Apocalyptic Beauty

by SilentHuntsman

Rating: teen
Tags: Adventure
Length: 10364

"How do you hide a plan of apocalyptic measures from everypony in Equestria? Easy. You stick right in front of them. Right in front of their long pointy muzzles..."

Silent Huntsman is a stallion who is just settling in to a new life, away from the Everfree Forest. With a quick mind and brute strength, he is well appreciated as a great pony. However, when an anonymous letter stating that the changelings will sneak in to the festival celebrating the start of cider season, Silent is hired as security. But, you can never trust an anonymous letter…

DISCLAIMER: River Rhyme created by tommyoliverwrites. Go check out his stories. ^_^

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2013-11-26 20:17:36 UTC

Beginning

I had no idea what to expect.

My name is Silent Huntsman. For the past seven years, I’ve lived in the Everfree Forest and isolated myself from the outside world. Why? It’s simple. Okay, it’s not.

Seven years ago, my name wasn’t Silent Huntsman. It was Quill Feather. I had a pretty good life. Born and raised in a fairly wealthy family, I wanted to grow up to be like my father, a writer. But one day, everything changed.

My parents and I were trotting home from the local market, bags in tow, when we tried hailing a taxi to get us home. Unfortunately, we couldn’t get one, so we tried walking instead. My father, adamant that he knew where he was going, brought us to a dark and secluded alley. Then, out of nowhere, a dark unicorn with a red mane leapt from the shadows. He laughed menacingly and said, “I know you’re wealthy. Give me your money,” -he grabbed me by the neck- “And the kid goes. I’d hate for anything to happen to him,” He smiled darkly.

“Fine! I’ll give you my money. Just let Quill go!” My father cried.

“Of course. I’m not a monster. But now, you uphold your end of the deal.” The strange unicorn smiled and edged towards my parents, brandishing a knife. I was a coward. I couldn’t help my parents… I ran. After reaching about fifty feet away, a heard an ear-splitting scream.

After that incident, I couldn’t forgive myself. I couldn’t face the world. Depression grew over me. I wanted to become stronger, make myself tougher. So I isolated myself in the one place nopony dare visit. The Everfree Forest. I vowed that once I had become strong enough, I would avenge my parents’ death, or die trying.

I hunted at night, using a homemade bow and arrows. I wanted to leave the past behind, so I took on a new name, Silent Huntsman. I trained myself to both a physical and mental peak. Being stopped from any social contact changed me. My coat’s colour turned from white to a teal colour, either as a result of the forest’s strange workings, or as an adaptation. I also lost access to many emotions, including jealousy, excitement, and possibly the most important, love.

But that was about to change.

Six years later, I woke up from my depression. I realised isolation wouldn’t bring my parents back. Nothing would. So I decided I was finally ready to show myself to the world. But it was hard, and something was stopping me. I can’t quite put my hoof on it, but something stopped me from leaving the forest. Only after another year did I finally work up the courage to leave.

Taking a deep breath, I leapt from the trees I rested in and found myself on a dirt path. Unfortunately, there happened to be a young mare standing right next to me. She yelped and hid in a nearby bush. I didn’t blame her. Anypony would do the same. Looking at me, she slowly emerged, and I could see her in all of her beauty. A pale yellow coat with a similarly pale pink mane, and on her flank, three butterflies. Not to say that I liked her or anything like that! I’d only just met her… ‘First impressions are everything,’ I thought, so I decided to strike up a conversation. If I was going to be social, I was going to have to start somewhere. Unfortunately, I had chosen the worst place to start. The shyest mare ever.

“Good day to you, madam,” I said, trying to be as formal as possible.

I was met with nothing but silence and an attempt to avoid looking into my eyes.

“Um… would you know where I am, perchance?” I asked, feeling it odd that she wasn’t replying.

“…” More silence.

“Uh… Could I please ask your name?” I asked.

“Um… I’m Fluttershy…” she said, trying to be as quick as possible to avoid talking with me.

Deciding to be honest, I admitted, “Terribly sorry, I didn’t quite catch that.”

“I‘m Fluttershy…” Now I knew shy was avoiding contact. I persevered, hoping to get at least a name out of her. However, this continued for what felt like an eternity, until I noticed an object flying towards us.

“Look out!” I shouted as I pushed the mysterious mare aside, pulled out my bow and one arrow with my magic, quickly aimed, and shot the object, stopping it dead in its tracks. I never actually bothered to check what it was. The mare, surprisingly, wasn’t hiding like before. Instead she was staring directly at me.

“Oh, my…” She seemed to have forgotten to try to avoid contact.

“Um… you saw that?” I asked, almost feeling embarrassed.

“Yes, I did… You are… a good hoof with that bow… aren’t you?” She said, almost in awe.

“Yes, well,” I paused. What would I say? Would I admit I lived in the Everfree? Thinking that honesty would do best here, I admitted, “Seven years of living in the Everfree can do that to a stallion.”

She gasped. “You’re from the Everfree Forest!?”

“Um… Yes?” I said uneasily, wondering why she was so surprised. Then I remembered I was the only one living there.

She suddenly opened up to me. “Oh my, I… The Everfree Forest? How is it living in the Everfree? Is it scary? Are the creatures in the Everfree friendly? Mean? What about…”

“Um…” I interrupted her, immediately regretting doing so.

“Oh, I’m sorry, I must look like a very rude pony, I…” She tried apologising so many times, it made me feel worse and worse.

“No, no, I’m sure you’re a fine mare,” I said, trying to regain my formal attitude, “Look, my name is Silent Huntsman. May I ask yours?”

“Fluttershy,” she said with a smile, “It’s very nice meeting you, Silent!”

“Likewise,” I smiled back at her, “Now, I need to get a place to live. Do you know if there’s a town nearby?” I asked, as, if I wanted to live in a society, I’d need a home.

“Yes, Ponyville’s just down this path.” She raised a hoof pointing in the direction of the dirt path. And with that, I swiftly turned on the spot, and headed down the path. To my surprise, however, Fluttershy joined me.

“Excuse me,” I asked, “Is there something you wanted to add?”

“No, it’s just…You might need some help settling in, after all, and…” She quickly graced me with a quick kiss. I thought nothing of it, so I didn’t say anything.

We walked for about ten minutes before reaching a small town. It seemed like a calm place. However, those thoughts were immediately denied by a pink figure charging towards us. “Who…” I asked. Before I could get an answer though, We were bombarded with speech. “Hey, Fluttershy! Who is this guy, is he your colt-friend? Now, you know I’m only joking around, but seriously, who is this guy, and why have I never seen him before, because remember I know everypony in Ponyville so--”

“Pinkie Pie,” Fluttershy interrupted her, “This is Silent Huntsman, and he’s just moving in to Ponyville.”

“That is correct.” I added.

“That would explain why I’ve never seen him before!” Pinkie smiled. After introducing ourselves, I left for the Town Hall to organise a house for myself.

Three weeks later, I had secured myself a home. I had met a few other ponies, which is great. The first was Vinyl Scratch, less than a day after moving in. When I found out I loved music, I was recommended to a DJ known as DJ PON-3. When I located this pony’s house and entered (After a surprisingly relaxed “Come in!”), I was blasted with dubstep music. After telling her that I appreciated her music, we got into conversation, and became good friends.

A few days later, I met Applejack. After learning that the main crop grown in Ponyville was apples, I decided to pay the apple farm a visit. To my surprise, the family who ran the farm were very relaxed. She gave me an apple to munch on, and to my surprise, I seriously enjoyed it. I asked her how she grew these apples so well, and she ended up telling me a lot of the Apple family history.

Later, I met Twilight Sparkle. Even though she only visited for a day, that didn’t stop her from being incredibly interested in how I had trained myself in the Everfree Forest.

A couple of days later, I went to the Carousel Boutique out of sheer curiosity, and met its proprietor, Rarity. As she welcomed me with her business greeting, (“Welcome to the Carousel Boutique, where all of our outfits are shique, unique, and magnifique!”) she immediately gasped and shouted, “Oh, no, no, no, no, no!”

“Um, what’s wrong?” I asked, confused.

“Your look, of course! It’s so… Bland! Emotionless! Forgettable! It needs something. Something else! Something to set you apart from others-” She gasped. “-I’ve got it!” She ran upstairs, and moments later, came back down with a simple straw trilby. “Perfect! It fits you so well! Quaint, yet so practical!” she said, satisfied, as she put the hat atop my head.

“I love it,” I said, surprised at how she could make something of such high quality, “But I’m afraid I haven’t any money…”

“Oh don’t worry about that,” she said, smiling, “Money isn’t important when something like that fits so well with you! It just screams, ‘Look out world! I’m going to seize the opportunity of life, my way!’

Finally, the next day, I quite literally bumped into a group of fillies calling themselves the ‘Cutie Mark Crusaders’. I wondered what they were doing, and they replied simultaneously, “We’re gonna go get our Cutie Marks in Hang-gliding,” before running off. As they disappeared into the distance, I felt slightly worried. “They could hurt themselves!” I said to myself, before attempting to give chase, only to realise that they had disappeared.

It was night. I rested against my bed and sighed. “So,” I muttered, “What now?” I felt tired, so I attempted to get to sleep. Needless to say, I couldn’t. After a couple of hours of tossing and turning, I heard a knock on my door. “Who could be calling at this hour?” Opening the door and rubbing my eyes, I asked, “Ugh, can… Can I… help you?” Applejack was at the door. “AJ? It’s 3AM. This better be bloody important, or I’m going back to bed.”

“You bet yer sorry flank this is important!” she shouted. I could tell that she was just as tired as I was. “This is concernin' our festival startin' off cider season!”

“And this concerns me because…” I said, rotating a hoof to signify that I needed an explanation.

“We need your quick mind and brute strength,” She continued shouting.

“Why?” I asked.

“Security, ya dummy!” She lifted her hoof to her head as if it was obvious.

“You can explain inside, it’s freezing out here…” We went inside, then into my living room. We sat down on my sofa, I lit my fireplace and we continued talking, now slightly less annoyed at each other. “So,” I continued, “Why do you need me for security?”

“Ok,” she sighed, “I guess I should fill ya in. A couple days ago, we were sent an anonymous letter that them changeling folk had returned.”

“Changelings? Those things that steal ponies away, transform into exact replicas of them, enslave them and feed off of their emotions?” I asked, wanting confirmation of my definition.

“I don’t need no explanation, Silent! Now, we’ve been told that they’ll be attending the festival disguised as somepony. We don’t know who, so I’m counting on you to tell the fakers from the real ones,” she explained.

“So I’m to do this alone?” I asked, knowing that I wasn’t.

“Nah, you’ll have River Rhyme to help out.” She said, smiling calmly.

“Sounds simple enough. So, what happens when I find one of them?” I asked.

“Hold ‘em down. I’ll come and check if they’re one of ‘em,” she said, smirking, almost darkly.

“And if they are?” I needed her to confirm my thoughts.

“Throw ‘em out,” she smiled, as if this was some genius plan.

“That’s it?” I was surprised at this.

“Yup,” She said, like that was it.

“…” I couldn’t believe her plan. It was surprisingly, almost scarily, simple.

She yawned. “Welp, I’d better get back home. Festival starts at 1PM tomorrow. See ya then,” She said, waving and heading towards the door.

“Yeah, see you later…” After that, I used my magic to open the door, and she left. I stared at the door for a few seconds, lost in thought.

Changelings…

Tomorrow rolled around faster than I had hoped. Waking up later than best, I quickly woke myself up with an ice-cold water, swiped my hat and my bow and quiver of arrows from my desk, and ran out the door. I had about twenty minutes before the festival started. Luckily, it only took me ten to get to the farm where the festival was being held, so I was good for time. When I got there, to my surprise, I saw a huge crowd of about a hundred or so ponies standing outside the gates to Sweet Apple Acres, and one stallion trying to keep them out. Dark grey with a sky blue mane, I knew instantly who this was. “River Rhyme,” I smiled as I moved to help, surprisingly at a light canter, “Fancy meeting you here,” I laughed.

“Silent, I could use a hoof keeping these ponies out!” River shouted, distressed by the crowd almost trampling him.

“Don’t worry, I got this.” I smiled, sounding a lot more confident than I meant to.

“Then do SOMETHING,” River shouted, incredibly annoyed at my unintentional arrogance.

“Keep your mane on, I said I got this,” I reassured him, more relaxed the I possibly should. I conjured a temporary megaphone and shouted, “Listen up, the Cider Festival doesn’t start for another ten or so minutes, so perhaps you could get in a line, just to make things a little more organised?” To my surprise, the ponies obeyed almost instantly and got in a straight line.

River Rhyme was amazed. “Why… didn’t I think of that?” As I disposed of the temporary megaphone, I decided we could calm down for five minutes.

“So, River,” I asked, “Why are you so pissed off?”

“I think I had a couple too many last night,” He sighed, “Now I have a roaring headache.”

“Heh,” I laughed, “Not big surprise.”

“Ugh.” He wasn’t amused.

“So… Did you hear abut the changeling attack that‘s supposed to happen?” I said, wanting to change the subject.

“Yeah. Apparently, about six of them or so are going to ambush us while disguised.” He said like it was nothing important.

He couldn’t be more wrong.

At that moment, a dark cloud swarmed above us, slowly moving in to our position. Slowly, tiny parts flew off the cloud and headed straight for us. Then I realised. “That’s not a cloud,” I gasped, “It’s an army…”

Put simply, pandemonium ensued. Changelings flew down in their hundreds. Everypony in town was running everywhere, most heading for the safety of their homes. Buildings collapsed from the force the changelings used while flying to the ground. I froze in place. For the first time in seven years, I was scared. It felt… cold, and dark. Like I had just been thrown into a void. I could tell that River was sacred, based on the fact that he had frozen in place too. After a minute or so of immobility, out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Applejack run towards River and I and shout, “I got a shelter under the barn in case of emergencies! Follow me!” She turned and ran towards the barn, with me and River following suit, after realising that we weren’t moving.

We ran into the cold, hard shelter, meeting up with the rest of the Apple family, as well as Rarity, Sweetie Belle, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Scootaloo, Vinyl Scratch, and a few others. Needless to say, it was cramped.

We stayed in the darkness of the shelter, worrying ourselves sick about what might be going on, with only a small gas lamp as a light source.. After a few hours of this, I went out to get some fresh air. What I saw outside was something that nopony should ever see in their life. Ponyville was in ruins. Bodies of innocent ponies lay everywhere, many buried under destroyed buildings. Everything was a lifeless wasteland as far as the eye could see. I dropped to my knees. “YOU MURDERERS!” I screamed as I continuously bashed the ground with a forehoof, “DAMMIT DAMMIT DAMMIT! NO NO NO NO NO! GAH!” I started sobbing uncontrollably. I couldn’t care less about looking masculine, or tough. I didn’t care about anything. We could all die right now, and I wouldn’t care. Everything was dead to me.

Even I was dead in my eyes.

After a minute or so, Applejack came out to see why I was taking so long. When she saw what had happened, she ran back inside to get everypony outside. When we were all outside, I finally brought myself to stop crying. I sighed. “I vote,” I said, trying to lift everypony’s spirits, “That we split up and look for survivors.” Everypony agreed and we started searching. Within an hour, we had found Lyra and Bon Bon, Mr and Mrs Cake (As well as the twins), Berry Punch (Much to River’s dismay, for some reason), and Octavia. As we regrouped at the shelter, Fluttershy piped up.

“What about the animals? They must be so scared right now!”

“If not dead…” River sighed.

So, after a group agreement, we all headed towards Fluttershy’s cottage… and met with a large crater. Fluttershy, needless to say, broke down in tears. “The poor creatures!” She sobbed, “Why!? Tell me, Silent, Why!?” She was in uproar. Eventually she slowly calmed down, resting her head on my neck. “Why, Silent?” she whispered into my ear. I decided not to comment. I didn’t want to hurt her even more. I was, though, thinking the same as her. Why? Why do such an evil thing? Why cause so much suffering? I didn’t have to wonder for long, as the answer would be right in front of me.

Journey

Nopony said a word. All was quiet. Then, completely out of nowhere, I felt a burning headache. Then, it disappeared, as quickly is it appeared. ‘Odd,’ I thought to myself, ‘I felt completely fine until now.’

Almost instantly, a moving picture, like a video, emerged in the corner of my eye. It didn’t really show anything, more two vibrating lines to indicate sound waves. Slowly, I heard a voice fade in. “hhhhHello, Silent!” It laughed, slowly fading in, “First and foremost, don’t tell anypony that you can hear me, or you’ll spoil the surprise, hee hee hee-” The voice started coughing, “-Now, you’re probably thinking: ‘Who the hay is this mysterious pony!? How is he talking to me!? I want answers, dammit!’ Hee hee, well, remember this, Silent! Sometimes… the truth hurts! Gasp! Shock! Horror!”

He coughed again. “You don’t understand? Well, let me put this in context for your puny little brain. Imagine your favourite show. You’ve been through it all! The ups, the downs, the twist and turns, when suddenly… BAM! They tell what it’s all about. How do you feel? Shocked? Angry? Confused? Upset? How come the main character became a princess? It’s not nice, is it? See? That’s what it’s like. So, my point is, don’t ask questions. Now, instead of wasting my time and energy that I could be using doing more important stuff, I’m going to let you all slowly die painfully and slowly. Why? I’m Equestria’s new ruler now, dammit! I can do what I want! And right now, I’d worry about getting to the city formerly known as Canterlot. Now… it’s known as, Armadia! Hoo hoo, a much better name, if you ask me! Now, clock’s ticking, so hurry to the newly renamed Armadia Theatre, or the leading ladies may be found dead in their dressing room, hee hee!” And just like that, the picture disappeared.

“Silent? Silent!” Rarity shouted, almost worried, as she started shaking me.

“Ugh… Was I asleep? How long was I out?” I asked, scratching the back of my head.

“Silent, we were so worried when you just dropped out on us!” she said, looking incredibly scared.

I decided to tell them the truth. “I’ve been shown a vision by an anonymous source. It told us to go to Canterlot…”

Scootaloo piped up. “Canterlot? Ugh, that’s MILES away! How’re we gonna get there?” She groaned.

Applejack interrupted and said, “Silent, in case you’d forgotten, we were sent an anonymous letter a few hours ago, and that turned out to be bullcrap, how do we know this isn’t too?”

I gave her a stern look and said, “The lives of the princesses are at stake. What choice do we have?”

She sighed. “I guess you’re right. Nothing’s goin’ to come about from us just standing here.”

We decided to prepare for the long trek by finding and gathering any supplies we could find in what was left of Ponyville. During this, I looked around and saw how much damage had truly been done. A thick fog reigned over the ruins, the bodies of ponies lie everywhere, and I couldn’t help but shed a tear. “Hey,” I said to the others as we entered the pile of wood that remained of Sugar Cube Corner, “These ponies… they deserve a proper burial, no? What, with respecting the fallen and such…”

“Silent’s right, ya’ll,” Applejack agreed, “These innocent ponies don’t deserve to just be left here. They deserve to rest in peace.” So, we rounded up the fallen, and created a cemetery by the shelter. By this, it was easy to see just how much damage had been done. Gravestones lay in their hundreds.

After the last victim had been buried, we all stood in a row, and showed our respect. Applejack was holding her hat to her chest with Applebloom tightly holding on to her foreleg, Vinyl had taken off her shades in respect while Octavia was hugging her, I had put a forehoof around Fluttershy while she silently wept, Mr and Mrs Cake rested their heads on each other, Pinkie Pie was bawling, Lyra, tears in her eyes, was trying to avoid looking at the gravestones, Bon Bon looked at the ground and shed a few tears, River Rhyme saluted at the graves while Scootaloo held on to him, Rarity looked upwards with tears in her eyes with Sweetie Belle looking towards Applebloom and tried her hardest not to cry, and Berry Punch briefly wept before she took a swig from a bottle of cider. I could feel my depression growing again. Throughout our memorial, I could only ask: Why?

A few hours later, after we had buried the fallen, and gathered what supplies we could find, we began our trek towards Armadia. To our surprise, the train, while unponied, was still fully functional. As we entered the front car, I turned to everypony and asked, almost sarcastically, “So… Anyone know how to operate a train?”

Everypony answered the same. “No.”

“Well,” I sighed, “This isn’t exactly useful, then. Looks like we’re walking.”

So, we ditched the train and continued towards Armadia. After a rather uneventful twenty minutes, we stumbled upon a cave. Applejack looked upwards and stated, “Hey, it’s getting’ dark, ya’ll. I reckon we should rest in this cave for the night.”

“Good idea,” I agreed, “I’ll just go and grab some firewood. I shouldn’t take too long.”

“I’ll go with you, too,” Fluttershy added, to my surprise, “Just to, um, keep you company…”

“No problem,” I smiled.

It got dark surprisingly quickly. As Fluttershy and I searched the nearby forest, I decided to talk to her.

“So, Fluttershy, was it? Mind if I call you Flutters?”

“No, not at all,” She blushed, “I… I must seem so weak and pathetic, it’s just…”

“No, no, no. I don’t se you as either of those things,” I said, trying to boost her confidence, even slightly, “You may not feel it, but you’re actually incredibly kind and caring.”

“You… you really think so?” My attempt at boosting her confidence seemed to be working.

“Of course,” I wrapped a fore hoof around her, “You definitely seem to be one who would have a lot of friends.”

“Y-yes… Um, Silent?” She looked into my eyes.

“That’s my name,” I chuckled.

“I… I really like you… and…” She rested her head on me.

“I like you, too. You’re a great friend,” I smiled.

“I just…” She yawned, “Wish that these changelings… that they hadn’t invaded… Just so life would be a little more… peaceful…”

After about ten minutes, we had got ourselves a good amount of firewood, and we headed back to the cave, only to find it deserted.

“What…happened here?” I asked before I started investigating. Eventually, I noticed a scrap of paper. Picking it up with my magic, I read it aloud.

“Silent, if you find this, you’ve come back safely. The changelings found us and they’re taking us to Armadia. I hate to ask for help, but… Help us! -AJ.” I turned to Flutters (who was still standing in the entrance) and said, “Those bastards took our friends to Armdia! There’s no time to rest. We need to move, now!”

We immediately left for Armadia. Climbing up the mountain where the city stood was tough, but it was admittedly worth it, even if it was just because of the beautiful sunrise that gleamed over the city, reflecting off of every single tower of the castle to create an almost picture-perfect landscape.

After a three-hour climb, we finally reached Armadia, and it was here I noticed that the place was covered entirely in messy paint streaks of red and black. “So… Here we are,” I muttered, “An unsightly mess, no? Is it always like this?”

“No,” Flutters answered, “Canterlot’s usually quite beautiful…”

As she said this, we were surrounded by changelings. “Ah, piss,” I muttered under my breath. As the crowd of changelings grew larger, Flutters hid behind me. It didn’t help in the slightest though, as when she did so, one changeling promptly ran over to me and continued to hit me in the face with a considerably large pole, knocking me unconscious. When I woke up, I was inside the city. There were changelings on every side, closing in for a kill on me...

Armadia

“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.

Trust

“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.

Injury

CRASH.

The thunder roared in my ears.

The rain hit me like bullets.

The wind felt like I was near a cyclone.

Then it hit me. A voice, one which could be heard from miles around.

That is, if anypony WAS around.

“That’s far enough, Silent Huntsman!” It boomed,

“The sins you have committed shall not go unpunished!”

Then, lightning flashed, and I could see.

Terrified, especially since I was stood on a crag.

The thunderclouds blocked out all light.

The voice, I saw, came from a statue.

‘Twas a statue… One of the bringer of the Sun.

This was not right.

The statue looked angry. Worse than angry. Furious.

Then it hit me. Not the voice, but…

The Lightning.

Then I woke up. Gasping, I frantically looked around. Nothing. Literally. I then felt a claw being placed on my head. “It’s alright,” I heard a voice say calmly, “Nothing can hurt you here.”

Being hurt was the least of my worries. “I… I can’t see! I…” I stopped. Slowly, my vision returned… but not in the normal sense.

I was blind in my left eye.

“No… No no no no no no!” I shouted, panicking. Again, I felt a claw gently push me back down (It was only then where I realised that I was laying on a bed in some sort of hospital). I turned to see that the claw belonged to Discord.

“Calm down, Silent,” he sighed, “The stress is isn’t helping. Besides, nothing’s going to happen to you. You’re safe here.”

My mind was buzzing, but one question was on my mind: “Where is here?” I asked.

“Manehattan,” Discord replied instantly, as if expecting to be asked. “I managed to teleport us away from Armadia, or at least far away enough so that THOSE ponies wouldn’t get us. Speaking of…”

As if right on cue, an orange stallion with a pale white mane and wearing a dark gas mask walked in. I recognised him instantly.

Burning Gear.

“Wha… What’s he doing--” I shouted, possibly louder than I should’ve.

Discord calmed me down enough to listen to him. “Silent,” He said with a stern look on his face, “This here’s the reason you’re still alive. Now--”

“He’s also the reason I’m blind in one eye,” I muttered.

Discord lit up, as if remembering something. “Ah, Silent, that’s another

thing-” he gestured to Burn, “-Burn, if you’d be so kind.”

Burn nodded. “Mmphmmphmph, Mmphmmpmmph,” he mumbled.

Discord chuckled. “Ah, Burn, mask?” he whispered to Burn without leaving his chair.

Burn chuckled, and removed his mask to reveal an admittedly good looking… mare?

“Hey,” she said calmly while sticking out a forehoof, “Burning Gear. Glad to meetcha.”

“L-likewise…” I said shakily, reaching out and shaking her hoof, still scared and/or surprised that this pyro was in fact female.

“Don’t look so surprised,” she laughed, “Or are you scared of a little…” she paused. She leaned in towards me, bringing out a spark of fire from her horn. “…Fire?” she added. She quickly pulled away from my terrified face, chuckling. “Nah, I’m just screwin’ with ya. I’m not THAT sadistic, y’know? That whole, ‘burning the Equestrian flag’ and stuff, it was all an act. Gotta look tough for those mouks… which is also the reason I wore this mask.”

I stared at her blankly. “I… don’t get it,” I muttered bluntly.

She sighed. “Look, changelings are weird creatures, and I’m not just talkin’ about their appearances or features. They’ll only ever follow one female. Their queen. But, when you’re a male, they’ll follow ya blindly… If you convince ‘em. But that’s not relevant. What is relevant is,”-she pulled out something out of her saddle-bag- “This.”

It looked like an eye patch of sorts, with a weird electronic ‘aura’ emanating from it. “What is it?” I asked.

Burn smiled. “I call it, DERP.”

I chuckled. “You called it derp?”

Burn was still quite serious. “Yeah,” she said proudly, “The Dimensional Entity Real-time Portrayer. The DERP.”

I couldn’t help it. I broke out into a full-out laugh. “Ha ha, you get this.. Thing, and you call it, of all things, derp? I mean, really?” I decided to keep a straight face. “All right, I’ve had my laugh. What’s it do?”

“Well, if you couldn’t tell by the name, it’s a sort projector for your eye,” she stated blankly. After seeing that I was still clueless, she added, “Simply put, it’ll technically help ya see with that ol’ blind eye there! Call it a little, ‘sorry for burning your retina out’ gift!” She winked.

I’m still a bit shocked that she’s a mare, but I can ignore that for now. It seems she’s created some sort of mechanism to help me see, I thought.

“Go on,” she smiled, “Try it on!”

Magically levitating the DERP (I can’t keep calling it that, I’ll just call it the eyepatch) from her hoof and fitted it around my head. Suddenly, it sprung to life. After a few beeps and whirrs, my left eye seemed to regain sight. Unbelievably, it was indistinguishable from real eyesight. “It works,” I said, awestruck, “I can see in my left eye again!” I paused. I had noticed it. “Say,” I asked, “What’s with the lines crossing at the centre?”

“It’s called a crosshair,” Burn replied, before magically pulling up a nearby chair and sitting down, “I know you’re a hunter. So, with that thought in mind, I added a little feature to improve your aim. Neat, huh?” She winked again.

Discord broke the mood by adding, “Ah, yes, your… bow.”

I had completely forgotten about it in Armadia. “Yes,” I said calmly, preparing for the worst.

“I, uh, sort of smashed it to pieces in Armadia while you were being brought in…” he admitted. I facehoofed. “But hey,” he added, “At least I spared your hat!” He snapped his fingers and spawned my straw trilby from nowhere. He snatched it out of the air, and dropped it on my head, patting it down like I was a foal.

Burn giggled. “I love it! Much better than the gas mask I have to wear,” she sighed.

Discord chuckled, then went back to being serious. “Okay, you’ve rested up enough. Luckily, Manehattan went relatively unscathed; that’s why we’re here. We managed to negotiate with the mayor, and we’ve got the entire city as a sort of base of operations. The positives, the place is huge, full of supplies, and there’s nothing stopping us from making more. The negatives, it’s huge; we could be attacked at any moment. Not only that, but Manehattan has a very large population: pretty much everypony who survived is either living here, or in Cloudsdale.

“Speaking of Cloudsdale, we’ve been discussing with the Pegasi there, and we’ve reached an agreement… The Pegasi are going to use their might to… somehow push Cloudsdale over to nearer our location. Because, if you didn’t know, Cloudsdale is A, right next to Canter-- Armadia, and B, nowhere near us.

“But back on topic. We need you to get to know the city, so if you’re all rested up, I say we get going,” Discord said, gesturing me to get up. Sighing, I slowly dragged myself out of the bed, and followed Discord out of the room, with Burn following behind.

The hospital walls were lined with paintings. Some lifted spirits, others pulled them down screaming. But that wasn’t on my mind right then; what was on my mind was the situation. We had a perfect base of operations, and a huge amount of ponies for support and, if necessary, for an army.

I hoped it wouldn’t come to that.

Before I could think about that, Pierce’s voice, and the odd box, came back. “hhhhhHello, again, Silent,” Pierce said friendlily, “Glad this telepathic magic still works. I mean, it’d really suck if it didn’t, right? Magic’s so convenient, isn’t it? It’s really helping our relationship mature. Next thing you know, we’ll be meeting up for romantic dinners, or even going away somewhere for a while, hee hee hee! But, let’s get down to business. Now, I was wondering if I could catch up with you. I mean, it’s been so long, am I right? Or am I right? Okay, what I came for is--” I’d had enough. Without thinking, I hit myself in the head, almost trying to get the voice out of my head, triggering some concerned looks from Discord. “Silly mortal, with your primitive brain,” Pierce laughed, “I’m not actually there with you! It’s magic, isn’t it? Scary what it can do, eh?”

This comment made me laugh. “Heh, shut up, ‘Pierce’! You’re not exactly a god, so keep the ‘mortal’ lark to yourself!” And with that, the box, and the voice, disappeared.

“Uh, Silent,” Burn asked, worried, “Who were you talking to?”

Remembering what Pierce had told me back in Ponyville, I half-heartedly replied, “N-nobody… I was just debating with myself…”

She shot a curious look my way. “It sounded like you were talking to somepony called--” She was broken off by Flutters, who had charged down the hallway, with an incredibly angry look on her face.

“HOW DARE YOU,” she yelled, “LEAVING ME ALONE LIKE THAT!? IT WASN’T UNTIL DISCORD AND THE OTHERS FOUND ME THAT I WAS ABLE TO LEAVE! WHY, SILENT!? WHY DID YOU LEAVE ME THERE, WORRIED SICK, PROMISING YOU’D RETURN! I… I CAN’T TRUST YOU ANYMORE!” It was and this point in which she brke down in tears.

I looked at Discord, annoyed that, “You walk all the way to Manehattan, and not once do you even MENTION to her that I got, oh I don’t know, my EYE BURNED OUT!?”

Discord, keeping his cool, replied, “Oh, well, at least she knows now,” he slowly flew over to Flutters (who was at this point sitting on the ground, sobbing), and added, “Right?”

“This is going nowhere,” I mumbled, “Let’s just walk and talk…” Almost as if on cue, everypony decided to keep walking.

Once we finally got outside the hospital, everypony went left, with me trailing behind, due to the fact that I had no idea where I was going. Discord was right; Manehattan seemed relatively stable. The towering skyscrapers and busy streets the city was famous for were still standing strong, and ponies were still living as if nothing had happened… for the most part, anyway.

Eventually, we reached a dark alley. “Why are we here, again?” I asked the group.

Discord replied, “This is the entrance to our main base.” He sighed. “Not exactly the cosiest of places, if you ask me. Now…” he walked over to one of the walls and knocked in a very uncommon way (He knocked seven times, with random gaps in between them).

Suddenly, one of the bricks slid aside to reveal a pair of eyes. “Yes,” a voice asked, “What’s the password?”

Discord thought for a moment, before replying, “Enigma.”

“Come in…” the voice said mysteriously, before sliding the brick back into place, and opening the wall like a door, revealing another, metal, door.

“Come on, slowpokes,” Discord said annoyingly, “We don’t want to be late, do we?”