Madness Equestria

An ATP agent overlooked the carnage of the most recent rampage. At least 50 dead from the Clown alone, 80 when you take the escaped equine into account. Honestly, compared to the death count from Sanford, Deimos, or, Arbiter forbid, Hank, this was nothing.

The agent walked through the cafeteria as a few groups of grunts piled the dead into piles, as was the case for most of the hallways and rooms he walked through. The fact that they had actually developed several clean up strategies depending on the number of casualties struck the agent as a little odd, but he didn’t let it get to him. Eventually he made it back to the room he was in when the most recent rampage started, sat at the table with the computer he had been using and started typing again.

ATP145: Sorry about that, we just had another rampage.

BIGBADAUD999: *sigh* who was it this time?”

ATP145: The equine we were testing the power armor on as well as… the Clown…

BIGBADAUD999: …

ATP145: …

BIGBADAUD999: The Clown is loose?

ATP145: …yes.

BIGBADAUD999: *sigh* Put an APB out on the Clown. As for the equine, don’t worry about it. We have bigger things that need to be done.

ATP145: The Improbability source? We’ve already sent a team to retrieve it and we should have word on it within an hour or so.

BIGBADAUD999: Any sighting of the Savior?

ATP145: Not yet

BIGBADAUD999: Good, let’s keep it that way. Let me know when you have the source.

*BIGBADAUD999 has logged out*

The agent closed out the chat and started working. He kept a window open with a view of a mountain with a castle open.

“Is she going to be ok?”

“Oh, I hope we can fix whatever they did to her.”

“Do not worry, this suit she has on is just that, a suit.”

“So… we can take it off?”

“If we knew how to yes, but I don’t want to want to fiddle with it in case it hurts her.”

Trixie let out a soft groan and stirred.

“Hey, ah think she’s wakin’ up!” a voice shouted. Trixie opened her eyes and saw an orange pony in a cowpony hat standing over her. She would have said something, but at this point she just wanted to go to sleep. The orange pony wouldn’t let her though and shook her rather roughly. “Hey now, don’t go falling asleep again!”

“Leave me alone!” Trixie yelled and knocked the hoof away, “Do you have any idea what I’ve been through today?”

“Well, it’s nice to know she is awake.” Trixie turned to the new voice and was stunned by the sight of a brilliant white coat and multicolored hair drifting in invisible wind.

“P-Princess Celestia?!” Trixie shouted and fumbled off the bed into a clumsy bow, “I didn’t expect to see you here!”

“Please, don’t worry about it. Would you be kind enough to tell me your name?” Trixie stood up before answering.

“It’s… Trixie Lulamoon, your highness. I am very sorry you have to see me like this.”

“How did you end up like that?” Trixie turned to Twilight Sparkle and caught sight of three creatures behind her, one of whom she recognized.

“It’s quite a story Sparkle. Why are they here if I may ask?” Twilight looked at Hank, Sanford, and Deimos, who seemed busy discussing something.

“They’re helping us,” Twilight said, “since they have the most experience when it comes to this kind of thing.”

“Why don’t you tell us what happened to you?” Celestia asked, “At the moment, you have the best knowledge as to what this ‘A.A.H.W’ is doing.” At this point everyone turned their attention to Trixie, who gave an exhausted sigh and sat at the table.

“If I remember correctly, it started only a few hours ago.”

The Canterlot hedge maze is one of the most visited areas of Canterlot castle, aside from the throne room. At the moment though, there were no ponies wandering the maze or taking in the sight of the statues. Right now there was only a contingent of royal guards patrolling the maze, a large portion centered on a statue of a draconequus in pain. The two guards watching it at the moment were approached by the captain of the guard.

“Anything to report?” he asked the two guards.

“No sir, it’s been pretty quiet,” the pegasus guard said, “What are we supposed to be looking for sir?”

“It’s just a precaution. Apparently a lot has been happening and Princess Celestia doesn’t want any leniency in security. Maintain vigilance and you’ll be relieved in a few minutes.” The guards saluted and resumed their stance. Shining Armor felt a hint of pride for the soldiers as he continued his patrol.

Shining Armor let his thoughts drift as he moved through the hedge maze. While Princess Celestia always had some guards posted around Discord for security reasons, there was never this many. Despite what he said to the guards, Shining Armor felt like something was going to happen. He heard the sound of wings flapping above him and looked up at one of Luna’s night guard, who landed in front of Shining Armor before speaking up.

“Anything to report Captain?” he asked.

“No, it’s been quiet,” Shining answered, “and I don’t like it. Something’s going to happen soon.”

“That’s a good attitude to have, and I agree with you. Keep an eye open.” The night guard stretched his bat wings in preparation to take off when a beam of light shot from the center of the hedge maze. “Trouble?”

“Yes, we were only told to use that spell in case something happened. Can you see where it’s coming from?” The night guard flew up and scanned the hedges for a moment.

“Discord’s statue. It’s happening.”

“You keep to the skies while I go on the ground.” The night guard nodded and flew up higher while Shining Armor ran back through the maze. It hasn’t even been a minute since he had left, so what could have happened? Corner after corner passed him by until he finally reached the area around the statue, only to find what could best be described as a standoff.

Shining Armor had only barely made it out of the corner when a bang rang out and a chunk of the hedge next to him blew apart. The attacker was a gray creature in a black suit and sunglasses holding a long object toward him with about half a dozen similar creatures behind him. There were also two fully gray ones pulling on Discord’s statue with ropes.

“Careful sir, those weapons they have are dangerous,” one of the pegasus guards said and motioned to a downed guard with a bleeding leg behind the creatures.

‘So are these the enemy we were warned about?’ Shining thought slowly moving to his guards while keeping an eye on the enemies. “What exactly happened?”

“I was going about my patrol and when I was passing the statue that gray slab shot out of the ground and those things came out,” one of the guards said motioning to the slab with a door in it next to the statue, “the corporal got shot when that happened and the rest of us backed off. I think he’s still alive though.”

“Is this as close as you can go?”

“Yeah, we get any closer they open fire. What should we do?”

“Let’s not push them,” Shining said to the guard before turning to the creatures, “listen, I want to let you know that you’re not going to leave with that. If you give up you might get out of this alive.”

The creature responded with a ‘yak yak yak’ gesture with its hand.

“Fine, be that way.” Shining Armor glanced up at the night guard and made a couple gestures with a hoof that would only look like he was scraping the ground to the untrained eye. The night guard nodded and started flying in small circles. Shining Armor returned his attention to the creatures who had made some progress with the statue.

‘I hope this works.’

“I exited from the windmill in town, though when I opened the door to check it was just a windmill,” Trixie said finishing her story. Everyone had listened intently while Sanford, who’s name Trixie had learned while telling the story, took notes.

“This is troubling news,” Celestia said and closed her eyes in thought, “I’m incredibly concerned about this clown you encountered.”

“Do you know anything about this Hank?” Twilight asked. Hank answered by writing quickly on a piece of paper and handing it over to Twilight. “The Clown’s bad news,” she read aloud.

“That’s an understatement,” Trixie said and plonked her armored head on the table, “that thing tore apart almost a dozen of those suited guys like they were nothing. I’m fairly certain it dented this armor too.”

“This situation just gets worse the more I learn,” Celestia said and stood up, “If only we had some way to predict where they would be.”

“Trixie, I know this is off topic, but while you were escaping did you happen to see our friends?” Twilight asked leaning across the table.

“If they were ponies then no,” Trixie answered, “the only things I saw were those suited things and the clown.”

“Oh, I guess we can’t do this the easy way then. What are we going to do?” Hank stood up and rubbed his chin before waving Deimos over to detail a thought he just had.

“So, what exactly is going on here? Why did those things kidnap me and your friends?” Trixie asked.

“It’s complicated and involves transdimensional travel and chaos based technology,” Twilight explained and waved a hoof in the air, “I’m still trying to wrap my head around-“

“THAT’S IT! I CAN’T TAKE IT ANYMORE!” Rarity suddenly yelled standing up and pointing to Trixie, “I’ve had far too much gray for one lifetime! We simply must do something about that dreadful thing.” With that she tossed her mane dramatically and trotted down the stairs with everyone staring at her.

“Is that one always like that?” Trixie asked Applejack.

“Eeyup,” was her answer. Deimos took this moment to walk up to Trixie with his PDA in hand and quickly connected to Trixie’s suit.

“And what do you think you’re doing to- whoa whoa WHOA!” Trixie yelled and nearly fell out of her chair.

“What’s happening?” Spike asked now interested in what was going on.

“There are a bunch of numbers going by. Um, 3.14 something something, 1 1 2 3 5 8, and something that looks like coordinates to something.”

“Coordinates?” Twilight asked, “but how do you-?”

“I’m a traveling mare Sparkle, I know how to read maps.”

“THERE YOU ARE!” Rarity yelled having triumphantly returned with a sheet of purple fabric and a can of paint floating next to her. She advanced on Trixie with a twitchy look and said, “Now let’s fix you up!”

“No, get away from me! Trixie does not need prettying up!” Deimos managed to disconnect his PDA just as Rarity leapt on Trixie, a flurry of paint and fabric encasing the two ponies.

“Ah’m… going to get some food. Anybody want anything?” Applejack asked slowly walking to the door.

“No thanks,” Twilight answered.

“We’re good,” Rarity said.

“HELP ME!” was Trixie’s reply.

“An apple fritter, if you’ll please,” Celestia said.

“Coming right up! Ah’ll only be a few minutes.” Applejack left the room just as Spike cringed and burped up some green smoke which formed into a scroll.

“Who’s this from?” Twilight asked picking up the scroll in her magic. Celestia only took one look at the dark seal with a moon image to know who it was from.

“It’s from Luna. I wonder what happened?” Celestia nodded to Twilight, who opened the scroll and set it on the table for everyone to read.

“Will this work Captain?” a guard next to Shining Armor asked.

“Just be ready,” Shining said and glanced up at the empty skies. In front of him the creatures finally succeeded in dislodging Discord’s statue, only for one of the gray ones to end up under it with his eagle talons through its head. The suited ones facepalmed at that and one by one started to drag the statue into the door, a red smear following the statue.

‘Dang it, where is that stupid night guard?!’ Shining thought as Discord’s statue was halfway through the door. The masked creature that was watching Shining Armor and the other guards backed up a step before finding itself a head shorter thanks to a quick purple flash, the night guard landing a few feet away with a blood stained blade attached to his gauntlet to show for it. The other creatures were startled by this sudden event, which gave Shining Armor his chance.

“Now!” he yelled and charged to the door, the night guard above him and the other guards at his side. By the time they had gotten to the creatures they had overcome their surprise and attempted to fight back.

The gray one landed a weak punch on the night guard only to get his head bisected as a result. The rest of them fared no better, with every blow ending either with breaking their fragile bodies or still providing enough trauma for them to die later. During the chaos Shining Armor saw Discord’s statue fully enter the door.

“Keep that door from shutting!” he yelled. One of the unicorn guards obliged by removing his helmet and jammed it into the shutting door; hopefully the enchanted metal will hold. The last creature was slain by the night guard, who returned the blade into the gauntlet after making sure the battle was over.

Some of Shining Armor’s guards started tending to any wounded as he walked to the night guard and said, “took your time, didn’t you?”

“I’m not a brute who bludgeons my way through problems. I waited for the right time to strike and took it,” The night guard said before sighing, “Though I admit I wished it came sooner.”

“We can’t let them get away with Discord,” Shining Armor said and, after looking around, picked up one of the creature’s weapons, “I’m going after him.”

“Don’t be a fool! We need to inform the princess’ about this!”

“No, we don’t.” Shining Armor and the night guard turned to a new night guard with an eye patch as he landed next to them, “There’s been a change of plans.”

“What do you mean?”

“Captain, go after Discord. These passageways are chaos based, but if there’s an entrance then there’s an exit. Try to reclaim the statue, and if that fails return to Equestria proper. Depending on where you come out, it would help greatly with mapping out this chaos form’s brand of logic, so to speak.”

“Ok, I’ll let you know where I come out,” Shining Armor said just as he accidentally discharged the rifle into a nearby hedge. “…Well, guess that answers how this works.” Shining Armor then turned toward the gray door, forced it open with his magic, and walked through it. As the door shut behind him, the night guards turned to each other.

“Did the Mistress plan on this?” The non eye patch guard asked.

“It was one of many she made,” the other guard said. “For now, we keep looking for those bases and wait for more instructions.”

“Alright.” The first night guard took flight and briefly looked at the other one and asked, “Your eye still hasn’t healed?”

“…The mistress is very good at origami.”