The Connection

On the horizon, "it" came. Terras looked at the approaching storm, not knowing the destruction it would bring. The elders in each village and town came together to track the oncoming force. They knew the planet didn't stand a chance. Nobody wanted to believe it, and none of the elders told their citizens.

The dark force was estimated to be trillions of miles away, it should've arrived in a year, given them time to prepare for the fight.

It reached Crystoria within the week.

When it hit, it hit with the utmost subtly. Terras was playing with his two best friends in his village. His mother told him and his friends to come inside because there was a storm coming. It was almost above them, so the trio entered the house in time to see black beams shoot down from the dark clouds. There were thousands of them just at their village. None of them knew the force was enveloping their planet.

Terras was confused as to what was happening, but what he saw was traumatizing to an average child on Earth. He saw his people cut down by the dozen by Crystorian look-alikes. His house was destroyed and as he hid in the rubble, he saw his mother in his last moments.

She died protecting him. And that was the day he first materialized Ruby and Rose.

Terras looked around him. Dazed and confused, he flew to the nearest town and soon realized that other towns weren't doing any better. So he did what he was taught to do. He destroyed.

Destroyed was right word to use in this case. For a child, he was quite the demon with his blades. Through the slashing and stabbing he never thought about anything but his village, his planet, his mother........

Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy were on the train back to Ponyville. Rainbow Dash was thinking about that jet black storm, and was staring at it for almost half an hour. Fluttershy didn't know why she was so fixated on the storm.

"Is everything okay?" Fluttershy asked.

"Yeah" Rainbow Dash said, but she didn't take her eyes off the storm.

"It's that giant storm isn't it?"

"I don't know" Rainbow Dash said, "I don't like the feel of it."

"I'm sure it's nothing" Fluttershy said.

*  *  *  *  *  *

Princess Celestia sat on her throne, knowing that the disturbance she felt was just a passing storm. But she felt a strange energy emanating from that storm. She turned around again to face the back window, and she saw black beams shoot out of the clouds and speed towards Canterlot. At this sight, Celestia got up from her throne and galloped outside. She said to the nearest guard,

"Gather all of our forces. Send them to the heart of Canterlot. We're under attack."

The surrounding guards who heard the order moved quickly to inform the others of this attack. Princess Celestia teleported to the castle entrance, and saw ponies running in fear and panic, jet black pony formations killing them by the dozens. None of them stood a chance unless she intervened.

Terras

*  *  *  *  *  *

Terras was recounting his first encounter with these black beings, trying not to burst into tears on the spot, when from the cloud that was almost on Canterlot black beams began to travel towards the heart of Canterlot. The reminder of how his planet came rushing back to Terras, flooding his mind with memories best forgotten.

Oh shit

From one of the pod-looking cells that crashed into the town square, a jet black pegasus with no visible eyes, and a gaping mouth dripping some kind of black fluid formed out of it. Terras knew all too well that this fluid was a part of it's body, literally, and that it was acidic to the touch. After seeing the first of the many cells turn into a pony look-alike, Terras' mother came into his mind.

And he snapped.

He materialized Ruby Rose and ran into the fray, cutting down every formation he saw, and destroyed all obstacles in his way. He used every blade at his disposal, front, back, and wings. His blades and armor were dripping with the acidic substance, and the bit that got on his wings......well he didn't really care about burning his wings, as long as he took out as many of these things as possible. Terras fired a beam of spirit energy at a large group of of the formations, and turned around in time to slice two more with his winged blades. He was running through a crowd of fleeing ponies when he and the crowd were surrounded. The formations were quick to devour the ponies, but stopped when they saw him.

"Stupid, filthy, things!" Terras screamed and spun his body as to release his spirit energy in a circle around him. It worked effectively, and he was back to dashing around the city, slicing and dicing the things. He was about to turn a corner when he saw a glance of himself in a cracked window. He skidded to a stop, turned around and walked towards the glass. What he saw reminded him of how he was on the initial attack of his planet. His eyes were blood red with slits like a viper, he had fangs in his mouth, and he was pissed off.

Don't let your anger get the best of you, Terras. You'll end up dead, and I'll end up suffering.

His father's words echoed in his mind as his fangs reshaped and became less sharp, his eyes bacame their normal color, and his pupils returned to being circular. He calmed himself, and gathered his surroundings. This may be an incredible case of deja vu, but he had to find Celestia or Luna, get to a safe spot, and figure out a plan from there. Terras felt a blow to the head, and his blurry vision masked his meeting with the ground.

In a confused daze, Terras blinked quickly to focus his sight. When he did see all that was around him he was more surprised than afraid of the hundreds of pony formations surrounding him. They all stared at Terras, expecting him to do something. He did do something, and that was fight. He fought well, but eventually he began to tire, and felt his spirit energy was running out. He didn't have many more options, and the formations seemed unending. Terras' heart beat faster and faster as the formations pushed his limits and got closer to him. One of them jumped on his back and swung him to the ground. He tried to get up, but was unable to, and he felt the cold stinging bites of these things. Terras tried to blast them away but no energy came out of his hoof, and he just accepted death and defeat.

At least he went out fighting.

As his vision went to black, he heard beams being fired, and the sound of sharp things going through soft things. He thought he was going to the Great Beyond, and he would have eternal happiness. But Terras heard his name called, multiple times. After the tenth time of hearing his name, he opened his eyes and was revealed with the same scene hw was just in. This time the formations were not focused on him but another pony in the shy, vaporizing them with bright beams of light.

The last of the formations were destroyed and the pony flew down to Terras. It landed with a soft thud on the concrete, and approached him. It was Princess Celestia.

She helped him get up, and while he was still sore from the ordeal, and bleeding in multiple places, he still had the guts, and stupidity, to fight.

"Are you able to walk?" Celestia asked.

"If I can stand, I can walk" Terras replied, though he was out of breath and sounded like he shouldn't move very much.

"Where's Luna?" Terras asked.

"Helping to evacuate survivors. They're going inside the mountain. If you can fly, follow me."

Celestia took flight in a hurry towards the mountain, and Terras followed close behind. Celestia looked troubled, like something was bothering her. Terras chose to leave her to the privacy of her mind. Terras flew up to her so that they were flying at the same speed.

"Thanks for saving my butt back there. Don't know what I would've done if you didn't help."

Celestia smiled, "It was nothing, Terras. You are my friend and ally, and letting you die would affect me, as well as the war that has just started. Celestia frowned after the uttering of "war". It probably wasn't the best topic to talk about with her.

After the two arrived at the entrance to the mountain that was apparently big enough to hold every pony in Canterlot, Celestia began to to fly up towards the top of the mountain. Terras followed suit, but was puzzled as to why they weren't entering the mountain.

"We aren't going in the mountain?" Terras asked.

"No, we're going to the top of this mountain. There are things I need to know, and that you need to know."

On the very top of the mountain there was a flat circle, Terras assumed for training. Princess Luna was also there, staring up at the now blackened sky. Upon their arrival, she turned around and walked towards Terras. He hoped that, considering he was already injured, that they would not get any worse.

"What are they going to do?" Luna asked.

Terras aslo noticed that Celestia was looking at him, expecting an answer. So he remembered what exactly the things did to kill the planet, and retold to the best of his ability.

"Millions of them are going to fall from these clouds. And they are going to sprout vines from their arms, or hooves in this case. From there they will begin to fuse together and sap the planet of it's resources. It's going to literally kill the planet. And this one won't be the only planet."

The two princesses expressed for the first time to Terras, shock and awe.

"How do we stop it?" Celestia asked.

Terras' silence said it all.

"Is there a way to stop it?"

Terras looked both princesses in the eye. "They outnumber us a trillion to one. Those clouds, are not going to stop producing those things anytime soon. If there was a way to stop it, trust me, I would know."

Terras looked sullenly at the view of a ravaged Canterlot below. The sight must have been what his village looked like. After the attack.

"I think we're looking at the end of another planet."

*  *  *  *  *  *

"Rainbow Dash, look out!" Pinkie Pie called as another one of the black pony looking things pounced on the six elements. Twilight was the only one with enough power to actually destroy the things, however the better plan was to get to Canterlot as soon as possible. However since the trains would obviously be either destroyed or out of order, the only option was to teleport to Canterlot. But that required Twilight to concetrate, which she could not do with all the things rushing her and her friends.

As City Hall came into view, Twilight proposed that they go inside and teleport to Canterlot from there. After the other five agreed, Twilight led them into the lobby of the building. They had to get to a floor where the things couldn't see them.

"What do we do now?" Fluttershy asked.

"Please.....no more....running" panted Rarity.

"Yeah! No more running! Let's fight till we can't fight no more!" challenged Rainbow Dash.

"Rainbow Dash, why would we do that if we could be safe in Canterlot?" asked Applejack.

"Sorry" Rainbow Dash said and tapped her chest twice, "Pride".

Twilight interrupted and said "There's no guaruntee that Canterlot will be any safer. It wouldn't be crazy to think it's been overrun just like Ponyville. I just hope I'm wrong."

The six took the stairs to the third floor, which gave enough time for Twilight to get her magic going before any of those things showed up. Before teleporting, she checked to make sure everyone had their elements, and after a nod from everyone, began to gather enough magic to teleport five other ponies. After a bright flash of light, they arrived in Canterlot. Or at least what was left of it.

Of all the times to be right......