Apocalyptic Beauty

“The CPD Building… He’s using one of the forensic labs? Interesting…”

The pieces were in place, and my plan was simple. Run in, wreck this pyro up, leave. It’s simple, but it should work.

I didn’t want these guards to notice me leaping around, so I snuck up behind them and smashed their heads together, knocking them out cold, muttering, “Sorry, guys, but I’m a… better-safe-than-sorry type of pony, you know?”

It took me a full hour to find the building; despite being a police department, it blended in well with the buildings surrounding it. It was a run-down looking place, and it looked like a museum with a generic police badge fastened to the front. Columns were cracked all over, as if they were about to collapse. The building had flags all over it, with a strange image of a wrench crossing a lit match on a fiery background. This was all on a raised platform, almost like a pier, only it was nowhere near the ocean (May I remind you that this is Canterlot) and it was made of stone. On the ground below was an area where a small building stood, with a cheap, wooden sign saying, ‘DELIVERIES’ hanging on the front.

There lay yet another obstacle waiting for me… getting inside. Surveying the area, I noticed a small group of changelings trying to open a door on the building on the lower area. This meant that I had two choices: Beat up these guys and open the door myself, or leave them be and try to find another way in.

I decide to at least listen to what they had to say. Who knows, maybe I’ll get some more info. I leapt down to the higher platform, balancing on the railing, and listened.

“Hurry up, man, I’m freezing over here,” One said, clearly angry at his colleagues.

“I’m tryin’, man, I’m tryin’,” Another shouted, also angry.

“I’m sorry, but why can’t we just use the front door? It’s easier,” A third asked maturely.

The first replied with, “Because we DON’T want Burn to know we’re here, do we?”

The second, taking a break, asked, “So, why are we here?”

“Because-- uh, good question,” the first replied.

Clearly, I wasn’t getting any information out of these idiots, so I went around to the back. There, it was obvious that an explosion had torn through the wall, which made me wonder why those changelings hadn’t just gone through here. Brushing it off as simple incompetence, I jumped through the hole left by the wall and ended up inside.

Before I could get my bearings, I heard maniacal laughter ringing through the halls. Looking around, I saw a faint, flickering light coming from one direction. I remembered that this ‘Burning Gear’ pony was a pyro, so I headed down that hall. As I ran down the narrow corridor at full speed, I noticed graffiti plastered all over the walls reading things like, ‘Recruits this way’ and ‘Fire will tear Equestria to shreds’. I couldn’t investigate now, though; my friends were in danger.

Eventually I got to the entrance to the room where Burn supposedly was, blocked off by a wire fence. Inside, the huge room was full to the brim with changelings, with an atmosphere like a gladiator pit. They were shouting inaudible things at a raised platform, where, shortly afterwards, a single unicorn emerged. He had a pale orange coat with a mane similar to that of my own, and his face was obscured by a gas mask. On his flank was a wrench crossing a lit match.

“That must be him. Burning Gear,” I muttered gruffly.

Just then, he started talking. However, the gas mask muffled his words, so all I could hear was, “Mmmphmmmphmphmphmmph!” Strangely enough, everypony there could seemingly understand him perfectly, as they all started cheering. Burn raised a hoof for silence, before gently nodding towards an Equestrian flag that had been lowered from the ceiling. Suddenly, a furious stream of fire shot out of his horn and incinerated the flag until it was nothing but ashes. The pit erupted in cheers, though the one thing I could clearly hear was Burn’s sadistic, muffled laughter: “Mmphmmhmmhmmhmmph!”

Not caring for this, I looked around the hallway I was in for a way past the fence. After about thirty seconds of searching, I looked up and noticed an air vent leading directly to the platform Burn was standing on. “Perfect,” I smirked, before leaping up and entering the vent. Crawling through this seemingly endless vent made me feel incredibly claustrophobic, but after a few minutes, I saw the exit, right behind Burn, with the only thing separating me from him being an iron grate. “What luck,” I muttered, as I placed my hind leg in prime kicking position, and slowly forced the grate opened, and, after one last kick, sent it flying into the back of Burn’s head.

This clearly caught him off guard, as he lost his balance and, quite comically, fell into the crowd below. Laughing, I crawled out and shouted kindly to the crowd, “Good day to you all. Alright, I’m just going to get straight to the point. I’m not here to hurt anyone, I’m not on anyone’s side, I just want to find my friends and get out of here, reasonably unharmed. Okay?” This clearly didn’t work as well as I’d hoped, as when I had finished, a group of changelings flew up to me and proceeded to beat the ever living crap out of me, once again knocking me unconscious…

I woke up in a confined room. Stone cold, it felt like a rotting prison cell. As I tried to get up, I started getting a headache; A high-pitched noise rang through my ears, and my brain felt like it was going to split open. Slowly, after the ringing faded, a calm voice emerged. Discord. Bloody Discord. Of all the ponies it could be, it had to be Discord. Luckily, he wasn’t here to hurt me. Instead, he gave me a calm look.

“Don’t say anything. I know why you’re here,” he said, motioning a claw for silence.

“Yes, but why are you here?” I asked, genuinely confused as to why he was here.

Discord sighed. “My henchmen,” he grumbled, “They turned against me when they were promised a large reward for my capture…” he shook his head, “But that’s not important. I need your help.”

I chuckled. “Look, everypony! Discord needs my help! What should I do,” I asked sarcastically, before suddenly snapping back to being serious. “Look, Discord. There’s been many a time when you’ve tried to kill me. Why in Equestria would I suddenly decide to help you, which would most likely end with one or both of our deaths,” I asked, slowly getting more and more angry.

Discord, keeping his cool, replied, “Because we both want the same thing. Revenge. You like revenge, right? Everypony likes revenge. And with your help, we can go get some.” He then smirked darkly.

I stopped for a moment, weighing up the situation in my mind. The dark room was silent, save for the occasional drip of water. I had two options; go with Discord, get ‘revenge’ on Burn, get the chance to save my friends (Who, at this point, I was wondering if they were even still alive), and possibly get myself killed in the process, or rot for eternity in this room, wherever the hell it was… My choice was obvious. With a sigh, I nodded. “I’m in,” I smiled.

The plan was simple. Step one, escape this place. Step two, attack Burn until he tells us where the others are. Step three, find the others, and, if necessary, rescue them. Step four, profit. Unfortunately, there was one problem: “How we are going to escape this place,” I said bluntly.

Discord smirked. “I already have that sorted,” He said smugly, before snapping his fingers simply teleporting us outside.

“Why didn’t I think of that,” I sighed.

Discord laughed. “Sometimes,” He said cheerfully, “The best option to take is usually the easiest one.” He sighed. “And you know what? Capturing you, is hard. So you know what? You win. Now, let’s go.”

And off we ran, back down the dark hallways, through the gates, and back to the pit. As we burst in, I gasped. Tied up, AJ and River were being pushed by a group of changelings towards an incinerator. Luckily, they were immediately stopped as we had apparently interrupted a ritual of some sort.

Spitting on the ground, I muttered, “Bring it on, you pansies.” At that moment, every changeling in the room charged for me and Discord. More prepared this time, we immediately dodged and headed for AJ and River. Untying them, the four of us then headed for the army of changelings about to attack us. The brawl that ensued lasted for what felt like an eternity. River and I went for one part, with Discord and AJ taking another. Every blow felt like I was hitting steel, and I could see that River felt the same. I could have given up right there, and that actually seemed like a good idea, but I persevered, and one by one, the changelings fell, unconscious. Eventually, with our combined efforts, we managed to knock them all out.

Breathing heavily, I then looked up and noticed that Burn was still standing. He was badly injured, however, as Discord had unleashed his full power on him. With the last of his energy, he aimed his horn at me, and let loose an narrow stream of fire. The result was searing pain, as if a claw had reached into my head and pulled me apart. This lasted for a surprisingly short time, before I once more fell into the depths of darkness.