The Heroes of Equestria

Jon’s face was in the sand of an empty desert with six mares. He stood up, spat out some sand that breached his mouth, and looked around to see his friends passed out. He approached Twilight and shook her a little, waking her up. Opening her eyes, she saw Jon standing there. She looked around to see her friends laying on the ground in an empty desert.

“What happened?” She asked, sitting up and rubbing her eyes with her hooves.

“I don’t know.” Jon replied. “But we came here to finish a job. Let’s save Equestria.”

She smiled and stood up, approaching Applejack and waking her up. Jon woke Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy up, while Applejack woke Rarity and Pinkie Pie.

“Ugh.” Rainbow Dash grunted. “My head really hurts. Did somepony hit us with a frying pan when we first entered?”

Jon just noticed the splitting headache he had when he first arrived here was back. Thankfully, it didn’t cause any dizziness this time. “Come on everypony.” Twilight said. “Let’s finish this. Let’s save Equestria.” She looked at Jon, smiling.

Everypony stood up and looked around. The portal was gone and an empty desert greeted them. “Where are we going to go?” Rainbow Dash asked. “In case you haven’t noticed, we’re in the middle of nowhere! This place is worst then Saddle Arabia!”

“Okay look, let’s just travel in one direction and I’m sure we’ll come across something.” Jon commanded, which calmed Rainbow Dash down. “Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy, since your both pegasi, fly ahead and see if there is anything of interest.”

“Oh uh… um…” Fluttershy spoke.

“Come on Fluttershy.” Rainbow interrupted, flying away slowly. She followed.

“You know, I can fly too, Jon.” Twilight said, spreading out her wings and flapping them gently.

Applejack gave a little giggle. “She ain’t a very good flier. I reckon she’d crash into...” Applejack looked up for any clouds but none were found. “… the air.”

“HEY!” Twilight barked.

“Sorry ma’am, but it’s true.”

“Twilight, I think you should stick with me, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Rarity.” Jon said.

She sighed. “Alright, Jon.” She looked over at where Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy, who were just small dots in the horizon at this moment. “We should catch up with them.”

“Good idea.” Jon said, moving his fingers through her mane for a brief second.

The others stood there in silence until Applejack spoke. “Ya know, I walked in on them sleepin’ with each other.”

Everypony looked at Twilight, who was glaring at Applejack. “I have no idea what she’s talking about…” Twilight looked around, sweating.

“You had sex with Jon?” Rarity asked. “What was it like?”

Twilight sighed. “Okay fine!” She threw her hooves in the air. “I had sex with Jon. So what? Its mating season, okay!?”

“Don’t we have a more important thing to worry about then sex?” Jon asked.

“Let’s get going.” Applejack said, tilting her Stetson forward.

Jon and the four mares walked across the desert to where Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy were, which took around twenty minutes.

“Why is the sun descending where the moon is rising?” Twilight asked.

Jon looked at the moon and took a quick glimpse of the sun. For some odd reason, looking at sun didn’t burn his retinas. “That’s really weird. Maybe we should set up camp.”

“We didn’t pack anything…” Fluttershy stated.

“Sleeping on sand doesn’t sound very comfortable, plus I don’t want to get dirty.” Rarity said.

“Let’s keep walking until we find something.” Twilight instructed.

Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy looked at each other as if they wanted to say something to the group. “Well, we did find something ahead.” Rainbow Dash said, looking back at the rest of the group.

“What is it?” Jon asked with a smile.

“A giant gray dome in the horizon. I don’t know if it’s dangerous or not.”

“We should check it out.” Jon said, giving his opinion on the subject.

“We could use it as shelter.” Rarity stated, sounding much happier then sleeping on sand.

“Alright.” Jon said, looking at Rainbow Dash. “Can you lead us there?”

“Yeah.” She replied, raising off the ground and flying in the direction they were already heading.

Jon looked around to see one of the ponies was missing. “Hey.” He said, catching everyponies attention. “Where is Pinkie Pie?”

They all looked around to see she wasn’t there. Soon enough, the sound of something burrowing through the sand beneath them started to appear. Jon seemed to be the only one startled by this. He walked away from his friends and saw a bump in the sand moving around. The hill burst open to reveal Pinkie Pie, laughing.

“GAH WHAT THE FUCK!?” Jon yelled with a frightened voice, falling backward. “ARE YOU ON CRACK!?”

Pinkie Pie just kept on laughing. “Haha that’s just silly.” She answered.

“What’s ‘crack?’” Twilight asked.

“I don’t even know!” Pinkie Pie answered, still laughing and rolling around in the sand.

“You don’t wanna know what crack is. Let’s get moving.” Jon said, getting up and walking towards Rainbow Dash.

The others followed. Within several minutes, they saw exactly what Rainbow Dash explained; a large, gray dome in the horizon. Jon started to approach it but Rarity stopped him. “That looks rather dangerous, darling. Are you sure you would want to go sleep in a place like that?”

“I’m gonna see if there is anything dangerous over there.” Jon said. “All of you can wait here if you want, except for Rainbow Dash.”

“Why me!?” She asked with a loud tone.

“Because you can fly, and you seem like a threat to anything that stands in your way.” He answered quickly.

“Alright fine.”

They both walked over to the dome warily. The eclipse was nearly over. Rainbow Dash seemed more frightened of the unknown structure than Jon. Around half an hour later, they were standing face to face with it. Jon knocked on the wall of the dome to hear a loud metallic bang.

“It’s just a steel dome. Must have been used for storage or something.” He said.

“What’s that?” The blue coated pegasi asked, pointing at a steel vault door.

Jon stood in front of it and a thin line of light shot down on him from the top of the door. It appeared to be scanning him. Rainbow Dash looked very frightened and kept her distance from the light. Soon enough, it vanished and the vault door slid open, creating the sound of screeching metal. Jon covered his ears as well as Rainbow Dash. The screeching stopped and inside was what looked like an abandoned city. There was no sign of life anywhere inside.

“Did you really fuck Twilight?” She asked, breaking the ten seconds of silence.

Jon looked at her for a second before smacking his hand on his face. “Yes I fucked your friend Twilight.” He muttered.

“What was it like?” She asked.

“Just get the group here. We’re staying here for the night.”

“Are you sure about that?” Rainbow Dash asked, looking back into the dome.

“I don’t see any safer place to sleep so this will have to do.” He replied.

“Alright, I will go get them.” She said with a worried expression on her face as she flew off.

Jon looked back into the empty city and stepped inside the dome. There was a screen that covered the entire inner wall of the dome with big red words saying ‘error’ over and over again. The background was white. He waited at the entrance for the group to catch up, which took as long as it did for him and Rainbow Dash to get where Jon sat. When the six mares arrived, they observed the gigantic, yet empty and quiet city that sat in front of them. The vault door slid shut behind them, creating a loud metal screeching sound. They all covered their ears from the revolting sound, which didn’t last long. Jon removed his hands from his ears and looked back to see there was no way out.

“No…” He whispered. “No!” He pounded his fists into the large steel door.

The others looked at him. “Maybe there is another way out.” Twilight said, calming Jon down.

“We’re stuck in here.” He said, looking back at her.

“I’m sure we will find a way out soon.”

Meanwhile, her friends were scared to even move. They were almost as panicked as Jon was, but they didn’t say anything.

A booming, female voice appeared on the speakers (which couldn’t be seen), catching Jon and the six mares by surprise. “Do not be afraid. I locked all of you in here for your own safety.” The voice echoed through the city.

“Who are you?” Jon asked. His heart was pounding heavily from the surprise.

“I am simply the AI of this city.”

“Does this city have a name?” Twilight questioned, looking up at all the ‘errors’ on the inner wall of the dome.

“We call this place ‘Ironwire.’” The AI replied. “I will need all of you to go to the largest building in the center of Ironwire. I have to speak with all of you.”

Jon and the six ponies quickly looked at each other, waiting for a response. Finally, Fluttershy spoke. “We can’t exactly trust this thing, can we?”

“We don’t really have a choice.” Jon answered. He didn’t like the idea of doing what the AI commanded. For all they knew, this AI was acting like a friend until it got them cornered.

They all did what they were told and traveled to a large tower in the center of the city. As they turned right at a corner of the street, a pile of decapitated human bodies were revealed to their sight. Jon quickly turned away to see Twilight. Her friends were stopped at the corner. She didn’t appear to see the bodies yet. Jon’s face showed repugnance.

“What’s wrong?” Asked Twilight, about to look what was behind him. Jon blocked her from seeing what it was.

“Trust me on this, you do NOT want to see what I just saw.”

She looked at him a little angry. “Well, can you tell me what it is?” She asked, with a bitter tone.

Jon blinked and said, “have you ever seen the inside of hundreds of humans?”

“Well, obviously no I haven’t.” She answered.

“Well, it’s quite disgusting. The last thing you want to see is a pile of human bodies torn in half in different areas.”

“I’ll see for myself.” She took a quick glance at the pile of severed limbs and quickly looked away. She looked like she was about to vomit. “You’re right.” She said. “That was the last thing I wanted to see.” She held a hoof to her mouth.

The entrance to the tower was just across the street from where they currently stood. Jon looked at the other mares, who had no idea what Jon and Twilight were talking about.

“Okay, nopony look to your right as you cross the street. If you do, you’ll most likely regret it.” Jon instructed.

“What’s over there?” Asked Fluttershy.

“Something that could possibly drive you insane after looking at it for a while.” He answered. “Promise me none of you will even take a quick peek to your right.”

“Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.” They all said in unison, covering one of their eyes with their hoof.

“Well, okay then. I don’t know what that means but it’s good enough for me. Let’s move.” He said, walking across the street first. Twilight followed him.

They kept their word and looked to their left the whole time until they entered the tower through the glass doors. The AI voice appeared again.

“Please take the elevator to the top floor.” She said, as a door miraculously opened to reveal a small room the size of a squared closet.

Everypony stared at Jon, who made his move and entered the elevator. The rest entered one by one. It was slightly cramped but not too bad. The door slid shut and Jon pressed the button with the highest number on it, which was 42.

“Whoa.” Pinkie Pie said, giggling afterward. “This feels really weird.”

“Is this room tinkering with gravity?” Twilight asked Jon.

“Not really.” He answered, laughing a little.

Soon enough, the doors slid open and they were in a completely different room than the one they were in last time.

Twilight looked really confused at this moment. “Humans have magic too?”

Jon looked at her and laughed. “Why yes. Yes we do Twilight.”

“Really?” She asked.

“No.” Jon answered. “We’re just technologically advanced.”

They all stepped out of the elevator and took a look around. The walls were made of steel, just like the dome that enclosed this place from any ‘dangers.’ Jon eyed a door beside a window the whole time, which was on the other side of the room from the elevator. He approached it and spotted an intercom on the other side of the door, away from the window. He looked through the large glass paned window to see a large, bright light that changed into multiple colors each second.

The light grew brighter and the AI voice appeared through the intercom. “Thank you all for showing up. I know you have a lot of questions but let’s-“

“Start by saying why you slaughtered all those people outside.” Jon interrupted.

“That wasn’t me.” The AI responded after several seconds of silence. “Ironwire was breached by what seemed to be an unstoppable force.”

“What were they?” Twilight asked.

“We don’t really have a name for them. All I can say is… don’t trust your shadow.”

Applejack looked at Jon and remembered the shadowy figure that attacked him. Jon was thinking the same thing.

“Well, were there any survivors of the attack?” Jon asked.

“No, I’m all that’s left in this dome, there are probably other domes that still carry life within them.”

“There is more than one dome?” Rarity questioned.

“Yes, but I haven’t heard of any signs of life for quite a while now. Not until you came by.”

“Why did you bring us here?” Rainbow Dash asked with a strict tone.

“I brought you all here because something is following you… something that means to do extreme amounts of harm. I’m sure it can’t hurt any of you if you all stay in here.”

“No, we came here to destroy the heart of the world.” Jon said quickly. “We can’t stay here.”

The AI stayed silent for a while. “But, you are the heart of the world.” Everypony quickly looked at him. “You created this place, also creating the heart of the world. The thing that is following you is an imposter of you. It claims it’s the real creator, but it’s really you.”

“So,” Twilight began to speak. “We have to kill him?” She pointed at Jon hesitantly.

“No.” The AI responded. “You will need him to destroy the heart though. This imposter is his bad side, his… shadow.”

“My bad side nearly killed me back in Equestria.” Jon stated. “Would he die if I did?”

“No. He is strong enough to live without you.” The room fell silent for a while. “If you want to destroy what you have created, I want to come with you.”

Jon raised an eyebrow as he stared at the glowing, emanating light on the other side of the window. The six mares looked at each other and then at Jon, who looked back at them. “Should we bring her with us?” He asked. “She could be a valuable asset to the team.”

“I don’t see anything wrong with bringing her along.” Rarity responded, smiling.

“Me neither.” Said Applejack.

A couple seconds passed and everypony agreed to have the AI come along. He turned to look back at the multi-colored light. “Alright, you can come with us.” He examined the window and the locked, steel door. “It appears you are locked in there…”

“I can control machinery.” The AI replied. “My constructs built me that way. I can also control organic life-forms. Though, that was never fully explained.”

“Well, what are you going to travel in to be able to come with us?” Twilight asked, looking at the beautiful light. The glow from the light shined on their face.

The sound of a machine starting up appeared on the other side of the room. The shadowy figure of something big started approaching them; Jon could easily tell it was mechanical and dangerous. It stepped into the light shining from the AI and stopped. The light from the AI vanished. The words ‘Emberbeam’ were scratched into its right chest plate, and was glowing a bright red. One arm appeared to be a type of gun while the other was a long, steel rod that just ignited in flames. The face of the machine had red eyes that gave the look of something ready to kill, since they were built that way. It was four times taller than Jon, who was threatened by it. The ponies were backing up quickly, eventually hitting the wall, door, or window.

The eyes grew brighter and the AI voice came out from the machine. “I have decided I will use this body to travel with. I will now be able to fight for you.”

The ponies stopped panicking and stepped forward a little. Jon sighed in relief and weakly smiled, letting out a little chuckle. “Why do you want to destroy this place so bad?” He asked, looking at the mechanical war machine.

“I do what my constructor tells me to. YOU are my real constructor. You made me as well as every little thing here. I think it’s time to give you back your world.” It kneeled down to him. “I will serve you for as long as I possibly can.”

“You’re a king?” Twilight asked, remembering his question earlier asking if she was a princess.

“What? No.” Jon said, looking at her. “This is all a mistake. I don’t even remember making this place.” The machine stood up and Jon looked back at it. “I am no lord or king. There was no need to bow down to me.”

“But you are the one true ruler of this world.” The AI corrected him.

“Well, if that’s true, then I can do whatever I want to this place, and I choose to destroy it.”

“And I’ll help you do that.” It said.

“What is your name anyways?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“My constructor did not give me a name.” The machine replied, looking directly at Jon.

Pinkie gasped dramatically and looked at him. “You didn’t give her a name!?”

“Why would I name something I don’t even knew existed!?” He looked back at the pink coated pony with the curly mane.

Twilight placed a hoof on Jon. “It’s alright.” She said, smiling. She took her hoof off him and looked up at the machine. “Well, what should we call you?”

“I am not programmed to think of names.” The AI replied. “Though, the name carved in the body I’m using would be most appropriate.”

“Okay… Emberbeam.” Twilight said, smiling weakly. “Well, we traveled a long way here and could use the rest. Could you show us to some rooms that we could rest in?”

“There are many houses down at the streets. However, the chances of being captured by the imposter would rise 80 percent if I allowed any of you to go back down there. There is a lounge three stories below our current level. Would you like to rest there?”

“That’ll be fine but you said it can’t get any of us if we stay within the dome’s walls.” Rarity asked, looking worried.

“A steel dome couldn’t stop large insects and shadows from breaching the city. What makes you think it will stop one of the most powerful beings on the planet? The least the walls could do is slow the imposter down.”

“Well uh…” Fluttershy started to speak. “… if it does get in, couldn’t it get in to the tower?”

“Yes, it could very easily breach the tower. However, if we stick together, then we will be safer. Plus, I control every electronic source within the walls of Ironwire. Since the government had turrets built in to several hundred buildings, that will distract him from getting to us faster. Plus, we would be alarmed from the turret fire and know he is here.” Emberbeam stopped talking for a second. “Oh look, there I go again. I’ll let all of you get your sleep now. All of us will need the energy for the journey we will be making.”

Twilight grew worried and she gulped. “How far exactly is our destination?”

“Your current destination is approximately an estimate of 500,000,000 kilometers.” The AI said in a calm voice, like it has since it first started talking.

Twilight’s jaw dropped and her eye twitched. “How big is this planet!?” She yelled.

“No one knows. The whole world hasn’t been discovered yet. Some say the world is just infinite land. They say that it’s flat, just like the people hundreds of years ago said Earth was flat. Now, enough talking for now. Time to get some rest.”