A New Dawn For Equestria

Chapter One: When You Wish Upon A Star

Edited and Written by The Liquid Gold

// 9009648.M41

// Ultima Segmentum

// Lithesh Sector

// Kronus

// Appleloosa

Braeburn heaved a heavy sigh, but one of relief, as he finally finished hauling the last of the apples onto the cart. This particular cart was to be whisked away to Manehatten, where the apples would be sold and bring back a tidy profit, which could be spent on keeping the town up and running. Whilst Appleloosa's primary aim was to feed itself, it's settler ponies, with the orchard, and also to keep satiated the buffalo who used this land in accordance with their ancestors, there was often to be found an excess of apples. In these cases, the apples were boxed up, loaded onto carts and taken off to be sold.

Now with that done, Braeburn's work for the day was finished, it was somepony else's job to ensure that that cart was taken to the right place, and already Braeburn could see the other ponies in the Orchard coming over to take away another freshly loaded cart. With the pounding of hooves into soft dirt and sand, the yellow haired pony cantered down the central aisle of the Orchard, the trees on each side separated, a central path cut out. It took not five minutes to finally make it out of the Orchard and onto the nearby plateau upon which the town stood, and looking back Braeburn saw the fields of green spread out in front of him.

He wished that Applejack and her friends could come back some time and see how much they had done - already in such a short time, like the inexorable rise of the tide or the soar of a bird on the wind, the Orchard had too soared in its own right - it had grown beyond any expectation Braeburn had previously had. Now it stretched to the horizon, broken only by main thoroughfares for carts and the wide sweeping avenues for the Buffalo natives.

Braeburn turned and began to trot back into town, into the shade provided by the sturdy wooden buildings, and his final destination - the community and joy provided by the local saloon. The town seemed quieter than usual - several houses looked to be empty, porches were abandoned. When he got to the Saloon, Braeburn's shock was indeed deepened further, the chairs were empty, the bar unattended. Even though the day was currently crawling into it's final hours, the town's main haunts seemed to be abandoned, which was certainly most odd. At this time, the Saloon was normally brimming with the mine workers back from a hard day's work.

Suddenly the peace, the near silence, was disturbed by the furious beats of panicked hooves behind Braeburn, and in a manner expecting answer Braeburn turned and saw three or four ponies sprinting towards the train station - they were clearly exhausted, saddlepacks were draped upon them laden with all homely possessions, and in the heat of the desert they were driving on in what seemed to Braeburn as nothing other panic.

Braeburn sprang into his own sprint, his legs going through the necessary motions every stallion has learned since birth, the air passing over his form and letting him power through, just as flesh yields to the uncompromising blade, or as grain and maize is felled by the inevitable swing of the scythe.

"Hey, where are you going? What are you running from?" Braeburn's voice rang out across the street, and the ponies' heads turned and gave him one exasperated look. One had no time, on the train he hopped without thought, the other quickly spared time for a reply.

"Quick, just get on the train!" In his voice was anxiety, that he was leaving all he knew. In his voice was excitement, that he would see pastures new. But in his voice more than even speech itself was fear, this was a pony shaken, a pony who had seen what no pony should, and had found no reason to stay calm. With his words uttered, he turned his tail and bolted onto the train, just as glistening clouds shot from the wheels of the locomotive, and the steadfast titan of the desert began to drift, slowly at the moment.

"Quick! Hurry!"

The door of the train was open, the trembling pony held out a hoof. Braeburn hopped up onto the platform, he was near the door but apprehensive - he still did not understand why the hay these ponies had suddenly packed up and got on the train, but for them to do so, something terrible must have happened.

But no, Appleloosa and it's orchard was Braeburn's pride and joy - he had spent more sweat and tears on this settlement than on anything else in his life, and he was not going to loose this to some irrational fear, or whatever had driven the pony in front of him to get on the train. The pace of Braeburn's walk still kept level with the open door, but the edge of the platform was approaching, the pace of the train increasing. Braeburn was about to slam his hoof, he had made his decision, he was staying with Appleloosa.

At least, that was the decision he would have made, had he not heard it then. A low buzzing sound was heard by Braeburn then, at the edge of his hearing. It was the sound of metal on metal, but more than that. This sound was the sound of everything that despised and rejected nature. This was the sound of everything that rejected emotion. This was the sound of everything that rejected life itself. The noise was growing in intensity, and it filled Braeburn with dread like none other, his very hooves filled with the cold liquid of impending malice and he felt his whole body begin to try and hide within the air itself, to remove itself entirely, for it knew that no hiding place would be secret enough.

And with that noise Braeburn jumped through the open door, and he took the pony's hand - and not a second too soon, for he had almost fallen off the edge of the platform. Turning around him as the door closed he cast a last glance at Appleloosa, but what he also saw was a thick haze on the horizon, a haze which seemed to stare back at Braeburn, it was black and unforgiving, and It represented everything that a pony should fear.

Braeburn turned to the contents of the carriage he was in - it was filled with the bodies of the fearful, some were on the ground, wearing a mask of wearied faces, some were visibly trembling. The majority, however, seemed to be a little shaken - not at the haze, but rather at the whole debacle. Braeburn reckoned he could tell what most of them were thinking - that this was just a false alarm, a waste of their time, and that at most ponies were overreacting. Braeburn hoped they were right.

"So what was that?" Braeburn posed his question to the carriage.

"What was what?" One of the ponies on the ground spoke up, intrigued by what the newcomer to the train had said.

"The haze? The noise?" Braeburn looked questioningly, "Surely that is the reason you have all evacuated to this train, and to wherever this line leads?"

"No, I was warned by a couple of mine workers rushing home - they told me there had been an accident in the mine and we all had to leave. He said I'd die if I stayed in Appleloosa. I'm pretty sure the guy was crazy off his head, but I don't wanna take chances with my young ones here." The pony nudged a couple of younger ponies next to her, two colts and a filly. "My name is Dust Shimmer, by the way."

"That changes things I guess. Does anyone here actually know what went on in the mine?"

"I do." Another pony stepped forwards. Braeburn noticed he was one of the two he had seen jump on the train just now - he was the first, the one who had no time to reply. The train at this moment had gathered all it's speed, and was being propelled across the desert with impressive haste. "I was one of managers in the offices at the mine's entrance - we heard screams coming from the shafts and an ominous sound, like the buzzing of a thousand wasps, but this had a different tone to it, it sounded... unnatural. I ran back to Appleloosa to warn people whilst the other managers and above ground workers stayed behind to see what was going on. I warned pretty much all the town I could find, other than those still out in the Orchards, and got them on this train. I was waiting for my other managers, but they never returned. That's when me and Shadow Plain here heard the noise again, so we bolted over to the train. You were lucky you got on in time." The pony pointed out the one who had opened the door for Braeburn with a nod of the head, marking him as Shadow Plain.

"Do you think the Miners are going to be ok?" Dust Shimmer spoke up from the ground, worry in her eye. Shadow Plain's companion merely looked away, refusing to answer. Dust Shimmer's expression took a turn for the worst, and she hid herself in her cloak. Some of her family had been working in the mine that day.

All in the carriage simply stared at the ground, unsure how to react for the rest of the journey, Dust Shimmer's soft sobs being all that broke the silence, if at all. But then the silence was broken by something else, something that made everypony's ears lay flat backwards, a sound many thought they had just escaped from.

"No..." Braeburn took up a defensive stance. He wasn't sure what the hell had attacked the miners, but he wasn't going to let it harm this train - especially with young colts and fillies on board.

Many tried to force themselves into the walls further, unsure how to react. Deep inside, they must have convinced themselves that it was all going to work out.

"Dust Storm, open the door!" Shadow Plain shouted to his companion, now introduced. Dust Storm's hooves pushed aside the heavy wooden panel, and it slid aside with a dull thud. At once the carriage was filled with dust and gale, the sound of the wind loud - but not as loud as the metal buzzing that had now followed them from the town.

Looking out, Braeburn, Shadow Plain and Dust Storm could see nothing behind the train. The ground flew underfoot, cast in shade.

At that thought, something struck In Braeburn's mind - it was late evening at latest, the ground should still be reflecting the last light of the sun. His neck craned upwards, his eyes aligned to the sky.

"Look up!" Braeburn nudged the others. His was voice tainted with the crawl of fear, but it wasn't heard over the deafening roar of the wind, and the harsh grating of the metal sound from earlier. They cast their eyes skywards. Above the train dappled sunlight filtered down to them through a thick fog of black, seething and moving within itself. Occasionally green lights danced across the surface of the mass, the swarm blocking out the lights of day and thundering their cry of aberrance. Just as the walk to the gallows fills with malice the accused, all three ponies leaning out that door felt from hoof to hat a sense of dread incomprehensible to the sane mind.

As if one being, the swarm fluctuated and moved with the grace of water, it twisted one way then the next. Still it hovered above the train, just like the predator waiting to strike it's prey, confident it has already secured the kill. But the wait didn't last, this way then under the train the haze flickers. The ponies at the door try to react, but a moment too late. With the force of a collision, the body of terror tore asunder wheels from carriage, filling the thin gap between train and track. At once the front tumbled into the sand, and those in that fateful carriage were thrown against walls, or indeed through them.

Screams filled the air, Braeburn tried to issue some warning, but all was lost in acoustic hell. Braeburn tried to keep his grasp, but sure enough the floor fell away - gravity turned sideways, and the carriage and indeed the whole train were scattered across the desert with the force of finality.

Just as the young calf may try to compete against the elder bull, only to be swept aside by the powerful stroke of the veteran's horns. The bull knows this fight - he has fought it many times before, years before the calf was born. The calf, struck away by the blow, collapses with no grace, the earth is thrown up around, the dust takes a long time to settle. The senior has no need now, he can retreat, his work is done - it is the job of vultures and carrion birds now to finalise and collect the debt of the calf's mistake.

// 9012648.M41

// Ultima Segmentum

// Lithesh Sector

// Kronus

// Around 10 miles outside Appleloosa

The wind caressed Braeburn's flank with a soft touch, it was light and airy, but also cold. Braeburn remembered cold like that - the days he had spent out in the orchard past sun down, and the early days when his house lacked the heating it now did. Or rather, had. It was a refreshing cold, it was times when this cold blew that allowed the time for thinking, for remembering.

Braeburn figured there would be none of that at this time, but still he gathered that, from this wind, it was night out. Tearing apart his dreary eyelids, the ancient glow of moonlight proved his shaken brain correct.

This refreshing and cold wind had a contrast though. Just like every hero of old had a flaw that would destroy them, their pride, their arrogance, this breeze had a partner in dance to rival it's beauty. That rival was the stench of pain, of death, that poured without relent into Braeburn's nostrils.

Braeburn raised his head off the ground - such a task was rather tricky, he had no fight left. Looking around, however, took any dignity Braeburn had left, however, and after convulsions of a not peaceful manner, Braeburn now had to share his patch of desert with the previous contents of his stomach. The movement also alerted Braeburn to his leg - it was trapped under part of the carriage wall. A thunderclap of pain from his limb as he spasmed and lost control off his digestive system had made sure he realised.

As to the question of what had caused Braeburn to so unceremoniously discharge his last meal, the moonlight had illuminated and made him privy to a scene unwelcome to Equestria. The bodies of the previous train-goers were strewn across the desert, the sand soaked red, various organs and bones unidentifiable lay on the ground far from their owners.

The soft crunch of soaked sand relenting to footfalls caused Braeburn to open his eyes once more. He saw not more than fifteen metres away the body of a pony on the sand - his chest rising and falling, but rapidly. He was in pain, but alive. What Braeburn saw next to him however froze his throat with a grip of ice - his trembling increased, his pupils shrunk to try and hide such a visage, and his heartbeat thundered on faster than the beat of any drum.

A slender being stood next to the still alive pony. It was unlike anything Braeburn had ever heard of - it was beyond the fabric of nightmares. A cloak blacker than the blackest night draped around it's shoulder's, it stood unmoving, it was unimaginably tall, and the moonlight glinted off a metallic skin that was unforgiving and dead.

Slowly, it raised it's right arm - bringing also a long staff that ended in flat metal plates and a rod of green energy, unlike any magic Braeburn had seen before. Then, like the viper's strike, the blades were brought down with haste, and pierced through the moving skin of the chest of that pony there - a stifled scream rang out, only to be replaced by gurgling. The spear was withdrawn, the body lifted slightly from the force and a fountain of blood, dark against the night sky, cascaded upwards from the victim and towards the stars.

Braeburn threw up for the second time that night - and was certain he must have alerted the being's attention. But Braeburn didn't care, as soft tears began to fall from his eyes - tears that he may never see his cousins of his family again, but also tears of fear and terror, he closed his eyes and waited for death.

Braeburn was welcoming to death - the very idea of surviving when he knew that a creature like that could exist terrified him, he could not accept it, and he prayed for the mercy, for the release from his experiences.

Suddenly, a hard and unmoving object pushed up his head - it was cold, colder than the deepest mine, and it seemed to suck the very life out of Braeburn it felt so lifeless and frigid. The shock of the cold made Braeburn's eyes shoot open, and a gasp escaped his mouth - even though it hurt his damaged lungs and fractured ribs. Just like the pony who ventures too close to the frozen lake and falls in, as the ice gives way beneath, in this way was Braeburn roused by shock.

Braeburn immediately wished he hadn't opened his eyes - he stared into a face unlike any other he had seen. it's mouth, if it could be called that, looked sealed shut - it's skin was shiny like metal and appeared to have no complexion or life to it, and the very shape looked unnatural - it was flat, and had no nose or muzzle where it should have. It's chin was eerily elongated, and exceptionally thin. On it's head was decoration of dull gold and gems that sparkled softly in the moonlight, and spoke of unimaginable wealth, and atop the head was an orb, looking to barely contain arcane magic, visibly vibrating and humming with the green power. This all unnerved Braeburn and made his organs shred themselves with the razors of fear - but the worst was the eyes.

He stared into sunken, deep pits that were occupied only by two green lights, dim and uncompromising that betrayed no emotion. They were worse than lifeless - they were death itself.

It's mouth stayed sealed, but somehow a voice of sorts started to emanate from the nightmare, it sounded raspy and old, like it hadn't been used in a thousand years, and whilst Braeburn expected it to be full of anger, or hate, or some kind of murderous emotion, the reality was far worse. It spoke betraying nothing, hinting nothing, feeling nothing - no justification for the slaughter, no emotion at all.

Had Braeburn not been completely and utterly crippled by fear and had several limbs broken he may have even felt anger at this creature's lack of remorse or even recognition at what it had done. Regardless, with no control left over his body, he relented and heard those ancient words, the being almost stuttering as it seemed to have forgotten speech, or as if whatever it used to form such words had been irrevocably damaged.

"No... You shall not be granted the tranquillity of death. You are not as weak as the... others. You will be... herald. Come... let me show you the way of the pariah."

// 9008648.M41

// Ultima Segmentum

// Lithesh Sector

// Kronus

// Ponyville

Twilight looked into her telescope in awe, before withdrawing from the eyepiece and quickly scribbling down a few notes. That done, she went back to her observations. She had been locked in her room upstairs in the library all week, only coming out for a few meals - it was at these times when her friends had been visiting her that they had not failed to notice that Twilight seemed very excited - about what, however, they were unable to discern.

To call Twilight excited, however, was a slight understatement - in truth, she was the most excited she had ever been since she was accepted as Princess Celestia's personal student. All week she had been observing an extremely unusual asteroid formation - at least, that's what she theorised it was. It had been gradually moving towards Equis from deep orbit over the last few months - but in the last week her excitement had been really aroused.

That was because of several extremely odd and unusual features of these very particular asteroids - firstly they appeared to change their velocity as they got closer, seeming to slow down and try and attain some degree of circular low altitude orbit above the atmosphere - one that they were heading to now.

Secondly, the asteroids were all kinds of odd shapes - Twilight hadn't got a good look, but they were curved and seemed to have no craters - when the sun had illuminated them, although blurry, she had seen they were usually light in colour. This had originally lead Twilight to theorise that they were comets of a kind - made of ice, but the lack of any kind of vapour as the ice in the comets vaporised as they got closer to the sun lead this theory to be disproved.

Lastly, at the points where the asteroids seemed to change velocity - Twilight's high powered telescopes had managed to detect some kind of light source coming from the asteroids, emitting a soft blue light.

Twilight, after reading several books on the subject, had come to the conclusion that no asteroids like these had ever been sighted before, which had naturally made her very excited. She had been in contact with Princess Luna for the whole time, who also seemed to very interested in the asteroids. They had been exchanging notes and observations, which gave Twilight great joy.

Suddenly, a puff of magic heralded the arrival of yet another scroll from the princess. Using her magic, Twilight picked up the scroll, unravelled it letting the ribbon drop away, and read the contents. The scroll fell to the ground, a confused look on Twilight's face.

"What?"

She turned back to the telescope instantly, hurriedly adjusting it and mentally making calculations.

If one read the now open scroll on the floor, one would have perceived the following words:

"Dear Princess Twilight,

I have done a few more calculations on our unusual asteroids, and I'm afraid it appears their course has adjusted once again.
It seems now they are headed directly for Equestria itself - this could be disastrous, the impacts of asteroids of this size could cause serious damage.
I beseech you to do your own calculations and see for your own eyes, and if you find the same as me then I suggest we immediately begin to work on a plan to try and avert the impending disaster.

Faithfully,
Princess Luna."

Author's Note

Well, this is the first thing I've written in an entire year, so as you may expect there are quite a few errors in here, and my style seems a bit weird.
Please excuse me whilst I spend the time trying to repair and develop my style, but in the meantime enjoy the new chapter - I hope it lives up to your standards (although I would question the purpose of having standards for free fan literature), and as always please comment and point out any grammatical/spelling mistakes to me.

By the way comments are awesome - please leave one :P