophobic After occupation: Highly unstable, short term memory loss, possibility of developing schizophrenia, sociopathic tendencies, high influence of the occupant’s mind on the subject Estimated personality decay: 7 – 10 days Decay effect: Loss of morality, complete obedience towards the Occupant, gain of Occupant’s characteristics New body’s importance level to the world: High Conclusion: Approved for intervention. Level 4 Agent Assigned: Lieutenant William Sharp Agent’s Specialty: Long distance target elimination, Master Marksman Agent’s Race: Hybrid - Homo Sapiens Sapiens/Crocuta crocuta/Synthetic Agent’s place of origin: Earth, United Kingdom, Sierra Research Genetic Manipulation and Cybernetics Centre Agent Recruited: 21 years ago Spacecraft Assigned: Demora III Spellweaved Dreadnaught Spacecraft’s Captain: General Sylvia Celeste Captain’s Power Lock: Level 0 approved. No barriers, Black Eye Sword usage allowed. WARNING: General’s instability and violent nature may lead to a catastrophic outcome Warning overridden by: The High General Intervention in: 7 days Wandering Fleet Information: Wandering Fleet Status: In movement, Preparing for anomaly jump, warming up Ether Reactors UEFF War Dreadnaught “Grim Reaper”: The “Grim Reaper” was a Flagship, that looked similar to its 3 other Brothers, specifically the “Vendetta”. Its hull was as predatory in shape as possible, giving the spacecraft a dangerous aura. It had almost no sharp edges however, being as smooth in look as possible. All its weapons were hidden under hatches that only opened during a battle. It was a silent hunter, unnaturally fast compared to other ships of its class, graceful and dignified. One particular characteristic however made the “Grim Reaper” stand out from its brethren. Its shields were the most powerful technology developed by the humanity. Shifting Reality Deflectors Threat Level: Deadly Dimensional Threat: Maximum Those kept the little space between the ship and the rest of the universe in constant reality shift state, making a kind of impenetrable cocoon. Not even etherium would be able to stand against such violent shifts, and even energy trying to penetrate such space would be quickly shattered and dispersed. Location: Equestria/Earth, Eastern Equestria/Eastern Europe, Stalliongrad City/Volgograd City The usual silence of the frozen forests was yet again disturbed as the steel feet of a battle mech dug heavily into the snow and the frozen ground. Each step of this titan made the ground shatter and break, each step made it shake, as after all this time the Colossus was finally nearing its destination. No obstacles could stop it, no enemies could make this deadly machine change its primary objective, which was to serve humanity. Colossus however wasn’t about to just stroll into Volgograd, no… Not before doing something very important first, as the Condition 9 dictated. The modern military AIs from the Black Cloud Corporation had much potential in them, they were fast, deadly and effective, but all in all compared to the harnessed power of a human brain, they simply lacked one particular element… Innovation. Human mind could sometimes come up with very different and unpredictable solutions to problems, the AIs had only one answer to, dictated by their protocol and programming. Even despite all the humanity’s advancements in cybernetics and electronics, there still wasn’t a fully self-aware AI in existence. The Colossus’s AI was much the same, capable but not able to actually THINK. But as always humans came up with a solution even to this problem. Thanks to the demise transmitters, incredibly long range communications, the Colossus could be steered remotely… By a capable pilot. This is why right now, the Colossus stopped in its tracks so close to its destination. The raging blizzard shrouded its existence from the aliens that lived in the city. The howling wind made it unable for anyone to hear the deadly contraption closing in on the unaware citizens of Stalliongrad. A small antenna extended itself from the machine’s left shoulder, a green light soon flickered right next to it. The machine begun an exchange of protocols ….LOADING…. ….COLOSSUS BATTLE PLATFORM…. ….DEMISE TRANSMITTER OPERATIONAL…. ….OPENING VOID CONNECTION…. ….REDIRECTING POWER TO COMMUNICATION ARRAYS…. ….PASSAGE CLEAR…. ….ESTABLISHING CONNECTION WITH NEAREST DEMISE RECEIVER…. ….ESTABLISHED, ID: UEFF WAR DREADNAUGHT GRIM REAPER…. ….SENDING AUTHORIZATION CODE REQUEST…. ….RESPONSE: 11102344AA12MD111/13A…. ….MATCH…. ….REMOTE CONTROL ENABLED, USER LOGGED IN: CORPORAL JASON WYDE…. Location: Milky Way, Hades Gamma Cluster, Sector V-124, Deep Space, UEFF War Dreadnaught “Grim Reaper”, Deck 2, Tactical Operations Centre (TOC) Corporal Jason Wyde was a sleek, young man, with a very cheerful personality thanks to which he gained his nickname “Cupcake”. He hated it, but all in all it was better than “Noob”, many soldiers dubbed him… Probably out of jealousy. He was an average looking guy, 188 cm in height, slim with shortly cut brown hair and small eyes matching the color of his hair. He wasn’t really muscular, as muscles were not that important in the job of a machine pilot. A smile always plastered on his face, Jason always tried to see things in a brighter light, than most people would. That’s why right now he was very, very happy with himself, some would say even smug. His grin was breaking the biological capabilities of a human being, that’s how wide he was smiling right now. His ever-shining eyes were glittering with happiness and fulfillment and every-freaking-body knew why he really COULD be so smug. “If he looks at me again I swear I’m gonna punch him…” Said quietly to herself a tall muscular woman medic that was currently trying to log-in onto the fleet-net from the nearby console. Jason was simply passing through the corridors, going straight for TOC, where a bunch of really advanced neural chairs had their home. A lot of people on the way were giving him disapproving stares, some even mumbling something incoherent about punching him, as the medic did. He didn’t mind tough, because why should he? High Executioner picked him by hand to become the controller of the Colossus unit, to execute the final process of Anomaly Gate activation. He was about to get into the books of history, next to The President and all the G squads involved… And damn did it feel good. He passed a diner room, where a group of marines were talking to themselves about “whose ass is the hottest”, while sitting around a steel table. When they saw him they immediately went silent, but didn’t give him any disapproving looks. He felt something was not right and stopped next to the entrance to the diner, smiling and looking at the soldiers happily. Suddenly one of the marines, a very tall one, slowly stood up from his seat and came forward, his comrades following him with their looks. To Jason’s surprise, instead of saying something not particularly nice, the man saluted energetically. “Sir, let me tell you, a lot of people put faith into you. Give those fucking aliens some good old fashioned human-style pounding!” Said the tall soldier, suddenly grinning cheerfully. His friends obviously approved as they stood up to and saluted one by one. Jason smiled even wider to that. He returned the salute. “They won’t know what hit them! Be ready, because the next time we speak, it will be on the ground of Earth gentlemen!” He said with passion “Yes sir!” The four marines answered in unity, as Jason begun to walk again. After about few more turns he finally came face to face with a rather big blast door, locked with complicated mechanisms and what looked like nearly 100 etherium bolts holding the blast door firmly in place. The doors were huge… About as big as an entrance gate to some old castle back on Earth… Before the Collapse. “Heavy security…” He said staring intently at the gate. He cleared his throat “Condition 9, Corporal Jason Wyde, Authorization code: 11 0003 9992 81 81 2” He knew no one was behind the gate, because no one ever entered the TOC through it in 20 years. They contained neural chairs for all the Colossus units on Earth and so as the Condition 9 dictated, no one previously had authorization to enter TOC. But finally the time has come and he was going there alone, to do his mission. The bolts suddenly started to move aside one by one unlocking the huge blast door. After the last bolt hidden itself, the door yanked with an unpleasant moan and begun to rise up revealing the insides of TOC. Roughly 100 neural chairs were lined up in rows upon rows inside the gigantic room. This was really impressive. The neural chairs themselves were similar to pods, but instead of laying position they forced the user into arched sitting one. They were made of a very soft material on which the pilot could sit for hours without end and any ill side effects. All were black in color, made probably out of ever popular etherium. Jason couldn’t however make out any real details as it was almost completely dark inside the room. The only thing giving any light were small lamps on the celling that gave out an eerie green glow, doing a poor job in dispersing the darkness. Now everything with the neural chairs would be good and even maybe fun if not for the horribly painful bonding process. Humanity might have developed their technology really fast and introduced many new magnificent inventions. One thing was always the same however… Humans never came up with a more efficient idea of neural bonding than a direct link between the spinal cord and the neural transmitter. In practice this meant a long thick needle brutally boring through the pilot’s back and making its way to the spinal cord. When Jason remembered that, his smile was quickly replaced with a sour frown. He looked around – most chairs were inactive, their lights off, only the glowing green lights on the ceiling made it possible to make out their shapes. The inactivity meant that one could come up to such chair and take a sit, as nothing would happen. However in the third row Jason spotted what he was looking for. One neural chair was illuminated brightly, its green lights completely dispersing the darkness, the transparent glass door slid aside, inviting Wyde to enter and begin his mission. He sighed remembering the painful part of the process… The cheapskates from the Federation didn’t even bother to give any anesthesia to reduce the pain for the pilots, because it was “too expensive”… Bullshit… He slowly approached the chair and stared it down as if it was a living being. “Okay chair… You don’t like me and I don’t like you, but for this one I want your full cooperation, got it?” He said, brows furrowed. Naturally the chair didn’t respond and Jason snorted to himself. Stress was already eating at him. He turned around and lazily sat in the comfortable, soft chair, not even removing his clothes. It wasn’t necessary as the needle violated his body enough, so that any other advanced sensors for monitoring his pulse and such were obsolete. He took a few deep breaths and counted to ten slowly, calming his tarnished nerves. He could see the blast door locking again. Yup, this was the point of no return, he had to do what he was supposed to or he will starve to death here… Super… “Begin connection!” He shouted in a higher pitched voice, than his natural and then immediately closed his eyes. He held them closed tight ready to receive the wonderful metal spike and feel the pain of thousands tormented souls. Yes, that’s how bad it will be. For a while he didn’t feel anything and nothing was happening with the exception of an increasing in volume hum coming from the chair. Then suddenly metal straps bounded him to the chair effectively immobilizing Jason in one position. Yeach, he forgot about that, it wouldn’t be good if he started to move with a freaking needle in his spinal cord. Another minute… And then it came, the needle simply extended itself with lightning speed, not leaving anytime for Jason to even think “Holy shit”. It tore through his clothing, pierced his skin and then bore into the spinal cord. Wyne wasn’t about to be quiet through the whole process. He screamed and howled like a wild animal, as the pain was excruciatingly great. He felt his insides burning, he wanted to vomit, but before anything could be done, his consciousness started to fade away, as if being drained by the evil needle. The need to puke disappeared, the pain went away as he became comatose, his consciousness now translated into binary code and sent all the way to Earth, where his new body of etherium, servos and heavy weaponry awaited. Yes, the process of controlling a mech from a distance basically meant that the pilot effectively became the mech. Of course he wouldn’t feel any pain on damage, or wouldn’t die if the mech went down, but all the machine’s sensors, weapons, joints and appendages became the pilot’s own. Now there was a special value according to which a pilot was better or worse from his brethren - the synchronization value. The greater the percentage of such value the better the pilot’s new body reacted to his mental commands. And so a pilot such as Jason with value of 99,8% would control the mech’s body without any time lags, disconnections, failure in command translation and so on. A pilot with a synchronization value of 50% would get all this problems, wouldn’t really feel the mechs metal body, wouldn’t be the mech. This is why Jason was hand-picked. His value was one of the highest in the flotilla and so he could control any battle robot with deadly efficiency as if the body of the machine was his own. Speaking of which Wyne consciousness arrived to the Colossus. He felt as if he was drowning, submerged in water. He couldn’t breathe nor move, neither he could do anything about it. He could only wait. Slowly one by one he started to regain his senses and lost the feeling of being drowned to death. The Colossus powerful processor was synching his mind with the machine slowly. The process took such a long time, because translation of a whole human mind into simple digit code ended up with data package larger than anything else in existence… And actually using the data correctly slew the process down even further. After what felt like eternity to Jason the translation process finished. Slowly and steadily he opened what he presumed was his eyes. In fact he activated all the sensors of the mech at the same time and that caused him to recoil from the amount of information he suddenly got. He wasn’t used to Colossus Battle Platforms. First those were kinda old, second only highest ranking pilots could use them and he was just a corporal. Nevertheless he proceeded to repeat the action only this time with much more caution. He activated outside camera and infrared sensor which showed him the world around him. It was snow, snow everywhere, no… It was a raging blizzard that did nothing to his durable body. There were trees in front of him… Green pines, covered in beautiful whiteness. The blizzard moved them violently and Jason could hear them rustle. He was amazed… Hypnotized even. Last time he saw real trees and snow was 20 years ago, when he was about 5 years old. “It’s beautiful… ” He thought and the mech repeated with a monotonous, electronic voice that startled the pilot. “Shit I sound like a bloody terminator!” And the voice repeated again. Not wanting to do that anymore, Jason decided it was a good time to flex his joints, arms and what not. And so he began his awkward exercise testing the machine’s response time and the “feel” he had for it. It didn’t feel much alien to him, as he was certainly used to actually being a mech, however the fact that the monstrous machine had a Gatling cannon instead of an arm was a little disturbing to him, as he couldn’t quite come to a conclusion what movements were meaning what for the cannon. It seemed to be turning left or right in a rotating cycle randomly, which only spewed some annoyance in the young soldier. “Fuckin’ stupid cannon instead of an arm… What if I want to carry TWO objects at the same time, eh? What then?!” Of course nothing responded except for a howl of cold winter wind and echo of his emotionless metallic voice. He flexed his long clawed arm, quickly adjusting to it, feeling it tremendous strength. “Heh, could probably crush diamonds with it… Awesome…” One particular thing about the ever-happy corporal was a fact, that in dire and stressful situations he tended to express his thoughts out loud, without regard to who’s listening. It made him feel somewhat better, as if he was narrating his own story. “Ah, can’t forget about legs…” He extended one leg forwards keeping his balance and standing on the other leg for a while. The response of servos was extremely fast, and soon he was standing on one leg with a sound of moaning metal, responding to the sudden addition of massive weight. For a third person looking at all those moves, it would seem that the machine completely lost its mind and is simply malfunctioning… The leg was flexed at weird backwards angle that didn’t quite sit right with Jason. He wasn’t however about to complain much… Well maybe a little “What freakin’ moron came up with backwards flexing legs?” He sighed after that simple question, full of irritation. Never mind tough, he was ready and warmed up, if you can say that about several tons worth of metal beast with no muscles to warm up whatsoever. “Alright, alright… Now, let’s bring up the HUD…” And in an instant in front of his vision massive amounts of gibberish data appeared successfully blinding him with the overwhelming visual and text information. “AAAH! Fuck! Simplify God damn it! SIMPLIFY!” As if on cue major part of the information on the HUD disappeared leaving only a few things important for a professional pilot like him. Crosshair Condition of the mech with neat visual presentation Ammo status and current weapon “equipped” Status and type of shields Minimap Communication’s array Compass Target marker Health bar… “Health bar?” He asked perplexed. Yeah, he actually had a red health bar line with 100% condition shown on it. The constructors obviously had a sense of humor. He let out a laugh “Hah! I like that! It’s like a good ol’ FPS!” Jason looked around again, now getting all serious. It was no time for laughter and witty comments. He had a mission and it probably included obliteration of an alien population in the vicinity. The white marker on his HUD and the dot on the mini map showed a distance of approximately 4 kilometers. Above the marker it was written Anomaly Gate 1 Volgograd City He quickly activated the communications array with a mental command. A series of green letters appeared on the right of his FOV, forming a text ….COMMUNICATIONS ARRAY OPEN… ….CONNECTING TO UEFF GRIM REAPER…. ….CONNECTION ESTABLISHED…. “Grim Reaper this is Colossus 1, requesting pulse scan and population data on Volgograd” He thought, more than said. His thoughts were quickly translated into a massage and sent through the depths of void space Location: UEFF Grim Reaper, Deck 1, CIC, Communications Station Communications Officer Lu-Cheng was in the middle of taking a sip of his steaming hot, black coffee. He was quite tired as it was almost the end of his shift. The tiredness showed itself through the bags under his half-closed eyes. His job required an amount of combat readiness. His battle communication station wasn’t however used even once in 20 years, as the Flotilla had yet to get into any kind of battle. And so through time, the job was passed down as the most boring and lazy one from one officer to another. He also completely forgot that today might be a historic event and so was not prepared for anything. Especially not for the short beep of activating console and holographic screen flickering into existence. He spat out the coffee in quite a shock. “What the…” He staggered almost falling from his comfortable chair A colorful image of Colossus Battle Platform displayed itself on the screen with a message ….RECEIVING COMMUNICATION ATTEMPT…. ….CHANNEL OPEN…. ….COLOSSUS BATTLE PLATFORM…. ….STAMP CODE: 1119297/D…. “Grim Reaper this is Colossus 1, requesting pulse scan and population data on Volgograd” Lu-Cheng sat there, watching the rotating image of Colossus for a while, unable to come to any comprehensive decision. His state was however quickly broken by an irritated cough. Everyone in the CIC, including the Captain of the ship were looking at him. The Officer quickly recomposed himself replying to the voice message “Roger that Colossus 1, relaying your request further, await response!” Lu-Cheng turned to the Captain. The latter was a young and short, blonde fellow. His blue eyes were however pretty damn cold, mostly piercing through any psychic opposition there was. No-one becomes a captain this young, not having extraordinary achievements in his book. He had no visible marks that could distinguish him from an average Aryan looking person however. Only those damn soulless eyes and age. He couldn’t be older than 21. “Captain, we have a req-“ Lu-Cheng was rudely interrupted by his young Captain “I heard it Mr. Lu-Cheng” The Captain responded coldly. Communications officer felt smaller all of a sudden “Miss Pietrov, begin full-spectrum scanning procedure through Aegis Satellite, two pulses.” He directed his sight at a young blonde, possibly Russian woman. “Yes, sir” She responded without any disobedience in her voice. Location: Equestria/Earth, High Orbit, Aegis Defense Satellite ….LOADING…. ….DOWNLOADING VHAI UPDATE PACKAGE…. ….DOWNLOADING… ….COMPLETE…. ….COMPILING DATABASE…. ….COMPLETE…. .…AEGIS DEFENCE SATELLITE…. ….AUTHORIZATION CODE: 4410002377742/AZ2O…. ….VALID…. ….ID RECOGNIZED.... ….UEFF GRIM REAPER…. ….AWAITING COMMAND… ….ENTROPY SCAN, FULL SPECTRUM, TWO PULSES… ….COORDINATES LOCKED…. ….CHARGING FEPS…. Aegis Defense Satellite was one of three in the whole Achilles Defense Network. It was primarily an information gathering, spy satellite, but looked almost identical to the Ragnarok. It also possessed an unnaturally long barrel that seemed to be some kind of a weapon. The truth however was different. The pole was in fact a main part of the Ferros Entropy Pulse Scanner. A very innovative technology introduced at the last moment before humanity left Earth. Normally it would be a controversial way of gathering data, as the Pulse Scan worked based on Exotic Radiation and in extreme dosages was deadly to any biological organisms. Secondly it was a very obvious and detectable way of “spying”. It looked very much like a colorful, but dreadful spectacle. The advantages of the method however were far greater than its disadvantages. The pulse scan allowed the satellite to gather every data almost instantly, as the exotic radiation came into reaction with the Void getting some characteristics of the Demise Waves. The pulse released from FEPS worked a little bit like ultrasonic detection that bats use. The particles came back to the satellite after the release as en echo, but showed exactly the precise looks, colors, composition and insides of everything they passed. There was no way of hiding from exotic particles. Sometimes however two pulses were required if the satellite was to gather data on a particularly small area. And right now, Aegis was preparing for just that. The long pole or barrel of the satellite started to gather energy, pulses of green electricity exploding all over its length, threatening to release some kind of unknown force. The light generated through those raw explosions was immense. The satellite turned by a few degrees, correcting its position to get the best results of the violent scanning technique. And again the amount of gathered energy lightened the skies over Equestria, specifically, over Stalliongrad or Volgograd as it was called long ago. It looked as if storm was preparing to consume the whole planet. And this couldn’t be simply ignored by the current citizens of the city. Location: Stalliongrad/Volgograd, City Hall, Mayor’s Spoken Truth office The Mayor was a young grey Unicorn, with a long unkempt orange mane, covering his eyes slightly. His tail was on the other hand very short having some brown highlights all over its length. He was recently put in the position he was now. It was his first day as a mayor of this town actually, elected ASAP after the events of Red Hour (The attack on Trottingham) which left the previous mayor blinded and in hospital. The city left for him to govern was enormous with many historical, architectural wonders, created by an unknown civilization (although most said it were ancient Ponies. He however couldn’t help but disagree. The architecture was simply to “aggressive”). His office was quite a big one, decorated in a baroque fashion with many rich, gold gleaming objects such as mirrors, paintings, desks, drawers and such. His desk itself was made from a fine, possibly, oak and gave a feeling of heaviness and sturdiness. The flags and coat of arms of Equestria were apparent everywhere around the room. Indeed this place was fit for a king and made the young grey mayor feel extremely out of place. The rich carvings in his desk seemed to be able to come to life at any given moment. It was a very old piece of furniture… ancient actually, passed from one mayor to another. It was unknown how far this whole passing tradition went but working near this desk was disturbing as it had some really weird symbols carved onto its flat, oak surface. Carvings were probably meant to be artistic. He couldn’t however help but to think otherwise. They almost seemed to form letters, just the font was very unusual. Many mayors before him tried to decipher those weird almost-letters, eventually giving up and treating the desk as a standard piece of furniture. He also quickly stopped paying attention, directing his sight back at the piles, upon piles of various documents, applications and decisions to be signed by himself. He sighed most disapprovingly and took one last look at the fantastic surface of the desk. Above all the almost-letters there was a symbol, a mysterious one, having nothing in common with any Equestrian symbols. It was some kind of an equilateral cross with four arms bent at 90 degrees. It had a menacing aura about it. Directly under the symbol there were those almost-letters. The stallion fought hard not to try and read them and get back to his dull work, but eventually lost the battle with his curiosity. He was always a curious type and loved mysteries, so when one was so close to him, he couldn’t simply ignore it. “E… Es, zi… zittern?” He blinked twice not sure what this could possibly mean, it could be just gibberish, however the amount left to read proved him wrong. Not many knew this but Spoken Truth was actually a superb magical specialist in the field of analysis and time-based magic. His cutie mark, a golden symbol of infinity was a mystery to most. To him also, he got it completely out of random. “Maybe I could… use the spell…” All in all Spoken Truth was actually a naughty, naughty child in the past. Especially the part about breaking into the Canterlot library and stealing one of the forbidden spell scrolls, that just HAPPENED to lie on the desk, about to be sealed forever. Well, actually it wasn’t this much forbidden as it couldn’t really harm anypony, nor it could cause any chaos. It was dangerous to the caster, as it literally transported his or her consciousness through time. Of course Spoken Truth was caught by the old librarian and forced to face the Princess. She however decided that no punishment will be come to a child, mostly because he literally felt sorry. It was a school field trip, back then. He actually never used the spell before, mostly out of fear. But this desk, this magnificent desk had some kind of spark in it, as if it could tell unspoken stories of times long, long past. He wasn’t a fool and didn’t believe the naïve story about this desk being made by a famous Pony artist. It just didn’t lie right with Spoken and he learned to trust his gut instinct on most occasions. This piece of furniture was special in a way… Very special. He nodded to himself after that, fear overcame by his curiosity as he concentrated. His short horn begun to glow in a silky white color as the Unicorn cast his forbidden spell. It was soon released and hit the desk, with the latter absorbing the energy. For a while nothing happened, as Spoken looked around nervously, waiting to be pulled in a different reality… or something. Then he heard it… Voices, singing in the far distance. The singing was getting louder with each passing second and soon Spoken was able to hear perfectly what was being sung. “Es zittern die morschen Knochen, Der Welt vor dem großen Krieg, Wir haben den Schrecken gebrochen, Für uns war's ein großer Sieg!” He didn’t understand any of these words, but somehow they made him tremble, the language felt so harsh and brutal, as if the words alone could kill. The singing however didn’t stop “Wir werden weiter marschieren Wenn alles in Scherben fällt, Denn heute da hört uns Deutschland Und morgen die ganze Welt!” He felt himself being pulled in the air suddenly. The room around him begun to disintegrate and turn into blackness. Now he was horribly scared, trying to fight the unknown force that was lifting him up. He flailed his hoofs around, but simply couldn’t stop what was happening, so he did something only natural. He started to scream. The singing however became only louder “Und liegt vom Kampfe in Trümmern Die ganze Welt zuhauf, Das soll uns den Teufel kümmern, Wir bauen sie wieder auf!” Then Spoken Truth was violently pulled forward, flying through the blackness, which soon started to turn into a recognizable environment. Trees slowly started to appear around him, ground took shape, sky became blue and the singing became immensely powerful now. “Wir werden weiter marschieren Wenn alles in Scherben fällt, Denn heute da hört uns Deutschland Und morgen die ganze Welt.” Then the blue sky was blocked by black smoke, distant sounds of explosions and gunfire came to Spoken Truth’s sensitive ears. Fires on the horizon and wrecks of different metal monsters littered the ground around him. Ruins of many buildings were visible everywhere and dominated the land. He felt as if he was slowly floating down. Underneath he could see rows of weird bipedal creatures marching and singing… Singing loudly… It was a terrifying sight… “Und mögen die Alten auch schelten, So laßt sie nur toben und schrei'n, Und stemmen sich gegen uns Welten, Wir werden doch Sieger sein.” The magic that held him in the air and was delicately bringing down to Earth suddenly disappeared. He let out a terrified, panicked scream as the gravity pulled him down violently. He didn’t have any time to actually do anything more as he hit a cart full of hay crashing it in the process. Spoken Truth could only hear ringing in his ears, feel pain all over his body and have a tremendous headache after that fall. The ringing quickly quieted down as he opened his eyes, vision blurry. “Wir werden weiter marschieren Wenn alles in Scherben fällt, Denn heute da hört uns Deutschland Und morgen die ganze Welt.” Through the stack of hay he was now laying in he could see, with widened eyes, those bipedal creatures marching, unnaturally synchronized. They looked like nothing he ever saw and the confusion didn’t allow him to break his gaze from them. Dressed in dark gray uniforms with iron helmets on their heads and weird contraptions in their appendages the creatures seemed to have some sort of a sinister goal set. Slowly the confusion became smaller and Spoken Truth felt panic gripping him by the guts. He hastily tried to stand up and get out of the hay, only to fall down again with a yelp of pain that shot through his right hind leg. “My leg! This shouldn’t be happening, the spell shouldn’t work this way!” He shouted full of sorrow, forgetting for a second about the weird bipedal creatures passing by the cart he was in. He then felt choking fear as he remembered that he just shouted something out loud, next to possibly hostile army of monsters. He stopped moving at all, his breath became sharp and short. “Sie wollen das Lied nicht begreifen, Sie denken an Knechtschaft und Krieg Derweil unsre Äcker reifen, Du Fahne der Freiheit, flieg!” The singing continued. The creatures ignored him, as if he wasn’t there. His mind decided that it was a good time to get up again and crawl out of the hay that stung him unpleasantly. This time however he was much less hasty and with some difficulties he finally got out of the broken cart, just to clumsily fall down on the dirt. He could hear the stomps of thousands upon thousands of feet. They made the ground shake. Somewhere deep inside he was wondering why can’t the monsters see him. His racing mind however quickly put it aside, simply accepting the fact. He raised his head slowly… “Where am I?!” Location: Earth, Central Europe, Western Poland Date: September the 1st, 1939 The Invasion of Poland Panic started to set in again… “Wir werden weiter marschieren, Wenn alles in Scherben fällt; Die Freiheit stand auf in Deutschland Und morgen gehört ihr die Welt.” The soldiers were not paying any attention towards the grey unicorn lying on the ground just next to them, just as if nothing happened. They were still marching, beginning to sing the song anew. “What… What are those?! Where am I?!” He was looking around in panic, his breath horribly shallow, mind racing, heart beating crazily fast. “Can you feel the hate, Spoken Truth?” A sweet soothing voice rang in his head. His vision became blurry from all the stress, ringing came back to his ears. “Who are you?!” He shouted out, looking around nervously as shaking he tried to raise himself from the filthy ground “They are humans, creatures of war and destruction, brilliant race with unlimited potential, power but also hatred. This is their history you are witnessing, the beginning of the most destructive war ever waged in the entire human reign.” The soothing voice echoed in his head, calming his tarnished nerves with some kind of supernatural power “Who… What are you?” He asked again, unsure and deeply confused “I am what you call The Universe… and you have cast a forbidden spell, bending my power to your will… It was a mistake Spoken Truth…” The voice became suddenly harsh and venomous, causing Spoken Truth to tremble in fear. All the calm he received only a second ago was gone. “I… I’m sorry…” He barely stammered. “Sorry won’t do it, mortal. You had a desire of knowledge of the past and so you are seeing the times when the mysterious desk in your room was made. You are seeing the World War. You will witness the destruction, the killing, the blood and pain. You will see innocents die and suffer, millions of creatures cast into oblivion, lost in flames.” Spoken Truth started to breathe harshly again, so horribly terrified by what the voice said “B...But I don’t want to see anypony hurt! I just wanted… I…” He said out loud, his eyes getting wet, tears slowly forming. He did not doubt the voice in his head. He could feel the authority and ancient power it was radiating. It was a cosmic being he was talking to right now… “I will also tell you of the future. What you are seeing now, will repeat itself in your times. The victims however will mostly come from your race. The creatures you see are coming back, bringing another wave of hate. It has already started and there’s little you can do to stop it.” He suddenly felt as if someone hit him in the face, as if judgment was passed on him and everything he knew and there was nothing he could do. Tears were coming down his face freely now. He was crying, feeling horrible sadness and sorrow. “But… Why would they do this? What have we ever done to them?!” He felt hopeless “It’s simple mortal… You’ve taken over their home… They believe you are thieves that deserve to die…” There was silence for a while, Spoken Truth sat down on the ground, head sunk down, eyes sad and wet “Is… Is there anything I can do?” He whispered “Oh there is a way for you to survive of course… There will be a great battle near Stalliongrad. All you need to do is pick the right side Spoken Truth and you will survive. But can you carry the burden of the lost lives on your back? Will you be able to live with yourself?” He raised his head slowly, not believing what he just heard. He was about to protest, but the facts came to him. There will be a battle near Stalliongrad? What? How? Why? “Time of our little chat is up… Witness the horrors, embrace the knowledge you wanted so much!” He then felt as if reality around him started to collapse, the soldiers stopped singing, they stopped moving whatsoever… No… The time has stopped! Silence fell… Spoken Truth however wasn’t given any chance for a reaction as suddenly reality recomposed itself and came at him with lightning speed, boring into his innocent mind like a power drill. Images started to fly in front of him, the crimes, the violence, the murders, genocide, the flames and screams of the victims. Everything showed with painful clarity seeping into his mind. He started to scream wildly, unable to stop the flow of the darkest knowledge filling his mind and wiping his innocence, clearing any hope and good the young Unicorn had. “Noo! Please! No more… Aaaaahhh!” There was no mercy however, no way of ending what has started. And so Spoken Truth not only saw but became a wounded Ally soldier about to die from a mine explosion that almost ripped him apart, he was a Waffen-SS officer shooting a young Jewish child for stealing bread, he was a young Pole jumping under Pzkpfw VI(B) Tiger II with an explosive in his hands, about to commit heroic suicide for his country. He was an innocent child locked in Auschwitz Birkenau concentration camp, with many other people in one room, about to receive a deadly dose of Zyklon-B. He became a Russian soldier shooting from a heavy machine gun mounted on the top of his T-34 tank, killing many Nazi soldiers. And finally he became Simo Häyhä, White Death himself, alone killing 505 Russian soldiers trying to invade his country. He felt the sorrow, the suffering, the despair, hopelessness but also the lust for blood, the feeling of authority and power, the hate and the feeling of inspiring dread. He also witnessed… heroism, love for one’s country, sacrifice, leadership, true friendship formed through blood and fire… He saw and felt it all… On this day Spoken Truth exchanged his innocence for knowledge and experience… On this day he almost lost his mind… He was someone completely else now and his old self was forever lost, cast into darkness, forever buried. Location: Equestria/Earth, Canterlot/Washington D. C., The Castle, Luna’s Chambers Time: 15 minutes after the Ragnarok Strike Luna’s eyes shot open… She felt horrible pain all across her body and something coppery in her mouth. There was dust everywhere, covering most of the room. It came from the cracks in the walls and the gaping hole that replaced her balcony now. She coughed painfully and blinked twice. Her eyes produced some tears to counter the dust particles stuck in them. “What… What happened…” She couldn’t remember… She was standing on the balcony and then… Nothing… A blank memory… Currently she was lying on the ground, her back leaning against the wall. She tried to move, but felt a wave of pain shoot through her right foreleg. She immediately understood that it was broken. Then she felt a wave of terror came through her as a trickle of blood entered her right eye, blinding her slightly. She raised her bruised left foreleg up to her forehead and tried to touch her horn… But… There was nothing… She moved her foreleg a few times in place where her horn should have been and finally came across something. As she touched it another wave of pain shoot through her, but she ignored it unable to comprehend what reality was trying to tell her. In place of her horn there was a stub, a short stub that was bleeding and hurt her horribly. Her eyes went wide and she violently turned her head around as if looking for something. Looking to the left she saw it… There was no mistake, it was her horn, broken at the base, lying on the ground like trash. “No… No! No, no, no, no, no!” Tears started to form in her eyes. But they quickly stopped flowing as she remembered everything that happened. Her country was attacked by an unknown force, one of the biggest cities in Equestria has been destroyed, her sister had a cerebral hemorrhage and was permanently blinded by it and now she lost her horn and broken her leg and was completely useless. Then anger came, so tremendous, so powerful… She tightened her jaw as her eyes turned into slits and changed color. She saw some kind of blackness coming out of her stump slowly enveloping her. But she ignored the sinister power and focused all her hate on the attacker “I will destroy you! Do you hear me?!” She suddenly shouted to no one in particular, her eyes locked on the ground, as the darkness completely overtook her, transforming Luna into something else… And soon instead of the Princess of the Night the infamous Nightmare Moon was leaning against the wall. All wounds healed, her horn regrown as the old one turned into colorful dust. She was still leaning against the wall looking at the ground with her dragon-like eyes. After a while she broke contact with the ground as her anger dropped a little, as she moved her head and caught a glimpse of her body she gasped, shocked “Wh…” Her lips started to tremble as she again raised her left foreleg in front of her eyes staring at her pitch black coat, completely confused “I… No… I’m not her! No! I’m Luna!” Her voice changed and sounded so dreadful, so spiteful “How did this happen?!” She asked herself, feeling suddenly devastated. She was not Nightmare Moon! It was all past her, the power that made her into that creature was gone forever! She started to breathe faster, confusion turning into panic… “Okay Luna… It’s nothing… You’re healed at least and can stand up and… And…” She was at loss of words, but decided that lying in one spot all the time was not a good idea. So she stood up slowly starting to believe that it was just some kind of nightmare. Looking down she could see the new pieces of armor that came out of nowhere and her much darker mane. For a while she just stood there, her mind racing trying to think what to do now and fighting off the feeling of hopelessness and fear that was creeping up on her… “As long as I know who I am, it doesn’t matter how I look… Yes… That’s it…” That was the best she could come up with. It calmed her down a little and ideas of what to do now stormed her troubled mind. Celestia! She has to see if anything happened to her sister and the rest of the castle, see if there are any casualties. And what about Ponyville? She quickly came closer to the gaping hole in her chambers and took a look out of it, looking for the small town… Then she spotted it, it was under some kind of a barrier, safe and sound… What was a barrier doing there? Only she, Celestia, Twilight Sparkle and Shining Armor were capable of creating such a big sturdy barrier. She dismissed the thought taking a glimpse at Canterlot. It didn’t look as good. Some smaller buildings collapsed, there were some Ponies lying on the ground, most likely knocked out… She felt a pinch of dread… What if it was worse? And somepony could be trapped under those ruins! There was no time! She had to organize rescue party, call in the guards, and deploy the medics! The fact she became what she hated the most slowly slipped her mind. It seemed to be an illusion to her now. She quickly stormed out of her chambers into the corridors clacking against the floor with her armored hoofs. As she came out of her room she immediately spotted a guard lying on the floor under some rubble. The ceiling has collapsed in a few spots. Another guard with a bleeding wound on his head was desperately trying to rescue his unconscious comrade. He was a white unicorn, concentrating his efforts on picking up the enormous piece of concrete from the trapped pony. His magic was way too weak to do that however. Luna wasted no time and quickly approached the rubble. The guard of course heard her and raised his head with eyes half closed, from the tiredness. “Princess! Thank all that’s holy tha…” As he opened his eyes wider he saw not his Princess but a known villain standing on his right, next to the rubble. Nightmare Moon had as evil expression as always, her lizard eyes were sweeping the rubble as if trying to find something. She was radiating power, hate, evil and coldness… It was terrifying and the guard’s heart stopped as he started to tremble slightly. He was wounded and weakened, what could he possibly do to Nightmare Moon in his state? “N… Nightmare Moon… So you returned… It was you who did this…” He whispered, knowing that it was probably his end The villain turned her head to the guard. An expression of confusion and hurt visible on her face. For a while it seemed that Nightmare Moon had no idea what he was talking about. She then blinked twice as if realizing something and sighed sadly “I’m NOT Nightmare Moon… I’m Luna… We don’t have time for this! We have to get that pony out of the ruble!” She said, doing poor job defending herself. The guard shook his head in disbelief at the whole sentence… Maybe he was hallucinating? He got hit in the head pretty hard after all. “It’s really you Princess?” He asked confused “Yes it is me! Now, please, let’s help this pony quickly!” She said a little angered now, her voice had a lot of venom in it, making the guard even more confused. But after a second he shook his head “I’m so sorry Princess! Of course! Thank the Sun and Moon you are fine!” She nodded in relief and concentrated. Her horn started to glow darkly. She was sure that with the help of the guard she will be able to raise the rubble and get the unconscious pony out. She however couldn’t possibly predict what happened next. She used only a little bit of her power, but the rubble instantly flew up as if a Giant raised it, what’s more she really wanted to see the other Pony unharmed and to her surprise he was… Teleported away from the rubble the second she thought it would be a good idea… The Guard didn’t even manage to concentrate in the short time she rescued the pony. She then released the spell and the rubble fell to the ground again, creating a dusty cloud. Luna’s eyes widened. Where did all that power come from? She was sure she didn’t have this much of it earlier… And to cast two spells at the same time? It was unheard of, she only saw Celestia do it… The guard shook his head in amazement “Thank you Princess, if not for your help…” She came out of her thoughts and looked at the guard “But of course! Take care of your friend and when you’re done go and look for any healthy guards! We have a whole City to sweep!” She said with so much authority, it actually felt unnatural to her “Yes your Highness!” The guard answered standing at attention, a little surprised by the sudden strict voice of the Princess. She then started to gallop towards the castle infirmary. After a second she stopped and literally D’ohed. Why was she galloping if she could teleport? She scolded herself and quickly cast a teleportation spell. She reappeared in infirmary and immediately saw medical ponies walking around bringing in lots of wounded Ponies. Some higher ranking guards were barking some commands to others, obviously keeping the operation well organized... The infirmary was on the lowest levels of the Castle and it seemed that it didn’t receive any damage and the guards plus other Ponies here, quickly reacted to the attack. Luna sighed in relief. Her ears perked up as she heard a very familiar voice just outside the infirmary and closing in quickly “…And we don’t have a death toll yet. We also have no idea where did this shockwave come from, but it certainly was created by something of incredible power.” It was Shining Armor… “Any news as to where Luna is at?” This voice… Impossible… But it had to be! Then Shining Armor entered the infirmary with a few guards behind him… And Celestia right next to him. The Goddess of the Sun looked much better than she did not so long ago. She actually looked like usual with the exception of a white blindfold on her eyes and much colder aura about her. Luna didn’t move as happiness slowly filled her… So her sister was fine! And already out of the bed! And of course this split second was enough for Shining Armor to simply turn his head around and meet eyes with a well know pitch black, evil legend. Nopony spotted the black mare up until now because it seemed everypony was very preoccupied with their duties and she was at the end of the infirmary. “What the…?!” Shining Armor stopped suddenly not believing his eyes Luna then realized her grave mistake “No! Wait! I can explain!” She desperately shouted as terror overtook her “This voice… I know It all too well” Celestia suddenly said grimly “Nightmare Moon…” The Goddess of the Sun came forward with a very serious expression on her face. The guards came out of the shock and reacted, drawing their weapons and giving Luna very hateful looks. “So you were not destroyed after all… And you returned thinking only of revenge… You blinded me, killed your people and almost destroyed Canterlot… And for WHAT?!” Celestia shouted out in anger Luna was about to say something but she felt as if something was choking her, preventing from saying anything “This time you went too far Nightmare Moon. You will be hanged, drawn and quartered! CEASE HER!” Celestia ordered and the guards started to approach Luna, not a hint of fear on their faces… “Sister! Please, it’s me… I… Something happened…” Her voice trembled as she felt like crying “Tia… It’s me… please…” She whispered The Guards surrounded her, as she sat down and lowered her head sadly “Wait!” Celestia ordered suddenly as she approached Luna slowly. She couldn’t see but she seemed to be looking into the latter’s soul for a while. “Luna?” She asked completely surprising the villain “Y… Yes! Yes, it’s me!” Luna suddenly stood up as happiness overtook her once again “Princess?! It’s Nightmare Moon! It’s not Luna!” One of the guards protested not able to believe in what just happened. Luna ignored this protest and simply jumped at her blind sister, embracing her in a hug. “It is you Luna…” Celestia barely stammered, still able to feel the coldness and venomous aura around the creature that was now hugging her “Tia! You’re fine! I was afraid… I… Then this red light came… And, and…” Luna was babbling “Luna, calm down… “ But it was too late, the Goddess of Night was now crying in her sisters embrace. The guards and doctors were observing this scene, half believing that it was some kind of trick… Crying Nightmare Moon… Celestia had no more doubt now, it definitely was her sister. But what happened? How did she become Nightmare Moon again? The hug lasted for a moment, until Luna finally stopped crying and released her sister from the embrace, now a little embarrassed that so many ponies just saw her break down in tears… “Tia… I don’t know what happened. I was very injured after the light came, my leg was broken and my horn was gone. I just felt so angry and… Something snapped…” Celestia pondered over this for a while “It matters not… For now… We have much more pressing matters to attend to.” Luna nodded energetically. Some guards looked as if they were ready to break their orders and simply charge at the black mare, but one look at their blinded Princess made them drop the idea. Shining Armor cleared his throat getting the attention of two mares instantly “I’m sorry your Highnesses, but I believe that we still need to form a proper courier party and get reports from other cities.” Of course Shining Armor was not about to trust Nightmare Moon just like that, but he wasn’t foolish enough to disagree with Celestia. “Indeed, I shall see to it personally” Celestia said firmly turning her head towards Shining Armor. The guards finally hid their weapons and started to calm down somewhat, still giving Luna some hateful looks. Fortunately her sister’s authority was legendary. “Also, I believe you sent Dead Eye to form some kind of an army Luna? Is that true?” Luna remembered the fact and became very serious. “Yes sister, I did…” Celestia nodded, approving “Very good, lead them to Staliongrad. I want whatever harmed my little Ponies to be caught!” Celestia said loudly “I will sister…” Shining armor took an intake of breath “Princess Luna, the army you asked for is almost ready for orders. They have gathered on the western border of Equestria.” Nightmare moon leading an army to defend Equestria… Incredible… “How many?” Asked Luna narrowing her eyes slightly. Temperature in the room seemed to drop by a few degrees “200 000…” Luna didn’t respond There was silence for a while “Send a message. Tell them Lu… Nightmare Moon will lead them to Stalliongrad… I don’t want them to be taken by a complete surprise with my appearance.” Luna said suddenly “Very well Princess” Shining Armor responded, taken slightly aback by the request. Celestia lowered her head as if thinking of something “Luna… I… had to… Cancel the spell…” Luna recoiled at this revelation. The protection spell that was supposed to protect all the subjects from harm and even death in some cases… That’s why Celestia recovered so quickly… That’s why she was so serious and cold… “I’m sorry sister…” Luna said with sadness in her voice “Whatever did this… Whatever dared to do this, will pay…” Goddess of the Sun stated darkly Shining Armor had no idea what they were talking about, but he dared not to interrupt “It will Tia… I’ll make sure of it!” Luna said louder than normally Celestia raised her head and nodded. “Let us waste no more time then, keep me informed Luna. Lead on Shining Armor” Celestia gestured with her hoof, at the Captain of the Guard “Of course your Highness” He replied and they both turned around ready to leave the infirmary that returned to its duties, trying not to think that the Goddess of Sun sided with Nightmare Moon… Trying to really believe it was just Luna in disguise. Luna on the other hand quickly concentrated and in a blink of an eye, teleported to the western border, ready to lead 200 000 of different Equestrian creatures against an unknown enemy… Against a Metal Monster… A/N: Over 10k words... Hurray... Hopefully not many derps. As to why so late... First I was swamped for about a month and then... Then i just got laaaazy... Very, very lazy... But Am fighting the sloth hard now! I won’t let it win this time :P
