From the Ashes

Alex was thrown backwards by the blast, he fell to one knee as he skidded across the now burnt ground. Once the spell had abated he looked up at the panting unicorn, his skin was smoking and his cloak hung to him by a loose thread.

He slowly rose to his full height and locked his eyes on the small group of ponies in front of him. His eyes locked on Twilight in particular, a small smile gracing his lips. “My turn.” He whispered.

He snapped his hands forwards and a beam of light shot from his pals, Twilight didn't have time to react and took a direct hit from the beam. She screamed as she flew through the air and crashed into a tree behind her.

His attention then turned to the blue mare that had decided to charge him. He waited for her to get close enough and lunged, only a second before his fist would have collided with the pony she disappeared with a pink flash along with the other mares.

He relaxed and waited for a counter attack, an attack that never came. Once he was sure that he was in no immediate danger he relaxed. His attention turned to the burned skin as it slowly began to heal.

The cloak he was wearing was almost completely destroyed, he grumbled as his attention turned to the barn not far from the farm house, he had waited long enough and had been lulled into a false sense of security.

He made his way to the barn and entered, pausing for a second to look down at Matt's dead body. He shook his head and turned to the end of the barn where Tom had been, he knew there was another person, the pony had lied to him, he had to have done.

He shook away the thoughts, he would have a chance to repay the stallion later, but first he had to free everyone around him. He closed his eyes and began.

To say the noise was loud was an understatement. The Celebrations started immediately after he had freed them. Many not believing what was happening before their eyes, they showered Alex with hugs and kisses as they finally got to move their bodies after such a long time.

Alex didn't allow himself to be overcome by their praise, he quickly stopped the celebrations and ordered everyone to find something to cover themselves with and to garb anything that could be useful.

Ten minutes later all twenty of the men and women had returned, they had all found something to wear, mostly just sacks with holes cut in them but clothes none the less. Many also held things such as hammers or scythes to be used as weapons should they need them.

Alex himself had found a cotton cover and wrapped it around his lower half. Once he had found a replacement for his cloak he rounded everyone up and stood before them, he didn't have time to answer all of their questions, not at the moment anyway.

“I will answer all of your questions in time!” Alex shouted over the crowd. “But we first must make it to safety and the forest on the edge of the farm is our best bet!” Alex paused for a second to let his words sink in.

“Right now many, if not all of you want revenge! But this isn't the time!” A mumble of disagreement ran through the barn. “If we loose control of ourselves now we will lose the once chance we have. Although I can assure, by the end of this there will be enough pony blood on the ground to fill a sea!”

Those words got a roar of approval. “Then lets get moving!” Alex shouted before pulling open barn door.

“Stop in the name of Princess Celestia!”

Outside the barn was seven guards, six earth ponies and one unicorn in the center. Each one wearing golden armour with a spear in hoof. Everyone stopped as the guards slowly encroached on their position.

“It would be best if you moved out of our way.” Alex said quietly.

The guards flinched slightly at his voice. “Surrender now abomination! Or we will be forced to put you down!” The unicorn that was most likely the leader commanded.

Abomination Alex's eyes focused on the leader. He looked to his left, a tall man with a hammer was standing by his side. He had a fearful look on his face, his eyes locked on the approaching spears. Alex reached out and puled the hammer from his grip. He twiddled it in his hands and approached the guards.

No secondary weapons. Alex thought as he scanned the guards in front of him, their only weapon being their spears. His grip on the hammer tightened on the hammer till his knuckles were tuning white.

“I don't like that word.” Alex whispered to the guards. He was less that a meter from the spears now, the group of humans hung back, unsure if they should follow him or not.

“Halt!” The lead guard shouted. “Do not take another step! By order of princess Twilight you are to surrender and be taken into custody. This is your once chance to comply. Abomination.”

Alex flicked his left hand forward, a gust of wind shot forward and pulled the spears into the air. He didn't waste a second, lunging forward he pulled the hammer back and brought it to bear on the unicorn, his eyes went wide. The hammer slammed down on top of his horn shattering it in one hit. The hammer continued on and slammed into the top of the guards head causing it to cave in with an explosion of blood.

He turned and and swung again, clipping another guards in the chin, their was a loud snap as the guard flew backwards, the remaining five guards quickly got their bearings and brought their spears to bear on Alex, leaving their flank completely undefended, and then everything fell into chaos.

The men and women from the barn didn't waste the opportunity. A roar filled Alex's ears as a wall of bodies charged forward. Two of the stallions didn't even have a chance to blink before they were swarmed by the humans from the barn, hammers, and scythes cleaving and cutting them to pieces.

Alex watched smiling as two other ponies, completely unprepared were cut to pieces by the rampaging humans. A lone brown stallion watch on in horror as his comrades were torn to shreds before his eyes. He turned and fled, he eyes locked on the town in the distance.

Alex waved his hands and the stallion lost his footing, he fell face first into the ground and Alex slowly walked over, sending gusts of wind every time he had almost regained his footing. Alex looked down at the stallion, he was crying heavily.

A pang of guilt filled Alex's stomach. The guard was pleading to be let go, muttering prayers to Celestia for her to save him from the monsters, and with that one prayer that guilt Alex felt was gone. Alex raised his foot slowly, allowing the pony to get a good view.

“No more mercy.”

“PLEA-!” Crunch

“Burn it.”

Alex and the group of humans stood at the front of the farm house, after leaving the barn they raided the house for any supplied they could take, they had gathered a large amount of food, clothing and a small box of medical supplies from the kitchen.

Alex was confident they had enough supplies for at least two weeks, although the chance of it lasting that long was slim, the humans from the barn were incredibly under nourished. Most with visible bones and sunk cheeks.

Alex turned his attention away from the group around him and turned back to the house, three men were throwing burning logs onto the thatched roof that caught instantly. The house had been unfortunately empty of the owner of the barn, a young miss Applejack.

He would find and punish this Applejack later, but first he wanted to enjoy the view. Flames flickered in his eyes as the farmhouse went up in flames, a swirling wall of flame that reached high in the sky.

The heat was intense, so much so that many on the people around him and to take a step back from the inferno. He turned to the horizon as a second plumb of smoke rose high into the air. The sun was setting and the glowing from the farmhouse and the now burning barn cast an ire glow over the apple farm.

He looked round at the people around him, he still hadn't learnt any of their names, unlikely some would remember them but hopefully he could gain some insight into what was happening, not to mention what had happened to Tom

One thing he couldn't shake from his mind was the condition that many of them were in, most of them were so weak they could walk more than five hundred meters without taking a rest. He shook his head, what kind of torture they had endure he would never know, and he hopped it stayed that way.

If every human in this country was in similar condition he didn't really have much hope in wining any battles, let alone a war. He wanted to defeat Celestia and take control of the country. He didn't want to annihilate the pony race, decrease their numbers of course, but not exterminate them.

They stood there for a few more moments, basking in the heat of the fire as the night began to grow chilly. The cold worried him, most of the people around him wore nothing more than sacks, he could take the cold but he worried for them, not to mention the fact that his shoulder was slowly beginning to ache again. He hopped it was only a side effect of the sudden surge of magic, if not he would be in some serious trouble.

He wiggled the appendage around in hopes that the throbbing would go away, it didn't of course only leading him to growl in frustration. “All right we need to get moving!” He shouted “Grab everything you can and lets move out!”

The walk was long and hard, even though the edge of the forest was in sight the group of humans had to stop every few minutes to rest, having not controlled their bodies for so long they could barely keep on their feet.

The added weight from the bags of food and loot from the apple farm only worsened their position. Alex carried what he could but it was still to much for them. Hope still burned in him though, the forest was less than a mile away now and they were slowly making ground.

He looked over his shoulder and sighed, much of the group had paused again and were catching their breath. As the group was resting for the umpteenth time Alex turned his gaze to the glowing sky. Hills had obscured the view of Sweet Apple Acres but the fire still burned with fury.

A smile tugged at his lips, this was only the beginning, once he was finished anyone who stood against him would burn. Alex looked back to the group who were slowly getting back on their feet, if everyone he freed was like this the chance of creating an effective force was nil.

His second problem was freeing more people, he couldn't run into towns as it would be likely that their security would bee increased, and he didn't want to over use his magic, not when his shoulder was acting up.

Their only hope would be to hit very small settlements or farms in the middle of no where, maybe even a small convoy once in a while, anything that could bolster their numbers without offering to much risk.

The guards at the barn gave him hope, they had killed them all with ease but he knew that wouldn't last, once guards slowly got words that humans could think like them things would change fast.

The chance that Celestia might also order every human in the realm to be executed was also a real danger, small and unlikely but not unthinkable. After all if their 'goddess' ordered them to do it most would follow without question.

He shook his head, he dint want to think of that possibility, for if she did order that he wouldn't waste any time in burning the entire country to ash.

He shook his head again before jumping to his feet. He had waited enough and they had to keep moving.

“We have to keep moving!” Alex shouted. “We are almost there.” All he got was groan from the group. They grudgingly continued on.

Celestia let out tired sigh, she had spent much of the day in court, having to listen to each and every complaint of request from her little ponies, many of which were trivial matters such as noise complaints or that they didn't like the colour of a certain house on their street.

She truly loved her ponies but they always found ways to irritate her. She was listing to one of the last proposals of the day, a line of ponies still waited in the throne room but Luna could deal with them.

“I think that an investment in a human welfare shelter would help get homes humans off the street.” A small mare with red fur said confidently, she beamed a smile at Celestia and she in kind returned it.

“I will take the offer up for advisement.” Celestia said. “Though I am unsure if we can afford such a grand building.” The mares ears flopped onto her head.

“But there and hundreds of homeless humans in cant-”

“I am aware of the situation,” Celestia interrupted softly, “But the money required to build a refuge for so may humans would be astronomical.”

The mare's head dropped. Ears splayed against her head she looked back up to Celestia and mustered a sheepish smile. “I understand, thank you for your time princess.” She bowed.

“Comeback in four months and we will see if the situation as improve-” Celestia didn't get to finish her sentence as a scroll flashed into existence before her eyes. “Sorry just a moment.” Celestia said before unrolling the scroll. It was unusual for Twilight to send a scroll unannounced.

Her eyes scanned the paper before her magic aura disappeared and the scroll dropped to the ground. She jumped from her throne causing the red mare to fly backwards.

“Guards!” She cried. Two of the personal guards ran forward to her side.

“Ready every solider we have, even if they are on leave!” The guards looked back with a flabbergasted looks.

“NOW!”

The group let out a sigh of relief as they collapsed onto a large open are in the forest. They had walked through the thick brush for over an hour to ensure their safety from prying pony eyes. Even Alex was feeling the strain now, he had to carry much of the supplies they had taken as well as the weapons from the stallions.

“We need to make a fire, then we can get some rest.” Alex said. He walked around the clearing, grabbing dry sticks, leaves and logs as he went. Once he had enough material he placed it in a small circle. He snapped his fingers and summoned a flame that immediately caught the dry sticks and leaves.

The group slowly moved around the warm fire and lay down. The soft grass of the clearing must have felt like silk compared to the state they lived in at the farm. They were all to tired to try and make any conversation, most of them fell asleep the moment their head touched the ground.

Alex's eyes fluttered, sleep was taking him. He slowly lay down on the dry grass and closed his eyes. He was going to save humanity, he was going to free them all, kill Celestia and her followers and nothing was going to stand in his way.

Kill