Extermination

The next morning, my fear rose to the sound of someone creeping into the house.  I heard a hoof step down on the wooden floor, and saw a young artillerycolt.  His face, and muzzle were streaked with blood and dirt.  "Is anypony here?" He asked.  The way he asked that made the world seem incredibly lonely...But I walked in, and made eye contact with him.

"Yes, come in." I said, he closed the door behind him.  "Drink this." I gave him a glass of water.

"Thank you..."

"What's happened out there?" I spoke.

"Out there..." He shivered a bit, "...They wiped us out.  Hundreds dead...maybe thousands."

"The heat-ray?"

"The Aliens!  They were inside the hoods of machines they'd made.  Massive metal things on legs, giant machines that walked...they attacked us...they wiped us out.

"Machines?" I questioned.

"Yes!  Fighting machines, picking up ponies, throwing them, and bashing them against trees.  Just hunks of metal...but it wasn't an accident, they knew exactly what they were doing..."

"There was another cylinder that came last night." I said.

"Yes...it looked bound for Canterlot."

"Canterlot?" I realized with horror what that meant..."Shining...I couldn't have dreamed there'd be danger to my brother so far away." I stood up, and quickly begun packing a travel bag.  "I must go to Canterlot immediately."

"And me...to report to headquarters.  If there's anything left of it."

With that, the artillerycolt and I left the safety of the library.  We got to the train station, only to discover the train service had been halted.  "I guess we're going on hoof..." The artillerycolt said.

We came across a small town that seemed to be completely deserted.  We came upon an inn where tables had been turned over, and windows were shattered.  "Is everypony dead?" The artillerypony asked.

"Not everypony..." I pointed toward a column of artillery, with gunners standing by.  "Look.  Six cannons."

"They haven't seen the heat-ray yet...they don't know what they're up against."

As we made our way to a bridge, there was a heavy explosion.  The ground heaved, windows shattered, and gusts of smoke erupted into the air.

"Look!  There they are, what did I tell you!" The artillerycolt shouted, pointing at a hill that overlooked the town.  I watched, as four of the fighting machines appeared.  Massive tripods higher than the tallest steeple, striding over the pine trees and crushing them with ease.  Each carried a huge funnel...and I realized with horror that I had seen this horrible thing before.  Heat-rays.  As I watched, a fifth machine appeared.  It raised itself to full height, waved the funnel high in the air, and the ghostly heat-ray struck the town.

Each of the five machines advanced aggressively, releasing black smoke and emitting deafening howls which roared like thunder.  The guns now fired simultaneously, decapitating a fighting machine.  It fell as the alien inside was instantly slain.  The other machines raised their heat-rays, and struck the artillery.  Now, with nothing to defend the town, ponies began to run, coming from their houses and running across the bridge.

As the monsters advanced; ponies ran away blindly, the artillerycolt among them.  I jumped into the river, and hid, until forced up to breathe.  The foot of a tripod came down close to my head as the heat-ray swept across the river.  I stumbled ashore, and fell helplessly in full sight of the enemy, expecting nothing but death.  The foot then lifted away, as the remaining machines carried away the debris of their fallen comrade...I realized that by a miracle, I had escaped the clutches of death.

I stumbled back on the road, and continued to make my way to Canterlot...

The clock tower bell rang as I made my way into the suburbs of Canterlot.  For three days, I fought my way along roads packed with refugees, the homeless, burdened with boxes and bundles containing their values.  All that was of value to me was here in Canterlot.  By the time I reached their house, Shining and my parents were gone.

I felt tears begin to fall down my cheeks as the autumn leaves began to fall from the trees.  I wiped my muzzle, and continued to walk with the crowd.  As I did, the sound of a familiar voice echoed behind me.

"Twilight!" I couldn't mistake that country accent in a million years.  I turned, and saw Applejack, along with her family, Applebloom, and Big Mac.

"Applejack!" She ran into my hooves as we hugged.  "Thank goodness you're alive...what about the others?" I asked, concerned for my friends.

"Fluttershy is staying with Rainbow up in the sky, I doubt the invaders could get up there.  Rarity and Pinkie Pie caught the last train to The Crystal Kingdom, and found little Spike on the train."

"I sent Spike away as soon as possible...it's good to know you're okay too.  Where's Granny Smith?" I noticed the elder relative of the Apple Family wasn't present.

"Right here." Big Mac pulled an urn out from the carriage he was pulling.

"Oh..I'm sorry for your loss."

"It's fine sugarcube...she went peacefully a couple weeks ago.  Sure we were upset, but we can't keep her passin' from distracting us around the farm."

Suddenly, fire leapt from house to house.  The population packed, and ran.  We were swept along with them, aimless and lost.  Finally, Applejack and I agreed that the only hope of survival was a boat out of Equestria...so we headed eastward, to the coast.  As we made our way through the suburbs of Canterlot, more and more ponies joined the painful exile.  Sad, weary women.  Their children stumbling, streaked with tears.  Their men, bitter and angry.  The rich, rubbing shoulders with beggars and outcasts.  Dogs snarled and whined, and wild animals had lips covered with foam.  Here and there, were soldiers, wounded, and as helpless as the rest of us.

We saw tripods wading up a river, cutting through bridges as though they were paper.  One, appeared above the royal castle, smashing a tower to the ground.  Never before in Equestrian history had such a mass of pony kind moved and suffered together.  This was no disciplined march, it was a stampede.  Without order, and without a goal.  Thousands of ponies unarmed, and unprovisioned, driving head on toward the coast.  It was the beginning of route of civilization, of the massacre, of ponykind...