Where Do Your Loyalties Lie?

"Stormy?" Lightning called from the kitchen. She began to get up from her place at the table.

Stormy heard the shifting of the chair along the cloud floor and shouted, "I'm fine! Just... stay there!" He walked upstairs to his bedroom to find his tactical knife. He then stopped, turned to face his parents' bedroom and began walking to their door. He hadn't opened it for years, ever since he went searching for their will.

He put his ear up to the door and heard a faint breathing, then a light chuckle. He slowly turned the handle, knife at the ready, then threw open the door.

There, sitting in a wooden chair, he saw exactly what he had seen; Lightning Dash, but not Lightning Dash.

"What are you doing here?!" he demanded from her.

She merely showed him the exact same knife he was holding, but somewhat scratched and chipped.

She then put on a look of concern. "Look, Stormy, I'm here to warn you.

"Why? Why are you here, Lightning?!" he screamed.

She looked at him in confusion. "Who said I was our sister?"

It was then that the realization hit him. Their sister... It could only mean one thing...

"Thunder?" he asked, his voice slightly choked up. He swallowed hard. "How--"

"I take it Celestia notified you about the Factory?" she said all-knowingly.

"Yes, but how does this--"

She cut him off again, saying, "Good, then you need to know this: I'm here to warn about one thing. I can't protect you from the Factory, nor its list. Whomever may be on it is who we come for. The names are selected at random from the Archive Database. They're coming for you, Stormy. You have ten days to prepare yourself. Normally, no pony's warned about their fate, but since you're my brother, I felt I had to warn; I always and still love you."

"But, that knife... how--"

"I'm coming from two days after your death. You're being given one last chance. What I'm doing is going to change the history of the world, but only if you heed my warning. You have to save yourself."

She got up from the chair she was seated in and opened the window of their parents' bedroom. She turned back to him, at first not looking at him, then turning to face him. "Oh, and another thing: I'm the one scheduled to kill you."

She lifted the bottom of her mane off of her back, revealing a scar. "I admit, I knew you were in the Special Forces, but I had no idea you were this good. You took out forty-seven of our hunters, took fourteen tranqs, and got me in the back."

She slid out of the window and spread her wings. She turned back one last time and said, "Remember, you have to save yourself, else all hell will break loose!"

At that, she flew off into the horizon, leaving Stormy staring the gun she left behind. He trotted over to it, picked it up, and saw the note taped to it.

Your first step.

He sighed, then snapped back to reality. He immedietely flew down stairs, grabbed his pleather jacket, and shouted, "Lightning, get ready to go! Fluttershy, you can come with if you want!"

Lightning's head snapped up. "Where are we going?"

"Crazy!"

Lightning turned her head back to her friend. "Wanna come?"

She shrugged. "I guess."

It was then that Stormy heard that familiar sound. He shot out of the front door to find where it was coming from. He flew into the backyard and saw a fading blue box-like shape, lighting up then fading, coming back, then leaving again, making a sound every time it disappeared.

Weeorp!

Weeorp!

Weeorp!

Finally, the box disappeared.

"The hell?" Stormy said.