Chapters The war took it's toll on everypony, for the past 30 years family's have taken different sides, some chose princess Luna, for they wanted freedom from not just from princess Celestia but from Equestria it's self. The ones who chose princess Celestia wanted to honor and respect their goddess by never leaving the sacred land of Equestria. It was the war that changed Equestria’s fate, it changed everyone, even the inhabitants on one island, this island is where we start our story with a cool breeze and an open field fillies and colts of every color were laughing and playing with the younger inhabitants. Meanwhile the stallions and mares were conversing with the foxes the inhabitants on the island, they were providing the Luna rebellion with food and medical supplies.
“I am helping with the negotiations dear, what do you need of me?” Her eyes narrowed as she spoke,
“I would like to talk to Lemon Drop” the cub requested in a very confident tone, the yellow stallion with a blue mane who was conversing with a white mare who had a purple twisted mane and tail and three Diamonds as a cutie mark turned and looked at the cub.
“I” the cub paused “I want to join the rebellion” the orange vixen's eyes widened at the statement,
“My son, ” she said “you know that the war isn't your fight, you have no right to harm the ponies fighting for their religion” the vixen lectured, getting up from the wooden chair she was sitting on and walking towards Kestejoo. “We have no need nor a right to fight, but we have an obligation to help those who are suffering.”
“Why do you want to fight boy, war isn’t a game, it’s a beast that devours everything lives, resources, sanity, my tail, ” he said, turning to his head towards his flank where his tail should have been.
“I know that war is terrible,” Kestejoo admitted in a matter of fact tone “but I can’t just sit here and grow crops while ponies I meet go off to die in Equestria, I’m not the only one that feels this way, many of us Baldawin foxes want to enlist to end this war faster.” Lemon Drop’s expression changed from anger to thought by the cubs words;
“How many?” Lemon Drop asked Kestejoo
“Around 200 of us, but with your approval, we can get the other tribes to join our cause, at least the ones that Celestia hasn’t gotten to.” Explained the young fox
“Well, that’s-” those were the last words of Lemon drop as a flash of blue energy caused his head to explode, his brain, fur, flesh and skull spread everywhere and on everypony as well as every fox in the room. The most covered was the white unicorn whose white fur became covered in red blood and pink brain, her screams got everypony’s and fox’s attention. Suddenly a loud honk could be heard out in the the ocean, a white ship bearing princess Celestia’s sun logo on the mainsail appeared; upon further inspection what looked like a cannon seemed to be inside the hull, the pony rebels started to gather the fillies, colts and the non-combatants to extraction boats, the fox”s did the same; the rebels began to arm their cannons, meanwhile the ship began to glow in the hull area, all Kestejoo could do is stand and watch as the glow began to intensify. The noise it made when it blasted the island sounded like a tortured griffin’s screech mixed with broken glass, the white holy light engulfed the whole island at first nothing happened, during this time the Luna rebels loaded and fired their cannons at the white ship . The cannons had no effect on the ship as every cannon ball that hit the ship would be reflected by a magical force that shielded the ship; Kestejoo along with his mother started running towards the escape boats on the other side of the island, when suddenly the ground began to shake furiously Kestejoo lost his footing as the ground crumbled around him he fell and all he saw was darkness.
Florentine a green mare yellow hair looked at the grave “hi dad, mom and I are doing fine, she’s-” the mare paused “what good would that do, he’s dead, no point in lying to him, ” she told herself as she sighed “mom’s not the same anymore, no one is after the war, the two princesses signed the peace treaty 5 years ago but things are still too shaky, ponies disappearing in the night, new weapons being developed. A fucking Pegasus hating cult are getting more members, I just can’t believe Rarity of all ponies would join, Rarity the Fashionista proclaimed that the Wonder bolts funding should be cut and donated to the church of Hanz Stickyhooves relief foundation, to help those affected by the war. What happened on that island dad, when mom heard about the attack and how many survivors there were she really thought you had survived, but instead we both saw the body bag that the rebels brought, we cried all night in our cramped room I couldn’t help curse Celestia for her cruelty that day. What’s funny is that was also the day I got my cutie mark.”
The sky that was clear and blue turned into a crimson red as Florentine looked up, she rubbed her eye’s with her hooves and looked up, it was unusual for the sky to be red but not unheard of; something smashed right beside Florentine, it took her a second to realize something landed towards her right. She slowly turned her head towards the right only to find nothing, nopony was around, and as she looked around there were no marks of any kind to reveal what crashed right beside her, feeling creeped out Florentine started trotting home.
“Hello class” the crimson mare said in a very loud voice to get all of the young Pegasus fillies and colts attention, when they all brought their attention to their teacher she continued. “I would like to introduce you to your newest class met Hanz” the mare pointed her front left hoof towards the dark gray filly unicorn with green eyes and a yellow stringy mane and tail.
“H-hello I hope we can all get along,” said the nervous filly rubbing his right hoof on his front left leg, after the introduction the young ponies started conversations amongst themselves. Haz was approached by a Pegasus “hi, wanna play with me Hanz” the burnt orange filly asked with aquamarine eyes,
“uh sure” Hanz replied softly looking away from the colt “my name is Autumn Marduk by the way” he said smiling “so what do you want to do.” Trust, it’s the glue that makes friends remain friends, when you trust someone you can open up to them sure your personal secret’s and worries right? “Look Hanz all i’m saying is that maybe you should just not use magic in public right now,” Autumn argued sounding very exasperated “with the recent threats to Cloudsdale by the rebels most ponies around here are scared.”
“Autumn, this hasn’t been the only complaint,” Hanz addressed almost too calmly “Look I know you guys have meetings and discuss what to do with the non Pegasi to keep everyone safe, but why is it whenever we unicorns use magic you automatically get all up on arms.” “Just yesterday they locked up Twilight sparkle for healing a wounded earth pony,” Hanz looked at his desk and glanced at the newspaper, Equestria Daily had covered the story, from the article it seemed that many unicorns who aren’t fighting have been facing more scrutiny for using magic outside their homes. Hanz continued “and for another thing I know that many of you want me and my factory gone”
“Yes Hanz” replied Autumn clapping his hoofs together “we all want to take over your glue factory so we can make I don’t know weapons, glue type weapons give me a break Hanz.” Autumn sighed then added “look as much I think these rules is stupid we all have to follow them, and furthermore you insinuating that the community you have been apart of for 11 years as racist is unbelieveable.”
“Really,” yelled Hanz “when have any of them come to my home to visit, non not a single one besides you, and when I asked why do you remember what they told me, it was because my mother was a unicorn and my father was a Pegasus.” Hanz looked at Autumn who’s eyes were focused on the ground,
“Hanz, they were just fillies that copied what their parents said that’s all, they didn’t mean it no one-”
“then why did only 10 of you show up at my mother’s funeral that I paid for, and more than 50 of you showed up at my father’s and paid the extra 500 bits for a statue to be erected at the gravesite,” Hanz interrupted then continued “no more lies please friend, all I wanted was the truth, you're a detective who’s been known to sniff out rebels in Equestria, you’ve been gone for about a year and when you came back you didn’t visit your parents or your sister you chose to visit me that could only mean one thing.” Autumn looked surprised, had his friend really understood the real reason for his visit.
“Look Hanz you can go quietly” replied Autumn who had been standing across from him nodded towards the front of the factory, at the front was a caged carriage with Celestia’s royal guards waiting to pick up a prisoner, “or, well we can end it here,”
“It wouldn’t hurt you’re chances friend” Autumn who was now rubbing his front right leg with his left hoof confided to Hanz. Hanz wordlessly looked at his cutie mark and sighed “what about my workers” he asked
“we will find a very capable replacement Hanz, I know they won’t be as good as you” Autumn replied in a very chipper tone.
“Fine then Autumn I’ll go” Hanz grumbled to somepony he thought was his friend, as Hanz made his way through his factory a familiar song titled “Rise” by a band named the defenders began to play, with it’s upbeat tune the song began, even when we fall we will come back after all, the world is slowly spinning and somewhere somepony’s winning, but don’t give up now that you’re down you must rise up rise up. Hanz was alone in his cell his only interaction with any other pony was when he was given his meal of oats and water, Autumn explained that since Hanz had little interaction with the rebels he wouldn’t be treated as prisoner of war, but in exchange for that he must spend his entire 6 year sentence in solitude. Hanz had requested paper and pencils when he first entered the cell, he really didn’t intended to write any of his thoughts down, upon reflecting on his situation however he decided that writing a little each day wouldn’t hurt, at first he just wrote whatever came to mind from noises to the guards conversations. Eventually though his thoughts returned to the Pegasi and how much he was starting to loathe them, he looked at his stacks of papers and pencils and using his telekinesis spell stacked some papers on the desk that was provided for him and he began to write, he started with a title that seemed simple enough “Neigh Kampf”.
6 years and 5 months later, Hanz slapped the anthropomorphic fox with his left hoof “wake up I finally have a use for you, you did promise to do any task that I ask of you in exchange for your freedom correct?”
“That is correct Stickyhooves, though to be honest you’ve been a complete donkey to me this whole time, makes me wonder if torturing me really does get your hooves stick-” Hanz struck the fox once more, the fox stopped talking and spat blood directly at Hanz who as he moved away from the spit continued with the conversation “now fox insulting the unicorn who has provided you with food, water, and shelter is just rude you should be more thankful” the fox’s arms and legs were chained to dark gray wall stained with dried blood leaving him completely defenseless at the hooves of Hanz. “now my task for you is rather simple I want a certain Pegasus, her name is Rainbow Dash, I’m giving you five day’s to bring her to me, can you do that.”
“Yes,” replied the fox” I could do that, I’m not going to though because you’re insane even more than me, what are you going to do her if I bring her here”
“let’s just say I need an element from her, once I get it I will let her go mostly unharmed” Hanz replied.
“How about no, I don’t know what you’re planning but it doesn’t sound right not to me” the fox remarked staring directly into Han’s blue eyes
“my plans have nothing to do with you, but you want freedom and I want a job done the way I see it is you hate It here, being nothing my personal punching bag for 2 months, that tends to happen to ponies well the one’s who aren’t into into it anyway. This your chance to explore and catch up on our worlds events, be who you want to be, change the course of our history and all that good stuff,”
“no,” the fox answered Hanz sighed, and turned to a baby blue mare with a white mane and tail her cutie mark was a blue wand with what seemed to look like a ripped piece of space behind it,
“Trixie, tell Rarity to bring in the yellow one” the mare obeyed and left the room, minutes later trotting and dragging was heard, eventually a beautiful white unicorn along with the baby blue one dragged a dirtied yellow Pegasus with three butterflies as her cutie mark into the room “now, either say yes you will do it or I’ll have Trixie kill this little yellow insignificant Pegasus.”
“Her fate is your choice friend” Hanz stated “I’ll give you 5 minutes to decide”.
"Hanz Stickyhooves has finally been released from his imprisonment in the Trottingham prison, most ponies should know that this is the same Hanz that used to own the Stickyhooves glue factory back in Cloudsdale. He was arrested 6 years ago for assisting the Luna rebels during the war, since then he has written a book titled “Neigh Kampf” which become very popular among the unicorns, so popular in fact that more than 200 of them showed up wearing black trench coats with badges on them. One of the unicorns explained that wearing the badge makes them feel more united with the community of Hanz fans; “I’m just glad to be free and to be able to move on with my life” Hanz answered when ask how it felt to be released “it’s really amazing to see so many of my fellow unicorns here today, even though it’s mostly because of my book.” Hanz was giving the opportunity to obtain ownership of his factory but declined stating “I’ve had a long time to think about this and right now I feel it is best to not resume ownership of the factory, like I said earlier I want to move on with my life, catch up on world events and explore Equestria.”
Florentine glanced at the article and felt hollow “if we didn’t have this stupid censorship law I would have had a more color opinion on that unicorn” she thought looking away from the article and out the octagon window the sky was still an unsightly crimson red, the green mare trotted away from her desk and to her bathroom. Admiring her yellow Hime cut mane in the mirror Florentine grabbed a brush and left the bathroom, she made her way out of her room and headed towards her mothers, the door to her room was closed so Florentine knocked on it with the brush in her mouth. “Mom can you brush my hair for me please”, the green mare asked in a sweet voice, her mother didn’t respond “that’s odd” Florentine thought “mom usually doesn’t go to bed until 9 0’ clock at night" she knocked again but was answered with nothing but silence, fearing the worst Florentine yelled “mom if you don’t answer me I’m going bust in.” After a few seconds of waiting Florentine pushed open the door with her hoof and rushed in, “mom are you okay” Florentine asked while scanning the room what she saw confused her, the light her mother produced was an unnatural lavender what was even stranger was the creature putting it’s paw on her head, the blood orange creature turned it’s head towards Florentine with it’s deep piercing blue eyes.
Florentine reacted quickly and bashed the creature in the face with the brush backing up the creature covered it’s face with both paws Florentine then quickly turned her flank towards the creature then bucked it with both back hooves knocking it back and crashing into a wall. Florentine examined the creature after making sure it was knocked out before looking at her mother “mom” she exclaimed worriedly “are you okay” her mother was snoring “damn she’s asleep, oh well better think of what to do with this thing” Florentine decided to tie up the creature which wasn’t an easy task. The Fox had a headache when he woke up, to his surprise he was tied to a chair “well this seems familiar” he grumbled analyzing the room, there was a table in front of him, the table itself had scratches and stains that made it seem old and unkempt what made it more unusual though was that the wood it seemed to be made out of didn’t look like most of the wood used to make furniture in Equestria. To the left of the table was a sink beside that a dishwasher that for some odd reason was pink, everything else seemed unremarkable and bland, the light brown cabinets to the gray tile floor it seemed to the Fox that this room was for the making and eating of food there was a word Hanz told him that defined this room.
“It’s a kitchen,” he said aloud to no one
“yeah it is,” a green mare with yellow hair confirmed “nice work you cracked the case detective” the mare praised in a mocking tone, “so do you have a name” asked the mare pressing a button on the silver device and placing it on the table, the Fox was silent as he stared at the mare, Florentine became impatient then asked with more force in her voice “what are you can you at least tell me that” the Fox didn’t understand the question shouldn’t the mare already know what he is? “I’m a fox” he answered in a weak voice now that he was fully awake he could feel pain shoot all through his body but mostly his face and back, the mare looked at the Fox with an almost astounded expression “so they are real” she said aloud
“what?” Asked the Fox, the mare ignored him and left the kitchen she returned a with an old tattered journal, flopping it on the table made it creek under the journal’s weight “okay she said turning the pages of the journal. The Fox tried to see what the mare was looking up but couldn’t on account of being tied up, as the green Pegasus stopped on the page she was searching for, the Fox decided it was a good time to ask “what’s your name?”
“Florentine” she replied
“how long do you intend to keep me tied up” the Fox questioned, thinking about Fluttershy and the consequences of not fulfilling his task.
“How about this, I ask you few questions and depending on how you answer them I’ll either call the police, or untie you so you can be on your way.”
“Seems fair enough shoot” the Fox replied in an excited voice
“okay, first question, what island are you from”
“I have no idea” the Fox answered
“okay then, did you support the Luna rebels during the war” Florentine asked
“There was a war?” asked the Fox “I don’t remember a war”
“Ah, now I understand” Florentine proclaimed
“well I don’t can you please tell me what happened” begged the Fox.
“Dear Princess Celestia,I regret to inform you that I Princess Luna have decided to declare war upon you, having the right to explore and experience new lands should be congratulated and praised, not demonized as an anti-Equestrian act. For this reason I Princess Luna have deemed you an unfair ruler.” Florentine quoted from the news article she had in her room, the Fox was starting to realize just how much the war changed all of Equestria, “Luna wanted us to have the opportunity to leave Equestria and explore the world beyond, meanwhile Celestia wanted us to remain here. She said it was because the world beyond housed monsters and evil that even she was afraid of.” Florentine stated turning towards the Fox “Celestia made a royal decree that anyone helping the Luna rebels would be incarcerated or killed, so you can see why they turned to the islands to provide food, no pony knew that they were inhabited by other creatures.”
“Six months ago Hanz found me in a small island, well not really found me more like discovered me in ruins inside a magically sealed chamber, I was surprised by being forcefully awakened and seeing unicorns surrounding me I tried to understand the situation but I was knocked unconscious soon after. When I awoke I was caged in a ship that was when I met Hanz he told me something but I didn't understand him, I realize now he was speaking pony but I had never seen a creature like him before, that was when I tried to remember anything about myself I couldn't. I felt alone on the way to Hanz's base then I met Fulttershy and she seemed to understand me or at least my feelings, for three months I began to pick up your language it wasn't to difficult since that was all the Pegasi could do being locked up, talk to one another, try to comfort each other in there horrible situation. For another three months Hanz decided that since I could talk to ponies he could interrogate me, so he did, I told him that I knew nothing that I had no memories of anything before being woken up.
Florentine rushed to her office only to remember that today was her day off, not that it mattered to her she needed to finish an article that was due tomorrow anyway, more importantly though she wondered why of all the stallions she worked with did Velcore have to be here. Velcore, a brown stallion with a notepad cutie mark, the only thing interesting about him is his name, Florentine was never happy to see him because “Florentine, how are you did you get my letter I left on your desk”. Asked the extremely cheery stallion
Hanz was eager to hear about the Fox's progress in his quest, he was very close to completing his other project, after Fox brings him Rainbow Dash his plan will finally be realized. A blue stallion entered the room his cutie mark was that of a wizards hat with star's flowing out of it.
“Ah Blue Star, how are you, I hope traveling here didn't take too much out of you friend.”
“If you don't mind Hanz I'd rather we get to business, I don't want to sound pushy but it seems the princesses are starting to go on the counter-offensive.” Hanz wasn't at all taking aback by the statement, he knew eventually that Princess Celestia as well as Luna would notice the weakness in their security, it would seem his spy's are going to need to take extra measures to not get noticed.
“Noted” Hanz replied in a monotone voice. “Well then what do you have for me” asked the curious stallion.
“It would seem that your agent has found a way to blend in with the ponies,” said the blue Pegasus “with the use of a zebra potion”. The gray unicorn had a sinking feeling, a feeling he hasn't felt since he was arrested his mind struggled to justify why he was feeling this way. Being lost in his own thoughts Hanz hadn't noticed that Blue Star was staring right at him; “are you okay Hanz” the blue stallion asked with a puzzled expression.
“Ah, yes Blue, thank you for the update was that all” asked Hanz slightly distracted with his thoughts, “For now yes” replied the slightly worried stallion.
“You may go then” Hanz said turning away trapped in this feeling of both sadness and betrayal, trotting towards his window he heard the puff of Blue Star teleporting followed by the smell of ozone, outside his window Hanz saw a shooting star fly by amongst the stars like a lighting spell flying through a crowd of Pegasus ponies.
The Fox looked at the yellow liquid in the jug, “so what does this potion do again” he asked smelling the contents in the jug, it's aroma was strong enough to make his eye's water.
“It's a transformation potion, in theory it should turn you into a pony for up to 48 hours, the only drawback to this specific potion is that you'll be the same color as you are now, not that it matters we need all the time we can get if our goal is to get close to Rainbow Dash.”
“So how exactly did you get this potion anyway” the fox wondered looking at the green mare then back at the jug on the kitchen table.
“I have a few friends who are zebras that sell potions, they give me a discount in return for insider information in the potion market” Florentine answered as a matter of facially
“What kind of insider information” questioned the fox
“mostly just business stuff, like heads up on regulation changes, what kind of potions are legal, where to get the best deals for ingredients, stuff like that.” Florentine replied looking through her cupboards.
“Ah, Florentine I've been meaning to ask you about your mom, she hasn't left her room since this morning, I'm kind of worried.” Florentine immediately stopped what she was doing and slowly turned towards fox, her usual happy warm smile corroded and reformed into a frown as she sighed and started to explain, “Everything started to change after my dad died, he was her rock you know, always there to say the right thing to make her feel better. When we...” she paused her eyes that were facing the gray tile floor looked up directly at fox, “found his body we were told that he was stationed on an island that was assaulted by one of Celestia's ships, the cannons were powered by devastating spells usually the only thing left after an island was attacked were stones and horribly burned, disfigured bodies. He lost his head his fur was burned he looked like a bloody yellow pony sack, ever since then my mom has become disconnected with the world,” Florentine just stopped speaking as she continued her search through the cupboards.
To fox the potion tasted like something, something really familiar if only his mind could connect the taste to a memory or perhaps the memory that gave him the sense in the first place, he wondered why he felt so familiar to not just the taste but to the sensation of his body slowly shifting from an anthropomorphic form into a ponyfied version, his spine shrinking and cracking as it bent and shifted while his paws began to form into hooves. Fox's sharp teeth began to dull as his mouth expanded and stretched his cheeks as well as his nostrils, his tail shortened as his behind began to flatten after all the bending, cracking, and shifting Fox was exhausted he collapsed on the red tiled bathroom floor in florentine's apartment he tried to get up but realized to late that he now has four legs, as he tried to get up on his rear hooves he feel backwards into the bath tub, “this is going to take some practice” the Fox thought to himself annoyed that he had to learn yet another skill to achieve his goal, but he reminded himself that a pony's life was on the line his first friend Fluttershy.
“So” Florentine started to ask as she saw the now ponyfied Fox in her bathtub “how do you feel”
“fantastic” replied Fox sarcastically “I can't learn how to use these” he said defeated as he held up his front hooves.
“You'll learn quick Fox” the green mare assured the blood orange pony “now come on we have to get you ready for tonight”
“what's going on tonight that's so important I have to become a pony to observe it” the irritable Fox questioned
“well Fox I have just happened to put two and two together earlier at the office” the mare answered “Hanz had it all planned out, you see tonight there is a celebration dedicated to the Wonderbolts it's been advertised for a few day's now, what's interesting is that Rainbow Dash wasn't going to go originally, what I've heard is that the Wonderbolts are tasked to obtain information on Hanz then on the night you appeared it is announced that Dash is going to the celebration after all”
“wait are you implying that the Wonderbolts already know that Hanz wants Dash?”
“It would seem so, she's not really into the politics of being a wonderbolt more the performing and protecting of equestria; anyway as it seems I need an assistant to carry some things and help with the interviews, that's why you had to drink the potion”
“so that's the plan, we go there ask Dash for an interview and ponynap her” the confused stallion asked
“not necessarily Fox, we most convince her to come with us, or do you really think you can take on all of wonderbolts and the royal guard”? Fox sighed and then agreed with Florentine with a shake of his head, “that's what I thought now hurry up we don't have much time and I need to teach you the basics of pony movement.” Florentine spent the entire day teaching fox how to be a pony, he learned quick too as the time flew by he got more confident in pony form from trotting to eating hay. You couldn't tell that Fox was just well a Fox hours ago, and soon his skills and confidence would be put to the test as Florentine and Fox left her apartment complex and headed towards the celebration, they didn't see a certain blue unicorn following them closely from behind.
It was a warm evening as the two ponies trotted along the sidewalk side by side, as streetlights illuminate their path toward a yellow building it seemed to be shining while it both reflected the streetlights and the light of the moon, it looked like a gold bar upon a hill top. “So what is celebration for really” the fox asked his companion
“what are you talking about fox it's just a celebration to show our appreciation to the Wonderbolts” teased Florentine “to be honest, I don't really know, I assume that it's to catch you or at the very least capture agents of Hanz that are also gunning for Rainbow in case you fail. It's going to be troublesome, whether or not we are successful.”
“How much trouble could a few unicorns cause anyway” questioned the Fox
“Well it depends on how powerful their magic is, but a few very skilled unicorns could possibly kill everypony in the building” Florentine answered with a very serious expression “it wouldn't happen though, Hanz is trying to keep a low profile so a massacre would be the worst case scenario for him.”
“You seem to have great information gathering skills” complimented the Fox “How do you do it?”
Florentine seemed less enthused than she was previously when she decided to answer his question, “it's as I told you before my father was a rebel I wanted to help, but I was too young for combat so I trained to be an infiltrator instead, his death pushed me to continue. My first mission was to steal info on weapons that were being mass produced in Cloudsdale, I don't want to talk anymore about the war for a while okay Fox.” Fox nodded in understanding
“Florentine... Thank you for your help even if it turns into a fiasco, I want you to know that I appreciate it, you didn't need to help me, I wont forget your kindness.” The two ponies had reached their destination the building seemed to shimmer due to the lights in front of it, a very muscular black furred stallion with an indigo mane and a blue shield for a cutie mark, stood beside a pink mare with a honeycomb mane wearing a purple dress with silhouetted lilies stitched on. “Hello, Hello you twoooooooooooo welcome to the bronze bronco club a place for the most elite and sophisticated ponies in Equestria, though today for a few hours ponies of all births may join together to celebrate and pay tribute to the Wonderbolts, at least” she paused eye's closed with one hoof in the air “those with an invitation” she smiled pointing a hoof in the couple's direction. Florentine turned to the fox who was holding her bag and opened it, she pulled the letter of invitation out and gave it to the mare “so this stallion is your date then Florentine?” Questioned the mare
“Hmm so we teleported, that's smart” comments the Fox under his breath observing the huge room he along with the assemblage of ponies were transported to, above he could see golden chandeliers, a great painting that show a battle between ponies of all races on different sides, from the angle he was looking at the painting on the right showed a white pony twice as large as a regular pony with Pegasus wings and unicorn horns, Fox didn't know if the painting was created by a brush or some kind of magic he couldn't help but to admire the artists use of vivid colors that draw emphasis on the faces of the ponies and the energy radiating from their bodies they looked strained and focused it seemed like the ponies sweat would come down on the crowd like gentle rain on a bed of roses. As for the white unicorn with Pegasus wings she seemed very intense wearing golden armor that radiated sunlight on the far left was a dark blue Pegasus with a unicorn horn her cutie mark was that of a crescent moon her armor was a dark purple she seemed more sad and understanding then the white one, it was beautiful. Fox deduced that the artist must have been neutral during the civil war they must have also respected the values of both parties due to neither side being highly demonized, he could not help but notice the lack of foxes, he assumed the artist must have painted this before the rebels started to lose their momentum or it is just a depiction of how they felt during the war. Florentine looked over at Fox “Tinker are you okay, you seemed kind of dazed” Tinker, Fox's pony name, was too fixated on the ceiling painting to answer. That was until a light pink mare wearing an orange dress trotted up to him she was followed by a black furred stallion with an indigo mane and a green shield for a cutie mark “It's nice to see somepony enjoy my work” Fox, surprised looked at the two ponies
Tinker understood his job which was to just take pictures of the Wonderbolts they seemed very lively though, as Fox closely observed them, they seemed tense as they were surrounded by admiring fans, old friends, and family along with the media begging for interviews. After a while Florentine brought a Wonderbolt into the interview room meanwhile Tinker continued to take pictures, as the crowd began to calm and scatter Tinker observed the ponies he decided against conversing with them for fear of not revealing his true form but of the black muscular stallion that has been standing next to him for the last hour. Tinker didn't fear the stallions size, he was more afraid of the stallions held back potential Tinker had an odd realization the black stallion had augmented abilities bubbling deep inside of him, he knew that if commanded this guy could break his body as easily as a child could eat oats. Eventually the madam appeared beckoning for him to follow her; outside Tinker felt more relaxed trotting along a bricked path, eventually they stopped at a bench alongside it was a telescope, “It really is beautiful the moon and the sun their dance to us is a cycle, a cycle which never ends as soon as one falls another rises; which now brings us here how will this cycle end?” The Madam put a hoof on the telescope and looked through it, she then adjusted it with magic “I want you to see something” she then moved to the side and motioned Tinker to observe through the telescope; what Fox saw was the moon but it wasn't yellow it was red with yellowed outlined shapes and symbols upon seeing this he let out a gasp. Chuckling the Madam continued with her lecture “ It would seem Luna is worried about how this night will turn out, but that is not why I called you out here what I showed you was just an after thought, first off I can see through your disguise, on another note, you are here on a mission from Hanz, to do what I do not know, but I can see you do not seem to have a high opinion of him, now unlike Celestia who would no doubt would capture you on the spot I would like an explanation as to why you decided to join us.” Fox considered coming clean to the alicorn perhaps she could help him or at least not get in his way, after sighing he started to speak “Hanz wants me to bring him Rainbow Dash or he will kill another pony named Fluttershy I don't want anypony to die so I have to do this, time's running out.” Tinker put his head down in depression waiting for a response from the mare, there was a short silence before the Madam spoke “So Hans has you doing his dirty work can no stallion do their tasks on their own? He must be weak of will indeed if he had to resort to threats to get what he wanted or perhaps he was being smart” she starts to trot towards Tinker “have you considered that you may just be a distraction, a slight of hand in the grand scheme of things think about Hanz has an entire army of unicorns some who have been in the military for years. Yet he sends you alone to perform a task that borders on impossible do you really think this party was for the Wonderbolts?” Tinker put a hoof up then spoke “It would seem we have the same idea then, I know or well it has come to my attention that I may be a scapegoat or a distraction for the Wonderbolts as well as understand that this party is indeed a trap for those who intend to snatch Rainbow away, but Hanz has miscalculated or is banking on me revealing my true form which will not happen at least not tonight, if we are right and Hanz decides to pull a move then I'll help push them back they're not getting Rainbow I'll make sure of it.”
“Tinker you're the most unusual creature I've met in a long time, even after all that has happened to the foxes by their hooves, my hooves you'll still help a pony in need no matter what. Keep Florentine close soon they will make their move” the Madam said on the way back to the ballroom; Shield who was guarding the doorway to the garden gave Tinker an odd stare the Madam went back to join the party while Tinker stayed around the doorway. Shield still staring at Tinker raised a hoof “It was nice to meet you... Tinker” Tinker put his hoof on Shield's “It was nice to meet you as well Shield” Shield then started to speak in a very chipper tone that seemed to not match his stature at all, “the Madam she seems to... like you, it's highly irregular to see her approach you in front of all these ponies... I'm sure we will be meeting again in the future until then” the stallion starting trotting towards the Madam who upon seeing him starts to leave by heading towards a square with a unicorn on each corner; the area around the square started to fluctuate then flash! Madam and Shield transported to somewhere in Equestria it was at this time that Florentine trotted up to Tinker with a smug expression, “It's time Tinker we finally got Rainbow Dash” Fox sighed
They called him Lime due to his very queer fondness for the things, he loved them as much as he loved magic and Hanz of course, though he knew that his blunder had marked him a dead pony when the carefully crafted catastrophe couldn't create an opportunity for him to successfully pull off his task. He understood the outcome, he knew what was to come; failure is the most thing the most offensive thing he could do. It was like spiting Hanz in the face; so as he was lead by Hanz's elite guards to the “Behavioral Adjustment Room” he did not argue or make excuses he calmly trotted along with them. As they made their way through the gray candlelit halls they came upon another group of guard who had a chained yellow Pegasus in the middle of them, Lime recognized one of the guards as “Scorching Flame” the red unicorn looked at Lime and sighed.
“Lime” was his reply Scorching's jet black mane and indigo eye's seemed indifferent to Lime's presence; “look, could you look after my Limes for a while” Lime asked looking at Scorching “I don't know when I'll be back, and they might not get watered while I'm gone.” Scorching nodded and continued trotting with the Pegasus in tow; In the “Behavioral Adjustment Room” Hanz along with Rarity and a drowsy orange pony were waiting as Lime entered; “Hello Lime” said Hanz in a cheery tone “I was wondering when you would show up you didn't get lost did you?” Hanz paused and motioned Lime to sit at a table the table had some sort of contraption on top of it as Lime looked at it he began to get a bad feeling.
Hanz continued “You know even though you failed me I still got what I wanted do you know why?” Hanz asked as if Lime fully understood the complexities of his plan; “I uh don't know sir, I've always assumed that you have a backup plan for everything.” Lime replied trying to hid his fear; Hanz looked at the mechanism at the table the orange pony trotted up to Lime “your hoof please” Lime hesitated, but a quick glance at Hanz changed his mind; the orange pony put Lime's right front hoof inside the mechanism. “You are correct Lime I do have many plans all with backups; tell me have ever been beaten, I don't mean losing a game, I mean beaten for information, beaten so much that you black out for two day's, beaten so brutally that even the slightest move or touch anywhere on your body receives agonizing pain! So beaten so harshly beaten that you start to like it that you live for it you want it need it!”
With every word Hanz's voice got closer and closer from calm and collected to manic insanity, in his mind he saw flashes of hooves hitting him pounding him breaking him all the while forging him to the stallion he is today. Lime looking terrified wondered what Hanz of getting at; calming down Hanz started to speak “when we break we either die or continue to live so what about you? What will you do when you break live or die? You like books Lime, I sure hope so you see we just strapped you to an interesting mechanism, you see how it looks like a box of gears that controls a weight that...” his voice trailed off the orange unicorn using telekinesis floated a book inside the top of the mechanism as the book fell in Lime was able to see that on his side at least was a counter that he assumed showed how much weight that was to be applied to his arm. Lime looked at the counter it read 05:00 lb; Hanz sighed “Burning Flame this is a punishment add more” at his command Burning Flame placed more books from the pile on a second table, to Lime's horror he saw the numbers rise 10 lb, 15 lb, 20 lb, his hoof started to crack and snap, at 30 lb his hoof broke Lime screamed as his hoof broke and pain shot through his whole body eventually though his body went into shock, that was until Burning injected him with adrenaline.
Lime felt the pain again tenfold; Burning, while Lime was still in pain unstrapped him from the mechanism and put his whole right front leg in and strapped him in. “This is were I take my leave, come on Rarity we have deal to negotiate” opening the door Hanz saw Rarity looking at Lime then exit the room; Hanz then said to Burning “After the arm make sure he get's to his room, no more just the leg.” Burning nodded and started to stack the books.
Author's Note
Here I introduce Lime.
This was it Rainbow Dash the only pony in the world that was important to him right now; she was the key to saving Fluttershy from her torment. Florentine began “Rainbow Dash it's good to see you again” she said smiling at the blue mare with a rainbow mane and tail who had a more uncomfortable expression on her face; Rainbow Dash look at both Florentine and Tinker “can we make this quick I have to go soon.” Florentine a little agitated started asking her questions “how do you feel about the newly united Equestria” fussing with her dress Rainbow Dash responded “to me we weren't separated more like lost; we didn't do enough to lead the herd our way, in matter of speaking” Florentine, writing on her her note pad replied “I see” looking up from her note pad “That's a beautiful dress were did you get it?” Rainbow was silent “uh a unicorn named Rarity made it for me she's I mean was a friend” Rainbow's shoulder sagged as she sighed “can I go off the record?”
“Sure Rainbow you know I'm a friend first and reporter second” the green mare stated proudly placing a hoof on her chest it was at this point that tinker figured out how they got the invitations for this party, it would be easy, if you're personal friends with a Wonderbolt. He could hear some sort of commotion from outside the door; deciding to investigate he opened it a crack and looked out. What he saw was a group of unicorns beating up royal guards while lining up the party goers; slowly closing the door Tinker looked at Florentine who was watching him the whole time “What's going on Tinker?” she asked worried even more by his expression; “it's Hanz he's making his move” the blood red stallion assumed, a scream was heard outside the door Rainbow Dash rushed to the door only to be stopped by Tinker “I can't let you go Rainbow Dash” he announced blocking the door “those ponies need my help I can't sit here and do nothing” the blue mare argued “look I know you want to help them but if Hanz gets his hooves on you it'll be much worse for everypony else, he needs you Rainbow that's why his followers are here whatever he's planning it involves you.”
Rainbow's expression changed from anger to confusion “and how do you know this, who are you anyway?”
“I'm a friend that wants to help” the stallion answered with a serious expression; “so what, we just wait here while Hanz's lackeys does Celestia knows what to everypony else” the Rainbow mare complained “no I will go out there and see what I can do” Tinker replied putting a hoof on her shoulder “Florentine block the door when I leave.” With that Tinker left the room and trotted towards the ballroom; “heh look at this guy” a dark purple unicorn said to the another unicorns within earshot they turned to look at a stallion slowly totting up towards them the dark purple unicorn trotted to met him. Tinker stopped and observed his surroundings; he saw ponies young and old all lined up along the walls some shaking in fear, others staring with eye's full of anger at the unicorns for interrupting their party.
Tinker looked at the dark purple unicorn “Hello there dirt pony as you can see we're in control of the activities of the party for the rest of the evening, this is all brought to everypony here by our glorious leader Hanz Von Sticky Hooves!” The purple unicorn shouted proudly putting up two hooves in the air as if praising a god his black uniform glittering with medals; “I see and why may I ask is your glorious leader so interested in this celebration in particular” asked Tinker with a smug smile.
“Well now we have a curious dirt pony, but telling would be ruining the surprise” Tinker figured that either this guy didn't know what Hanz was looking for or he just knew better regardless he had to convince these guy's to leave and soon. As Tinker was thinking he became aware that he was slowly being surrounded by unicorns in black uniforms; “I'll only ask this once please leave” Tinker requested, the unicorns laughed at his request and started charging their horns to cast their spells.
They all cast their spells in unison which caused an explosion of marble, tables, and chairs black smoke covered the area then slowly dissipated to reveal a crater smoking and as black as their hearts. The purple unicorn smiled and nodded towards his companions “do you see what happens to those who stand up to us, stand up to magic come now fellow unicorns we are so close to our goal and are always happy to have new members to increase our ranks.” A chair thrown in his direction lands next to him he turns towards his companions who looked shocked as a blood orange pony rushes up to him to introduce his hoof to his face the force of the collision causes the dark purple unicorn to crash into the wall.
From what could be confirmed as the general consensuses when all of the interviews from the party goers were reviewed it seems Tinker had an almost supernatural speed. “He was like a red blur I didn't even see him hit that lime green pony and slam his whole body on top of a table” Tinker dashed towards a baby pink unicorn when he reached him he smashed his hoof against this pony's front hoof while the force of the blow was still being processed in the unicorn's mind Tinker used this opportunity to plant his front hooves on the marble floor he turned his body to then buck the stallion in the chest to send him sliding and crash against three of his fellow peers the remaining unicorns distracted by Tinker's intervention were then assaulted by the party going ponies.
Fox awoke in cell he had no idea how he got there but he assumed it must still be night time considering the moon was still up and still red. He wandered what happened after the fighting was said and done.
“So much for this being an easy assignment” Rainbow dash said aloud, her friend sitting across from her expressed her annoyance by groaning and fidgeting with the papers that were in front of her. The papers were nondisclosure agreements, silence in exchange for bits. “So lets go over what happened after the riot”
“why you were there, oh I get it you're actually going to record this conversation so you don't have to do much writing in your report” Florentine responded with a smug grin.
“I've got all night Florentine” Rainbow Dash declared.
“Okay I get it, from what I remember when the smoke cleared a Fox appeared, and it was really weird because as we feared we didn't make them all disappear. The Fox had one of Hanz's higher ups in his claws, but he let him go so there wouldn't be any harm towards the innocent party ponies, afterward you and a few other members of the Wonderbolts arrested Tinker and put me in here for questioning.”
“We didn't arrest your friend Florentine.” Rainbow Dash assured her
“Do not lie to me Rainbow! We were on different sides during the war I know how you're people treated mine. I will never forget THAT!” Florentine shouted at Rainbow Dash with anger.
Taken aback by her sudden rage Rainbow Dash was speechless, all she could think about was her other friends, Fluttershy disappeared without a trace but then again many pegasi have suddenly disappeared when Hanz started to increase his influence in equestria. Apple Jack along with her family left Equestria for good before the war got too bad Rainbow Dash had no idea where the Apple family went, though it feels as if they aren't truly gone especially when she sees their apples for sale in the market.
Fox wondered if he was ever going to get out of his cell, he felt that same feeling he got while being caged at Hanz's hideout. That mixture of helplessness and rage for being in a place for hours, not knowing if you're ever going to leave. At least there was no screaming ponies, though that thought killed him inside, as he looked around his cell which had nothing but a bed made of hay and a barred window to look out from, he wondered where Florentine was and if he got her into trouble.
Princess Celestia observed her student who told her all about what she had seen, Twilight was always happy to report to her but this time it seemed as if she wanted answers. That egg shaped object that seemed to have properties both magical and scientifically impossible, considering the fact that it has the ability to absorb magical power. It might also be because it has a black hole inside of it, every pony that spent time with it has complained about headaches and hearing voices that tell them about old ancient secrets.
Lime was in agony, his leg broken his hoof crushed, pain paralyzed him, all he could do was lay on his bed and cry.
Rainbow Dash sighed “Okay so lets talk about Tinker”
“What do you want to know?” Florentine asked
“We've checked the records we know that he wasn't born here, so how about you tell me where he came from and how he knew about the attack. Then sign the papers and leave here two thousand bits richer, it's tax free by the way.” Rainbow Dash stated with a smile.
“How about no?” Florentine suggested “Here's how it's going to go Tinker and I are leaving together and you guy's keep your two thousand bits!”
There was a knocking on the door “Yes!” Rainbow Dash answered.
Princess Luna trotted with Twilight Sparkle towards the cave that was reported to have housed a very powerful being, they said nothing as they walked in the mouth of the cave Twilight looked in awe of the inside of the cave the unnatural way it glowed with multicolored rocks along the wall seemed to her more other worldly than some of the creatures she's seen in Equestria. Upon entering what she assumed was the inner sanctum of the cave, they found what they were looking for; it looked like an egg a glowing rock egg being held up by a circle of red diamonds; “What was inside this thing” Twilight asked still looking at the egg the inside was black there was no other color inside not even reflections of the light created by the light spells illuminating the room. “That's what we're trying to figure out Twilight” Luna replied looking at the egg shaped object, “we received a tip from an unknown source that Hanz's... followers have been seen around the islands.” To Twilight this seemed like a risky move for Hanz, but perhaps whatever was inside the egg was worth it; later after the two ponies left the egg began pulsating and slowly faded away to the amazement of the royal guards stationed there.