Apocalyptic Beauty

“Let me kill him!”

“No, you idiot!”

“Pierce’s gonna kill US if we do anything!”

These were the three things I could hear amongst the roaring and shouting. I slowly opened my eyes, and my immediate thoughts were; first that it was suddenly night, and second, that I was in some sort of super-prison. There was even more black on the inside than the outside. Chain-link fences covered the area, with two noticeable lines of fences forming a path down the centre of the area, and a neatly painted white arrow on the ground, pointing forwards. All around me, changelings were climbing the fences, and shouting things that were incomprehensible, as all of the changelings were shouting different things at the same time.

Immediately afterwards, I noticed. “Flutters,” I whispered to myself. She was missing. I ran around frantically, seriously worried for her. She wouldn’t last a second on her own in this place, and I knew it. However, after about a minute of searching, I was forcibly stopped by an overpoweringly loud ringing sound. I could tell I wasn’t the only one who could hear it, as many changelings covered their ears with a look of anguish on their faces. After that, I heard a voice.

“Is… Is this thing on? Yeah? Blasted magic… Nevertheless, hello, Silent! In case you hadn’t noticed, you’re in my domain now! Domain, ha! What a funny word. Now, back on topic. When you’re in MY domain, you follow MY rules! Let’s go over them now,” A ruffling noise could be heard, “Ahem! Rule numero uno! That’s one… Anyway, rule number one. No ‘fwiendships’! That’s an important one. Rule two! Uh… I got nothing. I guess the only rule is for no friendships. Now, you probably wanna kick my flank for bringing you in here. Well, first you gotta find me! Remember what I told you before? Te theatre, Silent! No big problem, right? Well, here’s a problem! You’re stuck in this section! Ha. Now, don’t worry, I’m not that harsh. There IS a way out… but that’s for you to do. So for now, he he he, Byeeeeeee!” After that, silence. I sighed. Let’s get this over with, then, I thought, and I proceeded to follow a path of arrows, lined by the chain-link fences, and I could hear multiple phrases shouted by the changelings.

“You’re gonna die here tonight,” I heard one of them shout.

“I still don’t get why we can’t kill ‘im,” Another shouted.

“The boss wants him ALIVE, dip-shit,” A third shouted.

I felt alone. Alienated. Like seven years ago… Then I realised. This place is almost exactly like that alleyway… I shook my head. No… That time has passed. But no matter how much I tried, I couldn’t ignore it. Just like that alleyway, Armadia was covered in graffiti, unrealistically dark, and overrun with crime. Walking down this seemingly endless path, I quietly sobbed. I didn’t think it would come to this. I hung my head and noticed that my hooves were cuffed together. I felt like I had committed a horrible crime. I felt… dead. More than dead. Like my own body was nothing more than a pile of dust. Why, though? Why do I feel so dead, yet so calm? As I was contemplating this, I had reached the end of the path. The changeling numbers dwindled, as bigger and bulkier changeling guards had sent them away. Then I saw him.

“Discord,” I snarled. His disarrayed body casually strutted towards me as he chuckled.

“Surprised to see me,” He grinned, “Aren’t you?”

I took a deep breath and went into a state of calm. “Yes, actually,” I replied politely, “A locked down place like this doesn’t seem very… fitting, for a being as, how you say, free as yourself.”

He gave me a stern look. He snapped his fingers, spawning a pair of sunglasses out of thin air, putting them on, only to instantly take them off again. “Look, Silent,” He said in a more serious tone as he loosely wrapped himself around me, “Put this into your own perspective. Where would you rather be, in this insane asylum,” He nudged me with his elbow and gestured towards his changeling henchmen, “Or encased in stone, unable to move any one of your limbs?” As he said this, he visually represented himself turning to stone, before immediately breaking out.

He laughed childishly. “Sorry I’ve got to do this, Silent, but we all need to get out of here. And the only way to do that,” He slithered a few feet away before sending his henchmen to attack me, “Is to take you to Piercing. Preferably unconscious.” He laughed as he continued his casual strut while walking away. I’m not going to screw around, I thought as I ran towards him, pulled my hoof cuffs on one of his horns (breaking both the horn and the cuffs in the process), and proceeded to grab his wrist and twist it violently. His shrieks of pain rung through my ears. “I think,” he screamed, “I think he’s broken my Celestia-damned claw!” He kept shouting this and he swiftly flew through the gates, leaving me to deal with his henchmen.

I ran at the first of the six, punching it and spinning to kick him with my hind legs, sending him flying into a fence. Changelings screamed, booed, and some even cheered. Somehow, I noticed two more changelings running towards me. My physical training in the Everfree seemed to kick in here, as I grabbed both of their heads, using them as a base to back flip over them before slamming the heads together, knocking them out cold.

“I don’t have time for this,” I muttered as I leapt up a nearby building, high enough so that no changelings would be able to get to me without being spotted by a guard, who would shoot them down instantly. Climbing to the rooftop, I looked around to get a feel for the area. Canterlot had been ruined more than I had previously thought. Buildings had collapsed. Broken windows covered the buildings. It was very depressing, almost as if this place gave the message: ALL HOPE IS LOST. And that’s exactly how I felt. I growled. Finding AJ and Flutters are my most important tasks. Stick to them, Silent. I then remembered. My only lead is the theatre. That’s where the princesses are. They might know where AJ and Flutters are… I surveyed the area, moving from rooftop to rooftop. After a measly five minutes, I found the theatre. Brushing my muzzle, I muttered, “Let’s kick some flank.”

Leaping down from the rooftop, I barged into the theatre, to find Flutters on the stage, along with a menacing-looking stallion. He had a dark coat with a slick red mane. That would be normal enough, except for the fact that his body was full of holes. Not holes that one would find on a changeling, more, holes from something else. Something gave him those holes. He had a wicked grin on his face, and he was covered in cuts and bruises, as if e’d been in a fight of some sort. Upon noticing me, he held a knife to Flutters’ throat. “Uh, uh, uh, Silent,” he taunted, “You’d better not move. That is, if you don’t want the stage to weep red tears tonight, hee hee hee!”

“That laugh…” I gasped. “You’re the one that told me to come here!”

“Ha, ha, that’s right, Silent! I’m surprised, actually, that it took you this long to figure it out!” He then laughed even harder.

“Flutters. NOW. Or else,” I growled, scraping my hoof against the cold, wooden floor, “I can promise you, PAIN WITHOUT END.”

He just stood there, laughing. “But of course, Silent! I’m not a monster, after all,” He said, smiling, as he calmly let Flutters go, “But I’m not giving up the princesses without a fight!” And with that, he leapt down, spun around, and vanished with a puff of smoke.

Once the smoke had disappeared, Flutters ran towards me at an alarming pace. “S-Silent,” she sobbed, “I… I was so scared! He… he was going to kill me, Silent! I could’ve…” Before she could finish her sentence, she burst into tears.

I put a fore hoof around her. “You could’ve… but you didn’t, right? I mean-” I smiled, “-If anypony tries to hurt you, I’ll be there for you. Don’t you worry. I’d never leave a friend hanging, regardless of who they are.”

This seemed to cheer her up, as after hearing this, she slowly stopped crying. “So,” she whispered, “What happens now?”

“Now?” I chuckled. “Let’s go play detective.” And with that, I began another investigation. My first step was to look around the stage. I needed to find a trace of either this mysterious holed stallion, or the princesses. Combing the stage, I noticed a small patch of blood. “Hey, look at this,” I called out.

Flutters, looking paler than ever, leaped down from the balcony she had been searching, and began slowly walking over to me. I gestured towards the blood, and we took a closer look, Flutters gagging slightly. She clearly didn’t like the look of blood.

If the blood was regular, I would’ve dismissed it as nothing important. But it wasn’t regular. It was dark green, bubbling irregularly and occasionally even moving. “Flutters,” I said to the pale mare, “I think we’ve found our changeling leader.”

Changeling? He wasn’t a changeling,” Flutters said, shaking her head, “Despite the holes, he felt… different. I’ve been captured by changelings before, and they had a certain presence to them… It’s hard to explain, but even when they were disguised, they had the same presence. He’s not a changeling.” She sighed.

“Well,” I sighed as well, “There’s one theory out of the window. Any other ideas as to who’s blood it is?”

“No,” she said, continuing to stare at the bloodstain, “None of my animals have any blood similar to it.” She shivered when she said the word, ‘blood’, almost as if it was a sin to say it.

“Damn… and I couldn’t find the princesses, either…” I growled at myself, almost ashamed that I couldn’t find anything else.

“Silent,” Flutters said in her usual quiet tone, “I think I may know where Applejack and the others are…”

“Do you,” I said, immediately brightening up, “Because if you do, that would be amazing!”

“I think,” she said, speaking louder, now that she knew I wouldn’t be mad at her for not telling me sooner, “That when I was taken here, I overheard a few of the changelings mentioning someone called ‘Burn’ had taken them away…”

“Burn… Sounds like somepony who deals in… Oh no. Oh, CRAP,” I shouted.

“W-what’s wrong?” Flutters asked, clearly taken aback.

I had to spell it out for her. “What word comes to mind when you think of the word, ‘burn’?” I said, stressed.

“Um… Fire?” Flutters asked, getting more confused by the second.

“Exactly. Flutters,” I said, sighing, “I need you to hide. Anywhere is good. Just make sure they don’t find you. I’ll be back later.”

“Where are you going?” Flutters asked with a cold look of fear in her eyes.

“The others are in danger. A LOT of danger. I need to move. Now.” I gave her a worried look.

She sighed. “Okay,” she whispered, “I’ll hide…” And with that, she ran off.

I knew that time was running out. I ran out of the theatre and climbed back to the rooftops. I needed to know the hottest place in Armadia. That would most likely be a place where this ‘Burn’ pony would be. But upon investigation, I learned that most of Armadia is around the same temperature: ice cold. This called for reconnaissance. Grabbing on to the ledge of a nearby rooftop, I could see two changeling guards muttering to each other.

“I wish they’d at least give us some coats,” The first sighed.

“Tell me about it. I’m freezing my flank off over here,” The second growled.

“I’m thinkin’ of joining Burn. At least it’s warmer there,” The first said, shivering.

“What’re you talking about, ‘joining ponies’?” The second asked.

“Gah, keep with the times,” the first said, annoyed. He sighed. “Look, there’s a sorta three-way war goin’ on here. With me so far? Good. There’s Pierce, the crazy guy with the holes,” -I made a note that the mysterious stallion I met is called ‘Pierce’- “Okay, so what he wants is total freedom in Equestria. Yeah, who woulda thunk it? The crazy guy, despite bein’, well, crazy, is actually workin’ for the better of us! He has a pretty big following, but nothin’ to write home about. He’s the guy we follow right now.

“Alright, next is Burn. He’s a pyro. Obviously. But whatcha probably didn’t know, is that he’s also great with machines. I think I heard someone say his full name is Burning Gear… Anyway, what he wants is robots pretty much bein’ our slaves. Doin’ our chores, bein’ our bodyguards, everything, even the kitchen sink!” He laughed. “He’s got the smallest followin’, but it’s still pretty big.

“Finally, there’s the big guy in charge. Dead Ringer. He wants to be the ruler of everythin’. He has connections. Connections that forced ponies to join his cause. Connections that pushed him to the top. His following’s HUGE. He’s probably gonna win this war. Also, see that huge tower over there?” He gestured towards Canterlot Castle.

“You mean Canterlot Castle?” The second guard asked.

“Yeah. That’s his base a’ operations. He was the one who took over.” The first guard shrugged. “I dunno though. No one really likes this guy. In my eyes, this war’s anyone’s game.”

The second guard looked excited. “Cool, I wanna join Burn! Robot slaves, whoo! That’s what I want! Where do I go to sign up?”

The first smiled. “Down to the old CPD building.”

“Uh… CPD?” The second asked, confused.

“Canterlot Police Department,” The first explained, “He’s using one of the forensic labs there. Go check him out if you’re interested.”

Now I knew my next destination.