The Random Adventures of Sethby Marioland1ChaptersChapter 1: Will BargerChapter 2: Marioland1Chapter 3: ColonielQwertyChapter 4: Technomonkey76Chapter 5: Lightman314Chapter 6: RedXParasiteChapter 7: Isaac BedardChapter 8: KatiebabyChapter 9: TrybienChapter 10: FriBriChapter 1: Will BargerGuilt Seth couldn’t remember how many days he’d been in here, nor could he remember what time it was inside this place, for the place had no windows to show him whether or not the sun was in the sky. He sat there in his tight cramped cell for what was surely months; but since meals were not even a routine in this prison of his, he did not even have a measuring stick of which to compare events to. He was surely going mad in here, too. Once he had tried to maintain a regiment of counting in order to impose some order on his life; he had gotten to nearly one hundred thousand before he was overcome with a vile hatred of numbers, and had stopped. Then, he tried to maintain time by how often he had seen a guard pass by his cell; but that didn’t help him too much either. Anything he tried only served to further distort his sense of time. He could hardly remember his crime for which he was locked up, either. He was sure of one thing, though. He was guilty of what he was charged of. He also remembered one feeling that he had felt before the judge sentenced him to his fate in this prison; guilt. As he sat there, thinking of what he had done, he remembered a young girl. He thought he had done something to this young girl; perhaps he had stolen something from her? No, that couldn’t be it. He had stolen things before, and he had stolen from people far worse off than that small girl. But he knew for certain his crime involved the young girl. He then remembered another thing; the judge had said something to him at the trial. It didn’t really make sense to his time-addled mind, but for certain it was important. “You just couldn’t leave it alone, could you? You just had to keep pushing. And look what became of that. I hope that, before you rot away, you find a speck of good in yourself, for today you certainly walk out of this courthouse an evil man.” BANG; The sound of the gavel. And then the guards shipped him out, to the prison island he dwelled in now. These were the things that Seth thought about. He had tried to ask the guards questions as they passed by, but they gave no response. Of course, he was perfectly aware of that; the guards were simply mindless constructs, and couldn’t talk to him even if they had wanted to. He talked to them still, silently and meekly hoping that one day, one of them would turn to him, and show a face of flesh, give him some human interaction; but that never happened. In fact, he hadn’t seen another person in a very long time; much time ago, they had put a prisoner in the cell across from him, who had been named Thomas. The two of them talked for a great length of time, about a great number of things; their lives, their beliefs, even their crimes. They were fairly good friends, not by merit of each other’s personality, but by necessity. They were the only thing keeping each other sane. Both were very guilty, and they served as a support net for each other’s woes. But, one day, Thomas snapped. He was overcome with a great wave of guilt, guilt born of the man he had killed. In his sleep, he had told Seth, he was visited by the ghost of the man who he had killed, and the man was ridden with grief from his death; he had a life! He had a Family! And Thomas had taken that. Thomas hung himself that day, with a length of rope he had smuggled in. Nobody else had occupied that cell since, and every day Seth had to avert himself from viewing the scene; Thomas’s bones littering the ground of his cell, rope still dangling from the ceiling of his cell. That was really scary for Seth; nothing changed in here. Everything simply sat in its place until it rotted away, and only memories sat in its place. He was afraid, that he too would rot away one day, and only his bones would remain; except there would be nobody to remember him. Time rolled by. He wasn’t sure how much, but with each moment he grew more anxious of one thing; the young girl. He yearned to be free for that reason only; to discover what his crime was. He wanted to apologize to the girl. To make things right; if only he could know what he had done to her! It agonized him for ages, the knowledge that he would spend eternity mourning, paying penance for a crime he didn’t even remember. But he supposed, for whatever he did to be locked up in this prison for his whole remainder of his life, he was surely receiving nothing less than the entirety of what he deserved. As he thought about his yearning for freedom, he noticed something. There wasn’t even a clear reason why the prison had guards. When you were taken here, to Death Head Isle, you were thrown in from the very top, to a cell nearly fifteen feet tall, with a front wall of bars made of wrought steel, spaced about two inches apart. The walls were smooth as ice, and the ceiling opening was sealed with masonry, then the whole thing was sealed with some kind of ancient sorcery. Even if he wanted to escape, he wouldn’t be able to, even if he had the health he possessed in his life before his imprisonment. And the excessive, hulking size of the guards was another perplexing thing; none of the prisoners here had the strength to overpower a normal human guard, let along the constructs. And all of his deep thought, then and there, was blown into a deafening, head-rattling blur, as the back wall of his cell exploded into a cloud of dust and rubble. As the dust and smoke cleared, he could see two figures in the open, a man and a woman. Author's Note Will got the whole story off to a roaring start. You go Will! Chapter 2: Marioland1Escape I was virtually blinded from the light blazing forth from the newly made hole in the wall of my cell, and so I stood there squinting as my eyes struggled to cope. A part of my mind cursed the two that had blown the hole in the wall, as they’d have to know that pure sunlight would be painful after all this time in the grim darkness of my prison. And yet, I felt indebted to them. They did set me free from the fate I had been subjected to, and that is worth what little I have left to give. My mouth opens slowly as I mutter my thanks to them. I still can’t see anything more than a silhouette of their forms, one male and one female, but I can see that they’re staring at me. I have to wonder why, as an inmate like myself probably doesn’t look very good. Maybe they weren’t expecting someone to still be here? The first and last person I had ever seen here was Thomas, whose limp skeleton still hangs from the rope he hung himself with, and I have no clue if there are other anywhere else in the prison. My thoughts are disrupted by the mechanical whirring of an automation bringing a meal, a rare and always untimely occurrence in my island prison. It doesn’t even seem to notice the gaping hole in the wall, and instead slips the normal gruel into the food slot and leaves once more to do whatever. For once I can actually see the almost nauseating colors of the meal, but I hesitate for a second. Should I eat this, or do my saviors have something better than this mush? I take a glance back at the two, the details still beyond my grasp through my eyes. I try my best to ask them if I should eat, and I can clearly see them nod at each other in affirmation. I dig in to the mush for the last time of my life, and for once it doesn’t seem quite so bland and tasteless. And yet, the question flows through my mind as I eat. Just why did these two free me? I finish my meal with haste, and as I turn around I get my first good view of my saviors. The man is tall and strong, wearing only a pair of thick, brown pants that look rather tattered and worn. He’s wearing a rather thick leather belt, probably to keep his pants tightly secure. A gun holster is securely attached to the belt, and some kind of revolver resides within it. His shaggy golden hair almost makes him look like a shaggy giant, although his smile makes him look rather friendly for his size. His blue eyes gaze into you, and you feel both some security and a bit of concern, but what that concern is about, you don’t have a clue. The woman has matching blonde hair, and is a little shorter than the average. Her face is dead serious though, and her green eyes are almost piercing. She has an air of command just with that gaze alone. Her dress was rather simple, long enough to go down to the ground without any issues and not revealing too much above, and made of leather with a simple rope tied around her midsection. She sported a black, tri-cornered hat, but it seems to match the overall raggedy décor of the pair and actually looks good perched atop her head. I finally hack up the nerve to ask who they are, and they both look over at me before the woman speaks. “I’m Jasmine, and this is Judas. There’s little time left to explain the details, but we’re in need of another member of our party, and we happened to see this old, decrepit place they call a prison as we passed on by. In short, we need you to help us, and possibly even redeem yourself for whatever you did to wind up way out here.” I had to wonder if this was a trick at first, although they were the ones that granted me my freedom, and I really only have two options: stay here alone for all eternity or go with them. I think about the prison. No human interaction, no sense of time, and nothing to look forwards to besides my eventual next meal. It doesn’t take much thought to agree, saying, “Yes, I’ll do it.” They nod, a smile breaking on their faces as they help me through what remains of my cell wall, the rubble doing little favors to my thin-soled prison shoes. By the time I make my way through the wall, my shoes are pierced with dozens upon dozens of stone shards, and I’m left with no choice but to remove them to stop them from needling into the bottom of my feet. Oh, but the feeling of the grass! It’s a feeling I haven’t had in ages, and it takes a little while just to separate myself from this intoxicating new feeling. And then the air exploded. Well, not really exploding in the way you’re probably thinking. No, this was an explosion of sound, a massive foghorn throwing its noise at everything in the area. I could see my two companions looking about for the source, and a sense of panic drawn on their faces as they shouted at me to follow them. I ran after them, headed towards some kind of large, ancient looking wooden ship. “A pirate ship” I realized, and I was completely correct. The Jolly Roger flag was posted right at the top of the ship, waving in the gentle breeze. What kind of a ship of this kind would be without a rowboat? Not much of one, I’ll tell you. But looks were deceiving, as this “rowboat” was outfitted with some kind of motor, and it took a very short time to reach the ship. The patrol was right behind us though, and I felt a bullet whiz right past my ear as the crewmen above started to lift the small boat up to the deck. Whiz! Another bullet flew past, piercing a neat hole through Jasmine’s hat, but fortunately missing her head. If they kept shooting at us, I was sure that one of us would be taking a one way trip to the graveyard, so I did the sane thing and fought back with the only weapon I had: my prison shoes. My shoes sailed through the air, neatly on target with the patrol boat below. One of them was hit from a bullet and knocked aside, but the other one found its mark and hit the gunman cleanly in the face with the stone-studded sole. The yelp of pain could be heard all the way across the ship, and the sight was kind of disgusting, but I wasn’t going to be killed before I could make it to the ship that saved me from my fate. The woman only laughed at the fate of the gunman down below. “That was a nice throw. That cleverness will keep you alive on this journey”. She pauses for a second, leaning over to check that we were safe from danger. “Just what is your name?” “Seth.” Author's Note After such a good start, I did what I could to keep the story going strong and adding some personality to Seth and his saviors. Also, falling shoes make surprisingly practical weapons. Who knew? Chapter 3: ColonielQwertyThe Ship "Seth, huh? I like that name." She smiled warmly and walked over beside Judas, who was looking in another direction. "We'd better get out of here before more of them show up." Judas explained, looking over the edge of the small boat at the island. The tiny island which I sure won't miss. The place was far too lonely, with no contact to speak of. Silence 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, except for my own voice. I hated that, and I'm glad I'm finally leaving. "Let’s get a move on then." Jasmine said, interrupting my train of thought. I shook my head, bringing myself back to reality. We started clambering out of the transport boat, now docked onto the side a short ways below the deck. I began thinking about what had happened earlier with the military, attacking us as we tried to get on board. “What was happening here? Some kind of revolutionary war against pirates and the military?” As we pondered, we climbed further up the side of the ship. The more I thought about it, the more I became confused. “Pirates and the military. Why are they-“ "Hey Seth, we're here." I looked up to see Jasmine and Judas, waving from the top of the deck. Once again I was confused. "W-What is this?" I looked around. Something seemed off, and it only took a single look upwards to see what. “Why anullre there no sails?” "It isn't a normal ship, Seth." Judas said, turning to me. "It's also a submarine." Judas walked over to the wheel and blew a loud wolf whistle. I'm guessing it was a signal of some kind, because the ship started to change, the masts sinking down into the ship as glass panels surrounded the top deck. One the deck was surrounded, the hatch on top opened and several soldier-like figures came out of the ship. For some odd reason, all of the soldier looked and sounded the same. One walked up to me, the only one that looked different from the others. He was really fat and had a full ammo belt strapped over his shoulder. Under the belt he was wearing a red uniform, like the others, and a yellow fist logo was emblazoned on his shoulders. After observing me for a minute, he pointed his arm to the ground. "Do you have a sandwich?" He asked. I looked at him, thinking he was just messing with me. It took me a minute to figure out that he really did want a sandwich, and that he was really hungry... Or fat. I didn't want to get on his bad side so I talked softly. "Um, no sir, I don't." He grunted and walked away from me. I looked to Judas. "Who was that?" I whispered. He looked back at me and chuckled. "Don't worry about it." He explained. I shrugged and climbed into the sub behind Judas and Jasmine. Judas and Jasmine walked over to a man at the wheel of the ship and left me behind. I didn't know what else to do besides look around at the others on the sub. There were soldiers of all types, it seemed. Many looked like they were all that in a bag of chips. Other looked like they just wanted to go to sleep. There were more soldiers like the ones that climbed out, except they looked a little different. I took the only spot on the sub that was available, and that was the seat right next to a man wearing a gas mask and holding a flamethrower. When I sat next to him, he turned his head and looked at me. I couldn't tell his emotion because he was wearing a mask, so I looked away. About an hour later, half of the soldiers were asleep and I was just sitting there, trying not to cause a commotion. A bearded man looked out into the ship, coming down from the direction of the ship’s wheel. He looked at me and signaled me to come. I stood up and walked over to him, to which he sighed in relief at the sight of Judas and Jasmine for I thought they had left. The bearded man spoke up. "Hello Seth. My name is Paul. Paul Entsminger." Paul was about 4 feet tall, but looked old enough to be in his late 20's. His beard was a dark red, and so was his hair. He looked sort of like a lumber jack submarine driver. He was wearing a gray t-shirt and blue jeans shorts. It seemed like he was just hanging wearing normal clothes. I mean he was not dirty at all. I extended an arm. "Nice to meet you Paul." We shook hands, and became acquaintances. After a good minute of meeting and greeting, he finally told me the real reason he called me over here. "Look, Seth we need your help." I was confused. What do they need me for? All I am is a person that was jailed for unspeakable atrocities. He then started talking again. "An intergalatic war has broken out. Pirates, the military, robots, aliens, you name it. The entire galaxy is at war, and we need your help in order to stop it, for if we don't stop it now, there is a big possibility that we all die." I looked him dead in the eyes. “Is this guy serious?” I thought to myself. I looked behind me to see what the others opinions were about it. They nodded at me, so I turned back to Paul. "What do I have to do?" Author's Note This chapter left me wondering what caused this intergalactic war. Will we ever find out? You'll have to see! Chapter 4: Technomonkey76Seth the Magical Human Seth had never gone to war before. Yet, he seemed to embrace the idea of suddenly being drafted with little apprehension. Even with the stakes increased as they were, he stayed in his seat aboard the submarine, and accepted his fate to battle. This man he had just met, Paul, wished for Seth to be pulled into his army, to battle robots, zombies, pirates, and space ninjas alike. After what he had seen that day, he decided skepticism was not an optimal path. And so he looked Paul in the eyes, giving away no nervousness in his glance, and gave his response: “What do I have to do?” The submarine gave a loud groan as it began to fill its ballast tanks and descend. As it did so, Paul gave his response. “I'm glad you're on board with us… that sort of has a double meaning, doesn't it?” Paul chuckled. “Well, as you already know, we're caught up in a major war, one which will pretty much decide whether humankind remains or not. You are the only person we know for sure will be capable of helping us to victory. You see, I'm aware that you've had issues in the past…” Seth gives a look of worry at Paul's statement, but Paul fails to notice and continues. “But I'm also aware of something of which you are not, Seth.” Tension seems to build in the air as Paul pauses to stare Seth in the eyes. “You're a wizard, Sethy.” Seth stares at Paul as if he had just witnessed a miracle. He blurts out a question: “Wha-how… wand!” Or, rather, he tried to ask a question, but failed rather miserably in his shock. Under Seth's wondering stare, Paul erupts into laughter. It begins to dawn on Seth that this was just a joke. At first, Seth is mildly annoyed that he was played like that, but he too joins in on the laughter soon enough. After the men had calmed down, Paul manages to get back to explaining. “Okay, I'm sorry. War is a horrible thing, and it helps to bring some humor into the mix. However, I truly am aware of an ability you may possess, and it isn't something most people would consider natural. You truly do possess talent in the realm of the arcane. It's nothing like that bullshit you read about in Harry Potter, but it is far more real.” Seth had never believed in magic before. Yet, he seemed to embrace the idea of suddenly being able to perform magic with little apprehension. As a matter of fact, he couldn't care less about the possibility of destroying the fabric of reality with his powers. There was nothing to fear. There were only magically acquired baked goods and wars fought by casting magic missiles. Paul continued to explain the details of the war and how arcane powers could be trained to Seth, but both were stuck in their own worlds. Seth remained affixed to his land of cookies and destruction, and Paul, his realm of war strategy. By the time Paul was done giving his explanation, Seth had just returned from his daydream. “Okay, Seth, did you get that all?” “Um… yeah.” Paul seemed to find Seth's response acceptable, and took control of the submarine, piloting it toward a circular portal to space, with about a ten-meter radius, at the bottom of the ocean. The submarine creaked under the stress, but it held, and when they were within a couple meters of the portal, Paul stopped its descent. “Are you ready to go into battle?” Seth, if he were to be honest and wise, would have replied, “No, because I have no idea how to use my powers or what our strategy is. I tuned you out after I heard I had magic powers.” However, he felt much as a person who had never managed to get a friend's name memorized would, and felt it was much too late to ask. “I'm ready.” The submarine fell through the portal, and the scenery changed dramatically. After allowing his eyes time to adjust to the change in lighting, Seth glanced at his surroundings. He uttered one word: “Fuck.” Author's Note This chapter practically blew my mind to pieces. That's all I can really say about this. Chapter 5: Lightman314Ponies? “You’ve got to be f***ing kidding me! Ponies!?” Seth exclaimed towards Paul. “You drag me into a supposed ‘war to save humankind’, stick me in a stupid submarine so we can go through a portal to another world, and it’s just a war against ponies! Gees dude! What’d you do? Kill their ‘magical pony princess’ or something!?” Paul looked at him for a second before responding “Actually… yes. We accidentally killed their princess, and now they’re mad at us. Like really mad. That’s not important right now, we need you, cause you’re magical powers will really be able to help us in this war. We’re barely standing our ground as it is! Trust me, there’s more to these ponies then meets the eye. I’ll explain more when we get to base.” He says, opening up the hatch, motioning for Seth to leave the submarine. Seth and Paul then head off towards an impromptu military base set up near the shore of the large lake they appeared in. They get there with no troubles, and then walk over into one of the tents, and they take their seats. Paul pours them both a mug of coffee, and then starts his explanation. “Ok, here’s the deal. We accidentally killed one of their princesses. A mare by the name of ‘Mi Amore Cadenza’, and since then the ponies have been… less than kind. We bear no ill will towards these ‘ponies’, but they refuse to listen. Their military captain, a stallion of the name ‘Shining Armor’, has been sending his soldiers after us ever since, and their remaining monarchs, as far as we can tell, are backing him completely. In order to escape this place, we will need to find a way to close the portal between our worlds. And that’s where you come in. You are one of the few people on the planet who have access to the magical arts, something on which this world thrives. As such we are at a disadvantage, unless we wish to pull our ‘wild card’ on them. But we’re hoping it won’t come to that,” Seth stops him, and asks “Wild card? What do you mean by a wild card?” Paul looks at him unamused. “You know America. What do you think America’s ‘wild card’ would be?” Seth thinks for a minute, before responding “Nukes?” Paul nods his head as confirmation before continuing his briefing, “As you can probably guess, we don’t want it to ever come to that, and that’s why we brought you here. We need you to find a way to close the portal before we’re overrun.” Seth thinks over the situation for several minutes, before responding. “Fine, I’ll help. But I’m expecting a huge paycheck from all this! I aint putting my life on the line for some stupid war against magical talking ponies!” Paul smiles, and helps Seth up. “Excellent! In that case I’ll go introduce you to your new co-workers.” Author's Note And so ponies finally enter the scene. Yuo knew this was coming, weren't you? Chapter 6: RedXParasiteEQD Paul led Seth out of the tent. As they traveled through the encampment, Seth could see how demoralized everyone was. Many were hanging their heads, while others were pacing. The tension was palpable. Their walk eventually led them to a tent marked “EQD”. Paul held open the flap, and ushered Seth inside. The people inside turned their heads as Seth and Paul entered the tent. Seth counted three in total, two guys, and a girl. “Everyone, meet Seth, he’s going to be joining your team.” Paul gestured toward Seth. Paul continued, “Seth, this is Phoebe, Cal, and Cereal.” “Cereal?” Seth scoffed incredulously, “What kind of name is that?” “Don’t ask me!” Cereal defended. “My parents gave it to me. I obviously wouldn’t have chosen it myself.” “Seth’s pretty talented at magic.” Paul said, putting the conversation back on track. “He’ll be an invaluable asset to the team.” “If you say so,” Phoebe commented. “I’ll leave you guys to work out a plan.” Paul said. “You should have at least 3 days before Shining Armor and the Canterlot Royal Guard attack again. Please try to do something before then.” “As you command Captain.” Cal replied. Once Paul left the tent, everyone went silent. Seth could feel the looks he was being given. After a few minutes, he couldn’t take it anymore. “Why are you guys staring at me?!?” He exclaimed. “So, can you really do magic?” Phoebe questioned. “Yeah, what about it?” Seth responded. “Can you do some for us?” “I don’t really see that point.” “Pretty please?” Phoebe put on a sad face, with her lower lip protruding so much a bird could land on it. “Fine.” Seth concentrated. He reached into that far recess of his mind, where many would dare not go, and summoned forth the flow of magic. To his observers, nothing seemed to happen for a few seconds. “Is that it?” Cal asked skeptically. His mouth dropped, however, when flames shot out from Seth’s hands and nearly lit the tent on fire. “That might not have been the best spell to use in here.” Cereal laughed. “Yeah, didn’t think about that.” Seth chuckled. Then everyone burst out into laughter. The tension between the team members had melted away like butter. “I’m the team captain,” said Cereal. “Cal here’s our techie and Phoebe’s in charge of medicine. In reality, our positions don’t mean much. We’ve been assigned to stop the war through peaceful means, but we have no idea how. As Paul told you, the ponies did not take kindly at ALL to the death of their Princess. We’ve tried to negotiate, but their resolve will not yield.” “It’s looking pretty grim.” Cal added. Silence filled the tent. “It’s getting pretty late.” Phoebe lifted up the tent flap. Seth could see the setting sun through the folds. “So, uh, where do I sleep?” Seth asked. “Luckily for you, we’ve already got four cots set up over there.” Cereal pointed to the back of the tent. “That’s where we’ll hitting the hay for tonight.” “Shall we?” Cal queried. “Eeyup.” Cereal replied. Everyone got ready for bed. Seth had to be given provisions, as he had forgotten to pack anything when Paul had rushed him into Equestria. As he laid down, Seth fidgeted uncomfortably. The cot was a far cry from the bed he was used to. Try as he might, Seth couldn’t fall asleep easily. He couldn’t seem to find a position that was comfortable. After what seemed like a very long time, Seth eventually drifted off to sleep. * * * Seth woke with a start. “Wha…? Who’s there?” He mumbled. No one responded. Seth sat up in his cot. What time is it? He wondered. Seth checked his watch. It read 3:14 am. Cripes, he thought, I’d better get back to sleep. Just then, he heard a rustling outside of the tent. Curious, Seth got up, slipped on the slippers that he’d been given, and made his way outside. Right as he exited the tent, Seth caught a glimpse of a cloaked figure disappearing between some other tents in the distance. “Hey! Wait!” He shouted. Seth gave chase to the mysterious figure. Seth ran at full force to where he had last seen the figure. They were no longer there, but Seth could hear footsteps heading away from camp. But, were they footsteps? He paused and listened to the rhythm. It sounded like that of a horse. A pony! Seth dashed after the mysterious stranger once more. Suddenly, the galloping stopped. Seth kept on going, and found that the pony had stopped on the hill outside overlooking the camp. “Who?” Seth gasped for breath. “Who are you?” The mare lowered her hood and spoke. “You may call me the Great and Powerful Trixie.” Trixie answered. “But why were you in the human encampment?” Seth asked. “To find you of course.” Trixie said with just the slightest hint of seduction. “Why me?” “Because you and your team are the only ones who can help Trixie stop this war.” Trixie continued. “Trixie is no fan of humans as much as the next pony, but even Trixie has to admit, this war is foolish. It’s a waste of both human and pony lives. Plus, just imagine how beloved Trixie will be for saving Equestria!” “Of course it’s for the fame.” Seth noted. “What?” Trixie was taken aback. “The Great and Powerful Trixie trying to become more popular? I have only the best interests of the citizens of Equestria at heart!” “Somehow, I don’t quite believe you.” Seth smirked. “So why do you want our help?” “Yes, that.” Trixie’s eyes darted back and forth, as if she were checking that the coast was clear. “Trixie believes that the spell to close the portal between the human and pony world is kept in the Canterlot Archives. However, Trixie is not allowed in. Usually the security around the archives would be no match for Trixie’s unparalleled abilities, but since Canterlot is at war, the security is much higher.” “So how do we play into all of this?” Seth wondered aloud. “Trixie will aid you in finding and implementing the spell.” Trixie replied. “Tomorrow morning, bring your team and meet with Trixie so we can plan our attack.” “But where are we going to meet?” Seth asked. “If you keep moving east along the beach from the camp, you’ll eventually find a large boulder. Trixie will be waiting there.” With that, Trixie summoned a giant cloud of smoke using her magic and galloped off. Seth rubbed his eyes, trying to make sense of the situation. What he had seen was real, right? He walked back to his tent, entering quietly, so as not to disturb his teammates. He would make sense of it tomorrow, Seth decided. He checked his watch again and groaned; it was 4:04 am already. Being as tired as he was, Seth had no problems falling asleep this time. He slept soundly until he was rudely awakened by a blaring trumpet at 7 o’ clock in the morning. * * * Seth jolted awake. He felt tired. Perhaps his excursion last night was responsible for his fatigue. Seth, not willing to put the effort to wake up, attempted to doze off. Phoebe shook him, “Come on! Get up you lug!” She slapped him. Seth sprang up. “Oww! You didn’t have to hit me!” “Trust me,” Phoebe whispered in his ear, “I did.” Cal and Cereal were already up. “I guess I’m the only one not used to waking up early.” Seth rubbed his eyes. The EQD team retrieved their breakfast rations, and started chowing down. In the middle of their meal, Seth stuck up a conversation. “You guys will never believe what happened to me last night.” “Pray tell.” Cal said mockingly. “No seriously.” Seth retorted. “Last night, I got woken up at, like, 3 in the morning by someone outside the tent. I chased them, and it turns out they were a pony!” “Yeah right,” Cereal scoffed. “Like a pony would actually venture into this camp.” “Come on guys!” Seth exclaimed, “I’m telling the truth!” “Uh huh?” said Phoebe, “Prove it.” “Actually, I can.” Seth replied. “She’s going to meet us nearby.” “Oh really?” Cal chuckled. “Show us then.” “Fine.” Seth replied. “I will. Follow me.” The group finished their breakfast and made out for the large boulder Trixie had described last night. It took Seth a little longer than he had expected. Then again, Trixie had to choose a spot that was far away, right? Finally, the rock came into sight and with it, Trixie. “Ah, Trixie is glad that you came.” Trixie said. “See? Told you guys!” Seth exclaimed. “So how is she going to solve our problem?” Phoebe asked. “The Great and Powerful Trixie plans to break into the Canterlot Archives.” Trixie responded. “What’s in there that’ll help us?” Cereal queried. “Trixie says there’s a spell that can close the portal between our worlds hidden somewhere in the archives.” Seth explained. “We need to break in and use it.” “Ah, I see.” Cal was pensive. “So, what’s our plan of attack?” Cereal questioned. “We can’t just knock on the front door and get in.” “Trixie can teleport us into a remote section of Canterlot.” Trixie replied. We’ll have to sneak around the city until we get close to the citadel. That’s where the guards will be the most concentrated. Luckily, the Canterlot Archives are towards the rear of the citadel. We’ll make our way over the wall, and sneak through the garden on the south side. From there, we can throw a grappling hook through a window and get in. Trixie can handle it from there.” “So why do you need us?” Phoebe asked, “Why couldn’t you do this yourself?” “As competent as Trixie is, even she does not have the power to close a portal of such size.” Trixie answered. “Trixie will need Seth’s help to cast the spell. Plus, Trixie only has two eyes, so she can only search for the spell so quickly.” “Wait, you don’t know where the spell is?!” Seth yelled. “Trixie doesn’t even know if such a spell exists.” Trixie looked away from the group. “Hold on, you don’t even know if there is a spell to close the portal?!?” Seth was getting very irate. “What kind of plan is this then?” “Calm down Seth,” Cereal interjected, “It’s the best plan we’ve got at the moment. Anyone have any other disagreements before we set this plan into action?” No one spoke a word. “Okay then.” Cereal continued. “We’ll break into Canterlot, get into the archives, and hopefully find a spell to close the portal. We’ll have to wait until tonight to do it, we wouldn’t dare risk a break in during the day. Trixie, will you meet us here at 10 pm sharp? “Trixie supposes so.” Trixie replied. “Alright, it’s a plan,” said Cereal. The EQD returned to the encampment, waiting for evening to fall and for them to be able to make their next move… Author's Note Where there's Seth, there's the rest of the EQD team. Also, Trixie. Chapter 7: Isaac BedardBreaking In Time couldn’t have passed any slower; the patience of the EQD team had been worn thin enough so that no card game could keep their attention satisfied. Nevertheless, Cal dealt the cards out again in hopes of playing another game, but Seth shied away from the group to earn a little more sleep. Seth walked over to his cot and lay down. He recalled the events that had brought him here. Unfortunately, due to his short-term memory-loss that he had had ever since he could “remember,” Seth couldn’t remember anything. A short saying popped into his head “any information left out of the matrix is gone forever.” Seth had no idea where he had heard that saying before, or what that saying had to do with his current situation. For some reason though, he decided to recall the little he did remember, out of fear that he could forget it again. He started with the basics: a portal to a land called Equestria was recently opened. This land was apparently inhabited by ponies (ponies, not horses) and not humans. For some reason, the humans and the ponies were at war with each other. Seth was at a loss to remember why they were, the only things about it that he could recall was that: he was assigned to the EQD team by the human war-commander Paul; the EQD’s mission was to end the war “peacefully;” the humans appeared to be losing; the humans were suffering from battles lead by the commander Shining Armor; apparently there were only 2 days before the ponies attacked again; and the final thing he could recall was that the humans had done some severe damage to the line of Equestrian troops by killing princess… Princess who? The name was at the edge of his mind, but he couldn’t remember her name. He nodded his head, it wasn’t like her name was that important, he could always ask someone later, it wasn’t like the name of the dead princess could change depending on whether or not he remembered it right now… Right now, Seth was lying in his cot in a tent marked “EQD.” His squad consisted of 4 people: Cereal, the squad commander; Cal, the tech expert, Phoebe, the group’s nurse; and finally the newest recruit: Seth himself, the only person in the group who could use magic. The group was waiting for 9:30, when they were to move out to a pre-determined place to meet Trixie, the great and powerful unicorn, at 10:00. The great unicorn had agreed to help the squad by teleporting them into Canterlot, where it was rumored (a rumor that was created by the great Trixie herself) that a spell there would be able to close the portal to the human world. Seth, realizing that he recalled all he was able to, was now ready to sleep. He wasn’t going to get any sleep though. Soon after he decided that he was ready for sleep, he was rudely tossed out of his cot. He barely had time to stretch out his hands to protect his face from hitting the floor, but he managed to somehow. Wondering who threw him out of his cot, Seth looked up to see an angry Phoebe. Seth, thinking that it was time to go, quickly took a glance at his watch: 7:36. With about two hours until time to leave, Seth shot a confused glance at Phoebe, wondering why she had flipped his cot over. Phoebe didn’t wait for Seth to recover before she explained her actions: “You got up rather slowly this morning, if you were to fall asleep now it would be difficult to wake you up. I figured it would be for the best to wake you up.” With that, she turned around and walked away from the stunned Seth. “Bu- but, was it necessary to wake me up like that!?” Seth questioned of Phoebe. Phoebe sighed. She shot a glance over her shoulder and spoke these simple ten words: “No, I just wanted to get back to my card game.” * * * Seth used magic to light a small fire above his watch. It read 10:11. The small fire was quickly scattered into nothingness by a small breeze. It wasn’t too long ago that Trixie had teleported the squad into Canterlot, but with all the sneaking around, it seemed like an eternity. Cal gave him a nudge, pointing at the spot where the fire was just a few seconds ago and shaking his head no. Nodding his head, Seth slowly made his way from under the bush the group was hiding in to the nearby wall that posed a problem to them. Trixie, lacking the magic to teleport them over the wall, had left the group to make her way around to the library, without the stealth that the squad needed to walk around Canterlot as humans. The wall, although made out of stone, was smooth, there were no handholds. Taking a quick look around for guards, Seth closed his eyes and put his hands to the wall. Seth cleared his head, and he felt the stone move around his hands to give him a handhold. “There are benefits to being able to use magic,” Seth thought to himself as he started climbing, quickly creating footholds and handholds as needed. Before long, Seth had reached the top of the wall, but with his eyes closed how could he have known? Unfortunately for Seth, he kept attempting to climb and nearly stumbled over the ledge. He quickly regained his composure though and jumped down onto the opposite side of the wall. All this was done before Seth remembered that Cal had a grappling hook. The rest of the Squad had followed Seth’s lead and used the handholds he created to get over the wall without questioning his methods. After all was said and done, the group had slowly made their way around the citadel to the side where the Canterlot archives were held. Conveniently, all of the 2nd floor windows – the floor where the archives could be found - were open, and the absence of light streaming out of them hinted at the idea that no one was inside. The group made their way up the wall, this time using the grappling hook that Cal had brought. Trixie could be seen crouching under a nearby windowsill. She drew in breath to say something along the lines of “Ha-ha! The great and powerful Trixie knew you could do it,” but Cereal placed his hand over her mouth, and all she could muster was an “mm-mph.” The group, after some quick hand signals, decided to search the library for the spell. Trixie was ordered to search the shelves closest to the Archive’s entrance, since she could easily make contact with any pony without getting arrested. Cereal took the middle of the library, where he thought he would be the most vulnerable to detection if somepony were to enter; Cal got the left; Phoebe got the right; and Seth got the back. They agreed to notify Cereal first if the spell was found, and he would go and notify everyone else. Seth went to his assigned location in the library and started skimming the shelves. There was a lot of interesting material on the shelf, from the migratory patterns of butterflies to how the alot’s digestive system worked, but nothing about spells in the shelving section that he was in. He decided to move over to the next set of shelves, where he started having better luck. The titles included: “Spells to amuse your friends,” “Setting up a security system using magic,” “Proper use of levitation…” Seth stopped; the title of one of the books caught his eye. He backtracked over to “Setting up a security system using magic,” pulled it off of the shelf and started reading. The book was very short, but it described very helpful spells that could notify a guard whenever somepony/someone entered a certain area. The spells were simple, although they took a lot of time to set up. It would make sense if somepony set up one of these spells on the castle, but if that was the case, they would have already been found out already. What was going on? Seth thought back to when Trixie first presented herself. Her behavior – besides from being entirely self-absorbed – did seem a little suspicious. On one hand: it would be unlikely for a self-absorbed pony to go over and help the other side of a war; and on the other: Trixie did seem to push the group to find this spell, even though she had no idea if it even existed! Oh, and if Trixie could make it this easily into the Canterlot Archives, would it not make more sense for a pony, if they needed to give a spell to someone who couldn’t enter the library, to enter the library and copy the spell down and then give it to said person? Trixie’s behavior was too suspicious to ignore, there was no doubt in his mind that the pony had set up some form of trap. Suddenly, Seth heard the sound of someone attempting to walk quietly on the opposite side of the shelf he was on. Seth now realized what had happened, Trixie presented herself as a double agent (wait, she already came to them as a double agent first, she would have to be a triple agent) to the group in order to set up some sort of trap. The benefits for capturing one of the leading squadrons of the human army were likely too big for this vein pony to ignore. Seth moved carefully to avoid detection. He was walking to the opposite side of the shelf, to check out the source of the noise. He moved slowly to the end of the shelf and after making it around, he pressed his chest against the edge of the shelf, he couldn’t see anything, anyone, or anypony on the other side of the shelf. Listening carefully, he could hear nothing, but that didn’t ease his mind, he had to see for himself. Slowly, he peeked over the corner to look at the opposite side of the shelf: all that was there was a line of books. Seth was confused; he had most definitely heard something. He slowly walked out from the corner to get a closer look at the line of books, but there was nothing, no one, and no pony there. Confused, Seth turned around to put the book he was holding back, and he made it around the shelf without event. But, as he went to put the book back on the shelf, his world flashed white for a split second and quickly faded to black. * * * Seth woke up to a familiar smell. As he slowly came to his senses, he slowly realized what it was that he smelled: hay. Slowly, he opened his eyes to see hay, unquestionably the source of the odor. After a few more seconds, Seth realized that he was lying face down in a pile of it. Seth slowly rose up and out of the pile of hay and immediately realized where he was: a cell. It was made obvious from the stone walls and the bars. Seth got up slowly and walked towards the bars that served as the sole entrance and exit to his cell, he didn’t even have the luxury of a window. Seth examined the bars closely; it appeared that the entire set of bars didn’t make up the gate: there was a smaller section to the right of the cell that made up a door and that made the exit. He slowly walked up to the middle of the wall of bars and peered out. An earth pony was standing off to the side. From the blue uniform that covered her cutie-mark, it was apparent that she was the guard for the cell he was in. She was somehow spinning a set of keys on the end of her hoof. All of her fur was pink, but her poorly-kept mane was a slightly darker shade. Her light-blue eyes, for the moment, were dully staring at the key ring. The pony, realizing that the prisoner was awake, stopped spinning the key ring and spoke with little-to-no expression: “so, what’re you in for?” Seth was confused. “Shouldn’t you know? After all, you are the security guard here…” The pony thought for a moment, and suddenly her expression drastically changed from a boring monotone to a cheery grin. “Oh, no silly, I’m not a guard. I just thought that it would be fun to dress up in this uniform.” Seth was now surprised. He didn’t know what to think about this pony, and she seemed mysterious. He decided to ask another question: “Well, why are you standing there then?” “Oh, I wanted a quiet spot to practice my key twirling.” With that, the pony started twirling her key ring again and changed her expression back to her monotone form. “Now, enough questions about me, what’re you in for?” Seth lowered his gaze. “I was caught breaking into the Canterlot Archives,” he responded. “I was looking for a spell to close the portal to the human world.” The pony’s face brightened to such a happy state that it seemed impossible for anyone – much less a pony – to put themselves into. “Oh, that’s easy to do. If that was what you wanted, you should have come to me.” Seth was confused, so he looked again. Yes, this was undoubtedly an earth-pony, but she claimed that she could close the portal to the human world. He had no idea what to expect with this pony, so he decided to roll with the punches. “So, when do I stand trial, if I get one,” he asked, trying to change the subject. “Idk,” the pony responded. She actually spoke in text-speak, Seth was annoyed, he hated it when people did that, he hated it when ponies did that too. “Princess Twilight’s been rather busy lately talking to Shining Armor about battle strategies. Don’t worry, she finished planning now and Shining Armor is readying his troops, your trial should be soon.” The pony started to perform more complex tricks with her key ring, like spinning it on her nose or spinning it on her hoof like a basketball. It was mesmerizing, but Seth had to stay focused, he needed a way to get out of this cell to stop Shining Armor’s Army. “Are the other members of my squad in the cells next to me?” He asked, hoping that they could somehow form a plan to escape. “Cells?” the pony asked confused, “these are the hay storage rooms.” “What am I doing in here then?” Seth wondered why the Canterlot palace didn’t have a cell to put him in. After all, it was a palace. “Oh, I heard that the guards were going up to the library to arrest some intruders, so I decided to have a little fun by going there myself and taking one of the intruders down. I couldn’t put the intruder in the cell though, so I moved him down here to where the guards wouldn’t be able to steal my haul.” “…Wait, huh?” What this pony said made sense, but didn’t quite fit with what she said earlier. “So, what’re you in for?” Why would she say that if she was the very person who put him in here? Now that he thought about it, she never did deny that she knew why Seth was in here. The other part of what she said was insulting, saying that Seth was her “haul” and throwing him in the hay storage room like a… Wait, who would put a lock on a room that was only meant to be used to store hay? Seth, with a little bit of hope, walked over to the door and gave it a little nudge… …It opened. “Hey! Don’t run away, you’re my haul!” with that, she suddenly turned into a blur of pink and blue, and that figure didn’t clarify until her lower left hoof made contact with what would have been Seth’s face. “Ow!” Seth exclaimed. Fortunately for Seth, he was in the pose that most internet users would call a “facepalm,” so aside from his sore nose, his hand took the brunt of the damage. Better his hand than his face though. “Why would I run away from you, you’re the only person I know of who can help me!” OK, he did doubt her abilities, and with the earlier incident with Trixie, a bit weary of ponies (Trojan or not), he just wanted to stall the pony before she kicked him again. “Help you? How?” the pony appeared clueless, even though she had stated the reason that Seth was stalling with only a short while ago. “Look, I have no idea how you could do this without being a unicorn, but you claimed that you could close the portal to the human world. If you can do that, then I know that you’d be able to help me.” “Oh, yeah. That!” the pony suddenly realized. “Yes, I can help you, but I need to get something in my room in the east of the Canterlot Palace in order to close it.” “Where are we now?” “We’re in the hay room, you silly.” The pony stated again. “No, I mean to ask ‘where is the hay room located in the palace?’ you silly.” Seth added the “you silly” on for good measure, even though he really had no reason to. “Oh, it’s right below the grand hall. We can’t go in there now though; a bunch of human prisoners that the guard caught in the archives will be standing trial before Princess Twilight later this evening.” Wait, that his squad-mates were about to stand trial? He needed to rescue them, but this pony offered him help with his mission. Should he go with this pony to close the portal, likely leaving his squad mates behind? At first, he thought the answer was obvious. This pony could be tricking him like Trixie. After some further thought though, he ruled out the idea of a trick. After all, what motive would this pony have? He’s already been locked up, and he could hardly give out much information: he just joined the group and didn’t know anything about the human’s plans (except that they had none). The only remaining motive would be to humiliate him, but with the war going on, time spent humiliating him would be wasted time. Either way, Shining Armor would be attacking the human army soon, so Seth had to make a decision, and fast. “Oh, by the way, I never got your name…” Seth asked one last question before he decided. Now, in an extremely cheery voice that Seth was not able to associate with any other living creature he had ever met before, the pony lifted its front hooves high in the air and spoke from the top of her lungs: “Pinkie Pie’s the name, and partying’s my game!” Author's Note Pinkie Pie: Breaking into fanfiction all over the place. I wonder if Seth can use her to his advantage before she shatters the fourth wall into irreplaceable shards. Chapter 8: KatiebabyDistractions “Partying? No, I don’t have time to think about that right now.” thought Seth. He had to move fast, or his squad could be killed. He looked around the storage room and saw a pitchfork. This will have to do, he thought picking it up. “What ‘cha doing?” said Pinkie Pie. Darn, he had forgotten about her. Then again maybe he could use her not only to close the portal, but as a distraction. “Nothing, I have a favor to ask of you,” Seth said. “Sure! Ask away!” She replied, still twirling the key. “I need you to cause a distraction in the court, and then meet my squad on the front promenade. Okay?” “Fine by me! It sounds really fun too!” She looked at Seth confused, “Wait, what’s a distraction?” “There’s no time for this!” Seth thought, then he remembered something. “Think of it like this: You need to go into the court and try really, really hard to get them to throw a party right now.” He felt like he was speaking to a child “Bloody hell. She acts just like one.” “Oh! I know what to do! I can put on a fireworks show! And it will all be pretty!” Pinkie Pie squealed. “Do you even know how to set fireworks up?” Seth asked. “Yeah, yeah! Of course I do! I will have pink, blue, red, orange, and all sorts of colors!” “All right but once you make them go off, then grab my team and bring them to the promenade! ok?” “Okay! I can do that!” “Alright then,” Seth thought. The last thing to do was get to the court without being caught. He gripped the pitchfork tightly. He knew now more than ever, he had to move fast or Shining Armor would attack, pushing the humans back even farther. If that happened, the EQD would be dissolved, and maybe even killed! “Alright. Go ahead and get going, and set the fireworks off at-” He trailed off looking at his watch: 1:30. “-2:30 then bring them to the spot.” With that he was off without another word. He had one hour: one hour to get his team, and one hour to save the EQD. Seth sighed deeply, trying to remember the name of the princess that died. His face scrunched up in annoyance. “Why can’t I remember?” He froze hearing hooves, and cursed at himself for being so stupid. He put his back to the corner and watched the one guard canter past. Seth silently walked behind him, and with a quick lunge he stabbed the pitch fork through the guard’s neck. The unicorn tensed up, as if to recoil, but fell sideways to the floor. Blood ran over the stones. Seth pulled the pitch fork out and took the guard’s spear in his other hand. He checked his watch again: 2:00. “Shit!” he though. He had to move faster in order to scout out an escape route. Seth snuck through the palace, picturing a method of escape for his team and reached the Promenade at 2:15 “Okay.” he thought, sighing in relief and hiding in some bushes in the garden. For some reason no guards were present. “Huh, they must be guarding the court. Let’s just hope they don’t find the body of the-” “There’s an intruder! Find and kill them!” The shouts of guards echoed in the distance. “Speak of the devil.” thought Seth. He glanced at his watch and frowned. It was now 5 minutes after the appointed time. “Oh well,” he thought. “I shouldn’t have trusted that pony.” Two guards galloped into the gardens and split up to scour the area. “I can take them by surprise.” He picked up the spear nestled in the bushes and hurled it like a javelin at one of the ponies. He crumpled to the ground, emitting a sharp cry. Seth hit the ground again and waited. The other pony ran over to check on him, and Seth threw the pitch fork, hitting the second unicorn in the side. Seth watched a small grin on his face -- which he didn’t realize was there -- as both ponies slumped over and bled out. He checked his watch again. “Shit! Where is that pony!” He cursed to himself silently He knew that he shouldn’t of trusted her! Too much time had been wasted, and his team probably compromised. “The other guards should be coming soon.” thought Seth with a low sigh. He quickly darted out and grabbed the guard’s spears. Then he realized standing there that he didn’t even know if Pinkie Pie had a watch! He cursed to himself and darted across the garden to the palace walls, and tried to remember which princess died again. He just couldn’t remember that detail! He sighed, and looked at the palace, knowing that by now his friends were dead, Shining Armor was about to attack, and all of humanity would be subdued in a week’s time at the most. He used magic to aid himself in scaling the wall, and looked back at the palace. He knew that, for his comrades’ sake, he needed to end this war somehow. Suddenly right when he looked away he heard an explosion, and when he turned back, he saw the palace go up in flames as one lone pink streak darted over the palace. He grimaced as the rotten smell of burning flesh hit his nose, and he doubled over barfing up his food. He wiped his mouth looking at the sad sight of the palace. “Quite a distraction.” he thought. I should have known that Pinkie Pie couldn’t have set up fireworks. He turned away and went down the wall. He needed to stop this war somehow, in any way possible. The war had to end! Author's Note And so things turn dark as Seth has to fight his way out of the castle. Can he make it out alive? Chapter 9: TrybienShowdown What is life? Why do we fight? Harmony… why must it be tarnished. This war was becoming to much for Seth to handle. There seemed to be no hope anymore. It seemed impossible to win. He saw his own men die. His closest friends having their last glimmers of light fade from their eyes fell before him. Tears rained from the his eyes. What had he gotten himself into. It felt just like yesterday he was streaming through his emails ready to post the next big thing on EQD. “No. This is not the time to cry.” Seth whispered to himself while wiping his tears with his blood soaked hands. “Faust… please… help me do what‘s right.” Seth took a deep breath after his prayer and took a step forward. Out of the rubble walked Shining armor shrouded in a pink shield followed by some others. It was one against 10, and the odds were not against him. Despite Seth’s fear, he knew he had his loved ones backing him. “You. Why don’t you just surrender now?” Seth ignored the question. He knew that just talking was not going to go anywhere. He still did not have an answer truly for himself anyways. Sure there was some superficial reasons, but none deep in his heart… All he knew was that the fighting had to end. “This war has been decided, so I’ll ask again, why do you fight.” “My reasons are not of your concern. I only wish for the fighting to stop.” “Before this war, you would’ve made a great friend; however, I must not forgive you humans for the loss of my loved ones.” “Hypocrite.” At that point, Seth knew that their was no getting through to Shining Armor. Picking up the Spear, Seth didn’t think he was getting out of this battle alive. In fact, fighting a horde of soldiers whilst using a spear was very impractical, but it is all he had. The only option was to go straight for the leader and take him out. That was the only sure fire way to end the war. Seth rushed towards the guards ready to strike, the first wave came to intercept, but Seth sliced the neck of the one open and spear the second between the eyes. Red mist squirted from the to as they fell and the rest came for him. Vastly outnumbered, Seth assessed the situation to figure his best route to get to Shining Armor. As he prepared his counter attack, a rocket came flying by and exploded right on the guards causing them to be thrown back. Unable to tell if they where alive or not, Seth still thanked the heavens for that miracle. Shining Armor was shocked and outraged. “My men, I demand to know who is responsible for this!” The pink pony pranced past not really paying mind to the mess made. “Whoops, seems like a stray firework came over this way! My bad! Hey! Its you again! Ooh, you shoulda sooooooooo been at that distraction party! It was a real blast!” “I… uh… see…” Seth replied still shaken from the explosion. “Pinkie! What are you doing! First you damage my unit then socialize with that filth!” “Filth? He’s not that dirty. He does smell though… Hey didya put any deodorant on this morning?” “I’ll give you one warning. Step aside from the enemy, or I’ll have to consider you a traitor.” Pinkie turned towards Shining Armor with a question mark on her face. “Enemy? I don’t have any enemies! Everyone’s my friend.” “I see. You still support him even though he killed…” Shining was cut off as Pinkie interrupted him. “And you haven’t killed people near and dear to him!? That’s not fair! Maybe you should both apologies and…” Before she could finish, blood spattered every. Shining had picked up many spears with his magic and impaled Pinkies torso. She stood there for a bit still alive for a few seconds. “end this war…” The pink pony fell over still with the spears inside. Her final tears dried on her face as she laid there. Seth was shocked. The one he attributed as an ignorant child had just died in front of him. “I’m sorry for dragging you into this… I will not let your death be in vain.” Seth had enough. He clearly could see that Shining Armor, despite who he was before, was clearly no more than a tyrant willing to kill even his own friends to win a war. This war was going to end no later than now. Seth readied the spear and prepared to attack Shining. He was not going to die first, the human rose above any fears he previously had. This war was his to win and harmony would be restored. He ran towards Shining Armor and felt a sharp pain through his stomach. At the same time, he felt blood splash against his face from in front of him. The victor was decided. Author's Note Who lived? Who died? Tune in to the next chapter for the exciting conclusion! Chapter 10: FriBriThe Final Battle Shining Armor smiled. He just orchestrated the death of one of his last foes without ever putting himself in danger. The whole event, the showdown with Seth, everything was just smoke and mirrors. Sure, some of his men died, but drafties are expendable. He needed to take the next step now. He called on his messenger, and sent him to gather the heads of power. As the messenger scurried off, he leaned back, and took a nap. After all, he deserved it, right? FOUR DAYS LATER The leaders of Equestria were circled around a table adorned with maps. The royalty studied them closely. The enemy troop movements looked promising, with the humans falling back. Shining Armor looked up from the maps. The others caught this movement, and looked up as well. Shining spoke. Judging by the reactions of the others, it was apparently good news. The observers at the FOB (Forward operating base) couldn’t make out the words. The Modified SR-71 “Blackbird”, flying high, with its new real-time zooming camera can’t get audio or make out the map markings. What the generals could get out of this pass was that the ponies aren’t ready for the next step. The forward recon may be gone, but the Humans weren’t out. HUMAN STAGING AREA Colonel Alex Harper was in his command tent, looking at the most recent troop movements on the projector. From what intel could report, the ponies were falling right into their trap. The troops were pulling back, and setting up in defensive posts. The ponies, unskilled in ranged combat, couldn’t see the trap in the way the troops were arraying themselves, and they were oblivious of the arty pieces. Their Pegasus corps tried to recon them, but they were no match for 7.62mm SAW fire. They simply can’t fly high enough. Jack was pleased at the progress of step two of their ruse, the arrival of new units. The forward recon groups packed light, and couldn’t withstand the numbers. The new troops are arriving with IFV’s, tanks, and the Marine’s new F-35b, a VTSOL. (Vertical takeoff and short landing) when the ponies get caught in the crossfire and routed, the humans can now chase them to their homes. HUMAN DEFENSIVE LINES The troops stood ready. In their thoughts of victory, the ponies rushed to pursue them. This brought them into a line of angled trenches and foxholes. “Cold night” the private said, walking up to his friend. “Really is” He replied. They stood there in silence, waiting for the enemy to rise over the foothills. They both knew it was the start of something big. Even if they have no guns, or thumbs for that matter, an occupation is a difficult thing. The two comrades climbed back into their trench, checked their mags, and settled in for a long night of fighting and chasing. PONY FORCES At the head of the army, Shining Armor led in the way of most generals leading spear armed men. He was blindly confident, believing the loss of the forward units would scatter them. He had quite a surprise when bombs blew against the shield they had erected. “They’re close” He muttered under his breath. He turned to the army. “Tonight, we wipe the humans off our land!” His voice echoed throughout the hills, as he spoke to the army. “Tonight, we prove our might. We have already broken them, and we now just need to wipe their presence off our country. Come, friends, we go to war!” As they marched up the final set of hills, the ponies laid eyes on the trench lines. As the first ranks broke the crest of the hills, the shield was peppered by rounds. It was a large surprise to them, seeing the humans lay traps. But they were safe from the bullet storm behind their shield. They continued to march. “Shit.” One of the two privates uttered when he saw the tracers bouncing off, what seemed to be the air. He turned and looked behind him, where his friend sat. He yelled at him to come down, and he did. They both witnessed the rounds failure to do, well, anything. They were not alone. Men were looking up the hills to the command tent as a colonel walked down from them. He grabbed a loudspeaker, and yelled one order to his men “FIX BAYONETS” Even in the 21st century, bayonets are issued, mainly as multipurpose tools. They still, however, fit on the M-16’s and M’4s. All the marines rustled through their packs, fishing for their knives. The sound of clicking metal filled the air, as the knives are added to the weapons. The colonel, Alex Harper, scoped again “When you get inside their shield, open fire. But prepare for the melee!” The marines slumped up against the trench wall, pointing the now spear like rifles towards the enemy. Pikes in trenches have always been a surefire way to stop horses, and now they have guns. Albeit, only at short range. “AHHHHH” He shot upright, his gut blazing like hell, and realized he was alive. But Seth knew he had work to do. He would later learn that a Retreating HMMWV found him, and med evac’d him. He bolted out of his bed, doubling over at the pain in his gut. He tied his boots, grabbing a shirt, rifle, and knife on the way out of the base. He was heading to the front to finish this. The ponies charged. Cavalry charges had been a way to instill fear for years upon years, but the marines remained un-phased. The two forces met and intense fighting erupted. The brass watching the fight from drones couldn’t tell which way it was going. Ponies and people were in each other ranks, and general chaos reigned. Seth…. Seth “found” a HMMWV and was racing to the fronts. He could hear the battle for miles. His only hope was that he wasn’t too late. He found out he wasn’t. He came over a hill, and laid his eyes on the raging fight. He got into the turret, and using field glasses, he spotted Shining. He jumped back to the driver seat, and floored it in anger. He hit a hill just a bit fast, and the HMMWV jumped, landing not ten feet from Shining. Seth climbed out, clutching the rifle and gritting his teeth. His and Shining’s eyes met, and Seth unloaded the magazine into him. He watched the body spasm, and fall. He then felt a blinding pain in his head and fell. When they found Seth, he was deemed very, very dead. Someone threw a spear into his shoulder, and he bleed out there, beside his mortal enemy, in the midst of combat. In the history books, the battle was deemed a draw. With the loss of their unicorns sustaining the shield, they were bombarded by 16 inch guns from offshore. The Humans took many losses, however. When the human reinforcements arrived, they were able to push through the countryside, and take the land. In the way Americans do, they instilled a leader, and the country of Equestria became a American territory. Years later, there may be a revolution. That doesn’t matter, however. What does matter is that this story of Seth, the EQD, and war has come to a close. Author's Note It's clear that FriBri loves his guns. This is certainly an interesting conclusion, and I never saw it coming. Thanks for reading, and please feel free to leave a comment if you want.
Chapter 1: Will BargerGuilt Seth couldn’t remember how many days he’d been in here, nor could he remember what time it was inside this place, for the place had no windows to show him whether or not the sun was in the sky. He sat there in his tight cramped cell for what was surely months; but since meals were not even a routine in this prison of his, he did not even have a measuring stick of which to compare events to. He was surely going mad in here, too. Once he had tried to maintain a regiment of counting in order to impose some order on his life; he had gotten to nearly one hundred thousand before he was overcome with a vile hatred of numbers, and had stopped. Then, he tried to maintain time by how often he had seen a guard pass by his cell; but that didn’t help him too much either. Anything he tried only served to further distort his sense of time. He could hardly remember his crime for which he was locked up, either. He was sure of one thing, though. He was guilty of what he was charged of. He also remembered one feeling that he had felt before the judge sentenced him to his fate in this prison; guilt. As he sat there, thinking of what he had done, he remembered a young girl. He thought he had done something to this young girl; perhaps he had stolen something from her? No, that couldn’t be it. He had stolen things before, and he had stolen from people far worse off than that small girl. But he knew for certain his crime involved the young girl. He then remembered another thing; the judge had said something to him at the trial. It didn’t really make sense to his time-addled mind, but for certain it was important. “You just couldn’t leave it alone, could you? You just had to keep pushing. And look what became of that. I hope that, before you rot away, you find a speck of good in yourself, for today you certainly walk out of this courthouse an evil man.” BANG; The sound of the gavel. And then the guards shipped him out, to the prison island he dwelled in now. These were the things that Seth thought about. He had tried to ask the guards questions as they passed by, but they gave no response. Of course, he was perfectly aware of that; the guards were simply mindless constructs, and couldn’t talk to him even if they had wanted to. He talked to them still, silently and meekly hoping that one day, one of them would turn to him, and show a face of flesh, give him some human interaction; but that never happened. In fact, he hadn’t seen another person in a very long time; much time ago, they had put a prisoner in the cell across from him, who had been named Thomas. The two of them talked for a great length of time, about a great number of things; their lives, their beliefs, even their crimes. They were fairly good friends, not by merit of each other’s personality, but by necessity. They were the only thing keeping each other sane. Both were very guilty, and they served as a support net for each other’s woes. But, one day, Thomas snapped. He was overcome with a great wave of guilt, guilt born of the man he had killed. In his sleep, he had told Seth, he was visited by the ghost of the man who he had killed, and the man was ridden with grief from his death; he had a life! He had a Family! And Thomas had taken that. Thomas hung himself that day, with a length of rope he had smuggled in. Nobody else had occupied that cell since, and every day Seth had to avert himself from viewing the scene; Thomas’s bones littering the ground of his cell, rope still dangling from the ceiling of his cell. That was really scary for Seth; nothing changed in here. Everything simply sat in its place until it rotted away, and only memories sat in its place. He was afraid, that he too would rot away one day, and only his bones would remain; except there would be nobody to remember him. Time rolled by. He wasn’t sure how much, but with each moment he grew more anxious of one thing; the young girl. He yearned to be free for that reason only; to discover what his crime was. He wanted to apologize to the girl. To make things right; if only he could know what he had done to her! It agonized him for ages, the knowledge that he would spend eternity mourning, paying penance for a crime he didn’t even remember. But he supposed, for whatever he did to be locked up in this prison for his whole remainder of his life, he was surely receiving nothing less than the entirety of what he deserved. As he thought about his yearning for freedom, he noticed something. There wasn’t even a clear reason why the prison had guards. When you were taken here, to Death Head Isle, you were thrown in from the very top, to a cell nearly fifteen feet tall, with a front wall of bars made of wrought steel, spaced about two inches apart. The walls were smooth as ice, and the ceiling opening was sealed with masonry, then the whole thing was sealed with some kind of ancient sorcery. Even if he wanted to escape, he wouldn’t be able to, even if he had the health he possessed in his life before his imprisonment. And the excessive, hulking size of the guards was another perplexing thing; none of the prisoners here had the strength to overpower a normal human guard, let along the constructs. And all of his deep thought, then and there, was blown into a deafening, head-rattling blur, as the back wall of his cell exploded into a cloud of dust and rubble. As the dust and smoke cleared, he could see two figures in the open, a man and a woman. Author's Note Will got the whole story off to a roaring start. You go Will!
Chapter 2: Marioland1Escape I was virtually blinded from the light blazing forth from the newly made hole in the wall of my cell, and so I stood there squinting as my eyes struggled to cope. A part of my mind cursed the two that had blown the hole in the wall, as they’d have to know that pure sunlight would be painful after all this time in the grim darkness of my prison. And yet, I felt indebted to them. They did set me free from the fate I had been subjected to, and that is worth what little I have left to give. My mouth opens slowly as I mutter my thanks to them. I still can’t see anything more than a silhouette of their forms, one male and one female, but I can see that they’re staring at me. I have to wonder why, as an inmate like myself probably doesn’t look very good. Maybe they weren’t expecting someone to still be here? The first and last person I had ever seen here was Thomas, whose limp skeleton still hangs from the rope he hung himself with, and I have no clue if there are other anywhere else in the prison. My thoughts are disrupted by the mechanical whirring of an automation bringing a meal, a rare and always untimely occurrence in my island prison. It doesn’t even seem to notice the gaping hole in the wall, and instead slips the normal gruel into the food slot and leaves once more to do whatever. For once I can actually see the almost nauseating colors of the meal, but I hesitate for a second. Should I eat this, or do my saviors have something better than this mush? I take a glance back at the two, the details still beyond my grasp through my eyes. I try my best to ask them if I should eat, and I can clearly see them nod at each other in affirmation. I dig in to the mush for the last time of my life, and for once it doesn’t seem quite so bland and tasteless. And yet, the question flows through my mind as I eat. Just why did these two free me? I finish my meal with haste, and as I turn around I get my first good view of my saviors. The man is tall and strong, wearing only a pair of thick, brown pants that look rather tattered and worn. He’s wearing a rather thick leather belt, probably to keep his pants tightly secure. A gun holster is securely attached to the belt, and some kind of revolver resides within it. His shaggy golden hair almost makes him look like a shaggy giant, although his smile makes him look rather friendly for his size. His blue eyes gaze into you, and you feel both some security and a bit of concern, but what that concern is about, you don’t have a clue. The woman has matching blonde hair, and is a little shorter than the average. Her face is dead serious though, and her green eyes are almost piercing. She has an air of command just with that gaze alone. Her dress was rather simple, long enough to go down to the ground without any issues and not revealing too much above, and made of leather with a simple rope tied around her midsection. She sported a black, tri-cornered hat, but it seems to match the overall raggedy décor of the pair and actually looks good perched atop her head. I finally hack up the nerve to ask who they are, and they both look over at me before the woman speaks. “I’m Jasmine, and this is Judas. There’s little time left to explain the details, but we’re in need of another member of our party, and we happened to see this old, decrepit place they call a prison as we passed on by. In short, we need you to help us, and possibly even redeem yourself for whatever you did to wind up way out here.” I had to wonder if this was a trick at first, although they were the ones that granted me my freedom, and I really only have two options: stay here alone for all eternity or go with them. I think about the prison. No human interaction, no sense of time, and nothing to look forwards to besides my eventual next meal. It doesn’t take much thought to agree, saying, “Yes, I’ll do it.” They nod, a smile breaking on their faces as they help me through what remains of my cell wall, the rubble doing little favors to my thin-soled prison shoes. By the time I make my way through the wall, my shoes are pierced with dozens upon dozens of stone shards, and I’m left with no choice but to remove them to stop them from needling into the bottom of my feet. Oh, but the feeling of the grass! It’s a feeling I haven’t had in ages, and it takes a little while just to separate myself from this intoxicating new feeling. And then the air exploded. Well, not really exploding in the way you’re probably thinking. No, this was an explosion of sound, a massive foghorn throwing its noise at everything in the area. I could see my two companions looking about for the source, and a sense of panic drawn on their faces as they shouted at me to follow them. I ran after them, headed towards some kind of large, ancient looking wooden ship. “A pirate ship” I realized, and I was completely correct. The Jolly Roger flag was posted right at the top of the ship, waving in the gentle breeze. What kind of a ship of this kind would be without a rowboat? Not much of one, I’ll tell you. But looks were deceiving, as this “rowboat” was outfitted with some kind of motor, and it took a very short time to reach the ship. The patrol was right behind us though, and I felt a bullet whiz right past my ear as the crewmen above started to lift the small boat up to the deck. Whiz! Another bullet flew past, piercing a neat hole through Jasmine’s hat, but fortunately missing her head. If they kept shooting at us, I was sure that one of us would be taking a one way trip to the graveyard, so I did the sane thing and fought back with the only weapon I had: my prison shoes. My shoes sailed through the air, neatly on target with the patrol boat below. One of them was hit from a bullet and knocked aside, but the other one found its mark and hit the gunman cleanly in the face with the stone-studded sole. The yelp of pain could be heard all the way across the ship, and the sight was kind of disgusting, but I wasn’t going to be killed before I could make it to the ship that saved me from my fate. The woman only laughed at the fate of the gunman down below. “That was a nice throw. That cleverness will keep you alive on this journey”. She pauses for a second, leaning over to check that we were safe from danger. “Just what is your name?” “Seth.” Author's Note After such a good start, I did what I could to keep the story going strong and adding some personality to Seth and his saviors. Also, falling shoes make surprisingly practical weapons. Who knew?
Chapter 3: ColonielQwertyThe Ship "Seth, huh? I like that name." She smiled warmly and walked over beside Judas, who was looking in another direction. "We'd better get out of here before more of them show up." Judas explained, looking over the edge of the small boat at the island. The tiny island which I sure won't miss. The place was far too lonely, with no contact to speak of. Silence 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, except for my own voice. I hated that, and I'm glad I'm finally leaving. "Let’s get a move on then." Jasmine said, interrupting my train of thought. I shook my head, bringing myself back to reality. We started clambering out of the transport boat, now docked onto the side a short ways below the deck. I began thinking about what had happened earlier with the military, attacking us as we tried to get on board. “What was happening here? Some kind of revolutionary war against pirates and the military?” As we pondered, we climbed further up the side of the ship. The more I thought about it, the more I became confused. “Pirates and the military. Why are they-“ "Hey Seth, we're here." I looked up to see Jasmine and Judas, waving from the top of the deck. Once again I was confused. "W-What is this?" I looked around. Something seemed off, and it only took a single look upwards to see what. “Why anullre there no sails?” "It isn't a normal ship, Seth." Judas said, turning to me. "It's also a submarine." Judas walked over to the wheel and blew a loud wolf whistle. I'm guessing it was a signal of some kind, because the ship started to change, the masts sinking down into the ship as glass panels surrounded the top deck. One the deck was surrounded, the hatch on top opened and several soldier-like figures came out of the ship. For some odd reason, all of the soldier looked and sounded the same. One walked up to me, the only one that looked different from the others. He was really fat and had a full ammo belt strapped over his shoulder. Under the belt he was wearing a red uniform, like the others, and a yellow fist logo was emblazoned on his shoulders. After observing me for a minute, he pointed his arm to the ground. "Do you have a sandwich?" He asked. I looked at him, thinking he was just messing with me. It took me a minute to figure out that he really did want a sandwich, and that he was really hungry... Or fat. I didn't want to get on his bad side so I talked softly. "Um, no sir, I don't." He grunted and walked away from me. I looked to Judas. "Who was that?" I whispered. He looked back at me and chuckled. "Don't worry about it." He explained. I shrugged and climbed into the sub behind Judas and Jasmine. Judas and Jasmine walked over to a man at the wheel of the ship and left me behind. I didn't know what else to do besides look around at the others on the sub. There were soldiers of all types, it seemed. Many looked like they were all that in a bag of chips. Other looked like they just wanted to go to sleep. There were more soldiers like the ones that climbed out, except they looked a little different. I took the only spot on the sub that was available, and that was the seat right next to a man wearing a gas mask and holding a flamethrower. When I sat next to him, he turned his head and looked at me. I couldn't tell his emotion because he was wearing a mask, so I looked away. About an hour later, half of the soldiers were asleep and I was just sitting there, trying not to cause a commotion. A bearded man looked out into the ship, coming down from the direction of the ship’s wheel. He looked at me and signaled me to come. I stood up and walked over to him, to which he sighed in relief at the sight of Judas and Jasmine for I thought they had left. The bearded man spoke up. "Hello Seth. My name is Paul. Paul Entsminger." Paul was about 4 feet tall, but looked old enough to be in his late 20's. His beard was a dark red, and so was his hair. He looked sort of like a lumber jack submarine driver. He was wearing a gray t-shirt and blue jeans shorts. It seemed like he was just hanging wearing normal clothes. I mean he was not dirty at all. I extended an arm. "Nice to meet you Paul." We shook hands, and became acquaintances. After a good minute of meeting and greeting, he finally told me the real reason he called me over here. "Look, Seth we need your help." I was confused. What do they need me for? All I am is a person that was jailed for unspeakable atrocities. He then started talking again. "An intergalatic war has broken out. Pirates, the military, robots, aliens, you name it. The entire galaxy is at war, and we need your help in order to stop it, for if we don't stop it now, there is a big possibility that we all die." I looked him dead in the eyes. “Is this guy serious?” I thought to myself. I looked behind me to see what the others opinions were about it. They nodded at me, so I turned back to Paul. "What do I have to do?" Author's Note This chapter left me wondering what caused this intergalactic war. Will we ever find out? You'll have to see!
Chapter 4: Technomonkey76Seth the Magical Human Seth had never gone to war before. Yet, he seemed to embrace the idea of suddenly being drafted with little apprehension. Even with the stakes increased as they were, he stayed in his seat aboard the submarine, and accepted his fate to battle. This man he had just met, Paul, wished for Seth to be pulled into his army, to battle robots, zombies, pirates, and space ninjas alike. After what he had seen that day, he decided skepticism was not an optimal path. And so he looked Paul in the eyes, giving away no nervousness in his glance, and gave his response: “What do I have to do?” The submarine gave a loud groan as it began to fill its ballast tanks and descend. As it did so, Paul gave his response. “I'm glad you're on board with us… that sort of has a double meaning, doesn't it?” Paul chuckled. “Well, as you already know, we're caught up in a major war, one which will pretty much decide whether humankind remains or not. You are the only person we know for sure will be capable of helping us to victory. You see, I'm aware that you've had issues in the past…” Seth gives a look of worry at Paul's statement, but Paul fails to notice and continues. “But I'm also aware of something of which you are not, Seth.” Tension seems to build in the air as Paul pauses to stare Seth in the eyes. “You're a wizard, Sethy.” Seth stares at Paul as if he had just witnessed a miracle. He blurts out a question: “Wha-how… wand!” Or, rather, he tried to ask a question, but failed rather miserably in his shock. Under Seth's wondering stare, Paul erupts into laughter. It begins to dawn on Seth that this was just a joke. At first, Seth is mildly annoyed that he was played like that, but he too joins in on the laughter soon enough. After the men had calmed down, Paul manages to get back to explaining. “Okay, I'm sorry. War is a horrible thing, and it helps to bring some humor into the mix. However, I truly am aware of an ability you may possess, and it isn't something most people would consider natural. You truly do possess talent in the realm of the arcane. It's nothing like that bullshit you read about in Harry Potter, but it is far more real.” Seth had never believed in magic before. Yet, he seemed to embrace the idea of suddenly being able to perform magic with little apprehension. As a matter of fact, he couldn't care less about the possibility of destroying the fabric of reality with his powers. There was nothing to fear. There were only magically acquired baked goods and wars fought by casting magic missiles. Paul continued to explain the details of the war and how arcane powers could be trained to Seth, but both were stuck in their own worlds. Seth remained affixed to his land of cookies and destruction, and Paul, his realm of war strategy. By the time Paul was done giving his explanation, Seth had just returned from his daydream. “Okay, Seth, did you get that all?” “Um… yeah.” Paul seemed to find Seth's response acceptable, and took control of the submarine, piloting it toward a circular portal to space, with about a ten-meter radius, at the bottom of the ocean. The submarine creaked under the stress, but it held, and when they were within a couple meters of the portal, Paul stopped its descent. “Are you ready to go into battle?” Seth, if he were to be honest and wise, would have replied, “No, because I have no idea how to use my powers or what our strategy is. I tuned you out after I heard I had magic powers.” However, he felt much as a person who had never managed to get a friend's name memorized would, and felt it was much too late to ask. “I'm ready.” The submarine fell through the portal, and the scenery changed dramatically. After allowing his eyes time to adjust to the change in lighting, Seth glanced at his surroundings. He uttered one word: “Fuck.” Author's Note This chapter practically blew my mind to pieces. That's all I can really say about this.
Chapter 5: Lightman314Ponies? “You’ve got to be f***ing kidding me! Ponies!?” Seth exclaimed towards Paul. “You drag me into a supposed ‘war to save humankind’, stick me in a stupid submarine so we can go through a portal to another world, and it’s just a war against ponies! Gees dude! What’d you do? Kill their ‘magical pony princess’ or something!?” Paul looked at him for a second before responding “Actually… yes. We accidentally killed their princess, and now they’re mad at us. Like really mad. That’s not important right now, we need you, cause you’re magical powers will really be able to help us in this war. We’re barely standing our ground as it is! Trust me, there’s more to these ponies then meets the eye. I’ll explain more when we get to base.” He says, opening up the hatch, motioning for Seth to leave the submarine. Seth and Paul then head off towards an impromptu military base set up near the shore of the large lake they appeared in. They get there with no troubles, and then walk over into one of the tents, and they take their seats. Paul pours them both a mug of coffee, and then starts his explanation. “Ok, here’s the deal. We accidentally killed one of their princesses. A mare by the name of ‘Mi Amore Cadenza’, and since then the ponies have been… less than kind. We bear no ill will towards these ‘ponies’, but they refuse to listen. Their military captain, a stallion of the name ‘Shining Armor’, has been sending his soldiers after us ever since, and their remaining monarchs, as far as we can tell, are backing him completely. In order to escape this place, we will need to find a way to close the portal between our worlds. And that’s where you come in. You are one of the few people on the planet who have access to the magical arts, something on which this world thrives. As such we are at a disadvantage, unless we wish to pull our ‘wild card’ on them. But we’re hoping it won’t come to that,” Seth stops him, and asks “Wild card? What do you mean by a wild card?” Paul looks at him unamused. “You know America. What do you think America’s ‘wild card’ would be?” Seth thinks for a minute, before responding “Nukes?” Paul nods his head as confirmation before continuing his briefing, “As you can probably guess, we don’t want it to ever come to that, and that’s why we brought you here. We need you to find a way to close the portal before we’re overrun.” Seth thinks over the situation for several minutes, before responding. “Fine, I’ll help. But I’m expecting a huge paycheck from all this! I aint putting my life on the line for some stupid war against magical talking ponies!” Paul smiles, and helps Seth up. “Excellent! In that case I’ll go introduce you to your new co-workers.” Author's Note And so ponies finally enter the scene. Yuo knew this was coming, weren't you?
Chapter 6: RedXParasiteEQD Paul led Seth out of the tent. As they traveled through the encampment, Seth could see how demoralized everyone was. Many were hanging their heads, while others were pacing. The tension was palpable. Their walk eventually led them to a tent marked “EQD”. Paul held open the flap, and ushered Seth inside. The people inside turned their heads as Seth and Paul entered the tent. Seth counted three in total, two guys, and a girl. “Everyone, meet Seth, he’s going to be joining your team.” Paul gestured toward Seth. Paul continued, “Seth, this is Phoebe, Cal, and Cereal.” “Cereal?” Seth scoffed incredulously, “What kind of name is that?” “Don’t ask me!” Cereal defended. “My parents gave it to me. I obviously wouldn’t have chosen it myself.” “Seth’s pretty talented at magic.” Paul said, putting the conversation back on track. “He’ll be an invaluable asset to the team.” “If you say so,” Phoebe commented. “I’ll leave you guys to work out a plan.” Paul said. “You should have at least 3 days before Shining Armor and the Canterlot Royal Guard attack again. Please try to do something before then.” “As you command Captain.” Cal replied. Once Paul left the tent, everyone went silent. Seth could feel the looks he was being given. After a few minutes, he couldn’t take it anymore. “Why are you guys staring at me?!?” He exclaimed. “So, can you really do magic?” Phoebe questioned. “Yeah, what about it?” Seth responded. “Can you do some for us?” “I don’t really see that point.” “Pretty please?” Phoebe put on a sad face, with her lower lip protruding so much a bird could land on it. “Fine.” Seth concentrated. He reached into that far recess of his mind, where many would dare not go, and summoned forth the flow of magic. To his observers, nothing seemed to happen for a few seconds. “Is that it?” Cal asked skeptically. His mouth dropped, however, when flames shot out from Seth’s hands and nearly lit the tent on fire. “That might not have been the best spell to use in here.” Cereal laughed. “Yeah, didn’t think about that.” Seth chuckled. Then everyone burst out into laughter. The tension between the team members had melted away like butter. “I’m the team captain,” said Cereal. “Cal here’s our techie and Phoebe’s in charge of medicine. In reality, our positions don’t mean much. We’ve been assigned to stop the war through peaceful means, but we have no idea how. As Paul told you, the ponies did not take kindly at ALL to the death of their Princess. We’ve tried to negotiate, but their resolve will not yield.” “It’s looking pretty grim.” Cal added. Silence filled the tent. “It’s getting pretty late.” Phoebe lifted up the tent flap. Seth could see the setting sun through the folds. “So, uh, where do I sleep?” Seth asked. “Luckily for you, we’ve already got four cots set up over there.” Cereal pointed to the back of the tent. “That’s where we’ll hitting the hay for tonight.” “Shall we?” Cal queried. “Eeyup.” Cereal replied. Everyone got ready for bed. Seth had to be given provisions, as he had forgotten to pack anything when Paul had rushed him into Equestria. As he laid down, Seth fidgeted uncomfortably. The cot was a far cry from the bed he was used to. Try as he might, Seth couldn’t fall asleep easily. He couldn’t seem to find a position that was comfortable. After what seemed like a very long time, Seth eventually drifted off to sleep. * * * Seth woke with a start. “Wha…? Who’s there?” He mumbled. No one responded. Seth sat up in his cot. What time is it? He wondered. Seth checked his watch. It read 3:14 am. Cripes, he thought, I’d better get back to sleep. Just then, he heard a rustling outside of the tent. Curious, Seth got up, slipped on the slippers that he’d been given, and made his way outside. Right as he exited the tent, Seth caught a glimpse of a cloaked figure disappearing between some other tents in the distance. “Hey! Wait!” He shouted. Seth gave chase to the mysterious figure. Seth ran at full force to where he had last seen the figure. They were no longer there, but Seth could hear footsteps heading away from camp. But, were they footsteps? He paused and listened to the rhythm. It sounded like that of a horse. A pony! Seth dashed after the mysterious stranger once more. Suddenly, the galloping stopped. Seth kept on going, and found that the pony had stopped on the hill outside overlooking the camp. “Who?” Seth gasped for breath. “Who are you?” The mare lowered her hood and spoke. “You may call me the Great and Powerful Trixie.” Trixie answered. “But why were you in the human encampment?” Seth asked. “To find you of course.” Trixie said with just the slightest hint of seduction. “Why me?” “Because you and your team are the only ones who can help Trixie stop this war.” Trixie continued. “Trixie is no fan of humans as much as the next pony, but even Trixie has to admit, this war is foolish. It’s a waste of both human and pony lives. Plus, just imagine how beloved Trixie will be for saving Equestria!” “Of course it’s for the fame.” Seth noted. “What?” Trixie was taken aback. “The Great and Powerful Trixie trying to become more popular? I have only the best interests of the citizens of Equestria at heart!” “Somehow, I don’t quite believe you.” Seth smirked. “So why do you want our help?” “Yes, that.” Trixie’s eyes darted back and forth, as if she were checking that the coast was clear. “Trixie believes that the spell to close the portal between the human and pony world is kept in the Canterlot Archives. However, Trixie is not allowed in. Usually the security around the archives would be no match for Trixie’s unparalleled abilities, but since Canterlot is at war, the security is much higher.” “So how do we play into all of this?” Seth wondered aloud. “Trixie will aid you in finding and implementing the spell.” Trixie replied. “Tomorrow morning, bring your team and meet with Trixie so we can plan our attack.” “But where are we going to meet?” Seth asked. “If you keep moving east along the beach from the camp, you’ll eventually find a large boulder. Trixie will be waiting there.” With that, Trixie summoned a giant cloud of smoke using her magic and galloped off. Seth rubbed his eyes, trying to make sense of the situation. What he had seen was real, right? He walked back to his tent, entering quietly, so as not to disturb his teammates. He would make sense of it tomorrow, Seth decided. He checked his watch again and groaned; it was 4:04 am already. Being as tired as he was, Seth had no problems falling asleep this time. He slept soundly until he was rudely awakened by a blaring trumpet at 7 o’ clock in the morning. * * * Seth jolted awake. He felt tired. Perhaps his excursion last night was responsible for his fatigue. Seth, not willing to put the effort to wake up, attempted to doze off. Phoebe shook him, “Come on! Get up you lug!” She slapped him. Seth sprang up. “Oww! You didn’t have to hit me!” “Trust me,” Phoebe whispered in his ear, “I did.” Cal and Cereal were already up. “I guess I’m the only one not used to waking up early.” Seth rubbed his eyes. The EQD team retrieved their breakfast rations, and started chowing down. In the middle of their meal, Seth stuck up a conversation. “You guys will never believe what happened to me last night.” “Pray tell.” Cal said mockingly. “No seriously.” Seth retorted. “Last night, I got woken up at, like, 3 in the morning by someone outside the tent. I chased them, and it turns out they were a pony!” “Yeah right,” Cereal scoffed. “Like a pony would actually venture into this camp.” “Come on guys!” Seth exclaimed, “I’m telling the truth!” “Uh huh?” said Phoebe, “Prove it.” “Actually, I can.” Seth replied. “She’s going to meet us nearby.” “Oh really?” Cal chuckled. “Show us then.” “Fine.” Seth replied. “I will. Follow me.” The group finished their breakfast and made out for the large boulder Trixie had described last night. It took Seth a little longer than he had expected. Then again, Trixie had to choose a spot that was far away, right? Finally, the rock came into sight and with it, Trixie. “Ah, Trixie is glad that you came.” Trixie said. “See? Told you guys!” Seth exclaimed. “So how is she going to solve our problem?” Phoebe asked. “The Great and Powerful Trixie plans to break into the Canterlot Archives.” Trixie responded. “What’s in there that’ll help us?” Cereal queried. “Trixie says there’s a spell that can close the portal between our worlds hidden somewhere in the archives.” Seth explained. “We need to break in and use it.” “Ah, I see.” Cal was pensive. “So, what’s our plan of attack?” Cereal questioned. “We can’t just knock on the front door and get in.” “Trixie can teleport us into a remote section of Canterlot.” Trixie replied. We’ll have to sneak around the city until we get close to the citadel. That’s where the guards will be the most concentrated. Luckily, the Canterlot Archives are towards the rear of the citadel. We’ll make our way over the wall, and sneak through the garden on the south side. From there, we can throw a grappling hook through a window and get in. Trixie can handle it from there.” “So why do you need us?” Phoebe asked, “Why couldn’t you do this yourself?” “As competent as Trixie is, even she does not have the power to close a portal of such size.” Trixie answered. “Trixie will need Seth’s help to cast the spell. Plus, Trixie only has two eyes, so she can only search for the spell so quickly.” “Wait, you don’t know where the spell is?!” Seth yelled. “Trixie doesn’t even know if such a spell exists.” Trixie looked away from the group. “Hold on, you don’t even know if there is a spell to close the portal?!?” Seth was getting very irate. “What kind of plan is this then?” “Calm down Seth,” Cereal interjected, “It’s the best plan we’ve got at the moment. Anyone have any other disagreements before we set this plan into action?” No one spoke a word. “Okay then.” Cereal continued. “We’ll break into Canterlot, get into the archives, and hopefully find a spell to close the portal. We’ll have to wait until tonight to do it, we wouldn’t dare risk a break in during the day. Trixie, will you meet us here at 10 pm sharp? “Trixie supposes so.” Trixie replied. “Alright, it’s a plan,” said Cereal. The EQD returned to the encampment, waiting for evening to fall and for them to be able to make their next move… Author's Note Where there's Seth, there's the rest of the EQD team. Also, Trixie.
Chapter 7: Isaac BedardBreaking In Time couldn’t have passed any slower; the patience of the EQD team had been worn thin enough so that no card game could keep their attention satisfied. Nevertheless, Cal dealt the cards out again in hopes of playing another game, but Seth shied away from the group to earn a little more sleep. Seth walked over to his cot and lay down. He recalled the events that had brought him here. Unfortunately, due to his short-term memory-loss that he had had ever since he could “remember,” Seth couldn’t remember anything. A short saying popped into his head “any information left out of the matrix is gone forever.” Seth had no idea where he had heard that saying before, or what that saying had to do with his current situation. For some reason though, he decided to recall the little he did remember, out of fear that he could forget it again. He started with the basics: a portal to a land called Equestria was recently opened. This land was apparently inhabited by ponies (ponies, not horses) and not humans. For some reason, the humans and the ponies were at war with each other. Seth was at a loss to remember why they were, the only things about it that he could recall was that: he was assigned to the EQD team by the human war-commander Paul; the EQD’s mission was to end the war “peacefully;” the humans appeared to be losing; the humans were suffering from battles lead by the commander Shining Armor; apparently there were only 2 days before the ponies attacked again; and the final thing he could recall was that the humans had done some severe damage to the line of Equestrian troops by killing princess… Princess who? The name was at the edge of his mind, but he couldn’t remember her name. He nodded his head, it wasn’t like her name was that important, he could always ask someone later, it wasn’t like the name of the dead princess could change depending on whether or not he remembered it right now… Right now, Seth was lying in his cot in a tent marked “EQD.” His squad consisted of 4 people: Cereal, the squad commander; Cal, the tech expert, Phoebe, the group’s nurse; and finally the newest recruit: Seth himself, the only person in the group who could use magic. The group was waiting for 9:30, when they were to move out to a pre-determined place to meet Trixie, the great and powerful unicorn, at 10:00. The great unicorn had agreed to help the squad by teleporting them into Canterlot, where it was rumored (a rumor that was created by the great Trixie herself) that a spell there would be able to close the portal to the human world. Seth, realizing that he recalled all he was able to, was now ready to sleep. He wasn’t going to get any sleep though. Soon after he decided that he was ready for sleep, he was rudely tossed out of his cot. He barely had time to stretch out his hands to protect his face from hitting the floor, but he managed to somehow. Wondering who threw him out of his cot, Seth looked up to see an angry Phoebe. Seth, thinking that it was time to go, quickly took a glance at his watch: 7:36. With about two hours until time to leave, Seth shot a confused glance at Phoebe, wondering why she had flipped his cot over. Phoebe didn’t wait for Seth to recover before she explained her actions: “You got up rather slowly this morning, if you were to fall asleep now it would be difficult to wake you up. I figured it would be for the best to wake you up.” With that, she turned around and walked away from the stunned Seth. “Bu- but, was it necessary to wake me up like that!?” Seth questioned of Phoebe. Phoebe sighed. She shot a glance over her shoulder and spoke these simple ten words: “No, I just wanted to get back to my card game.” * * * Seth used magic to light a small fire above his watch. It read 10:11. The small fire was quickly scattered into nothingness by a small breeze. It wasn’t too long ago that Trixie had teleported the squad into Canterlot, but with all the sneaking around, it seemed like an eternity. Cal gave him a nudge, pointing at the spot where the fire was just a few seconds ago and shaking his head no. Nodding his head, Seth slowly made his way from under the bush the group was hiding in to the nearby wall that posed a problem to them. Trixie, lacking the magic to teleport them over the wall, had left the group to make her way around to the library, without the stealth that the squad needed to walk around Canterlot as humans. The wall, although made out of stone, was smooth, there were no handholds. Taking a quick look around for guards, Seth closed his eyes and put his hands to the wall. Seth cleared his head, and he felt the stone move around his hands to give him a handhold. “There are benefits to being able to use magic,” Seth thought to himself as he started climbing, quickly creating footholds and handholds as needed. Before long, Seth had reached the top of the wall, but with his eyes closed how could he have known? Unfortunately for Seth, he kept attempting to climb and nearly stumbled over the ledge. He quickly regained his composure though and jumped down onto the opposite side of the wall. All this was done before Seth remembered that Cal had a grappling hook. The rest of the Squad had followed Seth’s lead and used the handholds he created to get over the wall without questioning his methods. After all was said and done, the group had slowly made their way around the citadel to the side where the Canterlot archives were held. Conveniently, all of the 2nd floor windows – the floor where the archives could be found - were open, and the absence of light streaming out of them hinted at the idea that no one was inside. The group made their way up the wall, this time using the grappling hook that Cal had brought. Trixie could be seen crouching under a nearby windowsill. She drew in breath to say something along the lines of “Ha-ha! The great and powerful Trixie knew you could do it,” but Cereal placed his hand over her mouth, and all she could muster was an “mm-mph.” The group, after some quick hand signals, decided to search the library for the spell. Trixie was ordered to search the shelves closest to the Archive’s entrance, since she could easily make contact with any pony without getting arrested. Cereal took the middle of the library, where he thought he would be the most vulnerable to detection if somepony were to enter; Cal got the left; Phoebe got the right; and Seth got the back. They agreed to notify Cereal first if the spell was found, and he would go and notify everyone else. Seth went to his assigned location in the library and started skimming the shelves. There was a lot of interesting material on the shelf, from the migratory patterns of butterflies to how the alot’s digestive system worked, but nothing about spells in the shelving section that he was in. He decided to move over to the next set of shelves, where he started having better luck. The titles included: “Spells to amuse your friends,” “Setting up a security system using magic,” “Proper use of levitation…” Seth stopped; the title of one of the books caught his eye. He backtracked over to “Setting up a security system using magic,” pulled it off of the shelf and started reading. The book was very short, but it described very helpful spells that could notify a guard whenever somepony/someone entered a certain area. The spells were simple, although they took a lot of time to set up. It would make sense if somepony set up one of these spells on the castle, but if that was the case, they would have already been found out already. What was going on? Seth thought back to when Trixie first presented herself. Her behavior – besides from being entirely self-absorbed – did seem a little suspicious. On one hand: it would be unlikely for a self-absorbed pony to go over and help the other side of a war; and on the other: Trixie did seem to push the group to find this spell, even though she had no idea if it even existed! Oh, and if Trixie could make it this easily into the Canterlot Archives, would it not make more sense for a pony, if they needed to give a spell to someone who couldn’t enter the library, to enter the library and copy the spell down and then give it to said person? Trixie’s behavior was too suspicious to ignore, there was no doubt in his mind that the pony had set up some form of trap. Suddenly, Seth heard the sound of someone attempting to walk quietly on the opposite side of the shelf he was on. Seth now realized what had happened, Trixie presented herself as a double agent (wait, she already came to them as a double agent first, she would have to be a triple agent) to the group in order to set up some sort of trap. The benefits for capturing one of the leading squadrons of the human army were likely too big for this vein pony to ignore. Seth moved carefully to avoid detection. He was walking to the opposite side of the shelf, to check out the source of the noise. He moved slowly to the end of the shelf and after making it around, he pressed his chest against the edge of the shelf, he couldn’t see anything, anyone, or anypony on the other side of the shelf. Listening carefully, he could hear nothing, but that didn’t ease his mind, he had to see for himself. Slowly, he peeked over the corner to look at the opposite side of the shelf: all that was there was a line of books. Seth was confused; he had most definitely heard something. He slowly walked out from the corner to get a closer look at the line of books, but there was nothing, no one, and no pony there. Confused, Seth turned around to put the book he was holding back, and he made it around the shelf without event. But, as he went to put the book back on the shelf, his world flashed white for a split second and quickly faded to black. * * * Seth woke up to a familiar smell. As he slowly came to his senses, he slowly realized what it was that he smelled: hay. Slowly, he opened his eyes to see hay, unquestionably the source of the odor. After a few more seconds, Seth realized that he was lying face down in a pile of it. Seth slowly rose up and out of the pile of hay and immediately realized where he was: a cell. It was made obvious from the stone walls and the bars. Seth got up slowly and walked towards the bars that served as the sole entrance and exit to his cell, he didn’t even have the luxury of a window. Seth examined the bars closely; it appeared that the entire set of bars didn’t make up the gate: there was a smaller section to the right of the cell that made up a door and that made the exit. He slowly walked up to the middle of the wall of bars and peered out. An earth pony was standing off to the side. From the blue uniform that covered her cutie-mark, it was apparent that she was the guard for the cell he was in. She was somehow spinning a set of keys on the end of her hoof. All of her fur was pink, but her poorly-kept mane was a slightly darker shade. Her light-blue eyes, for the moment, were dully staring at the key ring. The pony, realizing that the prisoner was awake, stopped spinning the key ring and spoke with little-to-no expression: “so, what’re you in for?” Seth was confused. “Shouldn’t you know? After all, you are the security guard here…” The pony thought for a moment, and suddenly her expression drastically changed from a boring monotone to a cheery grin. “Oh, no silly, I’m not a guard. I just thought that it would be fun to dress up in this uniform.” Seth was now surprised. He didn’t know what to think about this pony, and she seemed mysterious. He decided to ask another question: “Well, why are you standing there then?” “Oh, I wanted a quiet spot to practice my key twirling.” With that, the pony started twirling her key ring again and changed her expression back to her monotone form. “Now, enough questions about me, what’re you in for?” Seth lowered his gaze. “I was caught breaking into the Canterlot Archives,” he responded. “I was looking for a spell to close the portal to the human world.” The pony’s face brightened to such a happy state that it seemed impossible for anyone – much less a pony – to put themselves into. “Oh, that’s easy to do. If that was what you wanted, you should have come to me.” Seth was confused, so he looked again. Yes, this was undoubtedly an earth-pony, but she claimed that she could close the portal to the human world. He had no idea what to expect with this pony, so he decided to roll with the punches. “So, when do I stand trial, if I get one,” he asked, trying to change the subject. “Idk,” the pony responded. She actually spoke in text-speak, Seth was annoyed, he hated it when people did that, he hated it when ponies did that too. “Princess Twilight’s been rather busy lately talking to Shining Armor about battle strategies. Don’t worry, she finished planning now and Shining Armor is readying his troops, your trial should be soon.” The pony started to perform more complex tricks with her key ring, like spinning it on her nose or spinning it on her hoof like a basketball. It was mesmerizing, but Seth had to stay focused, he needed a way to get out of this cell to stop Shining Armor’s Army. “Are the other members of my squad in the cells next to me?” He asked, hoping that they could somehow form a plan to escape. “Cells?” the pony asked confused, “these are the hay storage rooms.” “What am I doing in here then?” Seth wondered why the Canterlot palace didn’t have a cell to put him in. After all, it was a palace. “Oh, I heard that the guards were going up to the library to arrest some intruders, so I decided to have a little fun by going there myself and taking one of the intruders down. I couldn’t put the intruder in the cell though, so I moved him down here to where the guards wouldn’t be able to steal my haul.” “…Wait, huh?” What this pony said made sense, but didn’t quite fit with what she said earlier. “So, what’re you in for?” Why would she say that if she was the very person who put him in here? Now that he thought about it, she never did deny that she knew why Seth was in here. The other part of what she said was insulting, saying that Seth was her “haul” and throwing him in the hay storage room like a… Wait, who would put a lock on a room that was only meant to be used to store hay? Seth, with a little bit of hope, walked over to the door and gave it a little nudge… …It opened. “Hey! Don’t run away, you’re my haul!” with that, she suddenly turned into a blur of pink and blue, and that figure didn’t clarify until her lower left hoof made contact with what would have been Seth’s face. “Ow!” Seth exclaimed. Fortunately for Seth, he was in the pose that most internet users would call a “facepalm,” so aside from his sore nose, his hand took the brunt of the damage. Better his hand than his face though. “Why would I run away from you, you’re the only person I know of who can help me!” OK, he did doubt her abilities, and with the earlier incident with Trixie, a bit weary of ponies (Trojan or not), he just wanted to stall the pony before she kicked him again. “Help you? How?” the pony appeared clueless, even though she had stated the reason that Seth was stalling with only a short while ago. “Look, I have no idea how you could do this without being a unicorn, but you claimed that you could close the portal to the human world. If you can do that, then I know that you’d be able to help me.” “Oh, yeah. That!” the pony suddenly realized. “Yes, I can help you, but I need to get something in my room in the east of the Canterlot Palace in order to close it.” “Where are we now?” “We’re in the hay room, you silly.” The pony stated again. “No, I mean to ask ‘where is the hay room located in the palace?’ you silly.” Seth added the “you silly” on for good measure, even though he really had no reason to. “Oh, it’s right below the grand hall. We can’t go in there now though; a bunch of human prisoners that the guard caught in the archives will be standing trial before Princess Twilight later this evening.” Wait, that his squad-mates were about to stand trial? He needed to rescue them, but this pony offered him help with his mission. Should he go with this pony to close the portal, likely leaving his squad mates behind? At first, he thought the answer was obvious. This pony could be tricking him like Trixie. After some further thought though, he ruled out the idea of a trick. After all, what motive would this pony have? He’s already been locked up, and he could hardly give out much information: he just joined the group and didn’t know anything about the human’s plans (except that they had none). The only remaining motive would be to humiliate him, but with the war going on, time spent humiliating him would be wasted time. Either way, Shining Armor would be attacking the human army soon, so Seth had to make a decision, and fast. “Oh, by the way, I never got your name…” Seth asked one last question before he decided. Now, in an extremely cheery voice that Seth was not able to associate with any other living creature he had ever met before, the pony lifted its front hooves high in the air and spoke from the top of her lungs: “Pinkie Pie’s the name, and partying’s my game!” Author's Note Pinkie Pie: Breaking into fanfiction all over the place. I wonder if Seth can use her to his advantage before she shatters the fourth wall into irreplaceable shards.
Chapter 8: KatiebabyDistractions “Partying? No, I don’t have time to think about that right now.” thought Seth. He had to move fast, or his squad could be killed. He looked around the storage room and saw a pitchfork. This will have to do, he thought picking it up. “What ‘cha doing?” said Pinkie Pie. Darn, he had forgotten about her. Then again maybe he could use her not only to close the portal, but as a distraction. “Nothing, I have a favor to ask of you,” Seth said. “Sure! Ask away!” She replied, still twirling the key. “I need you to cause a distraction in the court, and then meet my squad on the front promenade. Okay?” “Fine by me! It sounds really fun too!” She looked at Seth confused, “Wait, what’s a distraction?” “There’s no time for this!” Seth thought, then he remembered something. “Think of it like this: You need to go into the court and try really, really hard to get them to throw a party right now.” He felt like he was speaking to a child “Bloody hell. She acts just like one.” “Oh! I know what to do! I can put on a fireworks show! And it will all be pretty!” Pinkie Pie squealed. “Do you even know how to set fireworks up?” Seth asked. “Yeah, yeah! Of course I do! I will have pink, blue, red, orange, and all sorts of colors!” “All right but once you make them go off, then grab my team and bring them to the promenade! ok?” “Okay! I can do that!” “Alright then,” Seth thought. The last thing to do was get to the court without being caught. He gripped the pitchfork tightly. He knew now more than ever, he had to move fast or Shining Armor would attack, pushing the humans back even farther. If that happened, the EQD would be dissolved, and maybe even killed! “Alright. Go ahead and get going, and set the fireworks off at-” He trailed off looking at his watch: 1:30. “-2:30 then bring them to the spot.” With that he was off without another word. He had one hour: one hour to get his team, and one hour to save the EQD. Seth sighed deeply, trying to remember the name of the princess that died. His face scrunched up in annoyance. “Why can’t I remember?” He froze hearing hooves, and cursed at himself for being so stupid. He put his back to the corner and watched the one guard canter past. Seth silently walked behind him, and with a quick lunge he stabbed the pitch fork through the guard’s neck. The unicorn tensed up, as if to recoil, but fell sideways to the floor. Blood ran over the stones. Seth pulled the pitch fork out and took the guard’s spear in his other hand. He checked his watch again: 2:00. “Shit!” he though. He had to move faster in order to scout out an escape route. Seth snuck through the palace, picturing a method of escape for his team and reached the Promenade at 2:15 “Okay.” he thought, sighing in relief and hiding in some bushes in the garden. For some reason no guards were present. “Huh, they must be guarding the court. Let’s just hope they don’t find the body of the-” “There’s an intruder! Find and kill them!” The shouts of guards echoed in the distance. “Speak of the devil.” thought Seth. He glanced at his watch and frowned. It was now 5 minutes after the appointed time. “Oh well,” he thought. “I shouldn’t have trusted that pony.” Two guards galloped into the gardens and split up to scour the area. “I can take them by surprise.” He picked up the spear nestled in the bushes and hurled it like a javelin at one of the ponies. He crumpled to the ground, emitting a sharp cry. Seth hit the ground again and waited. The other pony ran over to check on him, and Seth threw the pitch fork, hitting the second unicorn in the side. Seth watched a small grin on his face -- which he didn’t realize was there -- as both ponies slumped over and bled out. He checked his watch again. “Shit! Where is that pony!” He cursed to himself silently He knew that he shouldn’t of trusted her! Too much time had been wasted, and his team probably compromised. “The other guards should be coming soon.” thought Seth with a low sigh. He quickly darted out and grabbed the guard’s spears. Then he realized standing there that he didn’t even know if Pinkie Pie had a watch! He cursed to himself and darted across the garden to the palace walls, and tried to remember which princess died again. He just couldn’t remember that detail! He sighed, and looked at the palace, knowing that by now his friends were dead, Shining Armor was about to attack, and all of humanity would be subdued in a week’s time at the most. He used magic to aid himself in scaling the wall, and looked back at the palace. He knew that, for his comrades’ sake, he needed to end this war somehow. Suddenly right when he looked away he heard an explosion, and when he turned back, he saw the palace go up in flames as one lone pink streak darted over the palace. He grimaced as the rotten smell of burning flesh hit his nose, and he doubled over barfing up his food. He wiped his mouth looking at the sad sight of the palace. “Quite a distraction.” he thought. I should have known that Pinkie Pie couldn’t have set up fireworks. He turned away and went down the wall. He needed to stop this war somehow, in any way possible. The war had to end! Author's Note And so things turn dark as Seth has to fight his way out of the castle. Can he make it out alive?
Chapter 9: TrybienShowdown What is life? Why do we fight? Harmony… why must it be tarnished. This war was becoming to much for Seth to handle. There seemed to be no hope anymore. It seemed impossible to win. He saw his own men die. His closest friends having their last glimmers of light fade from their eyes fell before him. Tears rained from the his eyes. What had he gotten himself into. It felt just like yesterday he was streaming through his emails ready to post the next big thing on EQD. “No. This is not the time to cry.” Seth whispered to himself while wiping his tears with his blood soaked hands. “Faust… please… help me do what‘s right.” Seth took a deep breath after his prayer and took a step forward. Out of the rubble walked Shining armor shrouded in a pink shield followed by some others. It was one against 10, and the odds were not against him. Despite Seth’s fear, he knew he had his loved ones backing him. “You. Why don’t you just surrender now?” Seth ignored the question. He knew that just talking was not going to go anywhere. He still did not have an answer truly for himself anyways. Sure there was some superficial reasons, but none deep in his heart… All he knew was that the fighting had to end. “This war has been decided, so I’ll ask again, why do you fight.” “My reasons are not of your concern. I only wish for the fighting to stop.” “Before this war, you would’ve made a great friend; however, I must not forgive you humans for the loss of my loved ones.” “Hypocrite.” At that point, Seth knew that their was no getting through to Shining Armor. Picking up the Spear, Seth didn’t think he was getting out of this battle alive. In fact, fighting a horde of soldiers whilst using a spear was very impractical, but it is all he had. The only option was to go straight for the leader and take him out. That was the only sure fire way to end the war. Seth rushed towards the guards ready to strike, the first wave came to intercept, but Seth sliced the neck of the one open and spear the second between the eyes. Red mist squirted from the to as they fell and the rest came for him. Vastly outnumbered, Seth assessed the situation to figure his best route to get to Shining Armor. As he prepared his counter attack, a rocket came flying by and exploded right on the guards causing them to be thrown back. Unable to tell if they where alive or not, Seth still thanked the heavens for that miracle. Shining Armor was shocked and outraged. “My men, I demand to know who is responsible for this!” The pink pony pranced past not really paying mind to the mess made. “Whoops, seems like a stray firework came over this way! My bad! Hey! Its you again! Ooh, you shoulda sooooooooo been at that distraction party! It was a real blast!” “I… uh… see…” Seth replied still shaken from the explosion. “Pinkie! What are you doing! First you damage my unit then socialize with that filth!” “Filth? He’s not that dirty. He does smell though… Hey didya put any deodorant on this morning?” “I’ll give you one warning. Step aside from the enemy, or I’ll have to consider you a traitor.” Pinkie turned towards Shining Armor with a question mark on her face. “Enemy? I don’t have any enemies! Everyone’s my friend.” “I see. You still support him even though he killed…” Shining was cut off as Pinkie interrupted him. “And you haven’t killed people near and dear to him!? That’s not fair! Maybe you should both apologies and…” Before she could finish, blood spattered every. Shining had picked up many spears with his magic and impaled Pinkies torso. She stood there for a bit still alive for a few seconds. “end this war…” The pink pony fell over still with the spears inside. Her final tears dried on her face as she laid there. Seth was shocked. The one he attributed as an ignorant child had just died in front of him. “I’m sorry for dragging you into this… I will not let your death be in vain.” Seth had enough. He clearly could see that Shining Armor, despite who he was before, was clearly no more than a tyrant willing to kill even his own friends to win a war. This war was going to end no later than now. Seth readied the spear and prepared to attack Shining. He was not going to die first, the human rose above any fears he previously had. This war was his to win and harmony would be restored. He ran towards Shining Armor and felt a sharp pain through his stomach. At the same time, he felt blood splash against his face from in front of him. The victor was decided. Author's Note Who lived? Who died? Tune in to the next chapter for the exciting conclusion!
Chapter 10: FriBriThe Final Battle Shining Armor smiled. He just orchestrated the death of one of his last foes without ever putting himself in danger. The whole event, the showdown with Seth, everything was just smoke and mirrors. Sure, some of his men died, but drafties are expendable. He needed to take the next step now. He called on his messenger, and sent him to gather the heads of power. As the messenger scurried off, he leaned back, and took a nap. After all, he deserved it, right? FOUR DAYS LATER The leaders of Equestria were circled around a table adorned with maps. The royalty studied them closely. The enemy troop movements looked promising, with the humans falling back. Shining Armor looked up from the maps. The others caught this movement, and looked up as well. Shining spoke. Judging by the reactions of the others, it was apparently good news. The observers at the FOB (Forward operating base) couldn’t make out the words. The Modified SR-71 “Blackbird”, flying high, with its new real-time zooming camera can’t get audio or make out the map markings. What the generals could get out of this pass was that the ponies aren’t ready for the next step. The forward recon may be gone, but the Humans weren’t out. HUMAN STAGING AREA Colonel Alex Harper was in his command tent, looking at the most recent troop movements on the projector. From what intel could report, the ponies were falling right into their trap. The troops were pulling back, and setting up in defensive posts. The ponies, unskilled in ranged combat, couldn’t see the trap in the way the troops were arraying themselves, and they were oblivious of the arty pieces. Their Pegasus corps tried to recon them, but they were no match for 7.62mm SAW fire. They simply can’t fly high enough. Jack was pleased at the progress of step two of their ruse, the arrival of new units. The forward recon groups packed light, and couldn’t withstand the numbers. The new troops are arriving with IFV’s, tanks, and the Marine’s new F-35b, a VTSOL. (Vertical takeoff and short landing) when the ponies get caught in the crossfire and routed, the humans can now chase them to their homes. HUMAN DEFENSIVE LINES The troops stood ready. In their thoughts of victory, the ponies rushed to pursue them. This brought them into a line of angled trenches and foxholes. “Cold night” the private said, walking up to his friend. “Really is” He replied. They stood there in silence, waiting for the enemy to rise over the foothills. They both knew it was the start of something big. Even if they have no guns, or thumbs for that matter, an occupation is a difficult thing. The two comrades climbed back into their trench, checked their mags, and settled in for a long night of fighting and chasing. PONY FORCES At the head of the army, Shining Armor led in the way of most generals leading spear armed men. He was blindly confident, believing the loss of the forward units would scatter them. He had quite a surprise when bombs blew against the shield they had erected. “They’re close” He muttered under his breath. He turned to the army. “Tonight, we wipe the humans off our land!” His voice echoed throughout the hills, as he spoke to the army. “Tonight, we prove our might. We have already broken them, and we now just need to wipe their presence off our country. Come, friends, we go to war!” As they marched up the final set of hills, the ponies laid eyes on the trench lines. As the first ranks broke the crest of the hills, the shield was peppered by rounds. It was a large surprise to them, seeing the humans lay traps. But they were safe from the bullet storm behind their shield. They continued to march. “Shit.” One of the two privates uttered when he saw the tracers bouncing off, what seemed to be the air. He turned and looked behind him, where his friend sat. He yelled at him to come down, and he did. They both witnessed the rounds failure to do, well, anything. They were not alone. Men were looking up the hills to the command tent as a colonel walked down from them. He grabbed a loudspeaker, and yelled one order to his men “FIX BAYONETS” Even in the 21st century, bayonets are issued, mainly as multipurpose tools. They still, however, fit on the M-16’s and M’4s. All the marines rustled through their packs, fishing for their knives. The sound of clicking metal filled the air, as the knives are added to the weapons. The colonel, Alex Harper, scoped again “When you get inside their shield, open fire. But prepare for the melee!” The marines slumped up against the trench wall, pointing the now spear like rifles towards the enemy. Pikes in trenches have always been a surefire way to stop horses, and now they have guns. Albeit, only at short range. “AHHHHH” He shot upright, his gut blazing like hell, and realized he was alive. But Seth knew he had work to do. He would later learn that a Retreating HMMWV found him, and med evac’d him. He bolted out of his bed, doubling over at the pain in his gut. He tied his boots, grabbing a shirt, rifle, and knife on the way out of the base. He was heading to the front to finish this. The ponies charged. Cavalry charges had been a way to instill fear for years upon years, but the marines remained un-phased. The two forces met and intense fighting erupted. The brass watching the fight from drones couldn’t tell which way it was going. Ponies and people were in each other ranks, and general chaos reigned. Seth…. Seth “found” a HMMWV and was racing to the fronts. He could hear the battle for miles. His only hope was that he wasn’t too late. He found out he wasn’t. He came over a hill, and laid his eyes on the raging fight. He got into the turret, and using field glasses, he spotted Shining. He jumped back to the driver seat, and floored it in anger. He hit a hill just a bit fast, and the HMMWV jumped, landing not ten feet from Shining. Seth climbed out, clutching the rifle and gritting his teeth. His and Shining’s eyes met, and Seth unloaded the magazine into him. He watched the body spasm, and fall. He then felt a blinding pain in his head and fell. When they found Seth, he was deemed very, very dead. Someone threw a spear into his shoulder, and he bleed out there, beside his mortal enemy, in the midst of combat. In the history books, the battle was deemed a draw. With the loss of their unicorns sustaining the shield, they were bombarded by 16 inch guns from offshore. The Humans took many losses, however. When the human reinforcements arrived, they were able to push through the countryside, and take the land. In the way Americans do, they instilled a leader, and the country of Equestria became a American territory. Years later, there may be a revolution. That doesn’t matter, however. What does matter is that this story of Seth, the EQD, and war has come to a close. Author's Note It's clear that FriBri loves his guns. This is certainly an interesting conclusion, and I never saw it coming. Thanks for reading, and please feel free to leave a comment if you want.
