(None of the ponies appear until the next chapter. This is the intro of how the Gears of War universe connects to the Equestrian universe just so you know)
“Cover me; I can reach the device now!” Adam Fenix shouted as he darted inside the tower. Quickly he began to enter the codes into the machine, valves releasing steam as the enormous device began to power up.
But the ground began to shake violently, causing the gears to stumble a little as the gigantic bug creature that the locust queen was riding atop burst forth from beneath.
“Heads up, its Myraah!” Anya shouted.
The gigantic bug turned towards the citadel and roared violently, the queen not far from doing so herself.
“No, stop! I will not allow this!” Myraah shouted as she stamped his fists down onto her faithful mount that once again roared as if in agreement with her.
The Raven turned its direction towards the queen as Clayton Carmine manned the turret. He eyed the creature and then noticed the queen on top, and then he felt a great burst of rage upon seeing the person who was behind this whole war to begin with and began firing once the Raven got behind the gigantic bugs back.
“Eat dirt and die motherfucker!” He shouted aloud, the bullets flying out of the rotating barrel and into the back of the tempest.
They bounced and clanged against the wings and heavily shielded skin of the tempest as it roared in annoyance.
Despite the lack of effect being shown, Clayton continued his assault while his pilot continued to keep them in the air.
“Die you bitch!” Carmine let his words leave his mouth once again, this time aiming the turret high and trying to hit the queen.
The tempest raised its altitude, now having lost its patience with the vulgar and repulsive human. It opened its mouth by Myraah’s command and stared directly at the hovering Raven.
“Kill!” The queen spoke as the tempest released a blinding beam of ultra-hot light. The beam went straight in its direction as it hit the Ravens rotating blades and sent the bird flying out of control.
“Oh shit! Shit! We’re on fire! We’re on fire!” Clayton shouted as he hung on dearly for his life as the Raven couldn’t stop spinning as it went over the side of the spire and an explosion was heard soon after.
Marcus watched the Raven go over as the hatred inside of him boiled ever so more.
“No, Carmine!” He said aloud, but it was hardly heard among the sounds of everything else.
The leader of Delta squad turned his attention towards the Locust queen as she rode on her tempest mount. Shooting his lancer in the direction of the bug, he gave out the order that was pretty much the thing everyone wanted to do right now.
“Everyone take that bitch down!”
Immediately the tempest opened its mouth and let loose a blast of ultra-light as it tore down a standing arch.
“Goddamnit, I thought we killed that bitch already!” Cole shouted over the lingering sound of the tempest’s blast.
“Stay out of that things blast!” Marcus shouted as he took cover behind one of the remaining standing arches. If anything, they would be able to last long enough for him not to get killed.
“Dad, how long is this going to take?” Marcus spoke over his com.
“I need to increase the output by stages. It’ll take a while.” Adam replied as he worked hard to do it as fast as possible.
Damn it Marcus thought to himself. He looked out of cover as he began firing more bursts from his lancer at the tempest.
Anya, Baird, and Cole followed in suit as they begun to notice that its weak spot was its glowing Imulsion filled mouth. Despite the fact of the Imulsion, it wasn’t actually lambent.
“Shoot that fucker in the mouth!” Anya confirmed as the creature groaned in pain as they continued to shot at its vulnerable point, but the queen continued to pull it in to fight.
The tempest opened its mouth again as it shot out another burst of light as the gears wisely took cover behind whatever they could.
Running out of ammo, Baird rolled out of cover as made his way to one of the corpses of the many Theron guards. He searched it for ammo as he took the hammerburst it still hold in its dead hands and begun to re-fire back at the tempest.
The bug flew around as it opened its mouth and fired strong beams of light that could burn the gears to a cinder. They kept taking cover once it did so as they were managing to stay alive.
“Hot baby! You’re gonna have do more than open your ugly ass mouth and spit fire to be able to take down the Cole Train, woo!” Cole shouted, popping out of cover to fire more rounds.
Finally after much concentrated fire on its mouth, the tempest screamed loudly in pain as it fell and crashed into some pillars below. Struggling as it tried hard to get back up, this gave the gears the moment they needed.
“Okay, I’m priming the accelerator! Stand by!” Adam said as he started up another piece of his device, the outer piece of the citadel moving in circles around the structure as it began to move faster and fast while building up electricity.
“Marcus, the systems online and powering up. Grab the Hammer of Dawn while you can- it’s the only way to kill it.” Adam said to his son over the com as he pressed one of the buttons within the towering device.
Short pillars began to form a circle around the citadel. Marcus could see at the nearest one to him what they were sporting; the Hammer of Dawn.
“Keep it down; we’re finally going to kill this thing!” He shouted as he raced over to grab the hammer. Dropping his shotgun as he grabbed the orbital satellite designator device as he began to hold on the trigger and point it towards the tempest.
The laser took a few moments to align with the giant bug before it got a good fix and began to count down. In a few seconds, a red beam of fire crash down onto the head of the tempest as it began burning away at the skull of the creature.
The Tempest screamed in a rage of both fury and pain. Myraah screamed in union, the beam hitting mostly the tempest but scorching her as well.
“Heads up, we got enemy reinforcements!” Marcus shouted as the Hammer of Dawn stopped working due to the returning chaotic sky.
Over the edge of the rooftop grabbling hooks were thrown and latched onto the bars resting at the edge. The Locust strained and used all there might as they brought themselves to level and fight for their queen.
“We have to get it down again, keep firing!” Anya said as she quickly ducked behind a crate as locust fire almost hit her.
“Leave those therons to me and Cole; you guys take down the queen!” Baird shouted out as he and Cole began to draw the locust’s fire as Marcus and Anya focused on Myraah.
The two exchanged fire against the Tempest, the giant bug flying in circles as it screamed and produced another beam of ultra-light, burning an entire arch down as it nearly crushed Marcus.
Sprinting out of the way of the rubble, he quickly shot off the last of his lancer shots before reloading.
The bullets hit home as the tempest once again roared in pain and agony, crashing down onto the rooftop. Crashing at the very edge, the bug strain heavily as it found itself almost falling off the citadel, clawing it way back up as its wings got caught in between two arches.
“It’s down again- drop the Hammer!” Anya screamed as Marcus began to do so. Pointing the designating gun, the red beam began to center on the tempest before the beam of fire spiraled down onto the overgrown bug and burned away at it and its master.
Myraah felt the burning once more and her mount screamed in protest. She could feel part of her armor burning into her skin and the smell of her flesh began to flood her nasal.
The Hammer of Dawn stopped once more as too much interference came from the devices storm cloud. The tempest still shrieked as it stood up once more, taking to the air as its body began to be more visibly scared from the Hammer attacks.
“That hurt it, keep it up!” Baird said as he began to fire at the flying bug.
More grabbling hooks came over the side of the railing and latched on. This time, the most elite of the locust began to join the fight, ones that weren’t seen since RAAM; Black Theron.
Despite the reappearance of ancient and feared foes, the battle against the tempest was going in the gears favour.
The tempest strained very much as it tried to fly straight, but the constant attacks were taking its toll on it. Its right wing was incredibly burned and its left was all but scorched.
But the bug found another way around this; it lowered down and grabbed onto the ledge of the rooftop, pulling itself up as it opened its mouth and fired a blast of light.
The therons moved rapidly and aggressively, firing on the gears as the tempest continued to climb around the ledges and fire away. The pillars they were using for cover were beginning to break down, and the wretched heat of the tempests blast would surely kill them with a direct hit.
“Goddamn, when is this fucker going to die!?” Marcus shouted, jumping out of cover as he quickly clashed with one of the theron.
They’re lancers both engaged the chainsaw bayonet, clashing against one another as sparks flew out from the dueling chainsaw blades. Kicking the theron in the leg as he still held his lancer firmly, the theron lost control and lost the duel, letting Marcus cut down the locust as the chainsaw literally tore it apart.
The tempest rose once again from the ledge as it opened its mouth and prepared for another blast, but this time Cole was close to the creature.
“Oh damn, you think you’re just gonna blast our asses apart? Well, how about you go first!” Cole shouted as he grabbed a frag grenade and began to spin it in an arching motion before letting it fly and go directly into the open mouth of the tempest.
The frag grenade exploded, creating a gaping hole in the lower right portion of the tempests mouth as it screamed in complete pain. Imulsion flew from its mouth and splattered the rooftop in front of it, dripping from its mouth as well as it inevitably crashed onto the rooftop.
“NO! Get up, you are not beaten!” Myraah shouted, the tempest growling deeply as its beady eyes scanned its perimeter. The bug let out a painful shriek as it forced itself to rise up at the will of its queen, flapping its burnt wings as it ascended into the air once again in a painful triumph.
“That bug is a tough son of a bitch!” Baird commented as he narrowly avoided being scorched by one of its solar beams.
“Adam, stop this! Or else I will kill your precious son! Shut the machine down!” Queen Myraah shouted in the direction of the citadel.
There was no response from Adam Fenix, as the gears continued to fire against the locust queen and her tempest.
“Ignore her, dad. Keep going!” Marcus reassured his father, aiming his lancer up at the queen to finally go about killing her
.
Myraah was pushing the tempest to its limits. The creature had endured so much pain that it was taking a toll on its performance. It was sloppily moving around and its aim was beginning to be less than accurate, hitting and burning some of the theron below.
Marcus, Anya, Baird, and Cole all focused their fire on the tempest now that all of the therons were taken care of. The union of their bullets flew straight into the already damaged jaw of the beast, letting it utter another painful roar as the beast gave into the pain and collapsed down onto the rooftop.
“It’s down again- drop the Hammer!” Anya motioned to Marcus, who grabbed the Hammer of Dawn as he aimed it again at the tempest.
The bug couldn’t avoid it; its strength nearly all but gone now. The Hammer of Dawn rained down its beam of fire onto its head once again and it roared violently in agony. Myraah scream too, shouting curses and threats as she held tightly onto her mount.
The disturbance once again interfered the Hammers fire, stopping the beam as the smoking bug still lay there in a heap.
Suddenly, the tempest roared loudly, backing away as it crawled over the ledge and started to climb down the tower. Myraah was confused at this act; why was her mount fleeing? How did it suddenly gain back its strength?
Then she looked back at the burned flesh of the tempest, its skin was glowing a faint yellow. Of course, the beast was becoming lambent.
Yet she could see this in her favour; the mount wasn’t completely transformed yet and still remained loyal to her. With its lambent strength, she would destroy the device and stop Adam Fenix.
“The accelerator’s reaching target speed, Marcus! Almost there!” Adam spoke to his son, finally having a sigh of relief as the battle would soon be over.
“Good, I think we took care of Myraah and her bug, but-“Marcus was cut short as the tempest rose of in fury with its queen looking quite feral.
The citadel device shot a beam of blue light up into the swirling storm clouds surrounding the tower.
“You leave me no choice!” The locust queen shouted as her loyal mount flew forward and grabbed onto the tower device. The bug began to scale it, jabbing into it with its claws harshly as it attempted to break the device physically.
Adam began to panic. The sound of the tempest battering against the structure outside was heard extremely well from within. The walls shook around him as pieces of equipment flew everywhere.
“Marcus, hold her off! She’ll destroy the whole chamber!” Adam pleaded to his son.
“We’re trying! Hold on!” was all Marcus had to say as he and the rest of the gears focused all there fire on the tempest as it attacked the device.
Aiming for the glowing Imulsion patch on its back, the tempest wasn’t even trying to kill them anymore as it focused solely on destroying Adam’s work. The bullets made a satisfying splotch sound as they hit the Imulsion spot, earning painful cries from the bug as it continued to batter against the tower.
“Adam! This ends now!” Myraah shouted as she continued to pound her fists onto her mount. “Accept that your species will die!”
It seemed that they had failed to stop the bug as it climbed higher until it reach the pillar of blue light protruding from the tip of the device. The tempest attacked it, its claws hitting the beam as sparks of electricity shot out, sending the beast back as it was blown off the device and into the air.
“Good, it’s off the tower. Now bring it down and Hammer it!” Adam said.
“No need to tell me that professor.” Baird sheepishly replied over the radio.
This time the tempest was completely beyond her grasp. Myraah found it that she could not gain control over her mount as it roared in outrage at everything in its sight.
The bug opened its mouth and fired beams of ultra-light in every direction, demolishing pillars and arches around the rooftop as it toppled around in the air.
With enough concentrated fire from the gears, the tempest bellowed out a heart wrenching scream as it crashed down onto the rooftop again and for the final time.
Grabbing the Hammer of Dawn, Marcus held the trigger as he aimed directly at the bugs head. The laser aligned perfectly with the creature’s skull as the fire crashed down onto it, delivering the final blow.
The tempest screamed in pain as the fire not only burned away at its outside, but began to pour out of its mouth as its entire body was covered in flames. As if in a last attempt to complete its objective, the bug flew forward and crashed into the device, climbing up only a little ways before letting out a low moan escape its mouth.
The tempest lost its grip and fell backwards, landing with a loud thud as it crashed onto the ground. Twitching only a little as flames still danced across its body, the tempest only gave one more cry of pain before it finally died.
“Gotcha, bitch! And keep your dead ass dead!” Cole shouted out in victory.
With the tempest lying in a smouldering heap, the gears walked a few steps closer to it. The creature was no longer living so it posed no threat, but the gears were distracted as familiar creatures began to pop up.
Lambent stalks burst forth from the ground, drudges appearing from them as they wielded lancers. The stalk spread out across the entire rooftop as the drudges that spawned from them began to encircle the gears.
Adam Fenix walked out of the tower as he joined the gears where they stood. Behind him the device was surging with electrical power as the accelerator moved at rapid speed around the structure.
“It’ll be at full power soon.” Adam said in a solemn tone. His gaze never left the machine until Baird stepped forward.
“Professor, you said you tested this. How?” Baird questioned, his curiosity finally demanding an explanation from the professor.
Adam turned around slowly, the expression on his face exhibiting one of grief and remorse, not victory.
“On myself, Damon.” He answered with a hollow voice, letting the weight of his words dawn on not only the other gears, but his very son. As if he wanted to justify what he’d done, he continued his explanation.
“I had to see how the Imulsion developed over its life cycle.” Adam spoke as he gestured towards his own hand. “I injected myself with it to accelerate it.”
“Oh my god…” Anya uttered, realizing just what Adam had sealed his fate with.
“Dad… we saw what it did to humans in Mercy.” Marcus said to his father, still trying hard not to believe what he was just told.
Just then, two lambent stalks burst out of the ground as they spawned more lambent drudges. The creatures rose onto their legs, the other lambent walking closer as they moaned loudly.
At that moment, the device shook tremendously as it dispersed a blue aura. It traveled with short distance across the rooftop, hitting the lambent as they groaned and fell over.
“It’s started.” Adam said with a hint of finality in his voice.
“Let’s go, dad. This towers too unstable now.” Marcus urged to his father.
“I’m sorry Marcus…” Adam began to speak, pacing backwards as he grabbed onto his wrist with a strain of pain. “I’m not going to make it.”
“It’s okay, I’ll carry you!” Marcus shouted, throwing his lancer aside as he walked towards his father with that very intent.
“Marcus, the Imulsion developed faster in me because I forced it to.” Adam said while still holding his wrist. “I had to find out how it reproduced.”
“What are you talking about?” Marcus asked.
The device shook loudly this time, releasing another burst of blue aura, this time traveling a much greater distance as it began to kill of some of the lambent stalks around them along with the drudges. However, as the aura passed over Adam Fenix, he couldn’t help but grunt as the surge of pain ran over him.
Marcus watched in horror as his father lifted his hand to look at it. His veins were pulsating a yellow color that glowed beneath his skin.
“Oh… shit.” Cole exclaimed as he saw the transformation taking place.
“No! You are not going to die!” Marcus shouted as if he could convince his father that, least of all himself.
“It’s too late Marcus.” Adam said with sorrow filling his own voice. “Every cell in my body is breaking down… and this is going to happen to every contaminated cell on Sera.” He left a moment to pause as he winced in pain.
“It has to!”
“No, goddamnit, I can’t lose you again!” Marcus said, grabbing onto his father’s shoulders as he began to look into his eyes.
Adam put his left hand on his son’s right shoulder as he breathed heavily. “I’m glad I was able to see you again, Marcus.”
Behind him the machine began to buzz loudly and the ground began to shake. Feeling that this would be it, Adam spoke his lost words to his only son.
“Now go- and live- for me!”
Adam Fenix closed his eyes and awaited his untimely death from the aura blast, but it never came. The machine only gained in its noise as the ground began to shake more violently. The electricity shooting from the accelerator was flying off in every direction as the swirling dark clouds began to reform around the entire structure.
“Dad… what is going on?” Marcus asked, looking to his father who still stood there alive.
“No… this isn’t supposed to happen… the device… it should have-“ Adam tried to exclaim before the machine gave an ear piercing screech as the blue beam it emitted from the top began to glow brighter and build up more.
“Uh, professor? You’re machine doesn’t sound like it’s doing what it’s supposed to do…” Baird commented to Adam as he watched the blue light glow brighter.
“No, what did I do wrong? This isn’t how it’s supposed to work!” Adam shouted.
“Well, how about that? Things finally don’t go how you wanted them too… what a shame.” A familiar voice spoke out.
The gears turned around slowly to see a figure they all resented walked forward, or more like limp forward as she staggered.
“You were so keen on eliminating my species that you over sighted your calculations, isn’t that right Adam?” Myraah taunted even in her vulnerable state. “Your sheer ignorance and lust for destruction is what brought you to failure. Your overconfidence in your ‘solutions’ was your downfall. All that you’ve done is create clever ways to kill, and now you’ve finally failed at it.”
“I never wanted to kill off your species, Myraah. I didn’t have enough time to save the locust from the device's targeting; you must understand that if I did not act all of Sera would be destroyed.” Adam spoke to the locust queen, who merely scoffed in response.
“You mean will be destroyed, now that it has failed.” She said, pointing to the tower behind them.
“It’s taking a whole lot of constraint for me not to kill you right now, you bitch.” Marcus said in a threatening tone to Myraah, earning an entertained laugh from her.
“Why, Adam certainly has taught you some manners. You think that it really matters what happens now?” she said as a matter of factly. “The lambent still survive, and soon both our species will be annihilated. Killing me will not solve your imminent destruction, human.”
“Yeah? But if will sure as hell feel good.” Marcus said as he reached for Dom’s knife that he kept with him since Mercy.
Before Marcus could do anything to the locust queen, the ground began to shake once more, yet with immense force as it knocked everyone off their feet.
The light at the top of the citadel buzzed loudly and shined so bright it hurt to look at it now. It emitted a high pitched screech as the light suddenly burst out and began to engulf everything around it, including the humanoids before it.
The light took over his vision as Marcus could not see anything but a veil of white clouding everything. The last he thought he heard was his father shouting some, or maybe it was Myraah, he couldn’t tell anyway.
Soon everything was quiet as the world became a blank void. Seeing nothing but black now, Marcus only felt himself getting tired as drowsiness overtook him.
He fell asleep, and when he’d wake up, the world would be different.
Much, much different.
Prologue: Troubled Past
“It was always his work my father cared about… his research.
He tried to save his work; and I tried to save him. I disobeyed orders to do it, and it cost us the battle.
Couldn’t blame them for court martialing me… or for the life sentence. So the war went on while I was rotting in prison.
And I still couldn’t save my father.”
The nightmare consumed him, the vivid image of the Raven catching fire as it spiraled towards the mansion wall as it crashed and sent slabs of wall down on his father below.
“But you can’t save them all.”
Marcus felt the effects of his drowsiness fading away. His body could feel the cool touch of summer grass, gliding against the breeze of the wind as it brushed against his body.
He started to move his right hand, and then his left. Yep, he most certainly was touching grass.
Marcus begun to take in the world around him, hearing what sounded like birds chirping away in the distance as he lay somewhere in a… forest?
He opened his eyes and found himself in an open clearing where he was surrounded by trees spreading everywhere. The scenery though was somewhat eerie, as if this forest he was in had a sinister tone to it.
Then Marcus began to realize something and started to think. How did he get here? Why was it getting so hard to remember what happened before?
He thought hard, grabbing his head with his left hand as he realized something; he wasn’t wearing his armor. Just a basic olive sleeveless shirt and simple grey jeans, clothes he wore during the days he was just a civilian.
“What the fuck is going on?” He stated aloud, hoping that someone he knew was around to hear it
.
But no one replied. He had hoped maybe Baird would have been nearby to give a sarcastic remark, or Cole who would have said something… something the Cole Train would say. Anya would’ve been as confused as he was, and his father…
Of course, his father! He remembered now, the fight with the tempest on the rooftops, his father’s machine, and the last he remembered was himself falling asleep as the machine seemed to explode into an array of blue light.
What did it do?
So many questions, yet Marcus doubted there was anyone around to give any answers.
Marcus sighed as he sat up from the forest floor, groaning as he felt the affect it had on his back. He must have been lying there for a while. He brought his hand to his head again and began to run his palm over his hair, feeling the soft and spiky textures of his short hair.
“No point just sitting around, I need to find the rest of Delta and my father.” Marcus told himself as he stood up on his feet.
It was then he noticed a new problem; he didn’t have any weapons. His lancer was gone, so was the Hammer of Dawn, though he would really doubt it to be useful against whatever he found in these woods, since it wouldn’t have even worked.
Not even the Snub pistol remained in his holster, which he added was gone as well.
Great, he was unarmed. If there was any locust where he was, he would most likely get killed.
Then he heard a slight shuffling in some bushes behind him, to which Marcus turned towards as soon as he heard it. He saw the green leafs of the bush rustle away as whoever hid within them had entered the area.
He didn’t waste any time, making it clear in his voice as he shouted out in the direction of the intruder.
“Who’s there?”
If it were a locust, the beast would have most likely jumped out and shot at him. But, instead he only heard a weak whimper come from the bush as it started shaking again.
Then came the task of finding out what it was. Probably just a forest animal Marcus thought to himself as he approached the bushel of leafs.
As he got nearer the bush began to shake even more. Whoever was hiding in it did not know anything about stealth Marcus could plainly see. He stood right in front of the bush before he quickly grabbed into it and felt something that was soft.
The creature within gave a small squeak as Marcus felt the softness of the creature on his hands. It was smooth, very smooth. From what he was grabbing it felt like legs, but he honestly wasn’t sure.
Then he quickly decided to pull the creature up out of the bush, causing a little bit of strain to hold the creature up. He looked at what he was holding, stunned with disbelief as the creature began pleading for him to let it go.
Two blue eyes stared directly into his as they seemed watery from the sight of him. The creature had hair atop its head that ran a light shade of pink in a particular style that would befit a human. Its body was soft and smooth to the touch with a yellow color, and its figure resembled that of a miniature horse.
But then he saw the two wings on the horse, one on each side as they were ruffled with what seemed to be feathers.
Marcus couldn’t find words to say as he store directly at a yellow colored, blue eyed, pink mane, winged miniature horse that looked back at him in such a manner as if it was trying to coax him into releasing it.
He laughed hysterically, getting a whimper from the yellow Pegasus he held in his hands. Soon he began to feel light-headed, swearing that his mind was playing tricks on him before he fell backwards and was soon unconscious.
The pony dropped from his hands, yelping as she crashed onto the forest floor in front of the strange alien. She gently brought herself up, looking towards the human as she began to curiously examine the creature, backing away as it abruptly moaned rather loudly.
She looked to her left, then to her right, wondering if there was any other of the same creatures around to help to this poor animal who was hurt. Sadly, there was none to be found.
Though she was scared of it, she couldn’t leave this poor thing in the middle of the forest like this. The yellow winged pony decided to take care of the human, calling out for some animal’s aid as she would not be able to carry him back to her cottage all by herself.
“Don’t you worry whatever you are… I’ll nurse you back to health.”
Today was a special day for a certain pony. Twilight was busy all week reading a book for birthdays and working hard to find a gift that would fit the pony she intended to give it too. Just yesterday, she managed to finally find the gift she thought would be perfect for the filly she no doubt thought would be overjoyed at it.
It was Scootaloo’s birthday.
Spike was just finishing placing books in their proper places when a cyan colored Pegasus with a rainbow mane flew straight in through the open library window and crashed into the floor, causing all the books in the room to tumble off their shelves.
“Aw great, it took me all morning to shelf all those books!” Spike complained, the baby dragon sighing as he climbed down from the top shelf as he turned towards the Pegasus formally known as Rainbow Dash.
“You should try using the door sometimes, Rainbow.”
“I could, but it wouldn’t be as such of an awesome entrance if I did, would it?” She replied, confidence replacing the awkward grin she had when she’d crashed into the floor.
“Well, what brings you here, Rainbow Dash?” asked Twilight Sparkle, the purple unicorn with a darker shade purple for her mane with a streak of pink. “Don’t tell me you forgot whose birthday is today…”
“Me? Forget my biggest fans birthday?” She held her right hoof to her chest in a way as if she were offended. “Never.”
“Then why are you here? Wanting to get a good read of Daring Do before the party?”
“Nah, just thought I’d drop in and see how you were doing, maybe even get you to show me your gift you intend to give Scootaloo and then I can rant about how much more awesome mine will be.” The Pegasus bragged.
“How thoughtful of you.” Twilight replied with sarcasm.
“I’m just joking with you, Twilight. Scoots will love whatever you give her. She has to of course, with me around.”
“I feel better already.”
“You sound like your trying to get a point across.”
“Do I?”
“Yeah, you sorta do.”
“Well, as much as I appreciate you coming over to brag and tell me that Scootaloo will love my gift with you around, I believe I did get her a gift she will like regardless of such implications.” Twilight said to her cyan friend.
“I may actually like reading, but even I don’t want a-“
“It’s not a book.” Twilight cut her off.
“How come you don’t get Scootaloo a book, yet you always give me one for my birthday?” Spike asked as he was working on cleaning up the mess Rainbow made.
“You love the books I give you!” Twilight stated to him.
“Well, I kind of have to.” The dragon replied.
“Spike!”
“Alright, well I’m going to go help Pinkie Pie set up the rest of the party.” Rainbow Dash said sheepishly, not getting a reply from the unicorn or dragon as Twilight nagged to Spike something about being grateful or such.
The Pegasus shrugged as she showed herself the way out as she opened the library door and walked outside.
“Now, I just need to grab my gift first before helping Pinkie Pie.” She spoke to herself, flapping her wings and heading off in the direction of her cloud home.
“Dom, what the fuck are you doing!?” He questioned his friend’s actions, aware of what he was planning, yet denying it all the same.
“Pulling the plug on them, Marcus!” Dom replied, pressing down on the gas pedal even harder as the tanker accelerated in speed.
“Dom, no!” He pleaded to his friend. Yet Dom did not stop, the vehicle only mere inches away before he jumped off the platform as the collision was made.
“Never thought it would end like this, huh Maria?”
A man he would easily call his brother crashed into the fuel tank as the flames immediately bursted outwards, consuming nearly if not all the Locust and Lambent within the area.
Marcus only jumped a few seconds after the impact, the flames nearly scorching him as he rolled off the top of a container and landed behind it, protecting him from the flames.
After attempting to crawl towards the burning vehicle after the explosion died down, he was held back by Anya as she only pleaded for him to understand. The wreckage seemed to give another burst of flame to signify what Marcus didn’t want to accept.
Dominic Santiago had died here today, the loss of his children, his wife, and pretty much everything that honestly mattered to him had finally pushed his emotional side over the edge. Marcus couldn’t blame him for what he’d done, he just wished there was another way.
“Dom…”
He was at peace now.
Marcus groaned as he put his hand up to feel something wet covering his forehead. He opened his eyes as he grabbed the object and looked at it, seeing that it was a wet cloth.
He sat up and noticed he was on a bed. The bed was probably the smallest he’d ever seen, his feet went over the edge as they dangled at the point where his knee was.
Marcus looked around. By the looks of it, he was in someone’s house. It was a small cottage, with mostly floral decorations and some recreational furniture.
Good he thought to himself. That whole winged horse thing was just a hallucination, a figment of my imagination. There was no way something like that could possibly-
“Um… a-are you… are you okay?”
The voice was soft and quiet, more so of a whisper. Yet the sound of the person talking was soothing to Marcus’s ears. It sounded cute.
Crap he thought once more to himself. It did sound cute. And as he turned to right, where he heard the voice come from, he saw what he hoped he wasn’t going to see.
“Do you feel any better? I was so scared when you fainted and dropped me, I couldn’t just leave you there.” The yellow Pegasus spoke to him, though it appeared to still be afraid of him.
“Did you… just talk?” Marcus asked, the awkwardness of the situation droning on him.
“Yes, I did…” She answered quietly again. The Pegasus’s blue eyes were scanning him visibly; she was looking at his body in an investigative way.
“Are you a monkey?”
“What?” Marcus said, not fully grasping what the yellow horse with wings was asking him.
It’s just that your body and muscle build kind of looks like a monkeys, but I’ve never seen a monkey that looks anything quite like what you look like.” The Pegasus said. “Are you a different kind of species? Oh, are there more of you? How come you wear clothing? Do you like bananas?”
How did this thing suddenly become so chatty? It was so quiet before and easily scared, but now it’s all crazy trying to talk to him.
“How about this;” Marcus began with the yellow horse. “You answer me some questions and I’ll answer some of your questions. Okay?”
“Okay. I’ll go first, what are your species called?” The Pegasus asked him.
“We’re called humans. Most people when referring to our populace in general say humanity.” Marcus answered as he prepared his question. “So what are you exactly?”
“I’m a Pegasus pony, but I live on the ground and not the sky.” The now confirmed Pegasus said. “There’s more than just Pegasus ponies though, there’s Unicorns who have the ability to use magic and the Earth ponies that are built more naturally strong and mostly have talents that deal with earthly stuff.”
“That’s interesting…” Marcus said; taking in the information of what he could only guess was the population of this crazy place he was in.
“Before you ask me another question, is it okay if we tell each other our name?” The Pegasus asked with pleading eyes. “That is, if you don’t mind…”
“I’m Marcus. Marcus Fenix.” He answered, awaiting the Pegasus to tell him her name.
“Phoenix? I thought you were a human… is it common for Phoenix’s to be jokers?” The Pegasus asked, to which Marcus was confused at. “I’ve met two phoenixes before actually. One was a bird like in legends, and the other was this monkey like creature with a porcupine on his head. He was also a defense attorney.”
What the fuck is she talking about?
“Oh, I’m so sorry! My name is Fluttershy by the way.” She quickly stated as she couldn’t help but blush at her clumsiness.
“Anyway… how did I get here? Ending up in the forest, I mean.”
“I… I-I have no idea how you got there; I was just looking for some berries when I found you in the clearing. If you don’t know how you got into the Everfree forest, I really don’t have an idea to help out.” Fluttershy replied.
“So, that place was the Everfree forest? I never heard of such a place on Sera.” Marcus stated, to which the yellow Pegasus looked confused at.
“Sera? What is Sera, if you don’t mind me asking…”
“The name of the land, the planet, how could you possibly not know that?” Marcus asked back.
“Well, you see… the land we live in… I-it’s called Equestria.” She responded weakly, looking at Marcus with her head lowered.
Marcus stood up abruptly, getting a squeak from the pony as he rested his right arm on the nearest wall close to the bed, sighing as he rested his head on his elbow.
“I should have guessed… I’m in another world.” He grumbled angrily, his eyebrows stiffening and his face tensing up as he couldn’t keep the anger out of his voice.
“Listen Fluttershy, I don’t know how the hell I entered your crazy fucked up world of talking ponies, but I need a way to get back to my world.” He explained. “But before I do that, I need to find my father and the rest of my squad.”
“I could help you with that…”
“Why are you so willing to help me? Don’t you find me threatening?” Marcus couldn’t help but ask.
“Everyone deserves to be shown a little bit of kindness once in a while…” She spoke in a more modest tone. “And everyone needs a helping hand now and then, so why not now?”
All Marcus could think about at that moment was how this pony would never be able to survive the war with the locust. She hardly looked to be one able to kill; least of all she was unable to use any effective weapon since she had hooves.
This world couldn’t survive neither the locust, nor the Lambent. Thank god that for now to his knowledge, those threats were not present in this world.
“For finding your… squad and father, I’d bet they would stand out quite a bit being human. We could go into Ponyville and ask around to see if anyone else has spotted your friends.” Fluttershy suggested, flapping her wings so that she was in front of Marcus’s face. “My friends would be eager to help as well, actually maybe they will be a little skeptical at first, but…”
Marcus watched as the Pegasus’s face suddenly shot up in panic. She began to drip beads of sweat as she started to hyperventilate while talking.
“Oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no! How could I forget about Scootaloo’s birthday?” She grabbed her face with her hooves. “I was so busy helping you that I… what time is it? Oh my gosh, if I don’t hurry, I’ll be late! I’ll be late for a very important date!”
Really? Marcus thought to himself. Did she just quote from Alice in Wonderland? I shouldn’t even ask her, probably doesn’t know what it is anyway.
“Alright, I’ll accept your help.” Marcus said to the troubled pony, who was rummaging through some drawers and dressers until she pulled out a neatly wrapped gift.
“Okay… it’s just that it’s someone’s birthday today, and I really need to be there or she’ll never forgive me!” she said, whistling in the direction of the nearest door. “Oh Angel bunny, could you show Mr. Marcus around Ponyville while I go to the party? I would be very grateful if you did.”
There standing at the door was a pure white bunny with beady little black eyes staring at Fluttershy, and then at Marcus. It tilted its head, sticking a finger in its mouth as it imitated a gag reflex towards both Marcus and the Pegasus.
“Please don’t be rude, Angel, he’s not a bad guy. He needs our help, and I’m counting on you be very nice to him, won’t you?” She said with a strange look in her eyes.
The bunny store deep into her pupils, expanding his iris as he did so. Soon the bunny shook his head, sighing as it seemingly mumbled before walking up to Marcus and grabbing onto his hand.
“You may be small and harmless rabbit, but you better not think you have authority over me.” The veteran gear sternly spoke to the bunny.
“Okay, please follow me Mr. Marcus. I’ll find you after the party and help you then, okay?” The timid Fluttershy spoke.
Meanwhile in Canterlot…
“What is that… thing?”
“Why is there so many of them?”
“Where did they come from?”
“They’re heading to the castle… should we do something?”
“They look scary…”
The royal guards didn’t know how to react when the strange aliens requested an audience with their monarch. They didn’t wish to seek a fight with unknown creatures such as this, so a messenger was sent to inform the princess of this matter.
They aliens waited for roughly an hour at the front gate leading to the Canterlot castle, earning many odd looks of confusion and both fear from those of the pony residents who passed the street. Truthfully, there were about five hundred of them occupying this part of the city as they did their best not to disturb any residents.
“Um… the princess will speak to whoever is the leader of your group.” A golden armored guard spoke to the gathered aliens, many clad in intimidating armor that shone a moderate blue.
“That would be me.” One of the aliens spoke, stepping up as he stood respectfully to the message delivering pony. “I am anxious to meet with your leader; there is much we need to discuss.”
Back to Ponyville
“Huh, I didn’t expect this place to be so...” Marcus began as they walked into the streets of Ponyville, going through the center path into the heart of the town.
“So what, Mr. Marcus?” The shy Pegasus asked, curious as to his opinion on the quaint little town.
“Never mind, it’s just that it’s been a long time since I’ve been someplace that’s so… peaceful.”
“Why is that? Is there something wrong with where you came from?”
“You could say that. You’re lucky your world doesn’t have the same problems as mine, or else…” He took a moment to think on it, wondering how the war would tear apart this peaceful looking town.
“I don’t dare to think about it.”
“Me neither.” Fluttershy responded to his surprise.
“Do you even know what I’m talking about?” Marcus asked,either oblivious to the odd stares from many mares and stallions within the town as they passed by or not caring.
“Fighting is never a good thing… it never leads to a happy ending.” She stated in a sad tone. “Why some ponies seem to think otherwise is beyond me.”
“Sometimes you don’t have a choice but to fight.” Marcus replied, hushing the Pegasus as she tried to converse more on the topic, dropping it as he intended at this point. He didn’t need to discuss his war with this pony. He just needed to get back and win it.
Angel walked besides the towering human, clearly looking uninterested in whatever conversation they were having as they finally came within reach of Sugarcube Corner, home of the Cakes and that of also their hyperactive employee, Pinkie Pie.
“Do you all have stupid names like that?” Marcus directed towards the shy pony.
“They’re not stupid… besides; your name is Marcus Phoenix. You aren’t even a Phoenix, so that’s pretty hypocritical of you, isn’t it?” She responded in her friends defence.
“My last name is Fenix, not Phoenix.”
The Pegasus stopped right outside the front door into Surgarcube corner, turning to the human as she explained to both angel and Marcus what to do.
“Okay… so there are not many places you might be able to go to without somepony staring at you awkwardly and such, so the best place to go is the library.” Fluttershy explained. “Angel can take you there, and since Twilight is here, Spike will be watching it. When you get there, tell him I sent you and that you mean no harm.”
“Kind of cliché, isn’t it?” Marcus remarked, Angel tapping his foot impatiently as he waited to get this over with.
“I’ll see you there after the party. I’ll bring my friends to see if they want to help too, so things are looking up for you, Marcus.” The yellow Pegasus said one last time before opening up the door and stepping inside the bakery, leaving the human and rabbit standing outside.
“Just you and me, Angel. You do know the way to the library, right?”
The bunny gave an annoyed look, hopping away in the direction Marcus could assume was their determined destination.
“I hope this is over soon…” Marcus muttered under his breath, actually relieved at the tranquility of this world.
It all seemed too perfect.
