The Travelerby Mysterious Hooded ManChaptersArrivalBrokenHad to be SharpWake-up CallI Like Those OddsI'll Be BackArrivalA gentle breeze swirled around the six gold-clad guards as they marched through the Everfree. The forest itself was silent except for the clacking of the guards metal hoofguards on the occasional piece of stone and the metallic rustling their armor made as they moved. One of them, a Pegasus known as Gale, spoke up. "Sir, I know Princess Celestia told us to go here for a reason, and you are the only one she talked to. Just what the hay are we looking for in this place?" They had been walking for almost two whole hours now. The leader of the group, an aging Unicorn, inhaled deeply before giving his subordinate an answer. "Well, her Majesty thinks that it was some kind of magical anomaly, and she wants us to go find out if it's dangerous or not." Gale nodded slowly. He knew exactly what Flare was talking about. Just a couple days ago, some giant red beam came from space and landed in the Everfree, and everything from comets to Queen Chrysalis had been suggested so far. Whatever it really was, nearly every magic-user in Equestria was on edge because of it, and the same discomfort had started spreading to everypony else; when Princess Celestia actually comes out and admits that she and the other Princesses are lacking in the one-hundred-percent-sure department, you were basically told to start getting worried. Personally, he blamed it on Discord getting bored with having to be good, though he did that with everything. Flare ordered them to halt. "It looks like the trees are starting to thin," he said. "we must be approaching a clearing of some sort, and hopefully that supposed anomaly as well. Keep your guard up." The patrol continued, weapons drawn and shields raised. He was right. The trees were not only thinning, but a few bore several holes and what looked like sword slashes and burn marks; fewer even had an arrow sticking out. The ground was littered with stumps that had ax scars on the sides, explaining the thinning. The further the patrol proceeded, the less this was looking like some mere anomaly. Gale gripped his sword a little tighter. The trees had thinned to the point that a large structure was visible through them. The patrol slowed down even further. This was most definitely not an anomaly. Flare nearly whispered his command. "Steel Wall and Mountain Breaker, split up and surround the area. Gale and Tornado, you two take to the skies and warn us of any danger. Delta and I will move around and look for whoever built this place, and contact Princess Celestia if need be." Everypony nodded, then did as they were ordered. The outpost looked even bigger from the sky, having several platforms suggesting it wasn't quite finished. Some building supplies were scattered about, as well as some crates and a weapon or two. Gale signaled for Tornado to move around the structure and keep an eye on the few windows the thing had for signs of life. The Pegasus nodded. The group continued looking around. They would have all assumed it was some hermit that decided he didn't like living in a city and tried building a house for himself, but it didn't quite explain the arrows and burn marks in the trees, unless he had to deal with a whole lot of Everfree wildlife; and it still failed to explain those small holes. Nothing seemed to be lining up with what was normal in the world. Gale lost sight of the others as he flew around the structure, daydreaming on the possibilities. A flash of movement from a window caught his attention, but whatever had caused it was gone before he could so much as utter a word to his fellow guards. A door slammed in the background, and Delta's gravely voice shouted inside his head. Gale! Get over to the front of the building now! You have got to see what just came out of this place! The Pegasus raced back to the entrance of the outpost. Delta and Flare were side-by-side. Steel and Mountain were holding position in the tree line, waiting for an order. Celestia knew where Tornado was at. In front of the two Unicorns was a bipedal creature roughly six feet tall, covered in black armor. It clutched two shortswords with its forearms, and kept them leveled at the Unicorns, who had their own weapons in a defensive position. Flare spoke. "Biped! We mean you no harm! Sheathe your weapons!" Then, to everypony's amazement, the thing responded, in perfect Equestrian no less. "I will hold when you sheathe your own, horse! I refuse to fall for the same trap twice!" Its voice was slightly muffled by its helmet. Around the same time, Tornado appeared just behind the creature. He looked at Flare, then the creature, drew a dagger and made a mistake; he attempted to sneak, while flying and in armor to subdue the creature. What happened next was unstoppable. The thing turned, and Tornado was frozen as he realized his mistake. The hilt of the beast's sword caught him in the belly and threw him into a wall, where the second sword the creature had impaled him there. He let out a sickening gurgle right before the other sword pierced his throat, and Tornado went limp, blood spurting from the wound. The pony's body clattered to the ground when the creature drew its bloodstained weapon from the wall. Everypony was frozen from shock. A guard hadn't died from combat in... Well, no pony really knew when the last time a guard died from combat was. It just didn't happen. "No harm, eh? Is that why that one tried sneaking up on me, dagger at the ready? Told you I wasn't falling for that trick again," the thing said. Flare shouted for Steel and Mountain to charge. At the same time, the creature rushed the Unicorns, both swords raised. Right as it passed them, it swung both weapons. Flare managed to sidestep the blow, but Delta was grazed on the leg and stumbled. He awkwardly hopped on three legs in Gale's direction, face twisted in pain. Mountain was the first to meet the creature, who promptly kicked his shield away and unbalanced the Earth Pony. Before it could send the killing blow, Flare lobbed a beam of magic at it, stunning the thing long enough for Mountain to scramble to his hooves and draw his own weapon. Gale drew his own sword and dived at the creature, letting out a war cry- -that proved to be a mistake nearly as bad as Tornado's. The creature whirled and let loose a flurry of steel backed blows, knocking Gale to the ground, cuts covering his body better than his fur. Delta, having partially recovered, let a beam fly, but missed the creature by a matter of inches. In response, the creature replaced its sword with a throwing knife, and buried it in Delta's chest. The fatally wounded Unicorn collapsed sideways, trying to pull out the knife with his rapidly fleeing strength. Steel had seen what almost happened to Mountain and drew a bow. Less than a second later, an arrow sprouted from their assailant's shoulder, causing it to stagger briefly before pulling the arrow out and tossing the shaft to the ground; Steel's face would have been funny if it wasn't such a dire situation. He notched another arrow. Flare continued firing beams at the creature, landing hit after hit, but the thing refused to fall, slowly advancing towards the Unicorn, even as it took increasingly larger blows. All at once, Steel fired his arrow, Flare fired an especially powerful bolt and Mountain swung his sword, throwing the creature to the floor. Before it could get up, Flare used some old fashioned telekinesis to slam it into the ground multiple times. All three ponies advanced on its prone form, but before a surrender could be ordered, the thing turned red and vanished, a terrifying red bolt carrying it into the sky. "Did we beat that thing?" Steel asked, eyes wide. "Think so." Flare replied. "But I would have liked to beat it a bit harder after it killed Tornado and Delta. Buck!" Mountain stepped over to Gale's incapacitated form. "We will lose one more unless we get Gale back to Canterlot for healing pronto, those swords did quite the number on him." Gale felt Flare magically pick him up and sling him over Steel's back. Good thing Pegasi were light and Earth Ponies were strong. The same thing happened for Tornado and Delta, who were respectively put on Flare and Mountain's backs as well. "Alright, everypony. Let's get back to Celestia and report what happened. Hopefully she'll send out a team to dismantle this place before-" A red beam struck the ground behind them. The creature they had just fought stood there, holding onto its swords again. The ponies were forced to drop their dead and wounded to the ground to defend themselves, but the Earth Ponies were too slow; both fell from gashes in their throats, blood pooling around them. Flare dodged and deflected, but was worn down fast. Each connected hit slowed and weakened him a little more until his sword was knocked from his magical grip. Gale winced as the brave pony fell, a dull look of surprise on his face. The creature sheathed its weapons. Gale felt himself beginning to weaken as his life ebbed away. The creature had done more damage than he had thought. Even if it hadn't returned, he would have bled out on the way back. The pony's vision faded into black, then white, as his soul drifted into the great beyond, soon to join his slain friends. Broken"Well, they've been missing for nearly a week now and guard patrols don't ever go missing, especially those with Pegasi among their ranks." Celestia said, yawning a little. It was getting late. "If they didn't get lost, then we have to assume some kind of animal attacking them, but there is next to nothing that could wipe out an entire guard patrol." Luna replied. "Twilight, you've been quiet so far, what do you think?" "I think it's more likely they got lost; the Everfree isn't exactly the most well known place in Equestria," she responded. "And besides, what in its right mind would go after six fully armed guards? What in its right mind would even try violence?" "Well, when you put it that way..." Luna said, unsure. "But still, an entire week. The only way I will agree is if-" A cry for Celestia interrupted the blue Alicorn. In response, Celestia stood and walked to her door, half annoyed for being pulled away from her tiny reunion, but the thoughts were dismissed when she remembered that something like this would only happen if it was serious. She opened the door, her sister and Twilight in tow. A Pegasus guard nearly barreled into her, having to expand his wings to slow down in time. He bowed. "My apologies for interrupting you, your Majesty, but one of the guards in the patrol you sent has returned," he said. "What news did he bring?" Luna asked. The guard looked down. "So far, he has been unable to speak, and we haven't found the other patrol members yet. Please, we need you in the guardhouse as soon as possible" he said, turning around and starting down the stairs. The three Alicorns followed. The group walked in silence, taking a couple shortcuts so they could arrive at the guardhouse relatively quickly. The two Earth Ponies at the front opened the doors, revealing an abandoned interior, save for a couple doctors and guards huddled around a bed. Celestia approached them, then nearly jumped back when she saw the patrol member. Bloody gashes and bruises covered his body, staining the bedsheets. His face was contorted in pain as the doctors tried to ease the pain, to little avail. He would occasionally whimper when one of the doctors touched a wound with a wet rag, but other than that, he was silent; instead of the chilling screams and groans that one would expect from a pony injured so badly, this one just laid there, staring at everypony with pleading eyes. It was incredibly unnerving. "What in Equestria happened to him?" Celestia asked. One of the guards turned around, a frown chiseled onto his face. "We don't have the slightest clue, your Majesty, and he still can't talk. We were thinking telepathy could work, but none of us know how to do it. Maybe you could try...?" "I will, but it has been a while." Celestia replied, stepping forward. As horrible as it sounds, I hope his mind is too broken to resist. She closed her eyes, her horn glowing yellow as the spell was cast. The usual wave of nausea associated with entering another pony's mind passed over the Princess, followed by sudden distortions of the guards thoughts that interrupted the endless plane she currently stood on. She heard him say something inside his head. "W-Who's there?" Celestia thought up a reply, "It's me, Princess Celestia. I need to ask you about what happened to you and the other guards in the Everfree-" She was cut off as a barrier slammed down in front of her. Oh... Light returned to her eyes as she ended the spell. "Well? What did he say?" Luna asked, cocking her head. "As soon as I brought up the Everfree, he tossed up a barricade." "Oh... Well, if it's that bad, maybe we shouldn't try to force it out of him, lest we injure him further than what has already been done." Twilight spoke up as well. "I agree with Luna this time. We should just wait until he is ready to speak." Celestia paused for a moment. "...No. Unless we can find out exactly what caused this, it will only continue," she said, casting the spell again. Ignoring the now slightly more intense nausea, the Alicorn started beating on it, slowly putting dents in until a crack appeared. Focusing her strength on it, it flew open and exposed the guards memories to her mind. A few blurred images passed by, completely unreadable. Celestia pushed deeper, right before a terrifying image of a bipedal figure thrusting a sword into a cowering guard caused her to lose her focus, and the barrier reformed. Before she could prepare for another assault, something shoved into her physical body and knocked her to the ground, ripping her mind from the spell. Opening her eyes, Celestia saw Luna standing over her, visibly angry. "Luna! What are you doing?!" Celestia said, equally unhappy. Luna simply pointed at the wounded guard. Confused, she stood up and looked. The guard was thrashing around on the bed, mouth opened in a soundless scream. The doctors attempted to hold him down so he wouldn't fall off, only making him struggle more. Celestia felt like a dagger had been shoved into her heart. "Sister... I didn't know it would do this to him, I swear..." she mumbled, unable to get over knowing how much pain she had just caused. "Celestia, when you enter a pony's mind and access their memories, you are forcing them to relive those moments; and when those moments cause significant trauma, this happens." Luna said, pointing to the guard, who had stopped moving. "Now, if you insist on taking this route, at least let me be the one to remove his barrier. I can do it without causing as much pain as having your mind broken usually results in." "...Okay. But I still need to be the one to access those memories. As soon as that barrier is down, you leave his mind and I go in, understand?" "If you say so..." Luna responded, already starting to cast the spell. The guard violently shook at first, but slowly calmed down as time passed until he simply twitched every now and then. Eventually, Luna opened her eyes again and nodded to Celestia, who then cast her own spell a third time. Upon reentering the guard's mind, she noticed that things seemed a little off. Blurred images flew around, and static clouded any chance of hearing. Celestia soon started focusing on the memories as they passed her, deciphering as much as possible before it vanished. Whatever Luna had done wasn't making her job any easier. The first few images were pretty clear, showing the patrol as it moved through the forest at around sunset. the images started coming by faster, though it was unnoticeable at first. An image of a small fort popped up, and the images in general started to become more and more distorted, further showing how damaged the guard's mind was. A picture of the same biped Celestia had seen earlier flashed for the shortest of seconds before showing one of the guards on the ground, throat slashed. The fort showed up again, windows colored a deep red before a second dead guard appeared, an arrow in his chest. The biped appeared again, another image of a dead pony following close behind. A deafening blast of static pounded her mind, and two more dead guards appeared, one of them being a Pegasus with a missing wing. The images were coming in too fast to tell details at this point. Another blast of static made Celestia cringe, and the biped appeared to be walking toward her, getting closer every couple images. A close-up view of the first dead guard, wounds sickeningly exaggerated, threatened to make her lose her focus while another of a guard who had nearly been gutted only made things worse. The spell was hanging on by a thread now, with only the Princess's own strength keeping it going. The biped was no more than a foot away, the images coming in at a speed that could have made Rainbow Dash jealous. The fort appeared again, painted with blood while dead guardponies littered the ground around it. The biped raised its sword, as if to strike a cowering foe. Celestia, for the first time in a while, felt pure fear. The blade slashed through the air, and the spell ended, the white Alicorn too shaken to continue. Celestia opened her eyes, gasping. The depression in the room was palpable. Twilight, the doctors and the other guards had left, leaving only Luna and the guard; the latter had a dagger buried in his chest. "W-What happened?" Celestia asked, looking at the guard. "He completely lost it. Before we could stop him, he grabbed one of the other guards' weapons and stabbed himself." Luna said, leaving the room. "I hope whatever you found out was worth it." Celestia was frozen to the spot. Is all this my fault? "Tia? are you awake?" "Yes." "May I come in?" "Of course." Luna stepped through the door to Celestia's bedroom, closing it behind her. A few seconds later, the blue Alicorn joined her sister on the bed. "Listen... I'm sorry about how I acted last night. I shouldn't have just ditched you back there." Luna said, sighing and looking down. "No... It's okay. I'm fine now." "Sis, I can tell when a pony hasn't been sleeping. Tell me, what's been troubling you?" Celestia laid back. "Every time I close my eyes, the guard's memories keep appearing in my head. That, and..." she said, trailing off. "And... What?" "Is it my fault those guards all died?" Luna shuffled her hooves. The question clearly wasn't something she was expecting. "Of course not, Tia. You can't control how good your guards do in combat. They tried their best, but in this particular event they were at a disadvantage. As for the most recent casualty, I honestly think it would have happened no matter what we did. None of these deaths are your fault, so don't pin the blame to yourself; pin it to that thing in the forest." "That doesn't change that we need to stop it however... And at this point, sending guards to die will be my fault. We could outnumber it a million to one, and we would still take at least one casualty." Luna tilted her head. "Maybe we could try a more diplomatic approach. You could send in Twilight, seeing as she is the leading expert on making friends." "That could work... I'd like to have Shining Armor and Princess Cadence here before we take any risks like that." "I will inform them. Now, you need to get some rest. Take the day off. I think I can handle a kingdom for a few hours." "If you say so, Luna. Oh, and... Thank you. It's nice to know that at least one pony is still behind me after last night." "Anytime, sis. Now, I meant it when I told you to get some rest!" Luna said, stepping of the bed and heading for the door. One last nod in her direction served as a silent goodbye before the younger Alicorn stepped through the door. After some silent thinking, Celestia decided to follow her sister's words and sleep, the latter finally being able to reach her weary eyes in a matter of minutes. Had to be SharpI can't believe I agreed to this! Twilight flew high above the trees, trying to get a better view of the surrounding forest. Her only clue for her destination was an especially large clearing with a house in the center, but it had proven to be like finding a needle in a haystack while on a time limit so far; heavy Everfree storm clouds were moving in rather quickly behind her, and unless she either turned around or found her target within the next few minutes, she wouldn't be flying back. The rest of her impromptu briefing warned her not to so much as try to be intimidating, and that Pegasi Guards would be hiding in the woods in case something went wrong. However, after the last couple of encounters, the young Alicorn doubted they would be of any use, even if they were hoof-picked by Shining Armor. She increased her altitude, trying once more to find her objective. A flash of red in the distance caught Twilight's eye. She flew towards it, lowering herself to be just above the canopy while increasing her speed until the light flashed again, much closer this time. Sure she had found the place, Twilight pitched upwards and located the clearing, along with a fortress that rivaled most of the larger fortifications in the Griffon homelands. The Alicorn entered a landing dive and touched down just on the edge of the treeline, cautiously stepping forwards. Hopefully nopony had skimped on the guards' armament. The land within the clearing seemed especially barren. Large scores had been carved into the earth every few feet, almost in a pattern. Tree stumps littered the area, and any animals that had lived here were gone, likely scared off by whatever built the structure that dominated the area. Twilight continued walking towards said structure, glancing around nervously. From what Celestia had mentioned, their opponent fancied ambushes, and a single unarmed pony trotting around was very open to one. A metallic grinding noise punctuated the silence of the forest. Twilight cringed at the noise, knowing that if she so much as tried to use her magic, whatever weapon that had just been drawn would be put to use. Cold steel brushed her neck, followed by a slightly muffled voice from almost behind her. "Well, well, well, what do we have here?" Twilight struggled to remain calm and not scream for her escorts at the top of her lungs. "I-I've been sent here on a diplomatic mission by Princess Celestia-" "Yeah, I'm sure. Where are the others at?" "W-What others?" "Don't play dumb with me, horse. The last diplomat to be sent alone to negotiate with a hostile species got eaten alive by cannibalistic plant people. Either you came armed or followed, and you are going to tell me before I scratch up one more." "I came alone, I promise!" She felt the blade press harder against her neck, wondering if the thing had seen through her lie. "Please, just give me a chance to talk with you and we will never bother you again!" That seemed to interest the creature. The blade fell away from Twilight's neck, followed by more grinding as it was sheathed. "Never bother me again, huh? I think I'd like that. However, if you want this interview, you can do it inside. Diplomats never go alone." A large black form moved in front of her, shoving open the door. It stood there, waiting for Twilight to enter. She looked over her shoulder, then stepped inside. The door creaked as it was shut, the creature peering through the crack before closing and locking it. It turned around and strode into what appeared to be a living room of sorts, minus about half the furnishings. The two sat down on a couple of rather weak looking chairs, possibly made with whatever appendages the creature used in lieu of hooves. They both creaked as weight was applied, and the one the creature used threatened to break. It removed its helmet, revealing a scarred and bruised face, likely from the last couple of encounters. It also kept a dagger halfway concealed, as if to remind Twilight not to try any funny business while keeping its brownish eyes half focused. The Alicorn spoke first. "Well, I guess we could start with your species, I'm pretty sure there's at least one pony out there who is tired of hearing the word 'creature' or 'thing' every few seconds..." "I'm a human. Male." "What do you go by?" "Kris." "And... Where are you from?" "Earth." Well, I see this one likes to be blunt. "Why did you leave, and how did you get here?" "I managed to find and teach myself how to run a military patrol vessel equipped with a Faster-Than-Light Drive after its original crew was eaten-" Kris stopped, noticing the beyond confused expression Twilight was now bearing. "Yeah, didn't think you'd understand half of that. 'Faster-Than-Light Drive' is just a fun way of saying 'big-box-that-takes-you-wherever-you-want-to-go-in-a-few-seconds.'" Looks like we were all wrong about this thing being some mindless animal... "You still didn't tell me why you left." "Well, Earth was... invaded, to say the least. Some giant rock with an alien egg inside it landed on our planet. At first, we didn't think too much about it, until the egg hatched and started destroying everything in sight. Around that time, there may have been around ten billion or so of us on Earth, and I think only a few million made it off alive. An entire civilization, beaten to dust and scattered into the void of space in a week..." Kris's expression changed to one of sorrow. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like that..." Twilight said, her head hanging down. "What have you done until now?" "After escaping, I was basically flying on a wing and a prayer after a minor tussle with a baby alien I had brought on board as a pet. Upon running out of fuel, I managed to survive on various planets for about a year, learning things like 'never use a distress beacon', 'getting a processor makes no sense' and 'just because it's a skeleton doesn't mean it's not dead'. Alongside that, I had to constantly fight off animals straight out of a little kids' nightmare, eat said animals, and overall, survive." Kris said, leaning back in an attempt to relax a little more. "And... What about the guards we have sent to find you? Why did you kill them?" "What makes you think I really wanted to? One of them tried to get the drop on me with a knife, and I defended myself. The others could have just ran off, but they decided to be the Hero Brigade and engage me. The group after that, however, I simply ambushed since they didn't look to be any different than the ones before. One got away, but I messed him up so bad I doubt he made it out of the forest alive." Before Twilight could ask another question, glass shattered as a Pegasi Guard flew through a nearby window, sword in hoof. However, Kris was already on his feet, launching the dagger through the air and watching the guard fall to the floor. Another guard entered from a second window, and the chair he had sat on proved stronger than it looked, only breaking in half after hitting the Pegasus in the face three times in addition to being thrown at a third guard. "I thought you said you came alone!" Kris shouted, drawing his sword and pulling a second weapon from a crate. Why in Equestria are these guards attacking?! I'm not in trouble! "I did! Princess Celestia must have sent them after I left to make sure nothing went wrong!" Twilight cried, leaping away from her spot. She tried to keep morbid curiosity from making her look at the wounded and possibly dead guards. "You horses aren't too smart, are you?" came Kris's reply, and he seemed to be talking to both Twilight and the guard he had just stabbed and thrown back out the window. When another followed the guard inside, Twilight attempted to use her telepathy to contact the guard and ask him just what the hay they were doing, but either the guard was ignoring her or was too caught up in trying to block the two swords being used against him to respond. Either way, he had been fatally wounded after a couple more seconds. "We are ponies! There's a difference, you know!" she said, ducking behind a crate as the body thumped on the floor nearby. Before Kris could fire off another remark, an especially large Pegasus wrapped himself around his neck, nearly unbalancing him. Another guard headbutted Kris in the stomach, pinning him to a wall and putting a sizable dent in his armor. It looked like the guards were going to win - the bigger one was choking Kris, and the other was drawing his sword - until Kris swung a leg out to hit the smaller guard in the neck, killing him instantly. The bigger guard lost concentration upon seeing his ally had died, loosening his grip just long enough for Kris to slam him into the ground and use a dropped sword to stab his incapacitated foe. Two more guards, the last of the group, entered from opposite sides and after a brief survey of the carnage, decided they valued their lives and attempted to fly out. Kris pulled his dagger out of the very first guard and threw it at the one furthest away, the blade landing in his back. The second, however, was just fast enough to dodge a sword that had been lobbed in his direction and make it out of the nearby window. The human grabbed a strange looking device out of the crate Twilight was behind - it looked like a crossbow, minus the bow - and aimed it out the window, a sound like thunder booming from the end of it three times; judging by how hard Kris threw it at a wall and how loudly he shouted curses, Twilight guessed he must have missed the guard. She stuck her head out to see how much of the fight she hadn't watched. Several bodies littered the living room, most of them having been incapacitated by a strike from a sword and then knocked out when they hit the floor, but some were outright dead. Kris stormed around, clearly angry. He started to remove his dented chestpiece, throwing it to the floor before starting to rant. "Dammit! Now your kind will know exactly where I am at! I'll have to prepare, get my kit down here and fortify this place before an entire goddamned army shows up for my blood-" "If I can get back to Canterlot in time, I may be able to stall until you can get out. Shining Armor will be sending an army after you, and I don't want to see any more deaths." Twilight said, taking another glance at the carnage. Even stalling could be impossible after this many had died. These ponies all had friends, and likely family as well. Why? Why can't races just get along? she wondered, hoping those ponies would be able to take the news. "No. This planet has a lot less coal than usual, so little in fact that I've barely found a single ore vein since getting here, even after turning this place inside out. No, I'll need to keep you with me, as a bargaining chip just in case I get cornered. I hope you understand." Twilight frowned. "I'm sorry, but I can't just surrender myself like that. I've got friends waiting for me back in Ponyville, friends who know what has happened over the last couple of weeks and know I was just sent in here. If I don't return, they will assume the worst, and Rainbow Dash is exceedingly protective over her friends-" "Fine. Guess I can always use these guards instead." Kris responded, kicking one of the still living ponies. Twilight winced and decided it was probably a good idea to leave very soon, using one of the holes made by the guards' entrance. The storm clouds were right on top of her, lightning occasionally visible within them. She silently prayed that nothing got too bad. Wake-up Call"Alright everypony, time isn't on our side, so I am going to be quick with this. The human has been preparing for a large scale attack for the past couple of days. However, we will not be performing a large scale attack; rather, a medium sized team will be sent in while the thing is gone to infiltrate its fort to steal whatever they can and rescue the survivors of Princess Twilight's escort squad before the human returns. We don't know exactly how much time you will have, so we will be sending you roughly within a quarter of a mile of the clearing, and our scouts will inform you of when the human has left. Your speed for this raid cannot be stressed enough, so you will be going in without your usual arms and armor, meaning you must avoid combat unless absolutely necessary. Of course, the plan is to not get caught, so you shouldn't have to worry. Does everypony understand?" "Yes, sir!" called out every guard in unison. "Good. I expect to see you all back here for a report as soon as you are finished." said Shining Armor, watching the guards as they left the room. The Canterlot Royal Guard will experience a shortage of Pegasi if something goes wrong with this raid, he thought. Thanks to the wonderful world of politics, the human wouldn't have to fear death for a while since the other leaders would take very badly to hearing of a non-Equestrian being killed without a trial - even if getting convicted of twenty-plus murders is hopeless to try and counter - and Princess Celestia doesn't want a blemish on her reign. The Unicorn muttered a profanity at the other leaders; if this thing was on their land and killing their citizens, they would be thinking much differently. Shining Armor let out a long sigh, choosing to wander Canterlot Castle until his raiding party returned. Twilight had given him some information on the human, and the white stallion hadn't liked what he heard - this 'Kris' was beyond good in combat, an expert in crafting items, had a reaction time that would make Rainbow Dash jealous and, probably the most dangerous aspect of all, his extreme intelligence. This human was just one of many millions that could travel to any part of the universe at will. What if he could call for help, and dozens more came to his aid? Just one was already testing the limits of the Royal Guard, and they are the ones with the superior numbers, training and armament. At least, they were, until this ape showed up. Shining Armor half considered asking for aid from the other nations, but banished the thought. They had magic on their side, something that made them the most powerful fighting force on this half of the planet. Besides, as of now there was only one human against hundreds, maybe thousands of Royal Guards. And yet... The Unicorn continued trying to reassure himself as he trotted through relatively empty halls, to little avail. The existence of at least one hostile race offered more questions than answers. Are there other races out there? Are they just as hostile as the human? Are they as technologically advanced - Celestia forbid they be more so - as the human? Was he overthinking this? Shining Armor knew he had an answer to at least one of his questions when he nearly trampled one of the castle maids. Apologizing and helping the startled mare to her hooves, he kept going. Thoughts of the human's weapons drifted into his mind. It used swords and spears and axes, not too unlike the standard issue weapons, but bigger. Bows were at least still moderately useful to the human, and the guard that escaped claimed he had seen at least one crossbow. However, that armament wasn't the concern; rather, it was the strange weapon fired upon the escaping guard. Twilight had described it as a long crossbow without the bow and made of metal, and it unleashed a deafening boom and a flash of fire from the tip when activated. It sounded terrifying on its own, and it - or a weapon like it - was likely the result of the smallish holes covering the trees not entirely hacked down, which brought up the question of what in the world it was doing to the landscape. Both Twilight and the guard had described numerous tree stumps and large ditches dug into the dirt within a mile of the human's house, and the frequency only continued the closer one got until walking was nearly impossible. Shining Armor frowned. If the thing was looking for resources, it had come to the right place. Equestria rarely, if ever, used its own vast wealth of minerals, preferring to import whatever was needed from other countries. Then, this human has the nerve to start digging holes and chopping up trees wherever he wants after centuries pf careful protection of the environment. It made Shining Armor sick. Looking away from his thoughts, the Unicorn realized he had just made one big circle around the castle and was now standing next to the door to the room he had just briefed the guards in. How convenient. {--_--_--//=|^|=\--_--_--} After another two hours had passed, guards began piling through the door, each one holding enough of the humans' possessions to fill a chest twice. They piled their gatherings by the walls, making a separate stack for weapons, armor and anything that didn't fit into either category. The guards remained mostly silent, having a dejected look on their faces. Shining Armor approached one of them. "What happened?" "Well, sir, while we did get most of the supplies, we were completely unable to find the captured embers of Princess Twilight's escort squad. There was nothing but bloodstains on the walls and floor." "Did you try looking around the place?" "We did, but found nothing. The human must'ave done something to them, I doubt they tried walking back." Damn. Shining Armor sighed. "Well, you did what you could. When we beat that bastard into submission, we'll make him tell us what he did to the ponies he's captured." For now, we'll just have to keep his junk here. Even if he manages to fight his way into Canterlot and searches each and every room, it would be impossible to recover all of it. The Unicorn left the room, dismissing the guards as he did. It was steadily beginning to get dark outside, and the human would be disappointed now that all he had was an empty shell to stay in. Now lacking any chance of defending himself, the Princesses could likely force him to surrender with ease. Shining Armor began trotting off to his quarters, almost smiling at the thought of the same creature that had killed numerous guards would now be helpless against the Royal Guard of Canterlot, and would soon be locked in a dungeon in some Celestia-forsaken part of the world. )-^\/^-++Vv^|^vV++-^\/^-( The sound of a bell ringing with all its might woke Shining Armor from his sleep. He looked around the dark room, accidentally nudging and awakening his wife, who was curled up beside him. "Shiny?" she asked, looking up at him. "What's going on? You aren't having a bad dream, are you?" "No, Cady, I'm fine. I guess some daring colt climbed into the bell tower and is trying to give everypony a good scare-" The door to his bedroom flew open, cracking against the wall. A rather large looking royal Guard stood in its place, holding a familiar set of purple tinted set of armor and a weapon. "What is the meaning of this?!" Shining Armor cried. The sounds coming from outside could be heard a little more clearly now. "I apologize for my intrusion, sir, but the human is currently inside Canterlot!" he replied, throwing the armor and weapon onto the bed. Shining Armor felt his jaw drop. "What the hay do you mean, 'the human is in Canterlot'?! I thought that gate was impenetrable!" Shining Armor cried, leaping out of bed and hastily putting on his armor. "The human didn't use the gate, sir. It just... appeared in a flash of red. Now, it's running rampant through the city, turning everything it finds into a weapon. If we wait any longer, it'll enter the castle!" "Then it's a good thing we won't have to," Shining Armor said, tying on the last portion of armor and strapping the sword to his side. He felt something touch his shoulder. "If that thing is as dangerous as everypony says... You'll be back soon, right?" Cadence asked, a nervous tone about her. "Of course I will, dear. This'll only take a minute, I promise." he replied, letting go of his wife. Meeting his comrade at the door, they galloped outside, dodging other guards that had taken up positions around the castle door, all wide-eyed and gripping their weapons tightly. His fellow guard spoke. "You will have to be careful, sir. The human is killing anything with a horn on-sight." "I'd like to see him try." "Be careful what you wish for, sir. We are about to engage him, after all." The guard stepped towards the heavy oaken doors, giving them a nudge. "Now, let's-" A muffled explosion accompanied by a flash of light cut off the guard's sentence. The heavy doors flew open, a hole blasted in their shared center. The guard let out a startled scream and fell, impaled by dozens of wooden fragments wherever his armor didn't cover. When the dust cleared, the human stood in the place of the door, clutching a metal sphere with a rope dangling out of one side. Using some other device to set the rope on fire, he threw it at a rather large congregation of guards, the following explosion sparing nothing. Snatching up a fallen guards' spear with one of his paws, it began its assault. Two guards behind a column were the first to go, their armor doing nothing to stop the strength of the human. Shining Armor launched a spell at their attacker, only to have the bolt smash into a a wall, leaving scorch marks behind. The Unicorn contemplated running away when the human faced his direction, an infuriated look on its strange face. The ward Shining Armor used barely managed to deflect the spear that was thrown at him. The human charged his opponent, grabbing him by the throat and effortlessly slamming his head into the floor of the castle. Shining Armor let out a stone-cracking kick, but felt nothing but air against his hooves, and a heartbeat later, his entire body as the human threw him at a wall like a sack of flour. Only briefly stunned, Shining Armor charged a spell and let it fly. He gagged as the smell of burning flesh hit his nostrils, signifying a direct hit. The human howled in pain and screamed incomprehensibly, charging Shining Armor a second time and dodging another spell. Something wrapped around his horn and wrenched his head down, nearly making the pony cry out. The human then pinned him to the wall, placing a paw against his throat and squeezing. It only took a split second to figure out what the human was doing. Shining Armor struggled against the human, punching and kicking and squirming around, but nothing seemed to work to loosen the vice on his throat. His vision began to darken and his blows became weaker and weaker until his body refused to respond. He stared at the human with closing eyes, at all the wounds and blood and the twisted smile he bore upon his face. The human released him. The ground seemed to rush up very quickly to greet Shining Armor, the sound of metal striking marble filling his ears as he landed. He took a breath, then another, and then another, loving the feeling of being able to breathe again. His head was throbbing, his neck was probably covered in bruises and he felt weaker than a newborn foal, but he could breathe. And as he did, logic returned to his mind. Why did the human just let him go? Looking up, he got his answer. The human had ditched him in favor of taking on some much more powerful adversaries; Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. The former was doing what she could to distract and possibly stun the human, while the latter was attempting to line up a spell of her own, but any time the human realized he was spending too much time on one Alicorn, he'd switch to they other. A blow landed here and there, but as the Princesses were physical goddesses, the worst the human could do was make them flinch. Closer examination of the battle let Shining Armor know that the human was losing his ground steadily and would soon be against a wall. Princess Celestia managed to get a kick in while Kris focused on Luna, sending him crashing into a wall. He laid there, until Celestia approached - leaping from the ground, he kicked her legs out from under her, and using what strength he had left, placed her in a headlock and grabbed her horn, bending it every time she tried to escape his grip. The human began stepping backwards, dragging a struggling Celestia with him until he had reached a door. One of the surviving guards tried to flank him, but stopped when Celestia let out groan of pain when the human jerked her head around. Finally regaining the strength to walk, Shining Armor stood and limped over to where Princess Luna stood. The human had managed to shove the door open, and looking around to ensure he wasn't being flanked, began to bend Princess Celestia's horn even more than before, making the white mare cringe and grit her teeth. Gradually, the control she had was overwhelmed by the pain being inflicted upon her, and a few tears started running down her cheeks. They could do nothing but watch as the most powerful being in Equestria started to whimper and cry, desperately trying to free herself from the human's grip. Finally, the horror show ended when Celestia passed out as a result of the pain, her body going limp. The human unceremoniously dropped her to the ground, vanishing through the door behind him. Without any bargaining chips at his disposal, Princess Luna was free to fire a spell that cut through the door, but if the human had been struck, there was no sound. They collectively rushed to the Sun Princess's side, her sister gently picking up and halfway cradling her. "T-Tia? Art thou alright?" whimpered Princess Luna, tears forming in her eyes. "You're slipping up again, sis..." Celestia said, regaining consciousness. She almost couldn't be heard. "Sister, this isn't the time to make jokes about our speaking habits. That human could have... k-ki..." Luna was unable to bring herself to say the word. "I know what Kris almost did to me, Luna. And I won't let it happen again, I promise." Celestia replied, hugging her sister. "I hate to break this up, but that human is still in this castle, and we need to stop him before anypony else gets hurt." Shining Armor said, stepping closer. Making sure he doesn't get his gear back would be good as well. "You're right, but any chance of finding him within the next few minutes is gone." Celestia said, looking up. "Where are the things you stole? The planning room?" "Yes, your Majesty. There wasn't room anywhere else." "Seeing as that door leads right to that room and knows we are still after him, he likely only took what he absolutely cannot survive without and left," said a nearby guard, walking next to the door. Dammit, he's right! That human could be back in his ship right now, preparing for a second raid! Some shouts followed by a flash of red lit up the room, confirming their thoughts. "Princess Celestia, if you still wish to defeat the human, we must attack now..." I Like Those OddsThe army that encircled the fortress was simply massive, numbering right around one thousand. Most of them would not be taking part directly in the combat; rather, two hundred would make a direct advance on the building while the rest provided support and ensured Kris would not be able to flee on the ground. Not that the latter mattered anyways, seeing as the human could just teleport out of harms way if the fight started going badly. Princess Celestia smiled. Either way, the Royal Guard now had the unmatched advantage in numbers and equipment, thanks to the inclusion of captured items in their inventory. Even if Kris managed to survive and escape, the fight was theirs. The fortress began to loom over everypony as the guards got closer. The two hundred had been personally chosen and led by Princess Celestia and Shining Armor for their bravery and quickly-learned skill with human weaponry, and thus showed no fear against what could easily be the death of them all. Celestia signaled for them to halt. “Orders, your Majesty?” Shining Armor asked from beside her. “Wait here. I would like to give the human a chance to take a more diplomatic approach to this. You never know, maybe being faced with unbeatable odds will change his mind,” Celestia responded. Beginning her advance towards the fortress, the doors swung open and revealed a heavily armored figure. Celestia’s horn let off a slight twinge of pain at the sight of Kris. “What is this?” he asked, cautiously reaching for his swords. His armor was much different than the damaged variety they had recovered, being camouflaged with the occasional bit of blue metal on the edges. His swords were slightly sharper-looking, and one of the ranged weapons hung on a strap over his back. “Human, you have ravaged this land, killed our guards and threatened my ponies. This is the only chance you will get at surrender. You face an army of hundreds, all armed with your own terrifying weapons. You do not need to throw your life away like this. Surrender now and you will be treated fairly in court; refuse and I promise you that you will leave this world, be it by death or withdraw. What is your decision?” “Surrender? You want me to… surrender?” Kris replied, contemplating the word as if he had never heard it before in his life. Celestia jumped a little when he suddenly began to laugh. I have survived by the skin of my teeth for the past year, and you expect me to make that all in vain and be locked away in a dungeon for the rest of my life, or – more likely – executed? No, I will make my ‘last stand’ here. If you want me dead, you’re gonna have to get your pretty little hooves dirty for once and do it yourself, since your guards don’t seem to be competent enough.” Celestia nodded, and then turned around to rejoin the guards she commanded. Shining Armor approached her. “Well?” “He would rather fight.” “I see. Looks like I’ll get my rematch after all.” Celestia charged a summoning spell, causing large plates of gold and lengths of chainmail to materialize around her. The plates covered most of her body, whereas the chains protected everywhere that needed to retain mobility. Donning a spiked charging helmet, the Alicorn launched a beacon into the sky, resuming the advance. A small hatch on the fort opened, allowing a barrel to peek out. Fire was ejected from the end, and a nearby guard jerked back, a bloody hole in his chest. The weapon fired again, ending the life of another pony. “Return fire!” Shining Armor ordered, his words punctuated by every guard firing their weapons and casting spells at the same time, nearly all of them striking the fortress walls. Three more guards fell, their assailant unfazed. Another volley struck the building, some of the more reinforced pieces appearing cracked and dented. Small fires began to burn between the plating. A third volley caused more of the armor to become totaled, flames blanketing the entire area, and visible holes had been punched through the structure’s entirety. Through it all, Kris was still picking off guards that forgot to keep their heads down. The current count had reached the twenties. “Double-time it, now!” Shining Armor barked. They all obliged, some of them kicking up dust behind them, and the few Pegasi that remained took to the skies. The army was upon the structure in a matter of seconds, and Kris had stopped firing. They continued to batter the last holdout of their enemy, kicking down walls and supports when weapons stopped making a difference. Celestia knocked down a rather essential beam herself, and heard a cheer from her guards when the fortress began to collapse. All of them stepped back to watch a now massive fire engulf what was left, undoubtedly trapping the human within. It was a horrible way to go, but he had left little alternative. Guards started tossing looted gear into the heat, exchanging a few words over what they would do next. As soon as the fire threatened to spread to other parts of the forest, Pegasi began to make storm clouds to douse the flames, and the inferno was soon reduced to dying embers and ash. Everypony silently surrounded Princess Celestia, waiting for the next order. Something moved under the remains. Before anything could be done, a figure threw heaps of burnt wood off itself and rushed at the nearest guard, grabbing him around the throat and snapping his neck in one motion. Kris had survived. The human looked towards Celestia as he dropped the corpse. He drew his swords, but before he could move, a purple flash knocked Kris to the ground. Shining Armor began to wail on the human, smashing his head into the mud with his hooves. “Nothing! Threatens! Our! Princess!” the Unicorn shouted, punctuating his words with strikes. Kris threw the enraged pony off his chest, and then stood up. “Oh, really? Is that what you all were all thinking when I nearly snapped off her horn?” Kris said coolly, wiping mud and blood off his armor. His nose appeared broken, and crimson leaked from everywhere on his face. An eye was swollen shut. Drawing his swords, he continued. “I was considering leaving you alive, but since you seem to enjoy getting in my way I will have to make sure that doesn’t happen anymore.” Shining Armor drew his own weapon, taking a spite-filled swing at Kris, who parried and returned with his own attack. Upon recovery, Armor swung again, only to strike mud as Kris side-stepped the blow. The human kicked his opponent down, then drew the sword out of the ground and lobbed it at another pony that had gotten too close for comfort. Kris kicked the Unicorn several times to ensure he wouldn’t get back up again, and then buried his own weapon into Shining Armor’s side, prompting a groan of pain from the impaled pony. Kris raised his other weapon and swung at his neck, only missing because Shining Armor managed to cast a spell to knock his would-be executioner away. Princess Celestia called some other guards to treat the horrific gash in the Unicorn’s side while Kris tried to get up. No more than a few seconds later did they pick him up and start moving away from the scene, likely to Ponyville. The Alicorn began to walk towards Kris, who had ditched his swords in favor of his ranged weapon. She felt a stab of pain in her head as she created a ward to protect herself from the rain of lead that was meant to strike her body, watching as the pieces bounced off and embedded themselves in the mud around her hooves. The pain was intensified when Celestia had to pump in more energy to keep the ward alive. At this rate, she would have a migraine for weeks and would be unable to use magic for possibly longer. She winced as the ward collapsed. Kris took advantage of her temporary vulnerability and jumped to one side, then unleashed another lead shower. Most of the bullets missed on a mix of hip-firing and a lack of depth perception, but Celestia wasn’t lucky enough to avoid all of them. Pain ripped into her sides as three bullets made direct hits, penetrating her armor. At least one went completely through her body, but the others might have bounced off her ribs and hit something vital. Metal fragments from the proven-worthless armor only heightened the pain, and her right wing had a hard time functioning. Her breath felt raggedy and came out like a very faint wheeze. The human must’ve gotten lucky and hit a lung. It would take much more than that to actually kill her, however; Alicorns could take enough punishment to kill a dragon and treat it like a Sunday morning. Sure, they still felt and dealt with pain like any other mortal creature, but currently there were more pressing matters to attend to instead of going over the strength of an Alicorn. The look on Kris’s face when he realized Celestia had basically no-selled three bullets aimed at vital organs would have been comical had it not changed back to one of determination usually seen during an intense fight. Did humans ever give up? Sometimes, apparently. Kris was enveloped in a red light as he took full advantage of the fact that he could teleport to safety any time he pleased. Frightened guards approached Princess Celestia, staring at the bloody holes in her body. She manually shook off her armor and examined the damage for herself. Sure enough, one had gone completely through. The others would require a doctor to deal with, however. Something told Celestia that having metal fragments inside one’s body wasn’t a good thing. “Are you alright, your Majesty?” one of the guards asked, unable to remove his eyes from the wounds. “It’s nothing. Just a flesh wound, in relative terms.” she replied. “Tell the other guards to form up here so we can count the dead and wounded, then begin our trip to Ponyville and from there, Canterlot.” A few seconds later, guards started to emerge from the woodworks, creating lines so that their commanding officers could easily count their own divisions and then add them with the others. There was a faint rumbling that filled the air as the guards were nearly finished. At first, Celestia passed it off as thunder, until it started to get steadily louder. Before the princess could utter a word to the guards to find out what it was, the sound was replaced by a one that was similar to the weapon that had been used to shoot Celestia, but much bigger. Not wanting to be injured further, she created a slightly stronger ward; she ignored the pain it caused her horn. No sooner did the spell finish than did chaos take hold of the clearing. The grounds itself shook as guards, all grouped up into a massive sea of pony, were reduced to bloody fragments and screams as the earth under them exploded from the force of the weapon Kris was wielding against them, whatever and wherever that weapon was. Something large struck Celestia’s ward, shattered it, and still had the energy to embed itself a foot deep in the mud. A shadow passed over the already dark clearing, prompting the surviving guards to look up. An oddly shaped ship, roughly the size of a house, flew overhead. Blue fire spat out of largish tubes on the bottom and back of the ship, and once it turned around, a glass canopy with two excessively large barrels sticking out both above and below the window. Kris was at the controls. Fire suddenly belched from the barrels, and more guards were cut down in droves. Some tried to shoot back, but whether or not it was a blindly fired arrow or a well-made spell, the ship’s armor deflected it. By now, most of the guards had the sense to spread out, but all the same they were ripped to shreds by the cannons, only with less at one time. Celestia contemplated her options. Calling in the few airships Equestria had seemed like a good idea at first; compared to some of the others made in the past, this thing was tiny. However, it also had greater firepower than the other ships combined, and was more than likely able to take more punishment. It was also quite maneuverable and undoubtedly faster. Her second option was to order a full scale retreat, but as soon as it was realized that the ship would only have a marginally harder time gunning them down, the idea looked silly. The final option she had was to attack the ship herself, at the cost of waking up with a terrible migraine the next morning. It was the only one that had a chance of success. The ship entered its third strafing run on the clearing. Celestia began to charge a spell, an already slight headache growing at the same rate. She aimed her horn at the center of the ship, feeling the spell reach its peak. She fired. The beam had gone a little off course on account of her discomfort, but it still struck. There was an explosion at the front of the ship, followed by a series of smaller explosions that caused the metal beast to lose control. A couple engines ceased to function, spilling out smoke and flames along with the rest of the ship. The cannons fired one last time as Kris tried to hit whatever had dealt the fatal blow, but to no avail. Whatever the human was doing to keep the ship from exploding was also causing it to pick up speed and start a rather wild course towards Canterlot. Celestia took to the skies. Her wing sent shocks of pain in protest of its use every time it flapped, but regardless it was still able to carry Celestia in pursuit of the failing ship. The engines that did function grew brighter and keeping up became harder. The ship was certainly on a collision course with Canterlot. The Alicorn considered hitting the ship again, but was unsure of whether or not it would help or even if she could hit it, seeing as they were both flying erratically and she had nearly missed the first time. Suddenly, the ship’s front pointed upwards and its rumbling was replaced with a whirring as something within began to power up. The noise grew louder, and Celestia backed off, unsure of what was about to happen. Twilight mentioned that this thing could travel amongst the stars with its FTL drive, though in the ships’ current condition- A massive explosion – even larger than the one the Princess caused when she hit the ship – cut off her thoughts and white light filled her eyes. The shockwave nearly made her lose control and spiral into the ground, but she managed to keep in control. The ship had lost most of its aft section and was falling – fast. Its remains landed in the center of the city and began to grind along the ground, scraping houses and showing little sign of stopping. It flipped over on its side and rolled a little, before passing right through Canterlot Castle’s doors, and still continued to slide, finally stopping when it broke through the outermost wall and almost going over the edge. Celestia landed awkwardly behind it, her wing nearly useless. Some flames were trying to spread outward from the destroyed ship, though they would have trouble igniting stone. She could see into what was left of the ship. A heavy door had been pried open, revealing the vast array of levers, buttons and switches used to control everything aboard. There was one slight issue, however; Kris’s corpse wasn’t part of the scene. Something chuckled behind Celestia, startling her. Turning around, she saw the human limping towards her, an arm twisted at a strange angle. He dragged a bad leg behind him. Kris also held a small version of his previous ranged weapons, but when the trigger was pulled, it simply clicked. Kris’s eyes briefly displayed fear as he threw the weapon down and drew a rather large knife. He flashed a twisted smile. “Let’s dance,” he said. Even in his wounded state, Kris was a formidable opponent; Celestia found herself ducking and dodging more often than she should have had to. Some of the Pegasi guards had followed the ship as well and were now landing nearby. Wanting to help, one approached Kris from behind and was gutted for his troubles. Kris wasn’t lying when he said she would be doing it herself. The knife nicked one of her ears, and a second swipe removed a lock of her mane. It was impossible to tell of Kris was simply trying to scare or if he was not able to get a direct hit. Both were disproved when a sizable gash appeared on Celestia’s chest, further covering her in her own blood. Unfortunately for whatever physical combat the Alicorn could manage, Kris made sure she never got the chance to swing. The constant attacks were taking a toll on his remaining energy, and it wouldn’t be much longer before he was unable to continue. The blade left a small cut on the Princess’s face. As soon as there started to be a full second between attempts, Celestia was able to start putting in blows of her own. A punch here, a kick there… She wasn’t in much better shape than the human, but it would do. Then, Kris made things a bit more personal. He dropped the knife, and then light flashed in Celestia’s eyes as a fist struck her below the chin, jerking her head upwards. Another, aimed at the base of her horn, nearly brought the ruler to her knees. She managed a punch of her own, aimed at the human’s weak leg, and a second struck his broken arm, prompting a cry of pain. The human was still writhing in pain as Celestia stood up, turned around, and kicked with every ounce of energy left in her body. She swore she heard ribs break as Kris was flung halfway across the castle, almost into the burning wreckage of his ship. A guard approached the body and upon seeing Kris was still somehow alive, he tied the human up and enlisted the help of a few others to drag him off. The adrenaline rush she had been given during the fight was starting to wear off, allowing pain and exhaustion to creep back in. And with that, Princess Celestia passed out. I'll Be Back“Any last words, scum?” “Yeah. Tell your Princesses I’ll be back.” “That’ll be hard to do if you’re dead, human.” “Don’t be so sure.” The pony scowled, and then backed away from the scaffolding. It had been rather hastily constructed since their gallows weren’t high enough, but it would serve its purpose. Kris’s ship had reportedly been tossed off to some badlands a couple hundred miles away, so the pissed off guard below had half a point. The human was a bit more concerned about the condition of his ship, however. The FTL Drive had completely backfired after the engines got shot up, and the ensuing explosion destroyed whatever else was inside the onboard locker, which meant that he was effectively marooned on a Gamma Sector planet with nothing. Well, almost nothing; the matter manipulator that had proved to be the most useful little device time and time again as buried under the remains of his house in the middle of that rather nice forest, and there was a small chest full of highly important things in the cockpit. Since his broken arm and rather screwed up leg would soon be healed, Kris still had far more of a chance than any of these little pastel midget horses knew. The human turned around. A rather large crowd had gathered to watch him die after he had caused the untimely deaths of many of their own, and they were all shouting and jeering and generally trying to make a point about them being better than him, and for pastel midget horses they were doing a decent job. The blatant xenophobia of literally everything here was astounding. A few offers had been made that could have prevented this. Some Griffons from who-knows-where had tried to negotiate his freedom in return for serving their government as what sounded like a spy or assassin of sorts, but it had been refused. It was the same for an offer to be turned into a pony and take on a normal life, which was probably the most god-awful idea of them all, and Kris had heard many god-awful ideas in that holding cell. It was a shame his deal with that purple one – Twilight, if his memory was right – had been ignored on the grounds of ‘too many deaths to be just self defense.’ It was a little embarrassing. Plenty of trees in the forest, but they all had to be used to shore up defenses on his house, and by the time that was done, it was too late to keep cutting them down for wood to make coal. Bringing his ship within range of a being with the power to move a star was probably the worst thing he had done, and now he was sitting here with a noose around his neck for letting his anger towards the ponies for destroying and stealing all he had done. If the ship had just held for a little longer, he could have gotten to the nearby moon to keep harvesting coal. Dammit, he should have gone there first. Oh, well. Wasn’t his first dumb mistake, and it certainly was far from his last. The guard walked over to a comically large lever, wrapped his hooves around it and pulled. The trapdoor beneath Kris opened up, causing him to fall through. Something jerked at his neck after a split second of falling, and everything went black. {[(<^>*|><=><|*<^>)]} A machine within the remains of a once-proud vessel rumbled to life. Despite the damage sustained, this particular machine was still functional. A skeleton was quickly created, using known data and a copy of DNA to recreate everything from marrow to the osseous tissue. It soon looked like an extremely realistic Halloween decoration had been sealed within the glass tube. Next were organs and muscles. A copy of DNA was once again utilized to grow the organs within the skeleton as well as to get all the muscles into the right place. Some consider cloning amoral and flat out wrong – for an adventurer among the stars, it is an indispensible advantage. Finally, everything that was left was created; skin, hair, nails, and anything that might have been missed before. A pair of metal doors slammed shut over the body as these things were grown. When they opened, a human male roughly thirty years old had been formed. He was, however, currently mindless as a baby, but that would be changed. Memories were inserted into his mind. His name, age, history and survival abilities came first, being the most important, followed by more recent things: his nearly two week long expedition on Equestria, which had ended in his execution. The location of his destroyed home in the middle of the Everfree Forest. His learned tactics for fighting a pony. The metal covers retracted, revealing a survivor that had been in the exact same position many times before. The glass panel opened, a green light signifying that everything had been done correctly and that it was now safe to proceed. The freshly-minted human stepped out. The chest in the cockpit had indeed survived. Within its deceivingly small size, it held a set of Scavenger armor, a hunting knife, some food, and a few crafting materials. The human put the gear on as he walked out of the hole in the rear of his ship. All was not lost. It was easy to acquire steel and such for reconstruction, and the printer in the back could handle the smaller and more technical things that he simply couldn’t slap together on a table. Failing that, distress beacons weren’t that hard to make. Kris sighed. This felt way too much like déjà vu.
ArrivalA gentle breeze swirled around the six gold-clad guards as they marched through the Everfree. The forest itself was silent except for the clacking of the guards metal hoofguards on the occasional piece of stone and the metallic rustling their armor made as they moved. One of them, a Pegasus known as Gale, spoke up. "Sir, I know Princess Celestia told us to go here for a reason, and you are the only one she talked to. Just what the hay are we looking for in this place?" They had been walking for almost two whole hours now. The leader of the group, an aging Unicorn, inhaled deeply before giving his subordinate an answer. "Well, her Majesty thinks that it was some kind of magical anomaly, and she wants us to go find out if it's dangerous or not." Gale nodded slowly. He knew exactly what Flare was talking about. Just a couple days ago, some giant red beam came from space and landed in the Everfree, and everything from comets to Queen Chrysalis had been suggested so far. Whatever it really was, nearly every magic-user in Equestria was on edge because of it, and the same discomfort had started spreading to everypony else; when Princess Celestia actually comes out and admits that she and the other Princesses are lacking in the one-hundred-percent-sure department, you were basically told to start getting worried. Personally, he blamed it on Discord getting bored with having to be good, though he did that with everything. Flare ordered them to halt. "It looks like the trees are starting to thin," he said. "we must be approaching a clearing of some sort, and hopefully that supposed anomaly as well. Keep your guard up." The patrol continued, weapons drawn and shields raised. He was right. The trees were not only thinning, but a few bore several holes and what looked like sword slashes and burn marks; fewer even had an arrow sticking out. The ground was littered with stumps that had ax scars on the sides, explaining the thinning. The further the patrol proceeded, the less this was looking like some mere anomaly. Gale gripped his sword a little tighter. The trees had thinned to the point that a large structure was visible through them. The patrol slowed down even further. This was most definitely not an anomaly. Flare nearly whispered his command. "Steel Wall and Mountain Breaker, split up and surround the area. Gale and Tornado, you two take to the skies and warn us of any danger. Delta and I will move around and look for whoever built this place, and contact Princess Celestia if need be." Everypony nodded, then did as they were ordered. The outpost looked even bigger from the sky, having several platforms suggesting it wasn't quite finished. Some building supplies were scattered about, as well as some crates and a weapon or two. Gale signaled for Tornado to move around the structure and keep an eye on the few windows the thing had for signs of life. The Pegasus nodded. The group continued looking around. They would have all assumed it was some hermit that decided he didn't like living in a city and tried building a house for himself, but it didn't quite explain the arrows and burn marks in the trees, unless he had to deal with a whole lot of Everfree wildlife; and it still failed to explain those small holes. Nothing seemed to be lining up with what was normal in the world. Gale lost sight of the others as he flew around the structure, daydreaming on the possibilities. A flash of movement from a window caught his attention, but whatever had caused it was gone before he could so much as utter a word to his fellow guards. A door slammed in the background, and Delta's gravely voice shouted inside his head. Gale! Get over to the front of the building now! You have got to see what just came out of this place! The Pegasus raced back to the entrance of the outpost. Delta and Flare were side-by-side. Steel and Mountain were holding position in the tree line, waiting for an order. Celestia knew where Tornado was at. In front of the two Unicorns was a bipedal creature roughly six feet tall, covered in black armor. It clutched two shortswords with its forearms, and kept them leveled at the Unicorns, who had their own weapons in a defensive position. Flare spoke. "Biped! We mean you no harm! Sheathe your weapons!" Then, to everypony's amazement, the thing responded, in perfect Equestrian no less. "I will hold when you sheathe your own, horse! I refuse to fall for the same trap twice!" Its voice was slightly muffled by its helmet. Around the same time, Tornado appeared just behind the creature. He looked at Flare, then the creature, drew a dagger and made a mistake; he attempted to sneak, while flying and in armor to subdue the creature. What happened next was unstoppable. The thing turned, and Tornado was frozen as he realized his mistake. The hilt of the beast's sword caught him in the belly and threw him into a wall, where the second sword the creature had impaled him there. He let out a sickening gurgle right before the other sword pierced his throat, and Tornado went limp, blood spurting from the wound. The pony's body clattered to the ground when the creature drew its bloodstained weapon from the wall. Everypony was frozen from shock. A guard hadn't died from combat in... Well, no pony really knew when the last time a guard died from combat was. It just didn't happen. "No harm, eh? Is that why that one tried sneaking up on me, dagger at the ready? Told you I wasn't falling for that trick again," the thing said. Flare shouted for Steel and Mountain to charge. At the same time, the creature rushed the Unicorns, both swords raised. Right as it passed them, it swung both weapons. Flare managed to sidestep the blow, but Delta was grazed on the leg and stumbled. He awkwardly hopped on three legs in Gale's direction, face twisted in pain. Mountain was the first to meet the creature, who promptly kicked his shield away and unbalanced the Earth Pony. Before it could send the killing blow, Flare lobbed a beam of magic at it, stunning the thing long enough for Mountain to scramble to his hooves and draw his own weapon. Gale drew his own sword and dived at the creature, letting out a war cry- -that proved to be a mistake nearly as bad as Tornado's. The creature whirled and let loose a flurry of steel backed blows, knocking Gale to the ground, cuts covering his body better than his fur. Delta, having partially recovered, let a beam fly, but missed the creature by a matter of inches. In response, the creature replaced its sword with a throwing knife, and buried it in Delta's chest. The fatally wounded Unicorn collapsed sideways, trying to pull out the knife with his rapidly fleeing strength. Steel had seen what almost happened to Mountain and drew a bow. Less than a second later, an arrow sprouted from their assailant's shoulder, causing it to stagger briefly before pulling the arrow out and tossing the shaft to the ground; Steel's face would have been funny if it wasn't such a dire situation. He notched another arrow. Flare continued firing beams at the creature, landing hit after hit, but the thing refused to fall, slowly advancing towards the Unicorn, even as it took increasingly larger blows. All at once, Steel fired his arrow, Flare fired an especially powerful bolt and Mountain swung his sword, throwing the creature to the floor. Before it could get up, Flare used some old fashioned telekinesis to slam it into the ground multiple times. All three ponies advanced on its prone form, but before a surrender could be ordered, the thing turned red and vanished, a terrifying red bolt carrying it into the sky. "Did we beat that thing?" Steel asked, eyes wide. "Think so." Flare replied. "But I would have liked to beat it a bit harder after it killed Tornado and Delta. Buck!" Mountain stepped over to Gale's incapacitated form. "We will lose one more unless we get Gale back to Canterlot for healing pronto, those swords did quite the number on him." Gale felt Flare magically pick him up and sling him over Steel's back. Good thing Pegasi were light and Earth Ponies were strong. The same thing happened for Tornado and Delta, who were respectively put on Flare and Mountain's backs as well. "Alright, everypony. Let's get back to Celestia and report what happened. Hopefully she'll send out a team to dismantle this place before-" A red beam struck the ground behind them. The creature they had just fought stood there, holding onto its swords again. The ponies were forced to drop their dead and wounded to the ground to defend themselves, but the Earth Ponies were too slow; both fell from gashes in their throats, blood pooling around them. Flare dodged and deflected, but was worn down fast. Each connected hit slowed and weakened him a little more until his sword was knocked from his magical grip. Gale winced as the brave pony fell, a dull look of surprise on his face. The creature sheathed its weapons. Gale felt himself beginning to weaken as his life ebbed away. The creature had done more damage than he had thought. Even if it hadn't returned, he would have bled out on the way back. The pony's vision faded into black, then white, as his soul drifted into the great beyond, soon to join his slain friends.
Broken"Well, they've been missing for nearly a week now and guard patrols don't ever go missing, especially those with Pegasi among their ranks." Celestia said, yawning a little. It was getting late. "If they didn't get lost, then we have to assume some kind of animal attacking them, but there is next to nothing that could wipe out an entire guard patrol." Luna replied. "Twilight, you've been quiet so far, what do you think?" "I think it's more likely they got lost; the Everfree isn't exactly the most well known place in Equestria," she responded. "And besides, what in its right mind would go after six fully armed guards? What in its right mind would even try violence?" "Well, when you put it that way..." Luna said, unsure. "But still, an entire week. The only way I will agree is if-" A cry for Celestia interrupted the blue Alicorn. In response, Celestia stood and walked to her door, half annoyed for being pulled away from her tiny reunion, but the thoughts were dismissed when she remembered that something like this would only happen if it was serious. She opened the door, her sister and Twilight in tow. A Pegasus guard nearly barreled into her, having to expand his wings to slow down in time. He bowed. "My apologies for interrupting you, your Majesty, but one of the guards in the patrol you sent has returned," he said. "What news did he bring?" Luna asked. The guard looked down. "So far, he has been unable to speak, and we haven't found the other patrol members yet. Please, we need you in the guardhouse as soon as possible" he said, turning around and starting down the stairs. The three Alicorns followed. The group walked in silence, taking a couple shortcuts so they could arrive at the guardhouse relatively quickly. The two Earth Ponies at the front opened the doors, revealing an abandoned interior, save for a couple doctors and guards huddled around a bed. Celestia approached them, then nearly jumped back when she saw the patrol member. Bloody gashes and bruises covered his body, staining the bedsheets. His face was contorted in pain as the doctors tried to ease the pain, to little avail. He would occasionally whimper when one of the doctors touched a wound with a wet rag, but other than that, he was silent; instead of the chilling screams and groans that one would expect from a pony injured so badly, this one just laid there, staring at everypony with pleading eyes. It was incredibly unnerving. "What in Equestria happened to him?" Celestia asked. One of the guards turned around, a frown chiseled onto his face. "We don't have the slightest clue, your Majesty, and he still can't talk. We were thinking telepathy could work, but none of us know how to do it. Maybe you could try...?" "I will, but it has been a while." Celestia replied, stepping forward. As horrible as it sounds, I hope his mind is too broken to resist. She closed her eyes, her horn glowing yellow as the spell was cast. The usual wave of nausea associated with entering another pony's mind passed over the Princess, followed by sudden distortions of the guards thoughts that interrupted the endless plane she currently stood on. She heard him say something inside his head. "W-Who's there?" Celestia thought up a reply, "It's me, Princess Celestia. I need to ask you about what happened to you and the other guards in the Everfree-" She was cut off as a barrier slammed down in front of her. Oh... Light returned to her eyes as she ended the spell. "Well? What did he say?" Luna asked, cocking her head. "As soon as I brought up the Everfree, he tossed up a barricade." "Oh... Well, if it's that bad, maybe we shouldn't try to force it out of him, lest we injure him further than what has already been done." Twilight spoke up as well. "I agree with Luna this time. We should just wait until he is ready to speak." Celestia paused for a moment. "...No. Unless we can find out exactly what caused this, it will only continue," she said, casting the spell again. Ignoring the now slightly more intense nausea, the Alicorn started beating on it, slowly putting dents in until a crack appeared. Focusing her strength on it, it flew open and exposed the guards memories to her mind. A few blurred images passed by, completely unreadable. Celestia pushed deeper, right before a terrifying image of a bipedal figure thrusting a sword into a cowering guard caused her to lose her focus, and the barrier reformed. Before she could prepare for another assault, something shoved into her physical body and knocked her to the ground, ripping her mind from the spell. Opening her eyes, Celestia saw Luna standing over her, visibly angry. "Luna! What are you doing?!" Celestia said, equally unhappy. Luna simply pointed at the wounded guard. Confused, she stood up and looked. The guard was thrashing around on the bed, mouth opened in a soundless scream. The doctors attempted to hold him down so he wouldn't fall off, only making him struggle more. Celestia felt like a dagger had been shoved into her heart. "Sister... I didn't know it would do this to him, I swear..." she mumbled, unable to get over knowing how much pain she had just caused. "Celestia, when you enter a pony's mind and access their memories, you are forcing them to relive those moments; and when those moments cause significant trauma, this happens." Luna said, pointing to the guard, who had stopped moving. "Now, if you insist on taking this route, at least let me be the one to remove his barrier. I can do it without causing as much pain as having your mind broken usually results in." "...Okay. But I still need to be the one to access those memories. As soon as that barrier is down, you leave his mind and I go in, understand?" "If you say so..." Luna responded, already starting to cast the spell. The guard violently shook at first, but slowly calmed down as time passed until he simply twitched every now and then. Eventually, Luna opened her eyes again and nodded to Celestia, who then cast her own spell a third time. Upon reentering the guard's mind, she noticed that things seemed a little off. Blurred images flew around, and static clouded any chance of hearing. Celestia soon started focusing on the memories as they passed her, deciphering as much as possible before it vanished. Whatever Luna had done wasn't making her job any easier. The first few images were pretty clear, showing the patrol as it moved through the forest at around sunset. the images started coming by faster, though it was unnoticeable at first. An image of a small fort popped up, and the images in general started to become more and more distorted, further showing how damaged the guard's mind was. A picture of the same biped Celestia had seen earlier flashed for the shortest of seconds before showing one of the guards on the ground, throat slashed. The fort showed up again, windows colored a deep red before a second dead guard appeared, an arrow in his chest. The biped appeared again, another image of a dead pony following close behind. A deafening blast of static pounded her mind, and two more dead guards appeared, one of them being a Pegasus with a missing wing. The images were coming in too fast to tell details at this point. Another blast of static made Celestia cringe, and the biped appeared to be walking toward her, getting closer every couple images. A close-up view of the first dead guard, wounds sickeningly exaggerated, threatened to make her lose her focus while another of a guard who had nearly been gutted only made things worse. The spell was hanging on by a thread now, with only the Princess's own strength keeping it going. The biped was no more than a foot away, the images coming in at a speed that could have made Rainbow Dash jealous. The fort appeared again, painted with blood while dead guardponies littered the ground around it. The biped raised its sword, as if to strike a cowering foe. Celestia, for the first time in a while, felt pure fear. The blade slashed through the air, and the spell ended, the white Alicorn too shaken to continue. Celestia opened her eyes, gasping. The depression in the room was palpable. Twilight, the doctors and the other guards had left, leaving only Luna and the guard; the latter had a dagger buried in his chest. "W-What happened?" Celestia asked, looking at the guard. "He completely lost it. Before we could stop him, he grabbed one of the other guards' weapons and stabbed himself." Luna said, leaving the room. "I hope whatever you found out was worth it." Celestia was frozen to the spot. Is all this my fault? "Tia? are you awake?" "Yes." "May I come in?" "Of course." Luna stepped through the door to Celestia's bedroom, closing it behind her. A few seconds later, the blue Alicorn joined her sister on the bed. "Listen... I'm sorry about how I acted last night. I shouldn't have just ditched you back there." Luna said, sighing and looking down. "No... It's okay. I'm fine now." "Sis, I can tell when a pony hasn't been sleeping. Tell me, what's been troubling you?" Celestia laid back. "Every time I close my eyes, the guard's memories keep appearing in my head. That, and..." she said, trailing off. "And... What?" "Is it my fault those guards all died?" Luna shuffled her hooves. The question clearly wasn't something she was expecting. "Of course not, Tia. You can't control how good your guards do in combat. They tried their best, but in this particular event they were at a disadvantage. As for the most recent casualty, I honestly think it would have happened no matter what we did. None of these deaths are your fault, so don't pin the blame to yourself; pin it to that thing in the forest." "That doesn't change that we need to stop it however... And at this point, sending guards to die will be my fault. We could outnumber it a million to one, and we would still take at least one casualty." Luna tilted her head. "Maybe we could try a more diplomatic approach. You could send in Twilight, seeing as she is the leading expert on making friends." "That could work... I'd like to have Shining Armor and Princess Cadence here before we take any risks like that." "I will inform them. Now, you need to get some rest. Take the day off. I think I can handle a kingdom for a few hours." "If you say so, Luna. Oh, and... Thank you. It's nice to know that at least one pony is still behind me after last night." "Anytime, sis. Now, I meant it when I told you to get some rest!" Luna said, stepping of the bed and heading for the door. One last nod in her direction served as a silent goodbye before the younger Alicorn stepped through the door. After some silent thinking, Celestia decided to follow her sister's words and sleep, the latter finally being able to reach her weary eyes in a matter of minutes.
Had to be SharpI can't believe I agreed to this! Twilight flew high above the trees, trying to get a better view of the surrounding forest. Her only clue for her destination was an especially large clearing with a house in the center, but it had proven to be like finding a needle in a haystack while on a time limit so far; heavy Everfree storm clouds were moving in rather quickly behind her, and unless she either turned around or found her target within the next few minutes, she wouldn't be flying back. The rest of her impromptu briefing warned her not to so much as try to be intimidating, and that Pegasi Guards would be hiding in the woods in case something went wrong. However, after the last couple of encounters, the young Alicorn doubted they would be of any use, even if they were hoof-picked by Shining Armor. She increased her altitude, trying once more to find her objective. A flash of red in the distance caught Twilight's eye. She flew towards it, lowering herself to be just above the canopy while increasing her speed until the light flashed again, much closer this time. Sure she had found the place, Twilight pitched upwards and located the clearing, along with a fortress that rivaled most of the larger fortifications in the Griffon homelands. The Alicorn entered a landing dive and touched down just on the edge of the treeline, cautiously stepping forwards. Hopefully nopony had skimped on the guards' armament. The land within the clearing seemed especially barren. Large scores had been carved into the earth every few feet, almost in a pattern. Tree stumps littered the area, and any animals that had lived here were gone, likely scared off by whatever built the structure that dominated the area. Twilight continued walking towards said structure, glancing around nervously. From what Celestia had mentioned, their opponent fancied ambushes, and a single unarmed pony trotting around was very open to one. A metallic grinding noise punctuated the silence of the forest. Twilight cringed at the noise, knowing that if she so much as tried to use her magic, whatever weapon that had just been drawn would be put to use. Cold steel brushed her neck, followed by a slightly muffled voice from almost behind her. "Well, well, well, what do we have here?" Twilight struggled to remain calm and not scream for her escorts at the top of her lungs. "I-I've been sent here on a diplomatic mission by Princess Celestia-" "Yeah, I'm sure. Where are the others at?" "W-What others?" "Don't play dumb with me, horse. The last diplomat to be sent alone to negotiate with a hostile species got eaten alive by cannibalistic plant people. Either you came armed or followed, and you are going to tell me before I scratch up one more." "I came alone, I promise!" She felt the blade press harder against her neck, wondering if the thing had seen through her lie. "Please, just give me a chance to talk with you and we will never bother you again!" That seemed to interest the creature. The blade fell away from Twilight's neck, followed by more grinding as it was sheathed. "Never bother me again, huh? I think I'd like that. However, if you want this interview, you can do it inside. Diplomats never go alone." A large black form moved in front of her, shoving open the door. It stood there, waiting for Twilight to enter. She looked over her shoulder, then stepped inside. The door creaked as it was shut, the creature peering through the crack before closing and locking it. It turned around and strode into what appeared to be a living room of sorts, minus about half the furnishings. The two sat down on a couple of rather weak looking chairs, possibly made with whatever appendages the creature used in lieu of hooves. They both creaked as weight was applied, and the one the creature used threatened to break. It removed its helmet, revealing a scarred and bruised face, likely from the last couple of encounters. It also kept a dagger halfway concealed, as if to remind Twilight not to try any funny business while keeping its brownish eyes half focused. The Alicorn spoke first. "Well, I guess we could start with your species, I'm pretty sure there's at least one pony out there who is tired of hearing the word 'creature' or 'thing' every few seconds..." "I'm a human. Male." "What do you go by?" "Kris." "And... Where are you from?" "Earth." Well, I see this one likes to be blunt. "Why did you leave, and how did you get here?" "I managed to find and teach myself how to run a military patrol vessel equipped with a Faster-Than-Light Drive after its original crew was eaten-" Kris stopped, noticing the beyond confused expression Twilight was now bearing. "Yeah, didn't think you'd understand half of that. 'Faster-Than-Light Drive' is just a fun way of saying 'big-box-that-takes-you-wherever-you-want-to-go-in-a-few-seconds.'" Looks like we were all wrong about this thing being some mindless animal... "You still didn't tell me why you left." "Well, Earth was... invaded, to say the least. Some giant rock with an alien egg inside it landed on our planet. At first, we didn't think too much about it, until the egg hatched and started destroying everything in sight. Around that time, there may have been around ten billion or so of us on Earth, and I think only a few million made it off alive. An entire civilization, beaten to dust and scattered into the void of space in a week..." Kris's expression changed to one of sorrow. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like that..." Twilight said, her head hanging down. "What have you done until now?" "After escaping, I was basically flying on a wing and a prayer after a minor tussle with a baby alien I had brought on board as a pet. Upon running out of fuel, I managed to survive on various planets for about a year, learning things like 'never use a distress beacon', 'getting a processor makes no sense' and 'just because it's a skeleton doesn't mean it's not dead'. Alongside that, I had to constantly fight off animals straight out of a little kids' nightmare, eat said animals, and overall, survive." Kris said, leaning back in an attempt to relax a little more. "And... What about the guards we have sent to find you? Why did you kill them?" "What makes you think I really wanted to? One of them tried to get the drop on me with a knife, and I defended myself. The others could have just ran off, but they decided to be the Hero Brigade and engage me. The group after that, however, I simply ambushed since they didn't look to be any different than the ones before. One got away, but I messed him up so bad I doubt he made it out of the forest alive." Before Twilight could ask another question, glass shattered as a Pegasi Guard flew through a nearby window, sword in hoof. However, Kris was already on his feet, launching the dagger through the air and watching the guard fall to the floor. Another guard entered from a second window, and the chair he had sat on proved stronger than it looked, only breaking in half after hitting the Pegasus in the face three times in addition to being thrown at a third guard. "I thought you said you came alone!" Kris shouted, drawing his sword and pulling a second weapon from a crate. Why in Equestria are these guards attacking?! I'm not in trouble! "I did! Princess Celestia must have sent them after I left to make sure nothing went wrong!" Twilight cried, leaping away from her spot. She tried to keep morbid curiosity from making her look at the wounded and possibly dead guards. "You horses aren't too smart, are you?" came Kris's reply, and he seemed to be talking to both Twilight and the guard he had just stabbed and thrown back out the window. When another followed the guard inside, Twilight attempted to use her telepathy to contact the guard and ask him just what the hay they were doing, but either the guard was ignoring her or was too caught up in trying to block the two swords being used against him to respond. Either way, he had been fatally wounded after a couple more seconds. "We are ponies! There's a difference, you know!" she said, ducking behind a crate as the body thumped on the floor nearby. Before Kris could fire off another remark, an especially large Pegasus wrapped himself around his neck, nearly unbalancing him. Another guard headbutted Kris in the stomach, pinning him to a wall and putting a sizable dent in his armor. It looked like the guards were going to win - the bigger one was choking Kris, and the other was drawing his sword - until Kris swung a leg out to hit the smaller guard in the neck, killing him instantly. The bigger guard lost concentration upon seeing his ally had died, loosening his grip just long enough for Kris to slam him into the ground and use a dropped sword to stab his incapacitated foe. Two more guards, the last of the group, entered from opposite sides and after a brief survey of the carnage, decided they valued their lives and attempted to fly out. Kris pulled his dagger out of the very first guard and threw it at the one furthest away, the blade landing in his back. The second, however, was just fast enough to dodge a sword that had been lobbed in his direction and make it out of the nearby window. The human grabbed a strange looking device out of the crate Twilight was behind - it looked like a crossbow, minus the bow - and aimed it out the window, a sound like thunder booming from the end of it three times; judging by how hard Kris threw it at a wall and how loudly he shouted curses, Twilight guessed he must have missed the guard. She stuck her head out to see how much of the fight she hadn't watched. Several bodies littered the living room, most of them having been incapacitated by a strike from a sword and then knocked out when they hit the floor, but some were outright dead. Kris stormed around, clearly angry. He started to remove his dented chestpiece, throwing it to the floor before starting to rant. "Dammit! Now your kind will know exactly where I am at! I'll have to prepare, get my kit down here and fortify this place before an entire goddamned army shows up for my blood-" "If I can get back to Canterlot in time, I may be able to stall until you can get out. Shining Armor will be sending an army after you, and I don't want to see any more deaths." Twilight said, taking another glance at the carnage. Even stalling could be impossible after this many had died. These ponies all had friends, and likely family as well. Why? Why can't races just get along? she wondered, hoping those ponies would be able to take the news. "No. This planet has a lot less coal than usual, so little in fact that I've barely found a single ore vein since getting here, even after turning this place inside out. No, I'll need to keep you with me, as a bargaining chip just in case I get cornered. I hope you understand." Twilight frowned. "I'm sorry, but I can't just surrender myself like that. I've got friends waiting for me back in Ponyville, friends who know what has happened over the last couple of weeks and know I was just sent in here. If I don't return, they will assume the worst, and Rainbow Dash is exceedingly protective over her friends-" "Fine. Guess I can always use these guards instead." Kris responded, kicking one of the still living ponies. Twilight winced and decided it was probably a good idea to leave very soon, using one of the holes made by the guards' entrance. The storm clouds were right on top of her, lightning occasionally visible within them. She silently prayed that nothing got too bad.
Wake-up Call"Alright everypony, time isn't on our side, so I am going to be quick with this. The human has been preparing for a large scale attack for the past couple of days. However, we will not be performing a large scale attack; rather, a medium sized team will be sent in while the thing is gone to infiltrate its fort to steal whatever they can and rescue the survivors of Princess Twilight's escort squad before the human returns. We don't know exactly how much time you will have, so we will be sending you roughly within a quarter of a mile of the clearing, and our scouts will inform you of when the human has left. Your speed for this raid cannot be stressed enough, so you will be going in without your usual arms and armor, meaning you must avoid combat unless absolutely necessary. Of course, the plan is to not get caught, so you shouldn't have to worry. Does everypony understand?" "Yes, sir!" called out every guard in unison. "Good. I expect to see you all back here for a report as soon as you are finished." said Shining Armor, watching the guards as they left the room. The Canterlot Royal Guard will experience a shortage of Pegasi if something goes wrong with this raid, he thought. Thanks to the wonderful world of politics, the human wouldn't have to fear death for a while since the other leaders would take very badly to hearing of a non-Equestrian being killed without a trial - even if getting convicted of twenty-plus murders is hopeless to try and counter - and Princess Celestia doesn't want a blemish on her reign. The Unicorn muttered a profanity at the other leaders; if this thing was on their land and killing their citizens, they would be thinking much differently. Shining Armor let out a long sigh, choosing to wander Canterlot Castle until his raiding party returned. Twilight had given him some information on the human, and the white stallion hadn't liked what he heard - this 'Kris' was beyond good in combat, an expert in crafting items, had a reaction time that would make Rainbow Dash jealous and, probably the most dangerous aspect of all, his extreme intelligence. This human was just one of many millions that could travel to any part of the universe at will. What if he could call for help, and dozens more came to his aid? Just one was already testing the limits of the Royal Guard, and they are the ones with the superior numbers, training and armament. At least, they were, until this ape showed up. Shining Armor half considered asking for aid from the other nations, but banished the thought. They had magic on their side, something that made them the most powerful fighting force on this half of the planet. Besides, as of now there was only one human against hundreds, maybe thousands of Royal Guards. And yet... The Unicorn continued trying to reassure himself as he trotted through relatively empty halls, to little avail. The existence of at least one hostile race offered more questions than answers. Are there other races out there? Are they just as hostile as the human? Are they as technologically advanced - Celestia forbid they be more so - as the human? Was he overthinking this? Shining Armor knew he had an answer to at least one of his questions when he nearly trampled one of the castle maids. Apologizing and helping the startled mare to her hooves, he kept going. Thoughts of the human's weapons drifted into his mind. It used swords and spears and axes, not too unlike the standard issue weapons, but bigger. Bows were at least still moderately useful to the human, and the guard that escaped claimed he had seen at least one crossbow. However, that armament wasn't the concern; rather, it was the strange weapon fired upon the escaping guard. Twilight had described it as a long crossbow without the bow and made of metal, and it unleashed a deafening boom and a flash of fire from the tip when activated. It sounded terrifying on its own, and it - or a weapon like it - was likely the result of the smallish holes covering the trees not entirely hacked down, which brought up the question of what in the world it was doing to the landscape. Both Twilight and the guard had described numerous tree stumps and large ditches dug into the dirt within a mile of the human's house, and the frequency only continued the closer one got until walking was nearly impossible. Shining Armor frowned. If the thing was looking for resources, it had come to the right place. Equestria rarely, if ever, used its own vast wealth of minerals, preferring to import whatever was needed from other countries. Then, this human has the nerve to start digging holes and chopping up trees wherever he wants after centuries pf careful protection of the environment. It made Shining Armor sick. Looking away from his thoughts, the Unicorn realized he had just made one big circle around the castle and was now standing next to the door to the room he had just briefed the guards in. How convenient. {--_--_--//=|^|=\--_--_--} After another two hours had passed, guards began piling through the door, each one holding enough of the humans' possessions to fill a chest twice. They piled their gatherings by the walls, making a separate stack for weapons, armor and anything that didn't fit into either category. The guards remained mostly silent, having a dejected look on their faces. Shining Armor approached one of them. "What happened?" "Well, sir, while we did get most of the supplies, we were completely unable to find the captured embers of Princess Twilight's escort squad. There was nothing but bloodstains on the walls and floor." "Did you try looking around the place?" "We did, but found nothing. The human must'ave done something to them, I doubt they tried walking back." Damn. Shining Armor sighed. "Well, you did what you could. When we beat that bastard into submission, we'll make him tell us what he did to the ponies he's captured." For now, we'll just have to keep his junk here. Even if he manages to fight his way into Canterlot and searches each and every room, it would be impossible to recover all of it. The Unicorn left the room, dismissing the guards as he did. It was steadily beginning to get dark outside, and the human would be disappointed now that all he had was an empty shell to stay in. Now lacking any chance of defending himself, the Princesses could likely force him to surrender with ease. Shining Armor began trotting off to his quarters, almost smiling at the thought of the same creature that had killed numerous guards would now be helpless against the Royal Guard of Canterlot, and would soon be locked in a dungeon in some Celestia-forsaken part of the world. )-^\/^-++Vv^|^vV++-^\/^-( The sound of a bell ringing with all its might woke Shining Armor from his sleep. He looked around the dark room, accidentally nudging and awakening his wife, who was curled up beside him. "Shiny?" she asked, looking up at him. "What's going on? You aren't having a bad dream, are you?" "No, Cady, I'm fine. I guess some daring colt climbed into the bell tower and is trying to give everypony a good scare-" The door to his bedroom flew open, cracking against the wall. A rather large looking royal Guard stood in its place, holding a familiar set of purple tinted set of armor and a weapon. "What is the meaning of this?!" Shining Armor cried. The sounds coming from outside could be heard a little more clearly now. "I apologize for my intrusion, sir, but the human is currently inside Canterlot!" he replied, throwing the armor and weapon onto the bed. Shining Armor felt his jaw drop. "What the hay do you mean, 'the human is in Canterlot'?! I thought that gate was impenetrable!" Shining Armor cried, leaping out of bed and hastily putting on his armor. "The human didn't use the gate, sir. It just... appeared in a flash of red. Now, it's running rampant through the city, turning everything it finds into a weapon. If we wait any longer, it'll enter the castle!" "Then it's a good thing we won't have to," Shining Armor said, tying on the last portion of armor and strapping the sword to his side. He felt something touch his shoulder. "If that thing is as dangerous as everypony says... You'll be back soon, right?" Cadence asked, a nervous tone about her. "Of course I will, dear. This'll only take a minute, I promise." he replied, letting go of his wife. Meeting his comrade at the door, they galloped outside, dodging other guards that had taken up positions around the castle door, all wide-eyed and gripping their weapons tightly. His fellow guard spoke. "You will have to be careful, sir. The human is killing anything with a horn on-sight." "I'd like to see him try." "Be careful what you wish for, sir. We are about to engage him, after all." The guard stepped towards the heavy oaken doors, giving them a nudge. "Now, let's-" A muffled explosion accompanied by a flash of light cut off the guard's sentence. The heavy doors flew open, a hole blasted in their shared center. The guard let out a startled scream and fell, impaled by dozens of wooden fragments wherever his armor didn't cover. When the dust cleared, the human stood in the place of the door, clutching a metal sphere with a rope dangling out of one side. Using some other device to set the rope on fire, he threw it at a rather large congregation of guards, the following explosion sparing nothing. Snatching up a fallen guards' spear with one of his paws, it began its assault. Two guards behind a column were the first to go, their armor doing nothing to stop the strength of the human. Shining Armor launched a spell at their attacker, only to have the bolt smash into a a wall, leaving scorch marks behind. The Unicorn contemplated running away when the human faced his direction, an infuriated look on its strange face. The ward Shining Armor used barely managed to deflect the spear that was thrown at him. The human charged his opponent, grabbing him by the throat and effortlessly slamming his head into the floor of the castle. Shining Armor let out a stone-cracking kick, but felt nothing but air against his hooves, and a heartbeat later, his entire body as the human threw him at a wall like a sack of flour. Only briefly stunned, Shining Armor charged a spell and let it fly. He gagged as the smell of burning flesh hit his nostrils, signifying a direct hit. The human howled in pain and screamed incomprehensibly, charging Shining Armor a second time and dodging another spell. Something wrapped around his horn and wrenched his head down, nearly making the pony cry out. The human then pinned him to the wall, placing a paw against his throat and squeezing. It only took a split second to figure out what the human was doing. Shining Armor struggled against the human, punching and kicking and squirming around, but nothing seemed to work to loosen the vice on his throat. His vision began to darken and his blows became weaker and weaker until his body refused to respond. He stared at the human with closing eyes, at all the wounds and blood and the twisted smile he bore upon his face. The human released him. The ground seemed to rush up very quickly to greet Shining Armor, the sound of metal striking marble filling his ears as he landed. He took a breath, then another, and then another, loving the feeling of being able to breathe again. His head was throbbing, his neck was probably covered in bruises and he felt weaker than a newborn foal, but he could breathe. And as he did, logic returned to his mind. Why did the human just let him go? Looking up, he got his answer. The human had ditched him in favor of taking on some much more powerful adversaries; Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. The former was doing what she could to distract and possibly stun the human, while the latter was attempting to line up a spell of her own, but any time the human realized he was spending too much time on one Alicorn, he'd switch to they other. A blow landed here and there, but as the Princesses were physical goddesses, the worst the human could do was make them flinch. Closer examination of the battle let Shining Armor know that the human was losing his ground steadily and would soon be against a wall. Princess Celestia managed to get a kick in while Kris focused on Luna, sending him crashing into a wall. He laid there, until Celestia approached - leaping from the ground, he kicked her legs out from under her, and using what strength he had left, placed her in a headlock and grabbed her horn, bending it every time she tried to escape his grip. The human began stepping backwards, dragging a struggling Celestia with him until he had reached a door. One of the surviving guards tried to flank him, but stopped when Celestia let out groan of pain when the human jerked her head around. Finally regaining the strength to walk, Shining Armor stood and limped over to where Princess Luna stood. The human had managed to shove the door open, and looking around to ensure he wasn't being flanked, began to bend Princess Celestia's horn even more than before, making the white mare cringe and grit her teeth. Gradually, the control she had was overwhelmed by the pain being inflicted upon her, and a few tears started running down her cheeks. They could do nothing but watch as the most powerful being in Equestria started to whimper and cry, desperately trying to free herself from the human's grip. Finally, the horror show ended when Celestia passed out as a result of the pain, her body going limp. The human unceremoniously dropped her to the ground, vanishing through the door behind him. Without any bargaining chips at his disposal, Princess Luna was free to fire a spell that cut through the door, but if the human had been struck, there was no sound. They collectively rushed to the Sun Princess's side, her sister gently picking up and halfway cradling her. "T-Tia? Art thou alright?" whimpered Princess Luna, tears forming in her eyes. "You're slipping up again, sis..." Celestia said, regaining consciousness. She almost couldn't be heard. "Sister, this isn't the time to make jokes about our speaking habits. That human could have... k-ki..." Luna was unable to bring herself to say the word. "I know what Kris almost did to me, Luna. And I won't let it happen again, I promise." Celestia replied, hugging her sister. "I hate to break this up, but that human is still in this castle, and we need to stop him before anypony else gets hurt." Shining Armor said, stepping closer. Making sure he doesn't get his gear back would be good as well. "You're right, but any chance of finding him within the next few minutes is gone." Celestia said, looking up. "Where are the things you stole? The planning room?" "Yes, your Majesty. There wasn't room anywhere else." "Seeing as that door leads right to that room and knows we are still after him, he likely only took what he absolutely cannot survive without and left," said a nearby guard, walking next to the door. Dammit, he's right! That human could be back in his ship right now, preparing for a second raid! Some shouts followed by a flash of red lit up the room, confirming their thoughts. "Princess Celestia, if you still wish to defeat the human, we must attack now..."
I Like Those OddsThe army that encircled the fortress was simply massive, numbering right around one thousand. Most of them would not be taking part directly in the combat; rather, two hundred would make a direct advance on the building while the rest provided support and ensured Kris would not be able to flee on the ground. Not that the latter mattered anyways, seeing as the human could just teleport out of harms way if the fight started going badly. Princess Celestia smiled. Either way, the Royal Guard now had the unmatched advantage in numbers and equipment, thanks to the inclusion of captured items in their inventory. Even if Kris managed to survive and escape, the fight was theirs. The fortress began to loom over everypony as the guards got closer. The two hundred had been personally chosen and led by Princess Celestia and Shining Armor for their bravery and quickly-learned skill with human weaponry, and thus showed no fear against what could easily be the death of them all. Celestia signaled for them to halt. “Orders, your Majesty?” Shining Armor asked from beside her. “Wait here. I would like to give the human a chance to take a more diplomatic approach to this. You never know, maybe being faced with unbeatable odds will change his mind,” Celestia responded. Beginning her advance towards the fortress, the doors swung open and revealed a heavily armored figure. Celestia’s horn let off a slight twinge of pain at the sight of Kris. “What is this?” he asked, cautiously reaching for his swords. His armor was much different than the damaged variety they had recovered, being camouflaged with the occasional bit of blue metal on the edges. His swords were slightly sharper-looking, and one of the ranged weapons hung on a strap over his back. “Human, you have ravaged this land, killed our guards and threatened my ponies. This is the only chance you will get at surrender. You face an army of hundreds, all armed with your own terrifying weapons. You do not need to throw your life away like this. Surrender now and you will be treated fairly in court; refuse and I promise you that you will leave this world, be it by death or withdraw. What is your decision?” “Surrender? You want me to… surrender?” Kris replied, contemplating the word as if he had never heard it before in his life. Celestia jumped a little when he suddenly began to laugh. I have survived by the skin of my teeth for the past year, and you expect me to make that all in vain and be locked away in a dungeon for the rest of my life, or – more likely – executed? No, I will make my ‘last stand’ here. If you want me dead, you’re gonna have to get your pretty little hooves dirty for once and do it yourself, since your guards don’t seem to be competent enough.” Celestia nodded, and then turned around to rejoin the guards she commanded. Shining Armor approached her. “Well?” “He would rather fight.” “I see. Looks like I’ll get my rematch after all.” Celestia charged a summoning spell, causing large plates of gold and lengths of chainmail to materialize around her. The plates covered most of her body, whereas the chains protected everywhere that needed to retain mobility. Donning a spiked charging helmet, the Alicorn launched a beacon into the sky, resuming the advance. A small hatch on the fort opened, allowing a barrel to peek out. Fire was ejected from the end, and a nearby guard jerked back, a bloody hole in his chest. The weapon fired again, ending the life of another pony. “Return fire!” Shining Armor ordered, his words punctuated by every guard firing their weapons and casting spells at the same time, nearly all of them striking the fortress walls. Three more guards fell, their assailant unfazed. Another volley struck the building, some of the more reinforced pieces appearing cracked and dented. Small fires began to burn between the plating. A third volley caused more of the armor to become totaled, flames blanketing the entire area, and visible holes had been punched through the structure’s entirety. Through it all, Kris was still picking off guards that forgot to keep their heads down. The current count had reached the twenties. “Double-time it, now!” Shining Armor barked. They all obliged, some of them kicking up dust behind them, and the few Pegasi that remained took to the skies. The army was upon the structure in a matter of seconds, and Kris had stopped firing. They continued to batter the last holdout of their enemy, kicking down walls and supports when weapons stopped making a difference. Celestia knocked down a rather essential beam herself, and heard a cheer from her guards when the fortress began to collapse. All of them stepped back to watch a now massive fire engulf what was left, undoubtedly trapping the human within. It was a horrible way to go, but he had left little alternative. Guards started tossing looted gear into the heat, exchanging a few words over what they would do next. As soon as the fire threatened to spread to other parts of the forest, Pegasi began to make storm clouds to douse the flames, and the inferno was soon reduced to dying embers and ash. Everypony silently surrounded Princess Celestia, waiting for the next order. Something moved under the remains. Before anything could be done, a figure threw heaps of burnt wood off itself and rushed at the nearest guard, grabbing him around the throat and snapping his neck in one motion. Kris had survived. The human looked towards Celestia as he dropped the corpse. He drew his swords, but before he could move, a purple flash knocked Kris to the ground. Shining Armor began to wail on the human, smashing his head into the mud with his hooves. “Nothing! Threatens! Our! Princess!” the Unicorn shouted, punctuating his words with strikes. Kris threw the enraged pony off his chest, and then stood up. “Oh, really? Is that what you all were all thinking when I nearly snapped off her horn?” Kris said coolly, wiping mud and blood off his armor. His nose appeared broken, and crimson leaked from everywhere on his face. An eye was swollen shut. Drawing his swords, he continued. “I was considering leaving you alive, but since you seem to enjoy getting in my way I will have to make sure that doesn’t happen anymore.” Shining Armor drew his own weapon, taking a spite-filled swing at Kris, who parried and returned with his own attack. Upon recovery, Armor swung again, only to strike mud as Kris side-stepped the blow. The human kicked his opponent down, then drew the sword out of the ground and lobbed it at another pony that had gotten too close for comfort. Kris kicked the Unicorn several times to ensure he wouldn’t get back up again, and then buried his own weapon into Shining Armor’s side, prompting a groan of pain from the impaled pony. Kris raised his other weapon and swung at his neck, only missing because Shining Armor managed to cast a spell to knock his would-be executioner away. Princess Celestia called some other guards to treat the horrific gash in the Unicorn’s side while Kris tried to get up. No more than a few seconds later did they pick him up and start moving away from the scene, likely to Ponyville. The Alicorn began to walk towards Kris, who had ditched his swords in favor of his ranged weapon. She felt a stab of pain in her head as she created a ward to protect herself from the rain of lead that was meant to strike her body, watching as the pieces bounced off and embedded themselves in the mud around her hooves. The pain was intensified when Celestia had to pump in more energy to keep the ward alive. At this rate, she would have a migraine for weeks and would be unable to use magic for possibly longer. She winced as the ward collapsed. Kris took advantage of her temporary vulnerability and jumped to one side, then unleashed another lead shower. Most of the bullets missed on a mix of hip-firing and a lack of depth perception, but Celestia wasn’t lucky enough to avoid all of them. Pain ripped into her sides as three bullets made direct hits, penetrating her armor. At least one went completely through her body, but the others might have bounced off her ribs and hit something vital. Metal fragments from the proven-worthless armor only heightened the pain, and her right wing had a hard time functioning. Her breath felt raggedy and came out like a very faint wheeze. The human must’ve gotten lucky and hit a lung. It would take much more than that to actually kill her, however; Alicorns could take enough punishment to kill a dragon and treat it like a Sunday morning. Sure, they still felt and dealt with pain like any other mortal creature, but currently there were more pressing matters to attend to instead of going over the strength of an Alicorn. The look on Kris’s face when he realized Celestia had basically no-selled three bullets aimed at vital organs would have been comical had it not changed back to one of determination usually seen during an intense fight. Did humans ever give up? Sometimes, apparently. Kris was enveloped in a red light as he took full advantage of the fact that he could teleport to safety any time he pleased. Frightened guards approached Princess Celestia, staring at the bloody holes in her body. She manually shook off her armor and examined the damage for herself. Sure enough, one had gone completely through. The others would require a doctor to deal with, however. Something told Celestia that having metal fragments inside one’s body wasn’t a good thing. “Are you alright, your Majesty?” one of the guards asked, unable to remove his eyes from the wounds. “It’s nothing. Just a flesh wound, in relative terms.” she replied. “Tell the other guards to form up here so we can count the dead and wounded, then begin our trip to Ponyville and from there, Canterlot.” A few seconds later, guards started to emerge from the woodworks, creating lines so that their commanding officers could easily count their own divisions and then add them with the others. There was a faint rumbling that filled the air as the guards were nearly finished. At first, Celestia passed it off as thunder, until it started to get steadily louder. Before the princess could utter a word to the guards to find out what it was, the sound was replaced by a one that was similar to the weapon that had been used to shoot Celestia, but much bigger. Not wanting to be injured further, she created a slightly stronger ward; she ignored the pain it caused her horn. No sooner did the spell finish than did chaos take hold of the clearing. The grounds itself shook as guards, all grouped up into a massive sea of pony, were reduced to bloody fragments and screams as the earth under them exploded from the force of the weapon Kris was wielding against them, whatever and wherever that weapon was. Something large struck Celestia’s ward, shattered it, and still had the energy to embed itself a foot deep in the mud. A shadow passed over the already dark clearing, prompting the surviving guards to look up. An oddly shaped ship, roughly the size of a house, flew overhead. Blue fire spat out of largish tubes on the bottom and back of the ship, and once it turned around, a glass canopy with two excessively large barrels sticking out both above and below the window. Kris was at the controls. Fire suddenly belched from the barrels, and more guards were cut down in droves. Some tried to shoot back, but whether or not it was a blindly fired arrow or a well-made spell, the ship’s armor deflected it. By now, most of the guards had the sense to spread out, but all the same they were ripped to shreds by the cannons, only with less at one time. Celestia contemplated her options. Calling in the few airships Equestria had seemed like a good idea at first; compared to some of the others made in the past, this thing was tiny. However, it also had greater firepower than the other ships combined, and was more than likely able to take more punishment. It was also quite maneuverable and undoubtedly faster. Her second option was to order a full scale retreat, but as soon as it was realized that the ship would only have a marginally harder time gunning them down, the idea looked silly. The final option she had was to attack the ship herself, at the cost of waking up with a terrible migraine the next morning. It was the only one that had a chance of success. The ship entered its third strafing run on the clearing. Celestia began to charge a spell, an already slight headache growing at the same rate. She aimed her horn at the center of the ship, feeling the spell reach its peak. She fired. The beam had gone a little off course on account of her discomfort, but it still struck. There was an explosion at the front of the ship, followed by a series of smaller explosions that caused the metal beast to lose control. A couple engines ceased to function, spilling out smoke and flames along with the rest of the ship. The cannons fired one last time as Kris tried to hit whatever had dealt the fatal blow, but to no avail. Whatever the human was doing to keep the ship from exploding was also causing it to pick up speed and start a rather wild course towards Canterlot. Celestia took to the skies. Her wing sent shocks of pain in protest of its use every time it flapped, but regardless it was still able to carry Celestia in pursuit of the failing ship. The engines that did function grew brighter and keeping up became harder. The ship was certainly on a collision course with Canterlot. The Alicorn considered hitting the ship again, but was unsure of whether or not it would help or even if she could hit it, seeing as they were both flying erratically and she had nearly missed the first time. Suddenly, the ship’s front pointed upwards and its rumbling was replaced with a whirring as something within began to power up. The noise grew louder, and Celestia backed off, unsure of what was about to happen. Twilight mentioned that this thing could travel amongst the stars with its FTL drive, though in the ships’ current condition- A massive explosion – even larger than the one the Princess caused when she hit the ship – cut off her thoughts and white light filled her eyes. The shockwave nearly made her lose control and spiral into the ground, but she managed to keep in control. The ship had lost most of its aft section and was falling – fast. Its remains landed in the center of the city and began to grind along the ground, scraping houses and showing little sign of stopping. It flipped over on its side and rolled a little, before passing right through Canterlot Castle’s doors, and still continued to slide, finally stopping when it broke through the outermost wall and almost going over the edge. Celestia landed awkwardly behind it, her wing nearly useless. Some flames were trying to spread outward from the destroyed ship, though they would have trouble igniting stone. She could see into what was left of the ship. A heavy door had been pried open, revealing the vast array of levers, buttons and switches used to control everything aboard. There was one slight issue, however; Kris’s corpse wasn’t part of the scene. Something chuckled behind Celestia, startling her. Turning around, she saw the human limping towards her, an arm twisted at a strange angle. He dragged a bad leg behind him. Kris also held a small version of his previous ranged weapons, but when the trigger was pulled, it simply clicked. Kris’s eyes briefly displayed fear as he threw the weapon down and drew a rather large knife. He flashed a twisted smile. “Let’s dance,” he said. Even in his wounded state, Kris was a formidable opponent; Celestia found herself ducking and dodging more often than she should have had to. Some of the Pegasi guards had followed the ship as well and were now landing nearby. Wanting to help, one approached Kris from behind and was gutted for his troubles. Kris wasn’t lying when he said she would be doing it herself. The knife nicked one of her ears, and a second swipe removed a lock of her mane. It was impossible to tell of Kris was simply trying to scare or if he was not able to get a direct hit. Both were disproved when a sizable gash appeared on Celestia’s chest, further covering her in her own blood. Unfortunately for whatever physical combat the Alicorn could manage, Kris made sure she never got the chance to swing. The constant attacks were taking a toll on his remaining energy, and it wouldn’t be much longer before he was unable to continue. The blade left a small cut on the Princess’s face. As soon as there started to be a full second between attempts, Celestia was able to start putting in blows of her own. A punch here, a kick there… She wasn’t in much better shape than the human, but it would do. Then, Kris made things a bit more personal. He dropped the knife, and then light flashed in Celestia’s eyes as a fist struck her below the chin, jerking her head upwards. Another, aimed at the base of her horn, nearly brought the ruler to her knees. She managed a punch of her own, aimed at the human’s weak leg, and a second struck his broken arm, prompting a cry of pain. The human was still writhing in pain as Celestia stood up, turned around, and kicked with every ounce of energy left in her body. She swore she heard ribs break as Kris was flung halfway across the castle, almost into the burning wreckage of his ship. A guard approached the body and upon seeing Kris was still somehow alive, he tied the human up and enlisted the help of a few others to drag him off. The adrenaline rush she had been given during the fight was starting to wear off, allowing pain and exhaustion to creep back in. And with that, Princess Celestia passed out.
I'll Be Back“Any last words, scum?” “Yeah. Tell your Princesses I’ll be back.” “That’ll be hard to do if you’re dead, human.” “Don’t be so sure.” The pony scowled, and then backed away from the scaffolding. It had been rather hastily constructed since their gallows weren’t high enough, but it would serve its purpose. Kris’s ship had reportedly been tossed off to some badlands a couple hundred miles away, so the pissed off guard below had half a point. The human was a bit more concerned about the condition of his ship, however. The FTL Drive had completely backfired after the engines got shot up, and the ensuing explosion destroyed whatever else was inside the onboard locker, which meant that he was effectively marooned on a Gamma Sector planet with nothing. Well, almost nothing; the matter manipulator that had proved to be the most useful little device time and time again as buried under the remains of his house in the middle of that rather nice forest, and there was a small chest full of highly important things in the cockpit. Since his broken arm and rather screwed up leg would soon be healed, Kris still had far more of a chance than any of these little pastel midget horses knew. The human turned around. A rather large crowd had gathered to watch him die after he had caused the untimely deaths of many of their own, and they were all shouting and jeering and generally trying to make a point about them being better than him, and for pastel midget horses they were doing a decent job. The blatant xenophobia of literally everything here was astounding. A few offers had been made that could have prevented this. Some Griffons from who-knows-where had tried to negotiate his freedom in return for serving their government as what sounded like a spy or assassin of sorts, but it had been refused. It was the same for an offer to be turned into a pony and take on a normal life, which was probably the most god-awful idea of them all, and Kris had heard many god-awful ideas in that holding cell. It was a shame his deal with that purple one – Twilight, if his memory was right – had been ignored on the grounds of ‘too many deaths to be just self defense.’ It was a little embarrassing. Plenty of trees in the forest, but they all had to be used to shore up defenses on his house, and by the time that was done, it was too late to keep cutting them down for wood to make coal. Bringing his ship within range of a being with the power to move a star was probably the worst thing he had done, and now he was sitting here with a noose around his neck for letting his anger towards the ponies for destroying and stealing all he had done. If the ship had just held for a little longer, he could have gotten to the nearby moon to keep harvesting coal. Dammit, he should have gone there first. Oh, well. Wasn’t his first dumb mistake, and it certainly was far from his last. The guard walked over to a comically large lever, wrapped his hooves around it and pulled. The trapdoor beneath Kris opened up, causing him to fall through. Something jerked at his neck after a split second of falling, and everything went black. {[(<^>*|><=><|*<^>)]} A machine within the remains of a once-proud vessel rumbled to life. Despite the damage sustained, this particular machine was still functional. A skeleton was quickly created, using known data and a copy of DNA to recreate everything from marrow to the osseous tissue. It soon looked like an extremely realistic Halloween decoration had been sealed within the glass tube. Next were organs and muscles. A copy of DNA was once again utilized to grow the organs within the skeleton as well as to get all the muscles into the right place. Some consider cloning amoral and flat out wrong – for an adventurer among the stars, it is an indispensible advantage. Finally, everything that was left was created; skin, hair, nails, and anything that might have been missed before. A pair of metal doors slammed shut over the body as these things were grown. When they opened, a human male roughly thirty years old had been formed. He was, however, currently mindless as a baby, but that would be changed. Memories were inserted into his mind. His name, age, history and survival abilities came first, being the most important, followed by more recent things: his nearly two week long expedition on Equestria, which had ended in his execution. The location of his destroyed home in the middle of the Everfree Forest. His learned tactics for fighting a pony. The metal covers retracted, revealing a survivor that had been in the exact same position many times before. The glass panel opened, a green light signifying that everything had been done correctly and that it was now safe to proceed. The freshly-minted human stepped out. The chest in the cockpit had indeed survived. Within its deceivingly small size, it held a set of Scavenger armor, a hunting knife, some food, and a few crafting materials. The human put the gear on as he walked out of the hole in the rear of his ship. All was not lost. It was easy to acquire steel and such for reconstruction, and the printer in the back could handle the smaller and more technical things that he simply couldn’t slap together on a table. Failing that, distress beacons weren’t that hard to make. Kris sighed. This felt way too much like déjà vu.
