Megiddon Ex Machina

Megiddon Ex Machina

Chapter 2

I Need an Element

It wasn't just the ponies that changed. After the explosion of the mountain, a cloud of dust and fog spread throughout Equestria. Every town, city, and landscape has been morphed into a metallic grayish shape of itself. Homes and buildings were still standing, but glowing lines of different colors appeared on the buildings and floating bits of debris from the explosion were scattered all over the place. Also, it seemed as if the building grew to the new height of the morphed ponies. From Ponyville, Canterlot is no longer fully visible. All you could see was the ruins of the palace and some surviving buildings. In the library, the Mane 6 met to discuss this weird occurrence. "We need to find out what the hay just happened," Rainbow Dash exclaimed, on the ground. "I doubt I can even fly if my wings are like this." "I am just worried about how we are going to deal with this," Rarity said. "What I think we should do is go to the princess, she would know what to do in a situation like this."

When they reached the entrance to Canterlot, they saw that there was no easy path to the palace. Only Rainbow Dash, who was more confident in her flying abilities in this form, and Twilight, now an alicorn, could get to the castle. However, Twilight wanted to stay grounded to guide the others, and she knew a spell that could take the surrounding land into a bridge. She tried her best to only take from the top of the mountain in order to prevent further damage to the broken city. As they crossed the bridge, they looked at the destruction around them. The once proud capital of Equestria was now an example of what might come in the future. "We need to find out who, or what, could have caused Canterlot to fall to ruins," Twilight said, worrying more and more about the princess. "By the look of those ruins, I don't think the princess would be here," Rainbow said. "Well then, where would she go then?" Applejack exclaimed. "That big monster is still somewhere, probably looking for her!" "Yeah.

," Rainbow says nonchalantly, agreeing with Applejack. "Almost all 'a Equestria is as metal as the Flim-Flam Brother's cider machine." "You're right." Pinkie Pie acknowledged. "The only difference is Equestria itself can't make cider, but if only the very rivers were cider I could live there forever just to drink out of it for the rest of my life, but then I would get a stomach ache," "Pinkie" "and then I would be too far from the hospital," "Pinkie" "So I might have to go to one of you, but you would to far, too." "Um, Pinkie?" "Maybe it's not a good idea to move away just for cider." "Pinkie!" "Yeah?" "We're here" Twilight says, exhausted of Pinkie's dream.

As they went inside, they see Luna, also affected from the lightning. "Luna, where's Celestia?" Fluttershy says quietly. Luna slowly turns to them and says, "she was taken by a monster." "You mean the big, scary dragon-snake thing?" Rainbow asked. Luna nods as the Mane 6 tries to figure out why this happened. "Apparently, she knew who this abomination was, and she sort of accepted it." Luna says. "Would the Elements of Harmony help?" Twilight asked. "That's the problem. I was going to gather them to bring to all of you, but they took a different form, and I was worried that they might not be functional." Luna says as she looks back down at six objects. "What are they?" Rarity asked. "If they don't work," "They might work, I just do not know how." Luna says. Each of the Mane 6 grab their corresponding, new "element". "They have a resemblance of crossbows used by the Canterlot Guards," Twilight said with her knowledge of Canterlot. "So, in other words, they shoot arrows that could kill somepony?" Rainbow Dash said with fear. "Don't worry, these seem to be unable to shoot at somepony like us. We are still partially organic, and they seem to disable themselves when pointed towards an organic being," Twilight explains as she tests it on a transformed rat. "That, and I don't know if arrows are being shot if Fluttershy's weapons are that small, and if Pinkie's weapon is practically a mini-cannon," Twilight says in observance. "Well, whatever they are, we need them to stop that monster," Rainbow Dash says as she flies off.

As the others, including Luna, leave the palace in search of other ponies to join them in the fight, a mechanical being appears. This machine looked like the rest of the ponies, except there was no organic trace. It was fully mechanical and had dark orange armor. It seemed to have sent a code to somewhere, perhaps the monster. The machine carried a weapon like the morphed elements. More appeared beside it, and they sprinted towards the Mane 6 and Luna. Suddenly, bolts of concentrated plasma that took the shape of bullets rained on the ambush group. One of the machines was killed while another was badly damaged and was dying. "So that's what this thing does," says Rainbow Dash confidently. She then fires her weapon at the remaining machines. As she does, the rest heads toward the entrance of Canterlot, being chased by more of the machines. As Rainbow Dash finishes off the ambush group, she then provides supportive fire behind her friends. The machines did not hesitate to try and subdue either one of the Mane 6 or the Princess of the Night. Suddenly, Twilight noticed that Fluttershy was missing. Then, as the machines were gaining on them, one fell to the ground and remained motionless. Using her wings as a shield, Fluttershy appeared and fought them while the other four and Luna escaped. After the battle, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash met up with the others. "What were those things?" asked Rarity, trying to calm herself down. Applejack walked up to a subdued machine to try and identify what it was. "It says something here, but ah can't make it out," said Applejack. Twilight went to have a look. "It's in an ancient language. Not even I can translate it." Just then, Luna walked up beside them. "Barate" she said. "What does that mean?" Rainbow Dash asked, cracking under the suspension. "It means that it is a mechanical warrior, built long ago, before I was consumed by the nightmare forces," she explained. "These machines were not meant to travel alone. They also have important information that we need to extract," she said. "Ah will carry one of them to the library," said Applejack as she volunteered to carry one of the Barates. "I will gather their weapons and see to the other ponies. They might need my aid," Luna said as she went to retrieve the Barates' weapons. "Take care," Twilight said worryingly.

"Your power is great, but I need more of it." "I will endanger my subjects no longer. SET ME FREE THIS INSTANT!" "Or what, you have no more power left to stop me. The sun is at its zenith as I climb to mine. My empire will be greater than any of the attempts in history. Your history." "What do you mean?" "Chrysalis was ignorant and ambitious, Sombra was too obsessed with power, and Discord, who succeeded for a short while, proved too immature and was also ignorant." "How do you know this?" "Not only was I trapped in a mountain for you know how long, but I was granted the opportunity to see Equestria, how wretched the name, and how it grew. And grew it did, weaker and weaker." "We are not weak!" "Keep that thought to yourself, in the meantime, my empire is growing. Apilimia will soon rise to be the capital of my empire. The Sun as well as the Moon will soon be my source of power." "You wouldn't!" "If you prepared, I would not have, but you brought this upon yourself as well as your subjects. You should have known. The Armages are ready. The dogs of war have been unleashed."