Chapters Chapter one
Twilight Sparkle stood in a vast expanse of nothing. The only thing she saw beside blackness was the shimmer of moonlight on water at her hooves. At least, it would have been at her hooves were she actually physically there. Her body was nowhere to be found. Ordinarily, this would have alarmed her, but in her state of half-conscious drowsiness, she paid it no mind. Above, the moon shined brightly in the sky, closer than she had ever seen it. It was as if it were watching over her.
She found herself staring into it like she would into the eyes of a pony. And it spoke.
"Twilight Sparkle." An echoing whisper that made the sky ripple like the waves. "Look to me when you dream and you shall not forget yourself." She could hardly acknowledge the strange talking moon. She could hardly think. She was trying to remember something but she didn't know what. The sound of waves soothed her and urged her toward her unknown goal. "Remember Twilight. Here, you are alive. Here, you are yourself once again. In my care." Twilight felt the crash of small waves at her nonexistent hooves. The light of the moon became brighter as the water rose around her and became mist.
She could feel herself floating through the clouds that were once a great ocean, now an unfocused memory keeping her afloat. The moon was gone with the sky. Nothing existed but the mist of the clouds. She looked into the clouds and saw things. She saw a throne room with enormous glass windows. The throne at the end of the room was empty. It was not just empty, it burned with a deliberate lack of something. Something was supposed to be here and she needed to know what. Sound faded in and out. Beautiful ball music and the sound of many ponies having a good time, then the laughter of two mares as the music faded out.
"Twilight." A soft voice. A loving voice that she knew from somewhere. She wanted so desperately to remember the voices owner. "Twilight…." She felt her heart ache for some reason beyond her subdued mind. "Why have you forgotten me twilight?" She could feel dream tears coming on. She wanted to cry until she drowned in her tears.
The room became dark as all sound stopped. The throne became the only source of light, illuminating the throne room. It was deathly silent for what seemed an eternity. Then a flash of white illuminated the room from far away. And another followed it, and then another, and another until they began to light up the entire room. As the closest of them all flashed before her eyes, it all became dark once again. Calm was restored, if only for a moment. Twilight could almost see a pony sitting on the throne.
Suddenly, the glass windows of the throne room exploded and sent microscopic shards of glass spilling onto the floor like a silent, sparkling ocean. Then the noise came. It was like the sound of a never ending parade of balloons popping right next to her ears in rapid succession and millions of creatures screaming their death cries from all around her. The room was soon engulfed in fire and chaos that burned Twilight from the inside out.
She willed herself to escape, to be run. She heard voices through the screams and roar of the fire. Cries for help, orders being shouted at who she assumed were troops, the sound of metal being warped, and sonic booms of supersonic flight. Beyond that were other voices. Voices that seemed to be talking to her.
"Maybe someday we can be friends when this has all blown over."
" We have no way of knowing how this is going to go. This is pseudo science at best."
" Oh Twilight, Darling. Wake up."
Twilight opened her eyes quickly and was greeted by the warm smile of her friend and colleague, Rarity.
"Oh my goodness, I thought you were never going to wake up." The perfectly groomed unicorn said in a tone halfway between whining and warmly greeting a friend. Twilight sat up in her bed and yawned. She waited for the feeling of having forgotten something to subside. Everypony felt as if they had forgotten something when they woke up. It was a strange natural occurrence that nopony really could explain nor did they care to.
Twilight got out of bed and looked around her room. It was a modest living quarters with walls of whitestone, a common material found in the mountains. Her bed sat in the middle of the room between the door to the hallway and the large window on the wall opposite. She walked over to her desk, which was place in front of the window. Her workspace was impeccably clean and organized, just the way she liked. Outside, the sun illuminated the earth below as it continued to rise from the east. The fields and forests of Equestria sprawled for miles into the distance. The view from her mountain home made Twilight smile every morning.
As Twilight walked down the hall, She couldn't help but get that familiar feeling of not quite being at home in this place. That feeling seemed to be one she alone felt. She was more of a wood house pony. She liked wood better than the cold stone of the mountains. This place could also have used some more books. Sometimes Twilight thought of retiring early and going to live out in the country where it would just be her and her books.
The kitchen appeared as the hall ended, housing a table sprouting straight out of the polished white floor, a surrounding counter with cupboards galore, and a single white and purple unicorn. Rarity sat at the table sipping tea from a petite cup she held with her magic and reading an article in the Canterlot Times. Twilight took a seat at the table and took a cup of coffee that Rarity had made for her.
"Good morning Rarity. Thanks for waking me up."
"Well what are friends for, dear?" Rarity chirped. "Besides, how would it reflect on the unicorns if our arch chancellor were late to a meeting?" At this Twilight let slip a groan. It was going to be another long day in the Canterlot Council. She remembered when she began her campaign to become an arch chancellor.
Since she was born her parents had groomed her to be a politician. She had attended the Starswirl The Bearded college for gifted unicorns in Canterlot and graduated with a doctorate in planning and finances. It was at college that she had met Rarity. It took a few months for Twilight to warm up to the idea of interaction with another pony but after spending a night locked in the college library with Rarity after studying to late, they really became close.
After graduating she served as the head of finances on the mayor of Manhattans staff for five years and only last year took the opportunity of the council elections to run for the spot of unicorn arch chancellor. The campaign was long and hard, she had faced off against a cunning politician from Ponyville named Pokey Peirce . She might not have won had word not gotten out about Peirce being convicted on charges of pony slaughter in his young adulthood.
In those five years, Rarity had attained the position of chief of commerce on the council. The mares were overjoyed to not only see each other again, but to be living down the street from each other.
"So what does your day look like Twilight?" Rarity asked as she nonchalantly sipped her tea. Twilight peered into the living room through the doorway. A grandfather clock ticked away on the wall.
"Well I have a meeting at 8:45." The clock read 8:27 "Which is in fifteen minutes, I gotta go Rarity, sorry, bye!" Twilight said while downing her coffee ( still hot, she wasn't going to be tasting things for a while) and rushing out the door.
Twilight Breathed a sigh of relief as she entered the Council building. The lobby was as busy as ever with politicians and diplomats running to and fro across the dazzlingly polished marble floor to get to a meeting in any of the many gathering rooms and offices in the building. Twilight flashed her I.D. to a silver armored guardspony at the reception desk as she walked by. As twilight trotted toward the decorated double doors of the Council room she gave a quick smile and wave to her friend Fluttershy who was across the room talking to a young dragon diplomat.' What was that dragon's name? Thorn or Spike or something.' Twilight had only met him when she was talking with Fluttershy. Fluttershy was the first pony she had met at the council who was not a complete snob. (not that all of them were complete snobs, just most of them.) It really was amazing that Fluttershy had joined the council. She was so kind and quite. She actually listened to ponies and helped them. She made a great head of diplomacy.
When she arrived at the entrance to the council room she noticed that the normal guard, her friend Rainbow Dash, captain of the high guard, was not there. When one got to thinking about it, the captain of the high guard should have been commanding her troops instead of standing outside the council room, hoping to overhear the newest assignment for the military. There were many who believed Rainbow Dash to be an incompetent captain, but they also shared in the lack of knowledge of her success as the police chief of Philydephia. In her place was the second in command, Scootaloo. Scootaloo had only joined the Guard seven months ago and had already established herself as a pony not to be messed with. Being one of the few flightless pegusi in existence, she had had her feathers removed from her wings and replaced with two steel blades. Scootaloo never disclosed the name of the medical practitioner she had, most likely, bribed to perform the surgery. Her cutiemark was a depiction of a winged sword that always struck Twilight as a little ironic. Despite her intimidating look, Twilight knew her to be a friendly pony.
"Good morning Scootaloo." Scootaloo seemed to brighten like a light bulb being turned on. Not many ponies talked to Scootaloo, besides Twilight.
"Good morning arch chancellor." Scootaloo said while saluting.
"Please Scootaloo just call me Twilight." Scootaloo gave her an apologetic smile. "So where is Rainbow Dash today? I thought it was just her thing to stand at the door and eavesdrop." Scootaloo looked like she had been caught doing something illegal.
"She was called in for an emergency meeting at the station. Something about riots in Phillydelphia. I'm here because it's being brought before the council sometime today."
"Oh." Twilight uttered. She felt very uninformed for a moment. 'They're probably going to announce it at the meeting.' she thought.
"Well thanks for the chat Scootaloo but I've got to go." Scootaloo opened the door and saluted without a word. As she stepped into the council room she thought about what Scootaloo had said. 'Troubling, very troubling'
The council room was a grand circular chamber built out of white marble. great stripes of green crawled along the marble material like glassy vines. There were three podiums to seat the arch chancellors and surrounding them were the seats for the regular chancellors, nine for each race. The podiums were evenly spaced between each other. Light came in from the skylight constructed of a special crystal that enhanced all light that shined through it. Twilight silently took her place at her podium and looked at the other arch chancellors while she waited for the meeting to start.
The arch chancellor for the pegusi was a grey mare named Ditzy Doo. Ditsy had an eye condition that caused them to move erratically and never quite sync. This had led many of her political opponents to believe she was much less mentally capable than she actually was and so they mistakenly underestimated her. Twilight hoped she never made that mistake.
The arch chancellor of the earth ponies was, for lack of a better word, eccentric. It was really a wonder that Pinkamina Diane Pie had made it in politics let alone become an arch chancellor. But Twilight had to admit that Pinkie was beyond likeable and her out of the box thinking made her a valuable asset to the council, even if she did tend to get carried away.
What little noise was being made in the room was halted by Ditzy's tapping on her podium. "This meeting of the council of the Equestrian Republic has now been brought to order. Our f-"
"Our first order of business is to continue the discussion on the rising price of frosting in the coastal regions of the Republic." Pinkie said, interrupting Ditzy. Ditzy breathed in and out deeply before continuing
Twilight sighed and steeled herself for another meeting that accomplished nothing. At least she knew Dash would interrupt the futile conversation with the news of the riots. That would certainly add some variety to her day.
Chapter 2
Rainbow Dash awoke to find herself in a small, brightly lit white room. Looking around, she saw that the room was bare, housing nothing but her, a mirror running the length of the wall opposite of her, and some chains holding her in place. Dash looked at herself in the mirror. She looked like horse apples. Her fur was singed, her brightly colored mane dulled by ash, and her face housing a scowl that could melt wax with its intensity. She strained against the chains to no avail. Not that she had expected much of an outcome.
“Hello Ms Dash.” A voice said from behind the mirror. It sounded like the voice of a young man, distorted slightly by a microphone. The voice was soft and trusting. She hated it.
“Where am I? Who are you?” Dash didn’t really need an answer to those questions. She knew exactly who, and what, she was in the presence of. The owner of the voice was aware of this and didn’t bother to answer her questions.
“You are here to help us find something Dash.” The voice was calm and friendly. It enraged Rainbow.
“Not gonna’ happen bub. Now let me out of here so I can kick your bucking face in!” Rainbow kept up her futile struggle against the chains.
“What if I said please?” A slip in the nice façade. Dash didn’t even grace the sarcastic remark with an answer. She glared at the mirror as if in hope of breaking it with her gaze. After a time, her captor sighed and spoke again. “Rainbow, please. We want to end this. We want peace, and the more you help us, the more you help your own kind.”
“I’m helping them a lot by not talking.” She growled. A loud bump could be heard from the other room.
“Listen you hopeless barbarian!” A new voice, deeper than the last, said. “You know full well that you can’t win this war. Why postpone the end by another day and let more people die? For spite?!
Rainbow just bowed her head. “ You may think you’ve already won. But we will never bow our heads to you. As long as a single Equestrian lives, this war is far from over.” The lighter voice sighed deeply.
“You are more right than you realize.” The light voice said. It had the hollowness of despair in its tone. The deeper voice spoke up.
“Now, you are going to tell us where the elements of harmony are whether you like it or not.”
Rainbow Dash awoke from her troubled sleep with a start. She quickly shook the feeling of having forgotten something. She hated that feeling, she felt like she was not in control of herself.
She took stock of her surroundings to help her shake off her amnesia. She was in an armored carriage of the Equestrian high guard. Sitting to her right was one of the many nameless members of the E.C.D.R.P (Equestrian Center for Disease Research and Prevention). He, or she, it was hard to tell through the hazmat suit and gas mask, was screwing with some small machine. Across from her sat another member of the guard; Soarin was his name, and her friend Applejack.
The story behind the E.C.D.R.P. pony’s presence was more than a little dumb, in Rainbow Dash’s opinion. Over the past few days, a heat wave had supposedly weakened the exposed ponie’ immune systems, making them susceptible to any number of strange diseases. He/she was here to make sure that all rioters were plague free. Sounded like a load of BS to bring more tax income in to the E.C.D.R.Ps wallet. And then there was Applejack. Dash had known Applejack for Two years now. A simple country pony from Ponyville, she was. Until one day, when a new tax on fruits sent market prices on apples and other foods to skyrocket. Applejack organized a petition and personally brought it to the council. And when everything was finally sorted out, she just kind of stayed. She realized she had a talent for working with ponies. In order to see to it that her fellow farm ponies were not taken advantage of, Applejack ran for the position of head of agriculture in Canterlot.
Applejack was coming along to inspect the plants for a possibly botanical infection and to calm the, reportedly, still rioting ponies. Dash knew that was simply an excuse for Applejack to be near the action. She knew the orange earth pony was just hoping for some kind of conflict to break out that she could fight in. She never really wanted to be a farm pony or a head of Agriculture. Applejack would have joined the guard as soon as she had come of age where it not for the manehatten resolution. The Resolution stated that in order to keep the military from gaining too much power, every family could have only one member in the military at a time except in wartime. Big Macintosh had already become the family soldier, leaving Applejack to a civilian job.
Gazing out a window Rainbow saw that the early morning had ticked away into noon while she slept. The city of Phillydelphia stood on the horizon. Something wasn’t right though. There was a strange cloud coming from the city. Even from about ten miles away, she could see the thick black pillar of smoke. The others took notice and leaned their heads out the windows. Rainbow could smell the smoke in the air. It smelled like burning flesh.
Four hours earlier, in the council room.
“At o’ five hundred, this morning, we received a report from the Lower Guard station in Phillydelphia informing us of a small group of ponies inciting anger amongst the citizens. These ponies were described as being dressed in strange attire and possessing unnaturally colored eyes. At o’ six hundred, another report came in saying that the disturbance had spread exponentially. The citizens were beginning to assimilate into the group of protesters. Another message at o’ seven hundred told us that the anger amongst the citizens had turned into looting and threats of violence toward fellow citizens. The rioters seemed to have been chanting something about the heat wave. Several guards ponies were said to have actually joined the rioters.” There was an intense wave of nervous mumbling at this news. “Since then, we have not received any updates from anyone in the city and we are led to believe that the Lower Guard has lost control of the situation.” Ditsy Doo cleared her throat before speaking.
“How do you suggest we deal with this situation Captain?” It was not like ponies to become so disgruntled all of a sudden and it was almost unheard of for a riot to begin for so little reason so quickly. Not to mention, the strange attire and eye color mentioned. There was certainly something amiss.
“I suggest sending in a squad of High guards ponies, led by myself, to both scout the situation and sort it out if possible.” It was typical of the young captain to want to lead the troops into battle herself.
Twilight Sparkle worried for her friend, but knew she would be alright. Rainbow Dash could handle any bad situation.
The carriages landed on a hill overlooking the city. As soon as the wheel touched the ground, everypony piled out to see the fire. The smoke was mostly above them but it was still a little difficult to breathe. The E.C.D.R.P. agent produced twenty or so gas masks from seemingly nowhere for them all to put on. Rainbow ordered her troops to don the masks.
The source of the smoke seemed to be located in the center of the city. From this distance, Rainbow couldn’t see anything that was happening down in the city. She had to suspect the worst. Rainbow circled to the back of the carriage and grabbed a hoof cannon. Hoof cannons were relatively new weapons that could be strapped to the limb below the knee. They had small triggers that could be pulled with the other hoof or the mouth that shot a small ball of lead fast enough to go through a skull. The killing power of the hoof cannon amazed Rainbow and she hoped she wouldn’t live to see them used in a full scale war. The captain turned to her troops, nineteen in all.
Applejack was offended. She had a job to do too, even if it was just a bunch of baloney to get her into some action. Rainbow was talking like they were hostages.
“Oh no you don’t, Rainbow, I’m goin’ with you.” Applejack trotted up to the captain and stood her ground. Rainbow shook her head.
“Sorry Applejack. I know you wanted to go in but this has obviously escalated past allowing a civilian to enter the area. Soldiers only.”
“ But you know ah’ can take care of myself, hay, ah’ could help you.” Rainbow Dash looked Applejack in the eye through her gas mask.
“Soldiers only.” She said with exaggerated punctuation. Applejack was visibly angry but knew better than to argue with the captain of the high guard. She nodded and started walking back to the carriage. Rainbow turned her attention to her group of soldiers. “Move out.” She shouted.
The streets of the city were empty. The only sound Rainbow Dash could hear was the crackle of the fire far away. It still wasn’t visible at street level, but she could tell they were getting closer. The smoke became thicker as they approached and visibility had actually begun to drop. Thank goodness for the gas masks.
The emptiness of the streets was not in itself disturbing, considering the condition of the air. But the vacancy of the buildings and the destruction around them served as a good warning.
“Where the hay is everypony? Nopony left, so they must be here and there aren’t any bodies so they must be alive.” Soarin voiced his worries out loud. It was incredibly troubling.
“Maybe they’re watchin’ us.” The pony at the front of the group said nonchalantly. Camouflage was his name.
“Way to boost morale and keep the troops calm.” Dash mumbled.
They continued to walk and scan their surroundings. Rainbow heard the sound of hoofsteps the same time the rest did. They looked up to see a silhouette of a pony staring down at them. The five aimed their hoof cannons at the figure. It did not react.
“State your name.” Rainbow called to the roof pony. Again it did not react. “I asked you to identify yourself!” The shadow cocked its head to the side like a bird but remained silent. Rainbow Dash cocked the hammer on her cannon. “Are you def?! Tell us who you are and what your situation is or I will I.D. your corpse!” Rainbow strained her eyes to catch a glimpse of the pony but the smoke and the gas mask obscured her vision.
“Cap! She’s a distraction! “Rainbows mind registered this in about a seventh of a second. The fighting style of the Diamond Dogs was similar. Capture the enemy’s attention and then strike when they turned their back. Her reaction time was famed in situations like this. But she had not seen the ruse fast enough. She felt the sting of a needle pierce the skin on her back between her wings.
Instantly, the muscles in her wing began to melt. He legs felt weak and her head felt heavy. She could not fall unconscious. She had to help her troops. A unicorn named Eyeful was the next to take a launch syringe in the back. Dash forced herself up and awake.
“Every pony inside!” Rainbow shouted while she hauled the pony up and started dragging him to the closest building. The hail of darts did not let up as they dashed for the entrance of the building. As they ran, another dart sank itself into the rear of the green earth, Camo, bringing him to the ground. Dash could not stop to pick him up nor bear the extra weight in the first place so she had to leave him. Soarin opened the door and stood aside for Dash to drag the unconscious soldier inside. She set her comrade down on the counter of what appeared to be a restaurant. The room was rather enclosed with only two windows and plenty of tables to serve as impromptu barricades. Soarin closed the door just in time to block three darts that would have impaled him.
“What now?” He asked. Dash saw that the other remaining conscious pony, a private by the name of Lightning Dust, was arming her hoof cannon. She peered out the side of the window, readying to take a shot.
“Stay away from the windows!” Dash yelled, more an order to the soldier than an answer for Eye Full. Unfortunately the stubborn pegasus either did not hear her or ignored her and rose to see out of the window. Before she could even look down the sights of her weapon a dart hit her square in the chest. Dash face hoofed and did not even bother to catch her as she hit the ground.
As suddenly as the hail of darts had come, it was over and the streets were quiet. Dash looked at Soarin. He raised his eyebrows as if to ask ‘what now?’ Dash motioned toward the door. Eye Full nodded and opened the door just enough to see through the crack. He turned his head to Dash and seemed about to say something when his face (or what She could see of it through his gas mask) grew into a look of terror.
“Rainbow behind y-.” He did not get to finish his sentence because the door to the building erupted from its place in the wall and hit him full force. Rainbow turned to be greeted by a horrific sight. Ponies with eyes that all glowed neon orange as if the inside of their skulls were on fire.
Rainbow was in no condition to fight, but she would do her best. “Come on you wimps, come get some.” She could hardly stand on her legs and her voice was sleepy, hardly a threat. The largest one of the group, an earth pony with a steel girder for a cutie mark, looked at the others behind him. He then turned his head to Rainbow and grinned a sinister grin.
Somewhere high above, Two figures watched the burning city.
“I say we Gauss it.” One said.
“Sir, with all due respect, we are trying to prevent violence here. If we destroy the city, it may bring…..” The other trailed off, afraid to speak the name for fear of it summoning the subject. The other waited for it to finish its sentence without fear. “…HER back”
“And if we leave the freaks to build the fire, it WILL bring her back. We can’t just round up the entire town and amnesialise them.”
“Well, what do you think blowing it up will do?”
“Relax, Goggles. Our guys will save your little experiment and then we blame the crater on the ‘rioters’.”
When Rainbow Dash awoke, she was being dragged by her knees toward a huge bon fire in the center of town. Looking around she saw that the other squads had met the same fate as hers and were all lined up near a wall, unconscious or bound. They had removed Dash’s gas mask and she struggled for air in the smoke. Thankfully the smoke had decreased to the point of not being able to suffocate her however it still racked her with pain to breath in.
‘How can these guys be breathing and moving around like this smoke isn’t even here?’
Two figures watched the fire from a burned out building.
“Well, there’s our little pony.”
“shall we do it now?”
“Wait until the bitch is in position.”
Rainbow had stopped being dragged and was now a few feet away from a wooden stage in front of the fire. A hush came across the entire square. She looked up to see a silhouette trotting out of the fire and onto the stage. Dash couldn’t make out any features against the blinding light of the fire but she did see the shape of the figure. It wore a strange hat with reflective orange suns on it that glowed in the fire light.
“Hello Rainbow Dash. Did you miss me?” It’s voice was gentle with an underlying sinister tone. A voice of arrogant victory. Rainbow just gave her best unimpressed look.
“ And you are?” The silhouette laughed.
“Oh Rainbow, it has been too long. Allow me to refresh your memory.”
“If we are going to do something I suggest we do it now.”
“Right, Time to cause a little chaos."
The Figure from the fire Was readying it’s magic. Rainbow was readying for the worst.
“Uh, what is that?” Dash said.
Before the figure could respond, the can burst. And Rainbows world went white.
Our Mysterious Benefactor
Chapter 3
Canterlot, lunchtime
Twilight Sparkle sat at a small table inside a small restaurant, eating a small (but delicious) daisy sandwich. Across from her sat the head of diplomacy or, as her friends called her, Fluttershy. The noon sun shined through the large window that made up 80% of the front wall of the restaurant, called Daisy's Diner. Outside, ponies went about their business and few noticed that their arch chancellor was having lunch inside.
Twilight held her sandwich with her magic as she listened to Fluttershy talk about her recent negotiations.
" It just frustrates me so much that the Griffons think we're the ones being greedy here. The gems in those fields are a major food source for the local dragons and all they can think about is making jewelry with them." She spoke in as angry a voice as she could muster and it still sounded hushed. Her expression of anger looked cute. "Sometime I really think nopony takes me seriously as a diplomat." The pegasus wilted. Twilight couldn't bear to see her friend looking like that. She reached across the table and put her hoof on Fluttershys shoulder.
"You are a great Diplomat, Fluttershy. If it weren't for you, who knows where we would be?" The mares smiled at each other. Their attention was torn to the door as a stallion toppled into restaurant, panting and frantic. He spotted the two and rushed over to their table.
"Arch c-chancellor." He gasped for breath. Twilight grabbed the pony and looked him in the eye. Her leadership taking over her demeanor.
"What is it? Spit it out."
"Phillydelphia. It's- it's exploded!"
Phillydelphia, an hour earlier
Applejack sat against the carriage of the high guard. The cool feeling of the metal armoring felt good in the unnatural heat. She could only imagine, how the E. C. D. R. P. agent felt in that full body hazard suit. The faceless pony was waving that strange contraption in the air and pausing to look at it every few seconds. Applejack would never understand modern technology.
The guards patrolled around the perimeter of the carriage, keeping a look out for trouble. It had been half an hour and nothing interesting had happened. Applejack wondered if she had entered some sort of purgatory for shirking her responsibilities to go on a mission in the tiniest hope that she could feel like she was actually doing something useful. It was just her luck that she was doing even less now. She snorted angrily. Rainbow Dash knew full well why Applejack came and she just… bucked her in the face. What kind of friend was that? She could take care of herself in dangerous situations and it wasn't like Dash gave an actual hoot about the rules unless they served to further her goals.
Applejack sighed and closed her eyes. What's done was done and there was no use stewing about it. Rainbow surely only wanted to keep her safe. She leaned her head against the carriage and relaxed as much as she could in this heat. Her ears perked up at the sound of rapid beeping. The noise came from the machine the agent was using. The pony stared at the machine for a while before quickly turning their gaze to the sky. Applejack did the same but saw nothing. The pony walked over to the two guardsponies still hooked up to the carriage and began talking to them.
Applejack didn't get to overhear much before a loud bang silenced everypony. It had come from the middle of the city, where the fire was. There was silence for a moment as they all stared into the buildings and streets. Then their came three more bangs that sounded slightly different. Applejack knew those sounds, hoof cannon shots. Directly after the three shots came another round. Then another and another. Hoof cannons took at least twenty seconds to reload manually. There must have been a whole army down there.
The E.C.D.R.P. agent turned to the rest of them. Her look of panic somehow showed through her gasmask.
"We need to get out of here, now!" The soldiers snapped into action, getting on the carriage and packing up equipment. Applejack just stood there. She couldn't leave Rainbow down there. She had to go help her friend. "Hey you, bus is leavin'!" The agent called to Applejack but she did not heed it.
" Yer' probably gonna die if you go runnin in there." A voice on her shoulder spoke to her. She knew full well that she didn't have much of a chance for survival if she went in. But she didn't care. The only thing she cared about was her friends safety. Applejack began to rush for the city but her actions were anticipated by one of the soldiers. The stallion tackled her before she could run into a combat zone. She struggled to break free of his grasp but to no avail. The sound of gunfire was still pounding from the city like a full on war was happening. Another soldier came to help his comrade and the two forcefully dragged the struggling farmpony to the carriage.
"We need to get the buck out of here!" The agent yelled to them as they hurried to leave. By the time Applejack was at the door, they were already ascending to the clouds. "Stay low to the ground!" The agent screamed to the guardsponies at the front. They ignored her (and Applejack could tell it was a she now) and flew higher. Applejack stared out the windows as the ground passed in a blur. The agent kept up her yelling of orders to the guardsponies and they kept ignoring her. Applejack noticed they were beginning to become quieter. In fact, all the sound seemed to be draining from the air. Time seemed to slow for a few seconds.
The carriage flashed orange as a monstrous noise assaulted Applejacks ears from behind them. The windows of the carriage shattered and flew outside as the wind entered as if seeking shelter from whatever had made the noise.
They all leaned their heads out the newly smashed windows to see what had happened. Applejack felt as if her lungs were about to burst. Where Phillydelphia had been, there was now a massive wall of flame. Applejacks jaw became numb along with her limbs.
"Rainbow…"
Rainbow Dash felt broken and beaten. Her muscles ached, her eyes burned, her lungs burned more, and her ears rang. She felt the softness of a mattress on her back as she began to regain consciousness. She had a strange thing attached to her muzzle, pushing air in and out of her lungs. She moved her hoofs to dethatch it but she found that they were strapped down. Now it was time to worry. She forced her eyes to open so she could survey her surroundings.
Looking strait above her, she saw a flat, white ceiling through a white haze. She turned her head to the right and saw that she was in what looked to be a hospital bed, she was hooked up to a machine by way of a see-through pipe leading from the thing on her face. Across from her was another pony in another bed. She couldn't see his face but the fur color told her it was Soarin'. Although her vision was blurred, he seemed to be in worse shape than she was. Beyond him was a window, or she at least thought it was a window on account of the strange shadows walking past.
She tested the strength of the straps that held her hooves down. They were obviously meant to keep her from getting up no matter how she struggled. This did not stop her from trying to escape them, obviously. A sound made her stop her struggling. It sounded like gargled speech, as if she were underwater. She looked in the direction of the voice and saw two creatures. One small and the other very large. They sat next to her bed and looked at her. One spoke to her softly and she strained to hear words. She moved her lips and sloppily used them in speech.
"What?" It spoke again. This time Dash could make out what it said.
"Welcome back Rainbow Dash."
Canterlot Council room
Twilight Sparkle sat at her podium in the council room with the other twenty nine chancellors. They were all listening intently to the story of the survivors from the expedition to Phillydelphia.
" And then, BOOM! the windows shattered and we saw a huge ball of fire were Phillydelphia was." Some of the chancellors gasped while others stared in disbelief. This was an unequivocal disaster. An entire city blown to high heaven and more questions than there were this morning. Had the rioters done it? Was it an accident? Why were the rioters rioting about anyway? Now they may never know.
Twilight was not worried about these things, however. Her worries were for Rainbow Dash. Dash had seen some heavy abuse but an explosion of the scale these ponies were talking about? It was doubtful. Twilight shook her thoughts from her mind. She needed to lead and not grieve.
"So what do we do?" One of the earth pony chancellors spoke up. There was a stir that was immediately silenced by Ditzy Doo.
"We may not know much about this catastrophe yet, but one thing I know is that no explosion of that size can be caused by accident. This was most likely an act of war."
"By whom?" Twilight asked.
"Probably by Vermin Supreme! That crazy pony has been out for a role in government for years and he is just the culprit for such measures!" Pinkie Pie seethed at the thought of her arch rival.
"Arch Chancellor Pie, Vermin Supreme died of a drug overdose years ago." Doo said, dismissing the ridiculous theory.
"He's playing the long game!" The psychotic government official announced. Several ponies in the room face-hoofed. A handsome stallion rose from his seat and spoke before any more incompetent leaders could start rambling.
" I'd like to know what my agent found in the ways of contagions at the site." Twilight frowned, everypony knew the E.C.D.R.P. only sent a pony so the taxpayers would have to give them money. Despite this, everypony looked to the agent for her conclusion and soon realized that she was nowhere to be seen. They searched the room for her but she simply wasn't there. The stallion seethed. "When I find that mare, she is going to be fired so hard that she will literally catch aflame!"
Heart Beat quickly made her way through the back alleys of Canterlot. Her hooves made no noise as she moved from cover to cover. She had discarded her hazard suit, glad to be rid of it. It was laughable, the pitiful amount of effort it took to be hired by the E.C.D.R.P. , they didn't even do background checks. She was getting close to the location. Just a few more turns and she would be there.
A sound caused her to turn and scan the area behind her. She slid into the shadows and cautiously continued on.
A sigh of relief escaped her lips as she spotted the door with the green cloth nailed to it. The entrance to the base. She approached with an eye on every corner and shadow. She made one last quick sweep of the area before entering.
The room was dark and bare and she found her way around by sheer memory. Heart Beat had dwelled and worked here for four years. A pony entered the room bearing a lantern and held it up to her face. They exchanged not a word as the cloaked pony felt her fur and looked into her eyes. Heart Beat knew the routine. look up, right, down, left, breathe deeply, use a little levitation magic/ spin your wings in circles. They had to make sure you were you when you got there.
After everything was checked out, she walked onward into a doorway. A hallway with slightly better lighting greeted her and she ignored every room on the side as she approached the room at the end. A strong stallion stood guard next to the door. Heart beat looked into his eyes.
"I seek audience with the prophet." The guard merely looked at her without saying anything. "I have important information." Wordlessly, he opened the door and beckoned her through.
The room was filled with cloth and candles and it all had a feeling of, well, prophecy. A mare with a dark purple and red cloak sat at a table with her head down. Heart Beat approached with her head bowed in respect.
"Prophet Heartstrings, I come bearing grave news. The creatures you foretold would arrive are here and they have laid waste to an entire city." The mare in the cloak raised her head slowly and spoke mystically.
"They arrived a long time ago, child. They have been here, waiting for the right time to strike." Her golden eyes glinted in the candlelight. "But so have we."
In the pit that once was called Phillydelphia, nothing stirred. The buildings and pavement had been incinerated or blasted over the hills surrounding the city. what earth was spared the sheer force of the blast and remained in place was black and singed. In the very center of the decimated area, a small fire burned. That fire began to grow and become brighter. It split into four and sprouted like a burning plant before meeting and forming a large orb. The flame continued to morph and contort until a shape was made. The shape resembled a pony but larger and sleeker. Wings sprouted from the form and a horn began to grow from the head.
The creature looked over the crater with dethatched interest. "My, my. This is what happens when you let the poor little ponies govern themselves. No matter. I will make up for my absence shortly and with much enthusiasm."
Chapter 4
Two men looked out the large windows that took up most of the wall in the room. The view was spectacular. The setting sun cast a red glow on the mountains of Equestria. The room was lit only by the light of the sun. It was large and bare, only containing them and a long table.
"So, it has been confirmed that she has returned." One said nonchalantly. The other remained silent. "I suggest we find those other five." The other turned to walk away. He did not want to waste any more time here.
"Sir yes sir." Venom came out in the form of words.
"You can say it if you want." He stopped and was silent for a while before continuing across the room.
"I freaking told you so."
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Dash strained her eyes to see detail once again. The two figures that stood in front of her were a blur. Luckily, her hearing had come back entirely so she could hear what they were saying.
"I assure you, we won't hurt you." The smaller one had a soft voice that reminded her of Fluttershy, only male. She found it comforting yet unsettling. "You've had a rough day. I suggest you get some more rest." Rest nothing, she had so many questions.
'What happened at Phillydelphia? Who are you? What are you? Where am I?' She tried to speak these out loud and was only able to let out a wheeze. Her lungs were burning from that smoke. The small figure rushed to her bedside with what seemed to be a glass of water.
"Please Rainbow, don't try to speak. Your lungs and throat are damaged." She took the glass from its….hand? It had four fingers like a griffon or a dragon. She didn't think on it. "Drink slowly now." Dash downed the whole glass in one gulp. The water was cold and felt like a cool heaven drifting down her throat. She coughed as the water reached the base of her throat and a searing pain flashed through her.
'Worth it.' She thought. The small one took the glass and mumbled something about listening to it. Dash looked over at the large figure. It had done nothing but stand in silence and stare at her. Even if she could not really see where its eyes were looking, she could feel its gaze on her. She knew that gaze. She cast it at ponies she knew were dangerous. Usually prisoners in interrogations. This one didn't trust her. She once again tried to speak and actually managed to give a halfway understandable "who are" before bursting into a coughing fit.
"Please stop making your physical situation worse Rainbow. If you must know something then know this." The figure leaned down so its face was in plain view. At this range, she could see more detail. Its head was large and its skin was grey. It had massive green eyes and a petite mouth. It's expression was that of sincerity and worry. "We are your friends, Rainbow. We are here to help you all in the long run, no matter what happens in the course of the next few days."
They all turned to attention at the sound of something large sliding. Another figure stood in a doorway that seemed to have magically appeared. "It's time for a pony round up." It said in an accent similar to Applejacks.
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The sun was now setting over the city of Canterlot. The moon was rising from the other side of the horizon to take its place. The lights from houses and offices nary dimmed with the sky. Canterlot was a busy city, and many citizens were awake around the clock. In one house was a mare who did not have papers to file or documents to study. She was awake because she couldn't bring herself to sleep.
Applejack sat on her bed with her face in the pillows. She did not cry or say anything really. She only thought and remembered. Rainbow Dash had been the first pony Applejack had gotten along with in Canterlot. Two years ago, when she was just starting her position as head of agriculture and Dash was a simple guardspony. Applejack never wanted to be at a desk every day. She wanted to be in the guard or at least on a farm. Every day, she wondered why she had run for the office. The other heads and chancellors did not take her seriously. She was to….rural to be a government official. The older ones simply didn't want to talk to her, while the younger ones loved to pick on her.
For the first few weeks, the guards wouldn't allow her into the federal district without checking her I.D. while others were allowed inside without a moments glance. Even after that, some guard stopped her for kicks. She wasn't powerful enough to have them fired. The only guard that didn't give her trouble was Rainbow Dash. Dash was assigned to Applejacks floor of the office of financial and rural affairs. Every day it was a friendly greeting instead of "Sorry ma'am, permitted ponies only." The two were connected by the bullying they experienced. Rainbow was always assumed to be...deviant because of the way her mane looked. They weathered the storm of ridicule together and grew close.
The prize for the most fork tongued pony had to go to Ivy leaf, the head of who knows what. Every day there was another witty little comment to make Applejack boil over. But one day she was going through the motions of spewing her hate and took it one step too far.
"Hey, you're the head of agriculture right?" The green mare asked nonchalantly. "Why don't you pass a law against the guard hiring fruits." She looked Rainbow in the eye. Being a guard, Rainbow couldn't do anything in protest. She simply tried to remain composed. "Oh wait, maybe that hasn't happened because you like having her around." The mare gave a suggestive glance.
Later that day, Ivy leaf was found guilty for assault and resisting arrest. So what if Applejack had started the fight. The two knew they had each other's backs from that day forward. They had become best friends. And now… Applejack didn't want to admit it. She didn't want to think the thought that her best friend was dead. Nopony, not even Rainbow Dash, could live through that explosion. Now that she had allowed even the thought to enter her mind, she found it was all she could think about.
The orange earth pony became aware that tears were flowing from her eyes into the pillow. She was silent for a long time as she cried. She may have laid there forever if not for an abrupt sound. It was a sound she had never heard before and it certainly wasn't natural.
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Twilight Sparkle sat on the couch in her living room. The house was silent. Twilight normally would have had a book in hoof to unwind on nights like this. But her mind simply needed time to do nothing and wind down. She had had a very frustrating day. They spent half an hour looking for that E.C.D.R.P. pony and still hadn't found her. They eventually decided on sending a platoon of guardsponies and two teams of various scientist and magicologists to the site of the disaster. A whole platoon. They had to be insane. If they were on the threshold of war with whoever the hay had decided to attack, they shouldn't be wasting troops on escort.
Twilight sighed and stared at the ground. She felt that familiar feeling. It was calling her again, the object. She didn't remember when she had found it. She didn't remember anything about acquiring it. She just remembered finding it in her basement one day, a year ago. When she touched it, all hell broke loose in her head. She saw visions, terrible visions of war and fire and hatred. And the worst part was that she felt some sort of sick pride that overwhelmed her terror. She didn't understand it. That day, she locked it in a trunk and put it in the darkest corner of the basement.
On some nights, she felt it pulling her to it. Sometimes, she could even swear she heard a voice calling her name. She never went in the basement when it called to her, for fear of what might happen, but she once found that she had walked to the basement in her sleep. It was simply a fact that the object should never be allowed to be found, whatever it was.
Twilight did her best to forget about the thing. She cleared her mind and gazed into the fire in her hearth. It felt so warm and comforting. She felt herself being drawn into the fire. Her head leaned forward and soon, her body trailed behind as she moved toward the fire. She couldn't stop going. She could almost hear the fire calling to her.
"Twilight." A voice sounded from far away, like an echo down a hallway. She seemed to regain control at the mention of her name and jumped away from the fire, which now felt hot in its proximity. She now wanted only to get away from the fire. The flames seamed to reach for her as she backed up. The fur on her body was beginning to smoke when a wild wind ripped through the room and the window blew open to reveal the full moon. The fire recoiled like an animal hiding in its burrow from a predator.
Calm came over the room that was now basked in moonlight rather than fire light. Twilight still stayed away from the fireplace. The other side of the room did not feel enough of a distance. She had to go outside. The front door was violently thrown open by her magic before she half trotted/ half scrambled outside. She had expected the streets to be rather empty at this time of night. Even though the city was never truly asleep, there were usually only two or three ponies outside on a single street by night. Instead, the entire street seemed to be outside tonight. They all had their gazes aimed at the horizon.
Twilight only now noticed the sound. It didn’t sound like any sound she had ever heard. But the sound was only the accompaniment to the grand prize winner for strangest thing she had witnessed that day. Quickly approaching the city was a massive construct of metal that looked like a tower on its side. The most amazing part was its form of locomotion. It was flying!
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Heart Beat watched the flying monster from the roof of a building. It was larger than even she could have imagined. The metal that formed most of its structure shined in the moonlight and made it almost to look like a celestial body itself. But this was no bringer of light or beautiful guardian of the sky. This thing was a machine of death and she would not allow the monsters that inhabited it to hurt her kind again. The others from the order were spread out among the city, waiting to strike the moment these things attempted their attack.
Standing beside Heart Beat was Lyra Heartstrings or, as the members of the order called her, the prophet. Lyra Heartstrings was a unicorn ostracized from society for her knowledge. Few ponies knew her story like Heart Beat.
Two years ago, Lyra Heartstrings was a semi-famous musician performing in Canterlot. She wasn’t particularly close to anypony, except for some candy maker, but she was kind and sociable until one fateful day. Nopony really knew what happened to make her “snap”. All they could say for sure was that she had developed a severe combination of narcissism and amnesia that was unknown to medical experts. Overnight she could not remember most events of the past five years and believed that creatures from another world had invaded and killed off a large portion of the population of the entire world. Obviously, many believed she had completely lost it. Lyra lost her job, her home, and her best friend because of her “madness”. Before she was completely thrust onto the fringe of society, she managed to publish a book called: The Dream of Reality. It didn’t sell well, but it did find its way into the hooves of a young filly, just out of school.
Heart Beat felt much the same as Lyra did. She did not remember the wars at first, but she did have dreams. Terrifying dreams of fire and beams of light from the sky decimating the earth below. Her father had said that her mother died of a heart attack but Heart Beat knew better. Her father did not remember the soldiers that came to tell them, in excruciating detail about her mother’s death at the hands of the monsters. They did not bring her body back with them; it wouldn’t have been worth it.
Heart Beat always felt that the explanation for the feeling of forgetting something when you woke up was more like waving it away. There was something more. She had memories nopony else had. She had dreams that were so real. She didn’t dare tell anypony else. For a year, she felt like she was going crazy. But then she saw a book in the local library, by Lyra Heartstrings. It had opened her eyes to the horrible truth of the world they were living in.
Heart Beat sought Lyra out. By the time she found the prophet, she already had a small following. Other ponies knew that the truth everypony accepted had holes in it. The group grew and turned into an order and with the wisdom of the prophet, they readied themselves. Lyra knew they would return one day.
Heart Beat rose through the ranks of the order quickly to become Lyra’s most trusted follower. She entered the E.C.D.R.P. to pursue leads on the return of the monsters and her vigilance was rewarded today. Not that it was a reward to find that your world was about to be ravaged by monsters.
The two stood and watched the giant machine silently. The noise was the headache inducing moan of the thing. A light appeared from the side of the floating colossus. An opening was allowing light from inside to leave along with a much smaller craft. It too was made of shiny metal but was the size of a small house and vaguely resembled a bird. It silently glided toward the city. Lyra turned to her most faithful follower. The two nodded wordlessly, it was time for action.
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The ponies of Canterlot stared in awe at the metallic thing that had landed in the middle of the central road. Half the city was gathered on the block to witness whatever this was. Guardsponies were stationed around the machine, making sure Nopony got too close.
Twilight Sparkle, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Applejack all stood together in the crowd. Everything was silent for a minute. Time crept by as if nervous to set in motion the events of this meeting. Eventually though, the craft opened and a dull red light emanated from inside. Another moment of apprehension was rudely interrupted by a group of large creatures that burst from the machine.
They were amazing and terrifying. The all stood on two legs and wore white full body armor with golden cross symbols on their shoulders. These were the only obvious characteristics they all showed. Most of them stood completely and impossibly erect while two of them had bird like legs and reptilian tales. Some were short with large heads and others were incredibly tall and thin. They carried strange black things that ended in barrel like a hoof cannon, but had many strange features in addition. The six creatures formed a circle around the area bathed in the red light and did nothing. The guardsponies had hoof cannons and various melee weapons trained at them; still they did nothing. Another figure made its way out of the ship.
This one was another small body- big head creature. It, unlike the others, did not have its face obscured by a black visor. It had grey skin and very few facial features and the ones it did were very pronounced. It had large eyes of bright green, eyes that held kindness and trustworthiness. It looked over the crowd of petrified ponies.
“This is a little cliché, but we come in peace.” It spoke almost apologetically. “We have come to invite some select individuals of your kind to meet with our leaders.” Nopony dared step forward or say anything. Everyone was in awkward silence for what seemed forever before one yellow pegasus stepped forward. A relived smiled crossed the aliens face as if he recognized the mare.
“Um, w-welcome to Equestria.” The diplomat Fluttershy greeted them. The alien bowed to her gentlemanly.
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“The weapons are in place. What commands from the prophet?”
“She will give the signal herself. She wants to formally great our enemy before we strike.”
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“Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, Rarity Belle, and Pinkamina Diane Pie. Please step forward.” The creature called. The four mares in question came forward from the crowd. “I extend to you an arm of peace and cordially invite you to speak to our commander.” The crowd was confused as to why these creatures asked for the mares by name and did not ask specifically for their leaders. Still, these creatures seemed friendly enough.
Twilight stood in front of the speaker and bowed. He was slightly taller than she was but they could still look each other in the eye. “I accept your offer on behalf of the nation of Equestria.” It was rather rash and unordinary to simply up and accept these requests but this was a certainly unordinary situation. The crowd was now alive with excited murmurs and chatter. The tension had eased and become delight.
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“Clever, monsters, very clever. But why are you making friends when you could blow us sky high?”
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A white and green mare made her way through the crowd. Her hood concealed her face and her cloak covered her body. She moved like a reaper, approaching its victim with a grim certainty. She strode out of the crowd and through the four mares in front. Her hood was lifted by her magic and she gave the creatures a hate filled grimace. She pointed her hoof at them accusingly and spoke.
"Not so fast, alien scum! You may have them all in the palm of your hand, but I see you for what you truly are." The crowd let out a collective gasp. Some recognized her and began to fear for the stability of this peaceful meeting. Pinkie Pie materialized behind the mare.
"As do I! They are just really clever planet-to-planet salesmen!" Everyone stared at the strange arch chancellor for a moment. Even the alien soldiers that, until now, had seemed to have no interest in the events unfolding in front of them. Lyra spoke up again.
"No…that's not what I'm talking about." Pinkie gave an 'okie-dokie-lokie' and disappeared behind Lyra. Recovering the mood, the cloaked mare got back to business. "What I'm talking about is that these beings are not here for our benefit! If they are so peaceful, why did they bring weapons, why are they leading half our government away like children to be kidnapped, and why did they destroy Phillydelphia?" Lyra had grown closer to the small grey creature with each sentence and now had her face pressed against his.
He backed away fearfully while the ponies in the crowd considered this. The soldiers around the sky ship raised their weapons slightly. Twilight Sparkle trotted up to the deranged mare. She couldn't allow her to drive a wedge between them and these creatures.
"What makes you believe you have any evidence to support any of the things you just said?" Lyra looked away for a moment, unsure of what she was going to say, but she knew she had to say. They were right in front of everypony, the things she had talked about. If the ponies didn't believe her now then they deserved their fate.
" Every day, you wake up feeling like you've forgotten something. Why is that? " Twilight rolled her eyes. "I know some of you have dreams and memories that don't fit." She was now speaking to the crowd. "Some of you have voids in your lives where there should be none. How many times have you waited for a spouse to get home and then remembered that you are single? How many times have you sent a letter to a cousin that doesn't exist? When you dream, it is of fire and pain and blood. When you remember the last two years, you feel like you are thinking of a story, not your life."
The crowd was beginning to murmur once again, only this time it was with worry. Quite a few did have that feeling. Lyra looked to the grey and smiled in victory. She had them now. Even the five they had called on looked unsure now.
"Now I have an offer for you. Leave our world and never come back or suffer the consequences." She boldly said with her head raised. The grey looked morbidly interested in this statement.
"And what would these consequences be?" Lyra looked to the surrounding rooftops and giggled like a filly.
"Contact, roof-!" A soldier shouted before being blast to the ground by a hail of milk. A cold white liquid was being sprayed onto the aliens from both rooftops, knocking most of them to their feet and blinding the rest. It went on for several seconds before the torrent thankfully ended. Before anypony could say or do anything, one of the perfectly straight aliens was on his feet and firing his weapon at the rooftops.
The sound was like a chain of explosions that never ended. The stone on the top of the building was being blown away piece by piece by the thing. Another alien (also tall and straight) rushed to his comrade. He put his hand on the others shoulder and wave his arm wildly. One could only assume he was telling him to stop. The noise died away but left an echo in the ponies ears. Every living thing was drenched in milk. It pooled on the ground and ran down the street. There was silence. Everyone was still recovering from that, needless to say, surprising event.
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Heart Beat was mortified. Her plan had failed. But she remembered the day of her capture. When the aliens had foolishly revealed their weakness. One had told her that milk was highly poisonous to them. She should have known that it was a trick all along. Now they had no secret weapon, no way of fighting these things, and they had pissed them off.
She had barely escaped that fearful weapon that had torn holes in brick. She didn't want to be on the receiving end of that again.
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The one that had calmed his friend now walked to the center the disaster area that was the landing sight. He surveyed the situation. No casualties, no real injuries, and the ponies were still in the yellow. He looked to the grey who thought over the unspoken question and nodded, sighing in defeat. He removed his helmet quickly and non-dramatically. His face was the polar opposite of the grey one. Her had a pronounced nose and a defined brow and chin. His eyes were tiny but they burned bright. He had a short mane of brown hair and freckles on his cheeks.
"Alright, listen up!" His accent resembled Applejacks and his voice was high pitched but still managed to be masculine. " Ah am not gonna sugar coat anything for yah. We have been here for a long time and the unicorn's right. We've both done things that we are better off forgettin' and we deemed you little guys deserving of that luxury. I'm not gonna take the time tah' explain anything to you cause we'd be here for hours. All you need to know is that shit is going down and…" He trailed off. He swallowed as if he was physically swallowing his pride. "…and we need yer' help."
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Scootaloo stood at a table with a large map placed on it. She studied it to find optimal strategic locations if whoever attacked (assuming they were under attack) was still in the area. The tent she was in was lit by a single lamp. It had been quite for most of the night. The soldiers and agent of various agencies picked through the rubble of Phillydelphia for any survivors. (yeah right, survivors. It made her want to laugh and cry.)
A commotion outside caught her attention. She exited the tent into the warm night air, almost unnaturally warm, and looked to see what the problem was. Two soldiers came into the encampment with a pony slung over their shoulders. Her hair was singed but it looked like it had once been light blue. She had a cape on that had been burned to a crisp. She was unconscious but seemingly alive. Her eyes were shut tight.
The ponies rushed her to the medical tent and it was the last Scootaloo saw of her. Well, maybe there would be a few survivors after all. It gave her hope to think that. A light in the sky distracted her for a moment. It looked like a shooting star only it was moving up. She watched as it flew higher into the sky until she was distracted by a smell. The smell of smoke.
Scootaloo turned to see that the medical tent had gone up in flames while she was distracted. She rushed to see if they had gotten out and was greeted by four ponies. The soldiers, the medic, and the mare. They moved untouched through the flame and calmly approached her. Their eyes burned orange like hot coals and their smiles were wicked. The pegasus found herself staring into those eyes and being unable to look away. Her head felt like it was catching fire. Memories and old thoughts flooded into her head.
'Of course.' Her eyes burned and she almost screamed, but the pleasure of being back overshadowed the pain. She stretched her wings and stared hungrily at her blades. The four saluted their new general. She smiled back and turned to look at the ponies coming through the wreckage in the distance.
'So many fresh troops. The fire of war will burn once again.'
