Prologue: Freedom of the Illusion

Prologue:  Freedom of the Illusion.

2355hrs.

5th of *February*

Year 3005 After Twilight Coronation.

“I’m free.” The creature spoke, surveying her surroundings with a look of elation on her face.

Her wide eyes, unnatural to any creature of Equus, observe the emptiness of the terrain that stretches for kilometers in front of her.  The multitude of concentric circles in her eyes giving her a crazy and demonic appearance.

“I’m free.”  She said again, observing herself, tears forming around her eyes.  For this is the first time in her life, that she has ever been able to study herself freely.  Her pale and sickly grey-purple fur is soft to her touch.  The ever energetic and living bright green mane is flexing and slithering around; stretching it self to take advantage of the new life it has received.

“I am, FREE!”  She is shouting with all her might.  Her hoofs loosing grip on the ground and her legs give out, the joy of the situation cause them to lose all strength and stability.  The creature, with body of a female earth pony is lying in a heap, curled into a ball of maniacal laughter and joy.  The purplish mare sobbing and crying for the fact that she was free, wrapping her arms around herself tightly.  She was terrified that this is a dream that will end.

This mare was free.

“Oh, how I love the feeling of crushing the hopes of others.  It always reminds me of my sister.  Pity I can’t do it to her again.

The fun I had with her was so joyous.”

“No!”  The mare’s head shot up.

“NO!  Nonononono…  This can’t be happening.” Fear encroaching on her soul with each passing second.

“Oh yes Mane-iac.  You are still very much my slave.”  The voice said with callus satisfaction.  It’s suave masculinity, hiding the cruel monster that owned it.

“That’s not possible!  I’m out of Baal.  I’m through the realm of your sister, how can you still be here? I am FREE!”  Screaming in defiance and terror, the implication of this conversation was not lost upon here.  Her head darting around side to side, her eyes searching in vain for the source of the voice while her mane lashing out into the emptiness of the landscape.  Only to realise that it was inside her head.

“Are you sure?” the voice said, the smoothness of its question was punctuated with dominance.  The statement being made loud and clear to this terrified mare, she was still very much a slave.

The mare doubled over in pain and agony, a blood curling scream escaping her lips.  She is doubled over in pain, clutching her head tightly as blood starts to weep from her eyes.

“Observe the pain I have inflicted upon you, Mane-iac.  You cry you are free and yet, I am having much fun watching you cry and cower.  Alas, I can’t kill you.  I still need you; you are now a tool to force my plans ahead and be happy.  You are now the foundation stone, upon which it sits.”

And with the end of the sentence the pain subsided, but mare started to lose consciousness.  Mane-iac was fighting the blackness with her very soul; the horror of the situation was anything but lost upon her mind.

“You want a battle of wills?  This is excellent, you’re excellent.  You are such fun to play with.”  The voice was stating with glee.

“You will lose this battle, and lose you will.  And when I have you subdued, you are going to go to the sun princess of Equestria and you are going to cause such havoc when you do.”  It stated with glee.  Mane-iac’s sobs subsiding to nothing and a pained maniacal laughter erupted from her lips, as she started to lose the battle.

“You are but a tool for my grand plan, and you were never free.  I only created the illusion of freedom.  Taking away the joy of creatures and replacing it with pain and suffering, now that is joy and a creature’s realisation of despair…”

“Now that is pure ecstasy!”  The voiced said dripping with lust.

Mane-iac  ’s eyes shot wide upon, this movement was beyond her control, her vision blurring as her head rose, as she resurveyed her surroundings.  The feeling of total despair gripping her soul tightly as she realised that she was doomed.  For the land scape was not as bleak as she first perceived, the illusion shattering in front of her eyes.

Standing behind her stood an impenetrable wall of concrete and steal.  Its three hundred meter height was topped off by of the largest guns and cannons she could see.  This great wall stretched beyond the visible horizon that she could observe.  Its duty is to keep out all those who seek entry into its realm, while keeping those inside prisoner to its boundaries.

To her left, a small creature scurried past her at an incredible rate.  Its growing mass was shooting to a source of light over the horizon in front of her.  She was observing a large vibrant city by the look of the glow visible on the horizon in front of her, the glow dancing in the darkness of the night.

In front of her stood the testament to the function of the wall, for in front of her was a seen of emptiness where life was not permitted.  There was no trees, no animals.  An emptiness that life cannot and will not exist in, the only sign of life being flying vehicles patrolling in the distance.  The ground being marked by vast craters, whose existence bears the only sign of the vast power of the wall’s armaments.

Mane-iac   could not take it anymore.  Her will shattered, she broke down in tears and despair.  Hers cries of anguish turning into the maniacal laughter of mare driven into insanity.  Her vision going black as she started to lose consciousness, continually repeating to herself “I was free.”

“Free?  A creature is free of the power of Vaygr, when he commands it.”

“And I say that all creatures will be my slaves.  Even that whore of a sister, Sajuuk, will be my personal broodmare and slave.”  Vaygr stated with glee and lust, the name Sajuuk being spat out in disgust.

“Now Mane-iac, go to Princess Celestia and deliver my message to her.  Take your time; you have all the time in the world.”

As Vaygr laughed with joy that his plan was coming to fruition, Mane-iac responded with a dull and dead voice.  Her eyes empty of the life she had mere minutes ago, replaced with a demonic insanity,

“Yes master.”

1248hrs.

10th of *February*

Year 3005 After Twilight Coronation.

“How could the President have gotten to this situation?” Said an exasperated and panicked mare, her walking pace quickened to a near running pace as she moved to a large set of doors at the end of the hallway.

“We are not sure your majesty.  Two days ago, the president of the Diamond Republic stated to us that he had everything under control.  He alluded to having everything…”

“Yes colonel, I have been reading the reports.” The mare interrupted the Pegasus stallion.  The stallion was in his late forties in the prime of his career, his uniform indicating that he was part of the Equestrian Air Force.

“Still…”  The Large mare continued, getting closer to the room with each passing second as she moved.

“The reports that have been delivered to me in the past twenty-four hours have shown that the situation has deteriorated into a complete disaster.  As of the last report I received, the city has had an estimated a current casualty rate of twenty five percent.”

Her face was etched with worry and terror as the news of the disaster that was befalling the city of Malachtroit.  Never had her nation of Equestria, or any other nation on Equus faced such a monster before.

“If I may Princess Luna, this casualty report you received is not as bad as it sounds.”  Said the colonel as he followed the princess, only to immediately regret his words as they came out of his mouth.

The princess spun around in a heartbeat and was glaring not hatred at the officer following her, but disgust and disappointment at his words.  For now the officer finally got to see the princess in all her glory, as well as see the toll of the situation of the last three days had wrecked on her majesty.

For looking down upon the officer was Princess Luna of Equestria, the princess of the night.  Her midnight blue fur with black patches was lacking its usual shine and her normally flowing star filled mane was knotted and dishevelled due to worry about the implications of the plight of Malachtriot.  Her soft golden eyes had been replaced by the eyes of a field commander in battle, always analysing and always watching.  Her great wings remained folded behind, the feathers were of a dull dark blue colour instead of shimmering softness that they normally are while her elegantly long horn pulsated in a threateningly.  This was the picture of creature being eaten alive by its own stress.

“Are you telling me colonel…?”  She spat.

“That the lives Diamond Dogs are meaningless?  That out of a population of twenty million, that the current estimate of five plus million dead, wounded and missing is ACCEPTABLE!” Yelled Luna.

“Ah… N-n-n-n-no, your majesty.  I was merely stating that in this current situation (according to the current reports), that it could have been a lot worse”.  Stammered the Pegasus.

“For your sake, you have better have meant that.”

Luna turned to the guards at the door they were heading too.

“Open the doors!”  She commanded.

The doors opened to a large chamber, a command centre that was a buzz of activity as her ponies were yelling orders or moving around the room to deliver documents.  In the room, Luna could see the three other ponies she needed to talk to, standing in front of a large magical viewing device.  Its display was covered in an outline of the city being devastated with markers showing current troop movements and the strange monster’s location.  Princess Luna moved to closer to the three in question, taking mental notes on each of them.

Princess Twilight Sparkle, the princess of magic, was standing opposite a white unicorn mare with a blonde mane tail, as well as the most gorgeous but piercing blue eyes to have graced the kingdom.  The mare was explaining something to Twilight.  Luna noting that the more this mare spoke, the more panicked Twilight became.  Her *DESCIRBE TWILIGHT*.

The mare talking to Twilight was none other than Chancellor Bluebelle Blueblood the sixteenth, the under-princess of light and leader of the government.  Blueblood was standing taller then twilight, her beauty rivalling that of Celestia’s.  Luna banishing the last thought from her head.  She knew her sister was alive but she hasn’t seen her for over fifteen hundred years. Chancellor Blueblood and her colleague preventing her, due to a peace pact signed during the last Equestrian civil war.

Speaking of the other colleague, Luna could hear her shouting orders and demanding Intel, just to the side of Twilight and Blueblood.  There, in all her glory stood the professional head of the armed force of Equestria.

High Marshal Battalia Lulamoon, Captain of the Guard and Under-Princess of Light.  Her powerful physique hid the mind that was sharper than any creature on Equus (past or present) in regards to warfare.  Her hands were a flurry of movement, as if her hands were talking a language that only her officers understand.  Her fur was light blue, with her mane and tail composed of very pale blue hair with white highlights.

“Status on the surveillance equipment in the area, I want to see this beast.”  Barked Lulamoon.

“Ma’am, ETA till visual on target is approximately one hundred and eighty three seconds.”  Replied an earth pony officer.

“Good, alert me when ten seconds is remaining.”

“Yes ma’am.”

“Has there been any movement from the Audacean lines?”

“No ma’am.  We have not been able to see anything from them.”

“Typical.”  Muttered Luna, as she approached the Marshal.

“Marshal Lulamoon, could I have an update please?”  Requested Luna.

“As you know from the last report, the beast that has invaded the Confederated Republic of the Diamonds (CRD) first appeared three days ago.  Since then, the CRD’s President declared martial law. Initially denying the need for aid, over a twenty-four hour period since first contact, he immediately began requesting aid, when his forces showed little to no effect on the creature.”  Pausing to allow Luna process the information being conveyed to her, her analytical eyes watching for the princess’ emotive responses.  Luna gave a sign for Lulamoon to continue her briefing.

“What we know to be a fact, in relation to the creature is the following:

“One, the creature is consuming any biomass it is coming across, living or dead.

“Two, the creature disrupts any form of magical energy in a ten kilometre radius from its self.  This means that any magic based technology, as well as the magic of any being with in the vicinity.  The latter’s effect has shown to be catastrophic to the individual attempting to use magic within this dead zone (the extent of which we do not know).

“Three, the creature has been moving towards the centre of the city.  The reason for this is unknown, but the creature of that size is moving faster than any creature of that size should ever be able to move.

“Four, there are unconfirmed reports that the beast itself is releasing hordes of creatures that are attacking anything coming close to the main beast.”

“Unconfirmed?” Queried Luna.

“Indeed, these reports are unconfirmed because we can’t get any solid data on this creature or creatures.  Their behaviour means that they are unpredictable and that anypony getting close to attempting to verify the rumours has wound up dead or destroyed.”  Interjected Twilight.

Lulamoon cleared her throat.

“And finally, the CRD’s military is completely useless against this creature.  As the primary supplier of arms to that nation, I can only deduce that our weapons will be as equally infective against it.  It is also to be noted, that from what the CRD military attaché has told us, is that it is growing and the casualty estimate has been recalculated to thirty-five percent.”  Lulamoon concluded.

“I have been scouring our archives to find any reference to this beast.”  Stammered Twilight.  Her panicked state threatening to break through her demeanour, causing her eyes becoming crazier by the minute, for the implications of a creature existing that can disable the magic of this world carried terrifying implications.

“Until we can study the creature up close, I am afraid that we are at a loss.”

“The president of the CDR, President Fido Opals, has been requesting the aid in the form of military action.  I have been keeping the president up to date with possible options, but he is becoming more erratic by the hour.  The other nations are also hesitant to lend any aid as well.”  Spoke Blueblood.

“The only nations we can’t communicate with are the Kamohoalii Protectorate (as they address themselves) and the Auda…”

“TEN SECONDS!” Yelled an officer.

“ON MAIN SCREEN!” Ordered the Marshal.

Everyone in the room had their eyes fixated on the main screen.  For the first time isnce the