Where are we?by DoUrden776ChaptersPilot TacoNow lets see here...What happened to us?When the future collides with past-timesAnd he thought he was being Promoted...Time for IntroductionsThe Run-on sentenceEagle's FlightEviction NoticePilot TacoJune 6th, 1944 Our boat rocked as artillery fire from German positions rained down and splashed water around, soaking my clothes and those of my comrades. nearby I hear an explosion, and try to look over but cannot see the Higgins boat being struck by an explosive shell, blowing a hole in its hull and sending soldiers flying out the sides. This is utter chaos, I think, how are we still even here? Suddenly our boat lands on the shores, and the squad commander pulls out a whistle, blowing on it to urge us out of the now-open boat as the sights of many Germans' weapons focus on us. "Move, lads, MOVE!" our captain yells at us more, but then goes silent as his body is stitched up by machine gun fire, putting the pressure on me and my vulnerable comrades. I try my best to run to a nearby crater that had been blown in the ground by an artillery round, and crouch there for a few seconds before scrambling out and resuming my run along the beach. Suddenly I trip on loose sand, and fall face first into the ground. Behind me I hear another artillery round scream in and blow apart the boat I was only just in. By then I knew it was over. Meanwhile... "Okay spike, watch the library while I'm gone, i'll only be a few minutes!" Twilight calls out to her assistant, and Spike gives her a lazy salute before grabbing a broom to begin sweeping. Satisfied that Spike knew what to do, Twilight began to trot down a dirt path leading through the middle of Ponyville, past all the shops and bakeries and out the other side, running through a field and past a makeshift tree house, where she could hear laughter and screaming as 3 particular fillies tried all sorts of random ideas that would hopefully get them their cutie marks, so far with no success. Twilight pauses when she hears a small explosion, and looks over to see smoke rolling out of the windows and a slightly open door. "Nope! Cooking isn't our special talent either!" "Maybe because you put too much salsa in that sandwich!" "Then how did the oven explode?!" Twilight wonders if she should help them, but giving it a second thought she continues on her way, past Sweet Apple Acres, and towards a small copse of trees that she goes to when she wants to think about things. Reaching the copse, she takes a small path going into it, and finds herself in the familiar clearing that she recently began to visit. Suddenly she hears a loud humming noise, and quickly trots out of the trees and looks across the field where a bright light was emanating from nowhere. "Now what the hay is that?" She asks herself, then covers her eyes as the light begins to get brighter and brighter, until it pops, sending a small shock wave her way, knocking her off her hooves. Twilight quickly stands up, staggering a little as her head spins around in circles. She was just beginning to thing a little more straight when a taco comes out of nowhere and SPLAT! Lands on her head, staining her purple and pink mane with lettuce and bits of taco crust. "Great. Just GREAT! now i'll never get all this taco out of my hair!" Twilight begins ranting to great extent about how her mane is ruined by a taco when Derpy flies out from behind a cloud, wearing a sombrero and carrying a taco in one of her hooves. "Hey Twilight! I dropped one of my tacos when that light-thingy exploded, could you help me- oh, oops, heheh, sorry about that." She begins a zigzag approach to Twilight, who seemed to have blown all her steam off on the taco, and was trying to get it out of her hair. Landing, Derpy attempts to lend a hoof to Twilight's dilemma, but ends up smearing the crushed taco farther into her mane. "I can handle this, Derpy, just be more careful when you eat tacos on a cloud, okay? And why are you wearing a sombrero?" Twilight asked. "Don't you know? It's Cinco De Mayo!" Derpy exclaimed, then began to happily munch on the one intact taco. Twilight only sighs and asks Derpy to make it rain. Derpy happily obliges and flies up to the cloud she was just sitting on, and began to stomp on it, making water flow out of the cloud and onto Twilight, who begins again to try and remove bits of the taco from her mane, which stubbornly stays there. Off to the distance, unnoticed by everyone, something new had appeared where the light had once been. June 6th, 1944 "MOVE, Reginald!" I'm shaken out of my hopeless consciousness by the yelling of my friend Thomas, who shakes my shoulders and drags me to the cover of another crater. "This place, it is a death trap for us," I say, not noticing the pulsing light that is growing in front of us. Thomas notices, though , and prods me with his gun. "Hey, Reggy, Reggy, REGINALD. Look at that," I turn around and notice the light. Suddenly, I felt a light tugging, as if someone or something were pulling on my shirt, bringing me closer to the light. The battle stops momentarily as everyone turns their eyes to look at the spectacle. I don't even realize that i've walked out of the crater, towards the light, reaching out towards it. Farther up the beach, a German swings his machine gun around and opens fire on the light, afraid that it may be working or the allies, though the bullets stop when they reach the light, as if they hit a force field, and fly back towards the soldier, putting the bullets into him. The first struck his shoulder, the bullet blowing a small hole in it. The second strikes his gun and ricochets into the boot of one of his comrades, who curses and hops around. The fourth and fifth shoot directly into his chest, making hols the size of his thumb. The sixth ends his life, blowing through his head and dropping him to the ground. His comrades quickly back away from the scene, watching their teammate bleed out onto the floor of the bunker. Then, thinking the light as some demonic presence, they all raise their guns and fire repeatedly at the light, though they get similar results. Suddenly the bunker is empty of living people, and all gunfire ceased from there. suddenly the light glows brighter than ever, and grows in size until it engulfs Reginald, then reaches Thomas, who cries out and tries to scramble away from it, but his pack weighs him down, and he too is consumed by the light. Slowly the light covers the beach, the air, and much of the sea. Suddenly it pops, letting out a large shock wave that rocks the foundations of the bunkers and blows many of the Germans off their feet. An anti-tank gun tips over and lads on the soldier trying to load it, and it crushes his body, smashing it into the ground, spraying his blood everywhere. When they regained their composure, the Germans stood up, and looked along the beach, scanning for marines, tanks, anything, only to see that they had vanished along with the light. Omaha Beach was empty of allied forces. The Germans slowly let their gun barrels drop, and look around, confused about what to do next. Author's Note Hooray First chapter is out! Any constructive criticism would be appreciated, and I'm excited to say this when I look forward to see what happens next, because even I don't know! Now lets see here...June 6th, 3026 Aircraft Carrier "PULL, lads!" our drill sergeant yelled at us, and we gave a mighty heave on the prickly rope that we used for tug-of-war, sending the other team staggering, though they quickly recovered and pulled back with equal force, even with more, pulling Swift's crew closer to the mid line. When these men started their work with the Navy, this particular team decided to choose nicknames for themselves, and they stuck with them for so long that even the narrator can't remember their original names. the other team suddenly jerked on the rope, and Robin, probably the youngest in the team, stumbled, and bumped into Swift, who slipped on an icy patch of metal, slipping over into the plating on the carrier. The remaining 5 men couldn't hold the rope long enough for Swift and Robin to get back on their feet, and the 8 on the other side kept pulling them close and close until they passed over the mid line. Giving up, the soldiers dropped the rope and helped Robin to his feet, who seemed to slip on the same patch of ice when he tried to regain his footing. After robin got up they jogged over to the other men and shook hands, though they couldn't much feel the other people, wearing gloves to wear off the cold and from rope burn. when they were done the opposing team wandered off to do something else, and Robin wandered off in the other direction with Swift and his men. "Man i'm tired, let's head back to the boat." Robin said. Raven, his closest brother, made some noise that no one even tried to understand, but they took it as an "Agreed" and they walked to the edge of the ship, hesitating for only a moment, then one after another, they jumped towards the dark, foreboding water. June 6th, 1944 The few German leaders that weren't brain-dead or discussing the light were organizing a head-count, having the bunkers sound off their dead or injured, using a runner from the fortifications. save the one that killed themselves (or did the light kill them? they shot themselves, but- never mind) in the end, only one bunker didn't sound off, one that was nearest the light. A few of the nearby soldiers walked in, expecting to see a bloodbath similar to that of the one in the dead bunker, but all they found was a floor populated only by shell casings, guns, and the cap of a single Private. Apart from those articles of no interest, the bunker was empty, with the soldiers inside nowhere to be found. Meanwhile, in Equestria... Twilight had finished getting the taco out of her hair, and Derpy had finished her taco, so Twilight busied herself wit drying her mane and fur, and Derpy made it her business to fly off and find a towel, no matter how much Twilight insisted she didn't need one. While Derpy flew a crooked path to Ponyville, Twilight sat down to reach into her saddlebag for a book, but then remembered, I left it at the library. Cursing herself to forget, she walked back to the trees she was in only moments ago, and began to make a list of the things that the Crusaders would need to replace their oven and repaint and repair the clubhouse, then write it down when she got home and give it to Applejack. She was so busy thinking about what color paint it should be this time that she didn't see the large shadow cast over her until it was too late. June 6th, 3026 Right before Robin hit the waves an invisible force caught him, and he sank slightly into an invisible mattress sitting on the deck of an as-of-yet unseen ship. While Swift and the rest of the team landed, Robin casually walked to somewhere, then not-so-casually bumped into the frame of a doorway, and quickly felt around for a lever until he found it and flicked it down, turning off the camouflage on the team's ship. Being a "Mini-Dreadnought" class battleship, it was meant to be manned by a small crew, but had enough guns to fight off a few patrol boats, if put to good use. Now lets take a bit of time out of this chapter to introduce everyone as they land, of whom I didn't already mention. there is Ordan, the field medic and engineer, and Limbo and Lance, two support soldiers that also signed on as brothers, coincidentally near the time as Raven and Robin. They aren't normally seen fighting during the day, if a battle were to befall them, though they run many cover operations, under the cover of night, though, personally, I think that's kind of creepy. ANYWAY... SEE YOU IN THE NEXT CHAPTER YAY! (terrible cliff hanger) What happened to us?Author's Note Ok, before this chapter starts, I want to say something. For some reason I felt compelled to write this right after I published the last chapter, so say a few things about it. So saying "Meanwhile in Equetria" probably isn't the most accurate, because all three timelines are spread by either a few minutes or a few hours, so I may fix that if I can remind myself to. What happened to us? Equestria Reginald woke up slowly, opening his eyes then snapping them shut due to the glare from a bright sun overhead. Odd, He thought, I thought it was cloudy on Omaha, and more sandy... He snaps his eyes open, then swears when he forgets about the sun, and takes a few moments to let them adjust to the glare, then opens them fully and looks about him. He sat in a grassy field, stretching out for as long as he could see. Taking in more of his surroundings, he sees a few tanks sitting on the grass, some intact, others covered in sand, and one with a massive dent in its side, leaking water. A few soldiers were dropping their packs off their soldiers, then laying on them, while others stood alert, looking around for any Germans, in case this was some trick. A light breeze tickled Reginald's face, and he decided that enough people can be tense, so he took off his pack and set it down, feeling the weight leaving his shoulders. Hearing a buzzing noise, he looked up, and sees a few bombers flying overhead, as well as a few fighter planes. Suddenly he remembers Thomas, and looks around for him, but doesn't see him, so Reginald walks back to his pack and hoists it back on, deciding that it would leave no good to leave it there, and begins wandering the ranks of soldiers who were looking around, looking confused, and those trying to bail water out of their tanks. Seeing Thomas a distance off, Reginald begins walking over to him, but stops when the buzzing noise from the engines of planes gets louder ad louder, until Reginald notices a line of waterproof flares set down along a dirt path dug into the ground by tank treads, tailing off into the distance, then snaps his head up as the bomber touches down on the runway, bouncing for a bit before leveling out, drifting along the runway, and as Reginald watches it go, he sees that a few of the planes had already been landed. Continuing his walk he reaches Thomas. "How're you doing, Reggy?" Thomas asks Reginald, and He replies, "I guess I was out for a while, and woke up here. Got any idea where we are and why you're next to the runway?" "Well for one, nobody knows, and for two, i'm here because I like to watch them land." "Well then, stay careful at least." And with that, Reginald walks off to where a line of tanks were set up, and soldiers were using the barrels as racks for their packs. Hanging his on one, Reginald again feels the liberty of being free from the weight of his pack, and wanders off into the camp, but always keeping close to the runway in case he needed to grab Thomas and run. Somewhere definitely nearby... Twilight notices the shadow cast over her and turns around, and screams as Derpy barrels into her and knocks her to the ground, who then puts a hoof in her mouth to quiet her down. "SHH! Don't you hear it? the sound that the metal birds make?" Derpy asks her in an anxious voice. Confused, Twilight replies, "No," and listens a little more carefully, just then noticing the faint noise going out through the air. gently pushing Derpy off her, she rises to her hooves and walks out of the trees, listening for the source. Oddly, it seemed to be coming from everywhere in the air, but mostly toward where she had seen the light. "What metal birds, Derpy? I don't see any-" "THOSE!" Derpy points off to the distance, and Twilight follows her hoof, and sees light reflecting off of some Thing Flying through the air, many of them, actually. Moving closer, Twilight could see that they were colored differently too, some green, others silver, and one or two blue. Suddenly the bush next to her sneezes, and she almost jumps out of her nonexistent socks, then peers over at the suspicious shrubbery. "Hello? Who's in there? Show yourself!" Twilight calls out to the bush, and Derpy gives out a little laugh, finding it kind of funny to talk to a bush. "Darnit, Scootaloo! Wah do you have to have an allergy to bushes?" "Because I do, okay?" "Uhh, girls? I think Twilight's trying to talk to us..." One after another three familiar faces pop out of the bush, and wander over to sit in front of Twilight, and look up at her, waiting for a scolding, or a reason why little fillies like them shouldn't be out here alone. But Twilight did no such thing. "um, girls? Why are you out here? Don't you have school, or some cleaning up to do?" After she finishes her sentence, the Crusaders look down and hide their faces. But then Scootaloo looks up and answers, "No, we were on an adventure trying to get our Cutie Marks! We heard a boom and saw those giant birds flying around in the air, and we decided that if there was anything odd enough to get our minds off of recent things that happened that we won't tell you about then it would be those!" Twilight could easily enough guess what the recent thing that happened was, and didn't touch on the topic further. After a small lecture about keeping clean and not hiding in bushes, Twilight, Derpy, and the three Crusaders walked off towards the big metal birds, not noticing two pairs of eyes watching their movements from a nearby, much larger bush. Then, one of the eyes shuddered, and a sneeze was heard, fortunately not by Twilight or anypony else. "Damn leaf allergies." Another Author's note: I got a really stupid idea to color-code the speaking parts, and i'll try that out next chapter, but only for that one, because it may just be a stupid idea, and no one does that anyway, but why not? When the future collides with past-timesJune 6th, 3026 That was any normal day for Robin, Swift and his friends. Wake up, have breakfast, do a few competitive exercises, and be off. At least, it was normal until Raven got a letter. Opening it, he raised his eyebrows, and walked into the room where everyone was lounging around, and read it out loud: "To those it may concern on the USS Vulger, You will be receiving two new crew-mates due to their ship being sunk under certain circumstances. Knowing you lot, you'll all try to give them these "Nicknames" you all call yourselves by, and frankly, we don't care, as long as they don't either. Godspeed, Captain Michael Wayfarer "Well then," Said Ordan. "Let's think of a name!" And so the screw of the USS Vulger got themselves so engrossed in trying to name their new crew-mates that they didn't hear the light footsteps walking along the deck until their was a sharp knocking on the door. The men momentarily broke their huddle, and Lance walked over and pushed the door open to reveal two soldiers, packs over their backs, waiting outside. "Well then, I take it you two are our new men?" Lance asked. "Aye, sir, Private Timothy and Private first class Gerald, reporting for work on the USS, Vulger, was it?" one of them replied. "Yes, and don't be so formal, just call me Lance." "Aye, sir, I mean, Lance." Lance inwardly slapped himself on the face before turning back to the rest of his team. "Have we thought of anything yet?" He asked. "Yeah, I saw a documentary on birds the other day, how about Sparrow and Falcon?" Robin suggests. "Works for me," said Raven. "Fits my name too." And it was settled. Timothy and Gerald didn't mind, and timothy used to be a birdwatcher, so things worked out with that part. June 7th, 3026 Lance was walking along the deck with Limbo, Sparrow was playing chess with Ordan, and Falcon was taking a nap, while god knows what Robin and Raven were doing with Swift at the carrier. "And... Checkmate!" Sparrow moved his rook forward triumphantly as he completed a trap on Ordan, ending the game they were working on, when suddenly a bullet, out of nowhere, blew through the window and shot out the rook, quickly followed by more that tore apart the game board and all the pieces. Sparrow ducked for cover while Ordan ran into the steerage bay and called out for Lance and Limbo on the radio. Sparrow crawled over to the emergency radio and sounded the alarm to the aircraft carrier, then stopped as bullets began to fly in again and ricochet around. Seeing enemy planes flying overhead and hearing Ordan getting anxious on the radio, Lance and Limbo ran to the anti-aircraft weapons on the port and starboard sides of the ship, attaching ammunition belts and railing rounds off at the enemy planes, meanwhile receiving fire from said planes. Ordan, having gotten over the fact that the ships were under fire, revved up the engine on the battleship and steered it towards the carrier, meaning to draw the fire from it to them to give the planes on the carrier enough time to take off. Unfortunately, only two were manning the 4 available turrets, and weren't getting much attention, until Falcon woke up to the screaming of a Machine gun firing Plasma shots through the hull and next to his bed, to which he hopped out of and put his boots on, then ran to the center of the ship, slipping on a loose cartridge sitting conveniently on the deck. Getting up, he continues his dash towards the steps leading up, past the Steerage deck, and above it, where a missile targeting system was waiting. The previous night Ordan had pulled out a blueprint of the battleship and went over almost every single part of the ship with Sparrow and Falcon, and what procedures were to be followed, such as in the case of what was happening now. Reaching the third anti-aircraft turret, Falcon had the unfortunate luck to be spotted by an enemy fighter, who spun his sights toward Falcon and opened fire, stitching up the deck with bullets, one of them getting Falcon in the knee, who cried out and fell to the deck, just feet from the turret. Robin, Raven, and Swift. The only three people not on their battleship when they struck, but when the fighters did come, needless to say, they were surprised. They were sitting on the edge of the ship staring out into nowhere, when a Fighter materialized out of thin air and dropped two bombs behind them, blowing sizable dents in the carrier, and sending Swift tumbling over the edge, who was caught by Robin, who then fell and was caught at the feet by Raven, who began slipping until 4 or 5 crew men ran over and caught him by the belt, and pulled the two soldiers back on board. They thanked the crewmen, who ran off to battle stations, and looked around themselves. Planes were in the air everywhere, most of them enemy, but a few interceptors from battleships and smaller carriers as well, though it was a sorry battle for them. The invaders were well prepared, and were firing out deadly shots of plasma from their guns, melting holes into the planes' armor and sending them spiraling toward the water. Robin called up the Vulger, and got a reply from Sparrow, but was cut off when he saw a fighter dive in and fire a quick burst where he knew the radio was, but seeing the ship still intact, he dove toward it, followed by Swift and Raven. When they landed, Robin ran up to the control deck where Ordan was, steering the ship towards the carrier but making a zigzag path to avoid bombs and other fire from the sky. The radio on the bridge popped on and the carrier sent out a message: "To all battleships still seaworthy, make your way to the docking area to recover from enemy fire, we will have repairmen waiting to fix damaged hulls." Ordan ended his crooked line and went full steam towards the rear of the carrier, where the docks were. Normally A sheet of steel plating would be covering this weak spot, but on the captain's message the plating was raised and ships were trying to dock, though many were bombed on and destroyed before they could land. One would think that the Vulger Got lucky, but they were able to land under the cover of allied fire, and though their ship was only lightly damaged, repairmen came out bearing a new radio, refills on ammunition, and a new chess set. How thoughtful. Suddenly part of the dock explodes in fire as a fighter barrels in and crashes, "Landing" on a nearby battleship and blowing up part of the dock, sending the repairmen flying, and sending the chess set trailing into the water. "NOOOO!" Sparrow cried out as he saw the chess set fly into the ocean from his perch on the turret, but spied a pile of extra chess pieces and boards sitting next to the doorway leading to the rest of the carrier. Abandoning his turret for the most pointless thing on a battleship, he runs along the deck and hops to the dock. Sprinting past the fire and plasma eating away the ship's plating, he covers the 50 meters to the chess sets in 10 seconds flat, grabs a set, and sprints back to the battleship. hopping aboard, he tosses it into a cupboard and runs back to his turret, spins up the weapons, and resumes spewing fire from the barrels of his turret. Unnoticed by everyone, the cupboard where the chess set lies had begun to glow a soft blue, and if you were watching you would see the light spreading around the ship, onto the dock and towards the carrier, to which some of the crewmen notice and try to run away from it while others attack it with blowtorches, to no avail. Sparrow had spent his last cartridge of ammunition and was running down to the deck to grab more when he notices the light covering the battleship. He begins walking away from the ever-growing light, and slips on a loose chess piece, ironically the white king. He falls over and cracks his head on the hard, metal floor and is out like a light. Minutes later the battle is halted for only seconds as the carrier is enveloped in a bright blue glow, then the light grows brighter and brighter, until it snaps, sending a shock wave along the water, rocking the waves and giving massive turbulence To the enemy and allied fighters alike, sending some spiraling to the waves while others recover with just enough time to fly off and stay in the air. Anyone looking at the super-carrier when the light went off, which was everyone, was blinded, and when they looked back the carrier was gone, along with pretty much every ship docked on it. Author's Note The steerage deck, control deck and bridge are all the same place, I just cycled through three different names until I remembered the real name for it. And he thought he was being Promoted...Timothy was having a good day, no, A GREAT day. in fact, this was the day he was being called up to the bridge of the USS Parliment to discuss some things with the captain, which he assumed was a promotion. He would finally be able to move out of the bunk rooms where all the lower-ranked officers and crewmen were, and eat with higher-ranked officers that held at least some power. So he reaches the door to the bridge and was raising his hand to the doorknob when BOOM! A massive explosion rocks the compound and throws Timothy off his feet, sending him spiraling towards the hard floor. Funny thing, his head reaches it first instead of his feet, and a hard SMACK! could be heard down the halls, followed by a long line of cursing, as Timothy rose to his feet and reaches toward the door again. fixing his hair, he turns the knob and pushes the door inward into the bridge, but stops when he sees the door is enveloped in a blueish glow. Shrieking, he jumps back and into a crewman running by, who tumbles into him, but then is carried backward by Timothy's momentum, and down a painfully long set of stairs, which ends with another hard, metal floor that both Timothy and the crewman crash into, then the door that stupidly was left ajar by the crewman that Timothy had bumped into, which sends them back out onto the Deck of the Carrier. Sadly, it was at that moment an enemy fighter let loose a burst from one of its cannons, sending a blast of energy sailing down onto the deck where Timothy lay. Luckily, the crewman had regained his wits, and hopped up to drag Timothy from the shot. Sadly, he was only strong enough to pull him about 3 feet from where the shot connected to the plating of the carrier, and the heat splashed over Timothy's legs, burning them quite badly, and making Timothy himself scream quite loudly, to which the crewman just smacked him on the head with whatever he could find, which at the moment was a rather large shoe with a steel tip, giving Timothy a sure concussion and knocking him out cold. It was then that The crewman noticed the light spreading about the ship, and could only watch as it- you know what? I've been over what happens. In fact, the news that Timothy was going to receive from the captain himself was a reassignment to the Kitchen staff, which had just suffered the loss of a cook after his fingers were sliced off in an accident regarding a knife and a fairly large fish. Meanwhile... Equestria, Somewhere quite close to the outskirts of the human encampment... When she saw the humans with her own eyes, and not from the horror stories that Shining Armor told her as a filly, Twilight decided she didn't want to be seen by any of them, regardless of if they were sleeping, walking around, or sitting on top of one of those massive green Things. She backs back into the bush she was sitting in a little farther, just to be safe, and was about to propose to the Crusaders that she should be on their way when she hears a loud popping noise, followed by a loud crash that reverberated around the land and even woke Luna up in Canterlot, followed THEN by the largest and most terrifying earthquake Twilight ever had to be caught in. She stumbled around in the bush and watched as the Crusaders tumbled over each other and around with her, sometimes out into the open, but at the moment that was the least of her worries, though after only a few seconds the aftershocks of the quakes stopped, and Twilight snapped her head around, looking for the source of the quaking. Looking off into the distance, she could see a massive silver thing sitting near to Sweet Apple Acres, sun glinting off the metal of multiple appendages just sticking out of the thing, seemingly at random. Looking over, Twilight checks on the Crusaders, looking for broken bones, and after thankfully finding nothing more than a few embarrassed moans, looks back up to the thing resting by Applejack's home. "Now how am I going to explain this to Celetia?" Twilight wonders, Before being tapped on the head by something soft and rough at the same time, followed by a line of words that Twilight understood, but seemed foreign at the same time: "Now what in the hell do you think this is, Thomas?" Twilight looks around behind her to see that during the shaking, she had slipped out of the bush and into the open. Where the humans could see her. Oh no. Time for IntroductionsThe general time Now That moment Robin opened his eyes and screamed. Not for any apparent reason why, maybe because he couldn't feel anything beneath his feet, or because he couldn't smell the ocean anymore, or maybe just because he was falling. Luckily the screaming cut off when he hit the ground about ten feet later, and grunted as his back touches down. Robin lay still for a few moments, trying to contemplate what was going on, then looked sideways and saw a sloping level of dirt leading off into a copse of trees. At the time that he was in, teleportation did not exist, though he was beginning to think the military had started some top secret project about it and didn't tell anyone, but soon gave that idea away to silliness, but again began to wonder, where was he? Hearing a loud, ground-shaking (hah, literally) thump he looks over and sees the Parliament resting on the ground a few dozen feet away, and looking closer he sees the opening where the Vulger now sat. Well, this is going to be interesting, Robin thinks to himself, then gets up and dusts himself off, beginning the short walk to his ship. Reaching it, he wanders around and around until he finds the small hatch, partially buried in the ground, and he realizes, "OH CRAP THE RUDDER!" Robin begins to franticly dig into the surprisingly soft dirt, until he reaches a mass of jagged, bent metal sitting underneath the hatch. He gives out a small groan, wondering how this will come out in his official report. Reginald thought that, since there were no people looking for him and basically nothing else to do, he might as well get to know his surroundings, besides the fact that they were now lost, surely and completely. He made his way back to where he had left his pack, gathered up his Tommy gun and his helmet, and jogged off to who knows where. After a few minutes of running aimlessly, he sees a familiar shape sitting a ways off, bringing back memories of the harbor he lurked about in before his departure to Normandy, and he gave it the weirdest look before muttering to himself, "The heck is an aircraft carrier doing inland?" He left himself to his thoughts as he resumes his run, though this time with a bit more energy in it, eager to find out what was going on. Twilight knew it. They were screwed. she saw it in the way these strange creatures looked at them that they were screwed. The worst part was, the Crusaders knew it too. Then, Shit happened. It happened in the most improbable way, in the form of PINEAPPLES!!! Pineapples began to appear out of nowhere and fall from the sky, rattling helmets and denting the ground where they landed, and Scootaloo was just unfortunate enough that her head fell in the path of one. "OUCH!" she cried out as it struck her forehead, and she toppled over. Assessing the situation as something unexplainable, and seeing as those creatures were occupied with the storm, Twilight decided it was time to get to shelter. She found the Crusaders attempting to hide in the bush they were previously in, having dragged Scootaloo in by the mane, and were receiving a surprising amount of hail from the heavens. She scooped them up in her magic and galloped back the way she had come, towards any bit of cover she could find, which unfortunately was little, but when she saw a massive, shiny thing sticking up out of nowhere, she thought it would suffice to her needs, and changed her course for it, not honestly caring how it got there, though she was stopped moments later by a trippy root, which she tripped on, then--Karma be cursed--A pineapple came down and landed on her horn, sending a shock through her head and making her faint, dropping the Crusaders on the ground next to her. The last thought she could let out of her slipping mind was, "What the biscuits is this madness...?" Robin saw it coming before he knew what it was, but since something was coming down, he hastily opened the hatch and let himself in, just in time to see the odd object come down on the door splattering a yellow fluid everywhere. Robin waits for a few moments, and seeing as nothing else had come down (yet) he slowly opens the hatch again and is greeted by a sweet smell, one that is probably the most familiar thing beside seeing the Vulger since he hit the ground. He reaches his hand out and wipes it over the sticky liquid and brings his finger up to his mouth, breaking out in a satisfied grin as he realizes, Pineapple, but quickly closes the door again as another drops into the ground a few feet from the hatch, then another and another, quickly turning into a rain of pineapples. "What the hell? There has to be an explanation for this..." says Robin to himself before he wanders about the interior of the beached destroyer, noticing the bodies of some of his crew mates, and wakes up Ordan from a midday nap on the console, telling him to get the electricity running. Ordan nods and runs off to the engineering bay, checking the circuits and is dismayed to find a few circuits had shorted out in whatever event had happened. Robin walks around to the hatchway leading toward the deck, takes a deep breath, and throws it open, bolting out and running to the AA gun placements, dodging pineapples and finding Lance slumped behind the turret, with a small bruise forming in his hair, and quickly drags him inside, bringing him down to his bunk where he lets him sleep it off, then lets his weary feet lead him to his, where he flops down and falls asleep under the weight of staying up late and the rain of pineapples. Reginald was now very close to the carrier when something clanked against his helmet, the force sending him off-balance and owards the ground. His grip loosens on his tommy gun and it bounces a few feet in front of him, so he quickly gathers himself up and runs forward, grabbing his tommy gun as he resumes his pace, now looking in the air for any more falling objects, which there were many of. Coming to a massive opening in the front of the carrier, he runs in, seeing bodies, tools and chess pieces alike laying about, though a few of them were quietly moaning on the ground or trying to regain their feet. One did, and staggers over to a control panel, attempting to sound an alarm for medics, but the console refused to power up, so he begins a groggy walk down the corridors to the infirmary to find medical supplies. Reginald looks on with a weary suspicion, eying the strange uniforms until his eyes come to rest on the patch of an American flag on one of the men's arms. he sets down his gun and runs over, helping him to his feet, then another, kicking knights around and stumbling upon the occasional pawn. The men give him weird looks, not exactly knowing why one would dress up in world war 2 attire, but don't say anything, just glad for the help from the one person apparently not on a hangover. The Run-on sentenceAuthor's Note Okay two things. First, I lost my marbles, second, I am amazingly tired and made the mistake of deleting my old Notes, so fun! Also, I don't know where I'm going with this anymore, so if there is anyone else still reading this, then suggestions would be thought upon! (not immediately accepted because, well, reasons.) The Run-on sentence Luna was enjoying a warm cup of tea, sitting on her balcony, overlooking the kingdom. She gazed over the green landscape that was Equestria, the ridge-line that hid the train tracks leading to Ponyville from sight. as her gaze followed them, she smiled as her eyes came to rest upon the peaceful town, remembering her first Nightmare Night. looking on, she takes another sip, smiling at the taste. Suddenly she jumps as a small rumble shakes her room, but she quickly calms down and laughs at herself, taking another sip. Luna's guards sat just outside her door, lightly resting on the halberds they wielded, but snapped to attention to see a familiar and not so happy Celestia galloping up to them. "Out of my way," she said angrily. "I need to speak with that annoying child I call my sister!" The guards hastily opened the doors, and Celestia stomped inside, slamming the door behind her. "LUNA!!" Celestia yells out, drawing a curious glance from her sister, but Luna does other other than say, "You could have opened up by saying 'hello,' Tia." "This isn't a time for jokes, Luna, and this time I think you pushed it a bit far, don't you?" Luna looks over and gives her sister a more serious look, setting down the tea and turning her body over to face her. "Tia, what do you think I did? I haven't caused any shenanigans since yesterday." "Then how do you explain THIS?!" Celestia brings over a mirror and casts a spell over it, showing a grassy field not far from Sweet Apple Acres. Turning it to Luna, she sees the land is dotted with small, yellow splotches and numerous, eh, things. Luna looks up and gives her sister a startled look, asking "Are those pineapples?!" "Yes, Luna, they are." "Can you tell me why you think I would be behind this?" "Because it certainly isn't normal, and I don't think Cadance has gone mad yet." "She does not have to be insane to do this." "Neither do you." "But I didn't!" "Then WHO DID? This is obviously impacting the wildlife, and if this goes on for much longer, then the whole of Equestria may be in a crisis!" Luna shrugged, trying to regain her cool, which at the moment was about to run away, and said, "Maybe this 'crisis' will sort itself out. maybe its like an on-off switch, something that happends on its own but goes away." Celestia gave her sister a look that said "Yeah right," and replied, "So if it WAS like an on-off switch, how long do you think these intervals would last?" Luna could only shrug. She held no power over falling pineapples. "Minutes, maybe. Hours, days, maybe even- or maybe just that long." Luna looked out her balcony again to see the rain had stopped. No pineapples in the sky, the land now more yellow than its previous shades, and a noticable amount of damage done to windows. Celestia caught the look and followed her gaze, gasping at the sudden stop in downfall. "It seems our problem may have solved itself, sister. I'll talk with the council about this later." She turned and made to leave, but, remembering something, suddenly turned and gave her sister a sudden whack it the head with one of her pillows off her bed, surprising Luna, who at the moment was attempting a sip at her tea, from which she spat out the balcony. "AND NEXT TIME LEAVE MY SINK ALONE!!! IT WAS FINE WITHOUT ALL THE LIQUID CHEESE IN IT!!!" Celestia turned again and quickly trotted out, leaaving her sister dumbfounded on her balcony, who moments later broke out in laughter, stopping when she dropped her tea and splashed it on her flank. "Oh, dear..." she muttered, examining the stain and picking herself up to make for her shower. This was certainly going to be a long day. Several hours later Lance awoke in his bed, not remembering how he got there and frankly not caring. What he did care about was his brother. "LIMBO!" He yelled out, stumbling on a loose bullet rolling on the floor. Making his way out of the bunk room, he stumbles around inside for a moment, fumbling with the latch and opens the doorway, finding his brother laying on the deck and runs over to him, checking his pulse and, when finding one, lets out his breath, giving the bruise on Limbo's face a look but dismisses it. Turning back to Limbo, Lance shakes him a little, and Limbo rolls over, muttering, "Bugger off, Lance, it's past 9." "No it's not, Limbo, now get your ass up," Lance reaches down to grab his shoulder and roll him over, but Limbo swats his hand off and says, "lies." Sighing, Lace slowly gets up and walks over to a nearby sink just inside the doorway, opening the cupboard and pulling out a bucket, turning on the tap and filling the bucket. That being done, Lance walks back to Limbo, carrying the bucket. Tipping it ever so slightly, he lets the water trickle down, down to Limbo's head, soaking his hair and drizzling over his cheek. Lance tips it back and keeps much of the water inside the bucket. Limbo gives out a small groan but does nothing other than that. "You brought this on yourself," Lance says, and dumps the rest of the water, splashing it on Limbo's head, and he screeches, jumping to his feet and wiping his face, stopping to slap Lance, glaring at him. "Goddamit Lance! I was having the best- oh hey, what the hell?" Limbo observes the landscape, just now seeing the lack of water. "I was wondering that too," says Lance, not turning and instead facing a familiar sight. "At least the Parliament Followed us here. Limbo turns around, looking at the supercarrier, then remembers something. "y'know, I think Swift, Raven and Robin are all aboard. Do you think they're alright?" Limbo turns and gives him a look that says, "You serious mate?" "Yeah, they'll be fine." Just then Robin decides to make himself known. He had been leaning on the door frame, looking at them with his tired gaze. Though he had slept a while, he still felt a bit tired, probably form the stress of not knowing the fate of his brother. "Hey lads, sleep well?" Lance turns and gives him a lazy thumbs up. "Sure, did you tuck me in?" "I'll leave that question unanswered." "Have it your way. Hey, how'd you get on board? The power's out, and I get the feeling the mattress was torn." "Walked in the front door." Lance gives him a funny look, but says nothing else about it, instead asking, "Do you know where we are?" Robin simply shrugs. "No idea, but if I had to guess I would say, uhh, not Earth. Nothing can possibly be this perfect in that pollution-ridden world." "Maybe an alternate dimension?" Limbo drops in. "Whatever it may be," Robin says "It can't be much worse from how we are now." Obviously, he jinxed it. Robin suddenly stopped and listened as he heard a small moaning coming from somewhere, tensing his muscles in the case of an ambush. Lance and Limbo see the movement but stay relaxed, confident in their current security. Honing in on the source, Robin climbs the ladder leading to the Missile Turrets, finding a sorry-looking Falcon laying on the ground, clutching his knee. He rushes over, helping Falcon to his feet and slinging his arm over his shoulders, carrying him to the slower, much more convenient elevator leading back down to the main room, and Lance runs back inside with Limbo on his heels. Robin holds Falcon while Lance and Limbo clear a table top, and Falcon continues to be useless by making pitifully painful noises every so often. After the table is cleared, Robin runs to the infirmary to find first aid supplies, and Lance calls Ordan over the intercom, calling him down to the scene. Limbo keeps pressure on the injury and tries to calm Falcon, though there isn't much he can do other than cover the injury with a cushion. Ordan rushes in moments after Robin jogs in with a jumble of supplies and bandages and such, and Ordan runs over, grabbing a needle filled with morphine, turning to Falcon. Flicking the needle for effect, he then plunges the needle into a vein on Falcon's arm, making him yelp but goes silent as the morphine takes over. Robin puts the set down, and Ordan takes a cloth from it, slipping it over Falcon's eyes before getting to work. Robin steps back and runs a hand through his hair. "So it can get worse than we were..." Eagle's Flight12 miles from Canterlot Somewhere in the Austeer Empire 20 minutes later The day the gates opened was the day it happened. But i'm going to far ahead in the story, so i'll start with now. Tainted Dawn was resting her head on the window sill, drooping her front hooves over the edge, sitting on her bed with a bored look on her face. Staring off into the distance, she focused on the castle nestled at the bottom of a looming mountain, its snow-capped ridges threatening to topple over and cover the city with snow and rocks. She sighed with inward contempt, not really caring about anything in the world other than if the doors would open today. A few days ago an announcement went out around the empire that after years of closure, the gates of the castle would open, letting any pony in, be it poor or rich. Of course, After the news had spread many families packed traveling bags and packed out to make it in time to witness the gates opening, though Tainted Dawn had the luck of living in the same city. Today was, of course, the day all the ponies in the empire had marked on their calendars, not only because of the gate-opening, but also because an important treaty was to be signed by the neighboring Canterlot empire, ending the tension that had settled itself over the ponies of the Austeer empire. No one wanted a war to break out, though it seemed that at the rate things had been going, one could only be imminent, if not for this event. Dawn flinched as her brother, Dusk, opened her door and set down beside her, laying one of his hooves over her back. "Today might just be the day, Dawn." He said, and Dawn replied, "Maybe." and went back to staring at the landscape. It's so beautiful, Dawn thinks, gazing over the thatched roofs and following the cobbled roads, watching the Earth ponies and Unicorns trot down the streets, mingling amongst each other as they make for the massive stone bridge, separating the rest of the town from the spired castle. The Pegasi had promised clear skies today, but a wind was picking up, making the flags and banners flap in the wind as they hang from numerous door signs and posts alike. Wind blows in through the open window, and Dawn shivers, sending small ripples through her dark fur and ruffling her feathers. Dusk stands up and says, "I'm going to meet up with our brothers by the bridge, will you be in the air?" Dawn looks over and gives him a small nod, replying, "Sure, better to get a bird's eye view than to be stuck in a crowded space with no breathing room. Yeah, i'm thinking i'll be in the air." And with that she stands up and opens her wings, letting the wind run through them before she jumps off and begins flapping them, taking to the skies, swirling around and dodging clouds until she finds the proper height to view the opening. She gazes around, overlooking numerous clouds that seem promising, until she spots one, hanging far overhead of the bridge, and she flies toward it, coming to rest on it. She tucks her wings on her back and looks over the crowd, looking for her other brothers, of which Dusk would also be with. She spots them near the back of the ever-growing mass of ponies, giving them a small wave, even though she knew they wouldn't see her. That is, until Dusk looks up and waves back, and she smiles inwardly, turning her gaze over to the gates once more. Dusk saw her, and waved back, smiling up at her until he hears trumpets and looks behind him, seeing a yellow, sparkling speck in the distance. As he watched it grew larger, forming into the shape of a pegasus-drawn chariot, and sitting upon the seat was the representative of the Canterlot empire, Princess Celestia herself! Dusk gaped as a booming voice called out from the castle walls. "MAKE WAY FOR PRINCESS CELESTIA!!!" And the crowd parted on the bridge, some sitting on the small walls alongside the bridge, others clearing off of it to make room for a landing, and Dusk continued to gape with his brothers as the great doors, closed for years without end, finally opened, allowing the princess passage into the castle of the Austeer Empire. The princess flew in, and ponies were about to move for the gates when they closed again, causing confusion, and even more so when A great barrier was raised, turning the castle a light yellow tint. As Dusk and his brothers continued to watch, behind the shield they could make out numerous guards rushing about the ramparts, bearing crossbows and ballistae pieces, assembling the defences for the castle. "What the buck?!" Dusk cried out, and one of his brothers kicked his flank, muttering something under his breath before saying, "Is that it?" Other ponies began to curse under their breath or walk around, talking under their breathe, generally expressing their anger in the second quietest way possible. Dusk was about to say something when the sky turned suspiciously red, and before he could say anything else, a massive fireball pounded into the bridge. Dawn was watching the shield, wondering why that would be needed in a diplomatic time, when she saw a large, flaming ball of death fly over a mountain and land on the bridge, blowing it apart. She gasped as ponies were tossed into the air, some with burned bur, others in torn pieces and misshapen lumps of flesh. Those that did not fall into the water were thrown to either side of the moat, some landing on top of houses, others hitting the shield and bouncing off to some to a sicking crunch on the cobblestones. Getting over her shock, Dawn looked down to where her brothers were, and found them, running to and fro, helping ponies on their feet and trying to move those on their side towards the buildings, when another fireball arced in and landed near them, blasting more ponies and setting houses ablaze. One of Dawn's brothers was in the epicenter of the explosion, and she could only watch in horror as his body was blown to pieces, burning like a torch. She looked away and hid her face in her hooves, trying hard not to cry, but found tears rolling down her cheeks, and she buried her face in the cloud, trying to hide from the chaos. Dusk was helping a group of fillies to the town hall when he saw the second fireball come down on his brother, blowing him to bits and ending the lives of many others. "No! Brixton!" He cried out, and his other brothers looked up from hearing the sound of their brother's name, and realizing his fate, shocked looks came over their faces. Dusk ran over to where he had seen his brother, to find any evidence, any hope that he was still alive, but all he found was the charred remains of unrecognizable body parts, and he let out a sob before running back to his brothers, tears welling up in his eyes. When he got back, his brothers were making for the Town hall with the fillies, and he galloped after them, vaguely hearing more explosions in the background. When he reached the doors of the hall, he ran inside and searched for his siblings, finding them in a corner, trying to keep the fillies together, which wasn't a problem seeing as all they wanted to do was huddle under a table cloth in a corner. Other ponies were milling about, quickly talking back and forth about the current events. As he approached them one of his brothers saw him approaching and split from the group, trotting over to him with an angry look in his eyes. "What the buck is going on?! Why aren't the princesses doing anything about this?" Dusk gave him a weary look and replied through sobs, "I don't *sob* know, Tarrel. Maybe *sob* hey just don't *sob* care anymore." and with that last part Dusk leaned in to embrace his brother, and Tarrel's face softened as he caught him, then saw something over Dusk's shoulder. "Oh no." Dusk looked at him through teary eyes, then turned around to see multiple ponies wearing grey-plated armor, swords drawn, slowly advancing towards the group of ponies gathered in the hall. Dusk took one look at the weapons and his face hardened, replacing his sadness with a burning anger, and he made for the soldiers but was pushed aside by Tarrel, who strode up to them and looked the leading soldier in the eyes. "What the buck is going on?!" He asked. "Why isn't the princess trying to help us?" The leader looked at him with a blank stare, and replied, "We do not work for the princess." Dusk got the idea quicker than Tarrel did, and called out, "Tarrel get back!" But it was too late, and Dusk watched in horror as the soldier swung his sword around, slicing into Tarrel's neck and cutting deep into it, causing a sudden spurt of blood when he hit a vein. Tarrel tried to skirt back whilst gurgling out incoherent phrases, but the soldier moved with him, tugging the sword out and bringing it down on Tarrel's head, splitting his forehead open and snapping his neck to the side. Dusk gasped as blood began to well out of his brothers' neck and head, and again when the guard brought his sword out again and stabbed it forward, into Tarrel's heart and ensuring his death. His body fell towards the ground, his head cracking against the hard wood floor, and settled on it, blood spilling out of the wound, pooling on the floor. Dusk backed away, toward his remaining brother, and told him, "Get the back door open!" His brother nodded and ran towards the back door, but one of the soldiers saw the movement and drew his bow out, raising it above the heads of his comrades and let loose. It soared towards him, cutting the air and whistling past Dusk's ears, causing him to duck and turn to follow its flight. It came closer and closer to Dusk's brother, digging into his left leg and breaking his kneecap, and he fell to the floor, crying out. The leader nodded to the archer, and he lowered his bow, bringing up a small dagger, saying, "Anyone who gets in the way is dead," with such certainty that when he walked towards the fallen stallion the crowd parted without an upstander. "well, they already are-" one soldier began to speak up, but was stopped by one of his comrades, but the damage was done. The silence was broken as a citizen began to scream and run for the doors, and slowly more and more ponies got the idea and ran from the soldiers, some calling out, "WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE!!!" while others just screamed and ran. the lead soldier smacked a hoof over his face, almost certain that at this rate some might escape, and commanded his comrades to "kill them all!" until an explosion blew the back door to pieces, caving in that part of the town hall as a fireball blew up on it, blocking in the remaining citizens. The citizens turned around fearfully, looking into the eyes of their doom. And the bloodbath began. The soldiers dove into the mass of ponies, swinging their swords left and right, slicing into flanks and stabbing with coordinated abandon, careful not to stay too close to one another. Dusk was standing in the open floor, no being stabbed at or run through, so he had about an instant to himself to think before somepony saw him. He peered around a corner where he saw a shivering table clloh and began to moe for it, stopping when he sees a soldier advancing towards it, a small smile on his face. Angered by their lack of mercy, Dusk picks up a knife from the floor with his magic and makes for the soldier, but stops when he sees his last brother half galloping, half stumbling towards the soldier, attempting to tackle him but instead tumbling into him. The soldier falls to the floor with him, and Dusk watches in amazement as his brother tries to throw weak punches into the soldier's face, and the soldier gives out small grunts while he fumbles with his sword. Snapping out of his stare, Dusk resumes his pace, this time aiming to help his brother take down the soldier when the soldier gets a hold of his sword, swinging it around into his brother's flank, and he cries out and stops the assault. "NO!" Dusk cries out and rushes over, in a rage stabbing the knife into the soldier's eye, making him scream in pain and switch on the floor, and Dusk draws it out and stabs it home again and again, until the knife is bloody to the handle and the soldier no longer has eyes, or a single jawbone. Dropping the knife, Dusk looks over to his brother, who is still breathing, but weakly. Dusk begins to try and calm him, but his brother holds a hoof up, pointing to the table cloth. "Get them out of here," he says weakly, and suddenly gasps in air, taking a last, haggard breath before his eyes glaze over, and his hoof drops to the floor. Trying and failing to fight away tears, Dusk gets up and trots over to the table cloth, drawing it up to reveal three scared fillies, looking up at him with pleading eyes, and he holds a hoof up, indicating they stay there for a moment, and goes back to the dead soldier, loosening the straps on his back pack, bringing it up and off his armor, and lifts it over his own back, tightightening the straps and emptying it of its contents, leaving food rations, a dagger and other things on the floor as he runs back to the fillies, lifting them one by one into the back pack, then turning to gaze about the room that was once a place for meetings and formal events. It was, quite literally, a bloodbath, for the living anyway. The soldiers ran around, their armor no longer a visible grey but a shade of crimson, the blood even staining their fur, making it hard for thm to tell each other apart, though the leader had a puff of red hair sticking out the top of his helmet. Seeing that the soldiers were preoccuupied, Dusk made for the door, taking one final glance at his dead siblings, and with a heavy heart ran from the building, though he was almost obliterated by a falling ball of death, landing right in front of him and splattering the pavement in flaming chunks. He ran aound it and continued his pace, looking down alleyways to see stallions and mares being massacred by soldiers bearing the same armor as the ones in the hall. Leaning into his strides, he bent his head down and ran faster, not looking at the horrific scenes before him. Author's Note heh heh... The funny thing is, I lost track of who the real main character is, so i'll just introduce another one here... Eviction Notice2 minutes later... Dawn slowly lifted her head out of the cloud to see a pair of purple eyes looking at her from behind a small fluff. "Hello?" she asked weakly. The eyes flinched from behind the mound, and Dawn added, "Hey, it's okay, i'm not here to hurt you," and sniffed back tears, wiping her eyes to try and clear them. Slowly, the face returned, and a blue-ish pony with a yellow mane crawled over the mound, giving Dawn a curious .look before asking, "Are you alright? You look sad." And dawn replied, "No, I suppose i'm not alright, considering recent events..." and her tears started again. The pony gave her a sympathetic look and walked over, taking a quick glance at the battered city before sitting down beside her, laying a wing over Dawn's flank. "Hey, i've felt kinda down lately too," the pony said, and Dawn looked up at her, asking, "You have?" The pony looks up and in to the distance for a moment before responding. "Yes, today actually. My parents saw the explosions and told me to hide up here. They said they would be back soon, but it's been a while..." She looks back at Dawn with a sad look on her face, which is quickly replaced by a smile and a question. "So, what's your name?" "My name?" Dawn takes a moment to think, then says, "My name is Tainted Dawn, but my friends just call me Dawn." "Tainted Dawn... what an interesting name. My name is Sparkling Star, but my parents called my Sparks." "what about your friends?" Dawn asks. Sparks replies, "I didn't really have friends, but I guess that's another reason to be happy that I met you!" and Sparks looks over at Dawn, bringing back her wing and giving her a smile that made Dawn feel like Sparks was much more childish than she first let on. He had made it. Right out of the place he used to call home, Dusk kept running, stopping to catch his breath when he was outside the outer wall of the city, going past the bodies of guards laying over the battlements, splotches of blood and broken swords and arrows laying over and next to the bodies of those that used to patrol the walls. Leaning against a tree, Dusk sets the saddlebag on the ground next to him and coughs, his throat dry from running such a distance. It was then that he began to feel a small pain growing on his flank and, looking down he sees a small gouge running along his side, blood slowly flowing out. He stares at it in horror for a moment before a rush of fatigue catches him, and he topples over, hitting his head on the soft ground. As his vision fades, Dusk sees the saddlebag open up, and the head of one of the fillies pokes its head out, giving him a startled look before fumbling with the straps, struggling to get out. The last thing Dusk sees before his vision blackens out is a hooded figure slowly striding towards him, shadows covering their face. I stayed on the cloud with Sparks for a few more minutes, talking about the events that had taken place, gazing over the cloud and looking down at the killing field and all the soldiers that were now banging on the shield surrounding the castle, though the shield held strong, for now. Whatever was on the mountain ridge had changed its aim and was now firing upon the castle, though the shield either reflected the shot or simply absorbed it. Some soldiers were just milling about, others flew lazily around in the lower layers of clouds, and unicorns practiced their archery by taking shots at bodies of the slain. There was still killings to be had, ponies hiding in their locked houses to be found, but the commotion had generally settled to where all one could hear was the continued explosions of fireballs and the burning of houses, followed by he occasional shriek as more ponies were found and slaughtered. Dawn moved her gaze skywards while Sparks simply rested her head on the cloud and stared off into the distance, asking, "Why do you think they did this?" Dawn looked down, and Sparks looks up at her. "I mean, why kill everypony rather than just keep them as hostages? All of this is pointless killing, and none of them did anything wrong." "I wouldn't know," Dawn replied. "I don't even know why they're here." "well, at any rate, I don't think its really that safe up here anymore." Sparks rose to her hooves and arched her back, flexing her wings. Dawn got up and did the same. "Agreed. Where should we head?" "Anywhere but here. I can't think of anywhere, can you?" "Hmm, well, maybe Trottingham?" "Definitely not. Isn't that place run by Canterlot?" "Yes, but this isn't the doing of Canterlot, their armor is different." Sparks nodded. "Right, all sparkly golden and stuff. Yeah, maybe we could head there, but it's a while." "Hmm, what if we headed to Canterlot itself? its close enough." At this Sparks looked over and shook her head. "Coming from here, they'll want to know why their princess was held up, then they'll hold us under suspicioso reasons, and long story short we all fall in a cellar." "Darn, you're right." Dawn cursed under her breath, and sat down to think, until she got an idea. "I know! what about Ponyville? I've heard so much of it, what with all that Elements business and all that." "ooh, that sounds FUN! Sounds good to me! You lead the way, Dawn." Dawn got back up and flapped her wings a few times before backing up a few paces, asking Sparks, "Ready?" before she ran forward and jumped off into the air. Sparks was about to follow her when she saw a flash of movement on a nearby cloud, and screamed at Dawn, "LOOK OUT!" But it was too late, as the soldier popped out from behind the cover of a cloud, wielding a crossbow, and fired it at Dawn, striking her side and sticking there. She let out a cry and lost her focus, dropping like a stone through the air. She looked about, searching for something nearby to grab, but saw nothing. Her vision began to let out as blood flowed freely from the open wound. Sparks looked about franticly, then back at the soldier, who was loading another bolt. "Oh, this is crazy," she told herself before she dove down towards the soldier, flying into him and grabbing the crossbow, bringing it about and smashing it on his head, knocking him out. Turning back to Dawn, Sparks jumped off the cloud and left the soldier their, a large dent left on his helmet. Dawn could barely keep her eyes open, and she couldn't feel one of her wings. She tried to flap them and realized the bolt had gone through one, pinning it to her side. In a spite of panic, Dawn tries to flap harder, and cries out as part of her wing tears, though the bolt stubbornly stays there. Looking down, she sees the dark current of the ocean, smashing against the beach, and she thinks to herself, So this is it? I'm going to die by a load of water? Suddenly she feels hooves wrapping about her flank, trying to drag her up, and Dawn looks up to see Sparks trying to stay aloft, though she was doing a sorry job of it. They were still falling. Fast. Out of the corner of her vision, Dawn sees a form flying towards them, then there's another Pegasus there, helping Sparks lift her from the clutches of gravity, and together they flew around the town, thankfully not in the sight of any soldiers, and they land on the beach, setting Dawn down and trying to stand, or rather, the other pegasus, which Dawn saw as a stallion, was. Sparks flopped over onto her side, though she quickly remembers and gets back up, shaking the sand off before she inspects the wound. The stallion walks over as well, Widening his eyes when he sees the bolt. "she'll need a doctor for this," he says, and Sparks nods. Looking over at Dawn's face, she says, "It'll be fine, you're in safe hands with us now." and tries to smile, though she herself was not feeling on the most keen edge. Suddenly feeling tiresome, Dawn sets her head down and closes her eyes, drifting off.
Pilot TacoJune 6th, 1944 Our boat rocked as artillery fire from German positions rained down and splashed water around, soaking my clothes and those of my comrades. nearby I hear an explosion, and try to look over but cannot see the Higgins boat being struck by an explosive shell, blowing a hole in its hull and sending soldiers flying out the sides. This is utter chaos, I think, how are we still even here? Suddenly our boat lands on the shores, and the squad commander pulls out a whistle, blowing on it to urge us out of the now-open boat as the sights of many Germans' weapons focus on us. "Move, lads, MOVE!" our captain yells at us more, but then goes silent as his body is stitched up by machine gun fire, putting the pressure on me and my vulnerable comrades. I try my best to run to a nearby crater that had been blown in the ground by an artillery round, and crouch there for a few seconds before scrambling out and resuming my run along the beach. Suddenly I trip on loose sand, and fall face first into the ground. Behind me I hear another artillery round scream in and blow apart the boat I was only just in. By then I knew it was over. Meanwhile... "Okay spike, watch the library while I'm gone, i'll only be a few minutes!" Twilight calls out to her assistant, and Spike gives her a lazy salute before grabbing a broom to begin sweeping. Satisfied that Spike knew what to do, Twilight began to trot down a dirt path leading through the middle of Ponyville, past all the shops and bakeries and out the other side, running through a field and past a makeshift tree house, where she could hear laughter and screaming as 3 particular fillies tried all sorts of random ideas that would hopefully get them their cutie marks, so far with no success. Twilight pauses when she hears a small explosion, and looks over to see smoke rolling out of the windows and a slightly open door. "Nope! Cooking isn't our special talent either!" "Maybe because you put too much salsa in that sandwich!" "Then how did the oven explode?!" Twilight wonders if she should help them, but giving it a second thought she continues on her way, past Sweet Apple Acres, and towards a small copse of trees that she goes to when she wants to think about things. Reaching the copse, she takes a small path going into it, and finds herself in the familiar clearing that she recently began to visit. Suddenly she hears a loud humming noise, and quickly trots out of the trees and looks across the field where a bright light was emanating from nowhere. "Now what the hay is that?" She asks herself, then covers her eyes as the light begins to get brighter and brighter, until it pops, sending a small shock wave her way, knocking her off her hooves. Twilight quickly stands up, staggering a little as her head spins around in circles. She was just beginning to thing a little more straight when a taco comes out of nowhere and SPLAT! Lands on her head, staining her purple and pink mane with lettuce and bits of taco crust. "Great. Just GREAT! now i'll never get all this taco out of my hair!" Twilight begins ranting to great extent about how her mane is ruined by a taco when Derpy flies out from behind a cloud, wearing a sombrero and carrying a taco in one of her hooves. "Hey Twilight! I dropped one of my tacos when that light-thingy exploded, could you help me- oh, oops, heheh, sorry about that." She begins a zigzag approach to Twilight, who seemed to have blown all her steam off on the taco, and was trying to get it out of her hair. Landing, Derpy attempts to lend a hoof to Twilight's dilemma, but ends up smearing the crushed taco farther into her mane. "I can handle this, Derpy, just be more careful when you eat tacos on a cloud, okay? And why are you wearing a sombrero?" Twilight asked. "Don't you know? It's Cinco De Mayo!" Derpy exclaimed, then began to happily munch on the one intact taco. Twilight only sighs and asks Derpy to make it rain. Derpy happily obliges and flies up to the cloud she was just sitting on, and began to stomp on it, making water flow out of the cloud and onto Twilight, who begins again to try and remove bits of the taco from her mane, which stubbornly stays there. Off to the distance, unnoticed by everyone, something new had appeared where the light had once been. June 6th, 1944 "MOVE, Reginald!" I'm shaken out of my hopeless consciousness by the yelling of my friend Thomas, who shakes my shoulders and drags me to the cover of another crater. "This place, it is a death trap for us," I say, not noticing the pulsing light that is growing in front of us. Thomas notices, though , and prods me with his gun. "Hey, Reggy, Reggy, REGINALD. Look at that," I turn around and notice the light. Suddenly, I felt a light tugging, as if someone or something were pulling on my shirt, bringing me closer to the light. The battle stops momentarily as everyone turns their eyes to look at the spectacle. I don't even realize that i've walked out of the crater, towards the light, reaching out towards it. Farther up the beach, a German swings his machine gun around and opens fire on the light, afraid that it may be working or the allies, though the bullets stop when they reach the light, as if they hit a force field, and fly back towards the soldier, putting the bullets into him. The first struck his shoulder, the bullet blowing a small hole in it. The second strikes his gun and ricochets into the boot of one of his comrades, who curses and hops around. The fourth and fifth shoot directly into his chest, making hols the size of his thumb. The sixth ends his life, blowing through his head and dropping him to the ground. His comrades quickly back away from the scene, watching their teammate bleed out onto the floor of the bunker. Then, thinking the light as some demonic presence, they all raise their guns and fire repeatedly at the light, though they get similar results. Suddenly the bunker is empty of living people, and all gunfire ceased from there. suddenly the light glows brighter than ever, and grows in size until it engulfs Reginald, then reaches Thomas, who cries out and tries to scramble away from it, but his pack weighs him down, and he too is consumed by the light. Slowly the light covers the beach, the air, and much of the sea. Suddenly it pops, letting out a large shock wave that rocks the foundations of the bunkers and blows many of the Germans off their feet. An anti-tank gun tips over and lads on the soldier trying to load it, and it crushes his body, smashing it into the ground, spraying his blood everywhere. When they regained their composure, the Germans stood up, and looked along the beach, scanning for marines, tanks, anything, only to see that they had vanished along with the light. Omaha Beach was empty of allied forces. The Germans slowly let their gun barrels drop, and look around, confused about what to do next. Author's Note Hooray First chapter is out! Any constructive criticism would be appreciated, and I'm excited to say this when I look forward to see what happens next, because even I don't know!
Now lets see here...June 6th, 3026 Aircraft Carrier "PULL, lads!" our drill sergeant yelled at us, and we gave a mighty heave on the prickly rope that we used for tug-of-war, sending the other team staggering, though they quickly recovered and pulled back with equal force, even with more, pulling Swift's crew closer to the mid line. When these men started their work with the Navy, this particular team decided to choose nicknames for themselves, and they stuck with them for so long that even the narrator can't remember their original names. the other team suddenly jerked on the rope, and Robin, probably the youngest in the team, stumbled, and bumped into Swift, who slipped on an icy patch of metal, slipping over into the plating on the carrier. The remaining 5 men couldn't hold the rope long enough for Swift and Robin to get back on their feet, and the 8 on the other side kept pulling them close and close until they passed over the mid line. Giving up, the soldiers dropped the rope and helped Robin to his feet, who seemed to slip on the same patch of ice when he tried to regain his footing. After robin got up they jogged over to the other men and shook hands, though they couldn't much feel the other people, wearing gloves to wear off the cold and from rope burn. when they were done the opposing team wandered off to do something else, and Robin wandered off in the other direction with Swift and his men. "Man i'm tired, let's head back to the boat." Robin said. Raven, his closest brother, made some noise that no one even tried to understand, but they took it as an "Agreed" and they walked to the edge of the ship, hesitating for only a moment, then one after another, they jumped towards the dark, foreboding water. June 6th, 1944 The few German leaders that weren't brain-dead or discussing the light were organizing a head-count, having the bunkers sound off their dead or injured, using a runner from the fortifications. save the one that killed themselves (or did the light kill them? they shot themselves, but- never mind) in the end, only one bunker didn't sound off, one that was nearest the light. A few of the nearby soldiers walked in, expecting to see a bloodbath similar to that of the one in the dead bunker, but all they found was a floor populated only by shell casings, guns, and the cap of a single Private. Apart from those articles of no interest, the bunker was empty, with the soldiers inside nowhere to be found. Meanwhile, in Equestria... Twilight had finished getting the taco out of her hair, and Derpy had finished her taco, so Twilight busied herself wit drying her mane and fur, and Derpy made it her business to fly off and find a towel, no matter how much Twilight insisted she didn't need one. While Derpy flew a crooked path to Ponyville, Twilight sat down to reach into her saddlebag for a book, but then remembered, I left it at the library. Cursing herself to forget, she walked back to the trees she was in only moments ago, and began to make a list of the things that the Crusaders would need to replace their oven and repaint and repair the clubhouse, then write it down when she got home and give it to Applejack. She was so busy thinking about what color paint it should be this time that she didn't see the large shadow cast over her until it was too late. June 6th, 3026 Right before Robin hit the waves an invisible force caught him, and he sank slightly into an invisible mattress sitting on the deck of an as-of-yet unseen ship. While Swift and the rest of the team landed, Robin casually walked to somewhere, then not-so-casually bumped into the frame of a doorway, and quickly felt around for a lever until he found it and flicked it down, turning off the camouflage on the team's ship. Being a "Mini-Dreadnought" class battleship, it was meant to be manned by a small crew, but had enough guns to fight off a few patrol boats, if put to good use. Now lets take a bit of time out of this chapter to introduce everyone as they land, of whom I didn't already mention. there is Ordan, the field medic and engineer, and Limbo and Lance, two support soldiers that also signed on as brothers, coincidentally near the time as Raven and Robin. They aren't normally seen fighting during the day, if a battle were to befall them, though they run many cover operations, under the cover of night, though, personally, I think that's kind of creepy. ANYWAY... SEE YOU IN THE NEXT CHAPTER YAY! (terrible cliff hanger)
What happened to us?Author's Note Ok, before this chapter starts, I want to say something. For some reason I felt compelled to write this right after I published the last chapter, so say a few things about it. So saying "Meanwhile in Equetria" probably isn't the most accurate, because all three timelines are spread by either a few minutes or a few hours, so I may fix that if I can remind myself to. What happened to us? Equestria Reginald woke up slowly, opening his eyes then snapping them shut due to the glare from a bright sun overhead. Odd, He thought, I thought it was cloudy on Omaha, and more sandy... He snaps his eyes open, then swears when he forgets about the sun, and takes a few moments to let them adjust to the glare, then opens them fully and looks about him. He sat in a grassy field, stretching out for as long as he could see. Taking in more of his surroundings, he sees a few tanks sitting on the grass, some intact, others covered in sand, and one with a massive dent in its side, leaking water. A few soldiers were dropping their packs off their soldiers, then laying on them, while others stood alert, looking around for any Germans, in case this was some trick. A light breeze tickled Reginald's face, and he decided that enough people can be tense, so he took off his pack and set it down, feeling the weight leaving his shoulders. Hearing a buzzing noise, he looked up, and sees a few bombers flying overhead, as well as a few fighter planes. Suddenly he remembers Thomas, and looks around for him, but doesn't see him, so Reginald walks back to his pack and hoists it back on, deciding that it would leave no good to leave it there, and begins wandering the ranks of soldiers who were looking around, looking confused, and those trying to bail water out of their tanks. Seeing Thomas a distance off, Reginald begins walking over to him, but stops when the buzzing noise from the engines of planes gets louder ad louder, until Reginald notices a line of waterproof flares set down along a dirt path dug into the ground by tank treads, tailing off into the distance, then snaps his head up as the bomber touches down on the runway, bouncing for a bit before leveling out, drifting along the runway, and as Reginald watches it go, he sees that a few of the planes had already been landed. Continuing his walk he reaches Thomas. "How're you doing, Reggy?" Thomas asks Reginald, and He replies, "I guess I was out for a while, and woke up here. Got any idea where we are and why you're next to the runway?" "Well for one, nobody knows, and for two, i'm here because I like to watch them land." "Well then, stay careful at least." And with that, Reginald walks off to where a line of tanks were set up, and soldiers were using the barrels as racks for their packs. Hanging his on one, Reginald again feels the liberty of being free from the weight of his pack, and wanders off into the camp, but always keeping close to the runway in case he needed to grab Thomas and run. Somewhere definitely nearby... Twilight notices the shadow cast over her and turns around, and screams as Derpy barrels into her and knocks her to the ground, who then puts a hoof in her mouth to quiet her down. "SHH! Don't you hear it? the sound that the metal birds make?" Derpy asks her in an anxious voice. Confused, Twilight replies, "No," and listens a little more carefully, just then noticing the faint noise going out through the air. gently pushing Derpy off her, she rises to her hooves and walks out of the trees, listening for the source. Oddly, it seemed to be coming from everywhere in the air, but mostly toward where she had seen the light. "What metal birds, Derpy? I don't see any-" "THOSE!" Derpy points off to the distance, and Twilight follows her hoof, and sees light reflecting off of some Thing Flying through the air, many of them, actually. Moving closer, Twilight could see that they were colored differently too, some green, others silver, and one or two blue. Suddenly the bush next to her sneezes, and she almost jumps out of her nonexistent socks, then peers over at the suspicious shrubbery. "Hello? Who's in there? Show yourself!" Twilight calls out to the bush, and Derpy gives out a little laugh, finding it kind of funny to talk to a bush. "Darnit, Scootaloo! Wah do you have to have an allergy to bushes?" "Because I do, okay?" "Uhh, girls? I think Twilight's trying to talk to us..." One after another three familiar faces pop out of the bush, and wander over to sit in front of Twilight, and look up at her, waiting for a scolding, or a reason why little fillies like them shouldn't be out here alone. But Twilight did no such thing. "um, girls? Why are you out here? Don't you have school, or some cleaning up to do?" After she finishes her sentence, the Crusaders look down and hide their faces. But then Scootaloo looks up and answers, "No, we were on an adventure trying to get our Cutie Marks! We heard a boom and saw those giant birds flying around in the air, and we decided that if there was anything odd enough to get our minds off of recent things that happened that we won't tell you about then it would be those!" Twilight could easily enough guess what the recent thing that happened was, and didn't touch on the topic further. After a small lecture about keeping clean and not hiding in bushes, Twilight, Derpy, and the three Crusaders walked off towards the big metal birds, not noticing two pairs of eyes watching their movements from a nearby, much larger bush. Then, one of the eyes shuddered, and a sneeze was heard, fortunately not by Twilight or anypony else. "Damn leaf allergies." Another Author's note: I got a really stupid idea to color-code the speaking parts, and i'll try that out next chapter, but only for that one, because it may just be a stupid idea, and no one does that anyway, but why not?
When the future collides with past-timesJune 6th, 3026 That was any normal day for Robin, Swift and his friends. Wake up, have breakfast, do a few competitive exercises, and be off. At least, it was normal until Raven got a letter. Opening it, he raised his eyebrows, and walked into the room where everyone was lounging around, and read it out loud: "To those it may concern on the USS Vulger, You will be receiving two new crew-mates due to their ship being sunk under certain circumstances. Knowing you lot, you'll all try to give them these "Nicknames" you all call yourselves by, and frankly, we don't care, as long as they don't either. Godspeed, Captain Michael Wayfarer "Well then," Said Ordan. "Let's think of a name!" And so the screw of the USS Vulger got themselves so engrossed in trying to name their new crew-mates that they didn't hear the light footsteps walking along the deck until their was a sharp knocking on the door. The men momentarily broke their huddle, and Lance walked over and pushed the door open to reveal two soldiers, packs over their backs, waiting outside. "Well then, I take it you two are our new men?" Lance asked. "Aye, sir, Private Timothy and Private first class Gerald, reporting for work on the USS, Vulger, was it?" one of them replied. "Yes, and don't be so formal, just call me Lance." "Aye, sir, I mean, Lance." Lance inwardly slapped himself on the face before turning back to the rest of his team. "Have we thought of anything yet?" He asked. "Yeah, I saw a documentary on birds the other day, how about Sparrow and Falcon?" Robin suggests. "Works for me," said Raven. "Fits my name too." And it was settled. Timothy and Gerald didn't mind, and timothy used to be a birdwatcher, so things worked out with that part. June 7th, 3026 Lance was walking along the deck with Limbo, Sparrow was playing chess with Ordan, and Falcon was taking a nap, while god knows what Robin and Raven were doing with Swift at the carrier. "And... Checkmate!" Sparrow moved his rook forward triumphantly as he completed a trap on Ordan, ending the game they were working on, when suddenly a bullet, out of nowhere, blew through the window and shot out the rook, quickly followed by more that tore apart the game board and all the pieces. Sparrow ducked for cover while Ordan ran into the steerage bay and called out for Lance and Limbo on the radio. Sparrow crawled over to the emergency radio and sounded the alarm to the aircraft carrier, then stopped as bullets began to fly in again and ricochet around. Seeing enemy planes flying overhead and hearing Ordan getting anxious on the radio, Lance and Limbo ran to the anti-aircraft weapons on the port and starboard sides of the ship, attaching ammunition belts and railing rounds off at the enemy planes, meanwhile receiving fire from said planes. Ordan, having gotten over the fact that the ships were under fire, revved up the engine on the battleship and steered it towards the carrier, meaning to draw the fire from it to them to give the planes on the carrier enough time to take off. Unfortunately, only two were manning the 4 available turrets, and weren't getting much attention, until Falcon woke up to the screaming of a Machine gun firing Plasma shots through the hull and next to his bed, to which he hopped out of and put his boots on, then ran to the center of the ship, slipping on a loose cartridge sitting conveniently on the deck. Getting up, he continues his dash towards the steps leading up, past the Steerage deck, and above it, where a missile targeting system was waiting. The previous night Ordan had pulled out a blueprint of the battleship and went over almost every single part of the ship with Sparrow and Falcon, and what procedures were to be followed, such as in the case of what was happening now. Reaching the third anti-aircraft turret, Falcon had the unfortunate luck to be spotted by an enemy fighter, who spun his sights toward Falcon and opened fire, stitching up the deck with bullets, one of them getting Falcon in the knee, who cried out and fell to the deck, just feet from the turret. Robin, Raven, and Swift. The only three people not on their battleship when they struck, but when the fighters did come, needless to say, they were surprised. They were sitting on the edge of the ship staring out into nowhere, when a Fighter materialized out of thin air and dropped two bombs behind them, blowing sizable dents in the carrier, and sending Swift tumbling over the edge, who was caught by Robin, who then fell and was caught at the feet by Raven, who began slipping until 4 or 5 crew men ran over and caught him by the belt, and pulled the two soldiers back on board. They thanked the crewmen, who ran off to battle stations, and looked around themselves. Planes were in the air everywhere, most of them enemy, but a few interceptors from battleships and smaller carriers as well, though it was a sorry battle for them. The invaders were well prepared, and were firing out deadly shots of plasma from their guns, melting holes into the planes' armor and sending them spiraling toward the water. Robin called up the Vulger, and got a reply from Sparrow, but was cut off when he saw a fighter dive in and fire a quick burst where he knew the radio was, but seeing the ship still intact, he dove toward it, followed by Swift and Raven. When they landed, Robin ran up to the control deck where Ordan was, steering the ship towards the carrier but making a zigzag path to avoid bombs and other fire from the sky. The radio on the bridge popped on and the carrier sent out a message: "To all battleships still seaworthy, make your way to the docking area to recover from enemy fire, we will have repairmen waiting to fix damaged hulls." Ordan ended his crooked line and went full steam towards the rear of the carrier, where the docks were. Normally A sheet of steel plating would be covering this weak spot, but on the captain's message the plating was raised and ships were trying to dock, though many were bombed on and destroyed before they could land. One would think that the Vulger Got lucky, but they were able to land under the cover of allied fire, and though their ship was only lightly damaged, repairmen came out bearing a new radio, refills on ammunition, and a new chess set. How thoughtful. Suddenly part of the dock explodes in fire as a fighter barrels in and crashes, "Landing" on a nearby battleship and blowing up part of the dock, sending the repairmen flying, and sending the chess set trailing into the water. "NOOOO!" Sparrow cried out as he saw the chess set fly into the ocean from his perch on the turret, but spied a pile of extra chess pieces and boards sitting next to the doorway leading to the rest of the carrier. Abandoning his turret for the most pointless thing on a battleship, he runs along the deck and hops to the dock. Sprinting past the fire and plasma eating away the ship's plating, he covers the 50 meters to the chess sets in 10 seconds flat, grabs a set, and sprints back to the battleship. hopping aboard, he tosses it into a cupboard and runs back to his turret, spins up the weapons, and resumes spewing fire from the barrels of his turret. Unnoticed by everyone, the cupboard where the chess set lies had begun to glow a soft blue, and if you were watching you would see the light spreading around the ship, onto the dock and towards the carrier, to which some of the crewmen notice and try to run away from it while others attack it with blowtorches, to no avail. Sparrow had spent his last cartridge of ammunition and was running down to the deck to grab more when he notices the light covering the battleship. He begins walking away from the ever-growing light, and slips on a loose chess piece, ironically the white king. He falls over and cracks his head on the hard, metal floor and is out like a light. Minutes later the battle is halted for only seconds as the carrier is enveloped in a bright blue glow, then the light grows brighter and brighter, until it snaps, sending a shock wave along the water, rocking the waves and giving massive turbulence To the enemy and allied fighters alike, sending some spiraling to the waves while others recover with just enough time to fly off and stay in the air. Anyone looking at the super-carrier when the light went off, which was everyone, was blinded, and when they looked back the carrier was gone, along with pretty much every ship docked on it. Author's Note The steerage deck, control deck and bridge are all the same place, I just cycled through three different names until I remembered the real name for it.
And he thought he was being Promoted...Timothy was having a good day, no, A GREAT day. in fact, this was the day he was being called up to the bridge of the USS Parliment to discuss some things with the captain, which he assumed was a promotion. He would finally be able to move out of the bunk rooms where all the lower-ranked officers and crewmen were, and eat with higher-ranked officers that held at least some power. So he reaches the door to the bridge and was raising his hand to the doorknob when BOOM! A massive explosion rocks the compound and throws Timothy off his feet, sending him spiraling towards the hard floor. Funny thing, his head reaches it first instead of his feet, and a hard SMACK! could be heard down the halls, followed by a long line of cursing, as Timothy rose to his feet and reaches toward the door again. fixing his hair, he turns the knob and pushes the door inward into the bridge, but stops when he sees the door is enveloped in a blueish glow. Shrieking, he jumps back and into a crewman running by, who tumbles into him, but then is carried backward by Timothy's momentum, and down a painfully long set of stairs, which ends with another hard, metal floor that both Timothy and the crewman crash into, then the door that stupidly was left ajar by the crewman that Timothy had bumped into, which sends them back out onto the Deck of the Carrier. Sadly, it was at that moment an enemy fighter let loose a burst from one of its cannons, sending a blast of energy sailing down onto the deck where Timothy lay. Luckily, the crewman had regained his wits, and hopped up to drag Timothy from the shot. Sadly, he was only strong enough to pull him about 3 feet from where the shot connected to the plating of the carrier, and the heat splashed over Timothy's legs, burning them quite badly, and making Timothy himself scream quite loudly, to which the crewman just smacked him on the head with whatever he could find, which at the moment was a rather large shoe with a steel tip, giving Timothy a sure concussion and knocking him out cold. It was then that The crewman noticed the light spreading about the ship, and could only watch as it- you know what? I've been over what happens. In fact, the news that Timothy was going to receive from the captain himself was a reassignment to the Kitchen staff, which had just suffered the loss of a cook after his fingers were sliced off in an accident regarding a knife and a fairly large fish. Meanwhile... Equestria, Somewhere quite close to the outskirts of the human encampment... When she saw the humans with her own eyes, and not from the horror stories that Shining Armor told her as a filly, Twilight decided she didn't want to be seen by any of them, regardless of if they were sleeping, walking around, or sitting on top of one of those massive green Things. She backs back into the bush she was sitting in a little farther, just to be safe, and was about to propose to the Crusaders that she should be on their way when she hears a loud popping noise, followed by a loud crash that reverberated around the land and even woke Luna up in Canterlot, followed THEN by the largest and most terrifying earthquake Twilight ever had to be caught in. She stumbled around in the bush and watched as the Crusaders tumbled over each other and around with her, sometimes out into the open, but at the moment that was the least of her worries, though after only a few seconds the aftershocks of the quakes stopped, and Twilight snapped her head around, looking for the source of the quaking. Looking off into the distance, she could see a massive silver thing sitting near to Sweet Apple Acres, sun glinting off the metal of multiple appendages just sticking out of the thing, seemingly at random. Looking over, Twilight checks on the Crusaders, looking for broken bones, and after thankfully finding nothing more than a few embarrassed moans, looks back up to the thing resting by Applejack's home. "Now how am I going to explain this to Celetia?" Twilight wonders, Before being tapped on the head by something soft and rough at the same time, followed by a line of words that Twilight understood, but seemed foreign at the same time: "Now what in the hell do you think this is, Thomas?" Twilight looks around behind her to see that during the shaking, she had slipped out of the bush and into the open. Where the humans could see her. Oh no.
Time for IntroductionsThe general time Now That moment Robin opened his eyes and screamed. Not for any apparent reason why, maybe because he couldn't feel anything beneath his feet, or because he couldn't smell the ocean anymore, or maybe just because he was falling. Luckily the screaming cut off when he hit the ground about ten feet later, and grunted as his back touches down. Robin lay still for a few moments, trying to contemplate what was going on, then looked sideways and saw a sloping level of dirt leading off into a copse of trees. At the time that he was in, teleportation did not exist, though he was beginning to think the military had started some top secret project about it and didn't tell anyone, but soon gave that idea away to silliness, but again began to wonder, where was he? Hearing a loud, ground-shaking (hah, literally) thump he looks over and sees the Parliament resting on the ground a few dozen feet away, and looking closer he sees the opening where the Vulger now sat. Well, this is going to be interesting, Robin thinks to himself, then gets up and dusts himself off, beginning the short walk to his ship. Reaching it, he wanders around and around until he finds the small hatch, partially buried in the ground, and he realizes, "OH CRAP THE RUDDER!" Robin begins to franticly dig into the surprisingly soft dirt, until he reaches a mass of jagged, bent metal sitting underneath the hatch. He gives out a small groan, wondering how this will come out in his official report. Reginald thought that, since there were no people looking for him and basically nothing else to do, he might as well get to know his surroundings, besides the fact that they were now lost, surely and completely. He made his way back to where he had left his pack, gathered up his Tommy gun and his helmet, and jogged off to who knows where. After a few minutes of running aimlessly, he sees a familiar shape sitting a ways off, bringing back memories of the harbor he lurked about in before his departure to Normandy, and he gave it the weirdest look before muttering to himself, "The heck is an aircraft carrier doing inland?" He left himself to his thoughts as he resumes his run, though this time with a bit more energy in it, eager to find out what was going on. Twilight knew it. They were screwed. she saw it in the way these strange creatures looked at them that they were screwed. The worst part was, the Crusaders knew it too. Then, Shit happened. It happened in the most improbable way, in the form of PINEAPPLES!!! Pineapples began to appear out of nowhere and fall from the sky, rattling helmets and denting the ground where they landed, and Scootaloo was just unfortunate enough that her head fell in the path of one. "OUCH!" she cried out as it struck her forehead, and she toppled over. Assessing the situation as something unexplainable, and seeing as those creatures were occupied with the storm, Twilight decided it was time to get to shelter. She found the Crusaders attempting to hide in the bush they were previously in, having dragged Scootaloo in by the mane, and were receiving a surprising amount of hail from the heavens. She scooped them up in her magic and galloped back the way she had come, towards any bit of cover she could find, which unfortunately was little, but when she saw a massive, shiny thing sticking up out of nowhere, she thought it would suffice to her needs, and changed her course for it, not honestly caring how it got there, though she was stopped moments later by a trippy root, which she tripped on, then--Karma be cursed--A pineapple came down and landed on her horn, sending a shock through her head and making her faint, dropping the Crusaders on the ground next to her. The last thought she could let out of her slipping mind was, "What the biscuits is this madness...?" Robin saw it coming before he knew what it was, but since something was coming down, he hastily opened the hatch and let himself in, just in time to see the odd object come down on the door splattering a yellow fluid everywhere. Robin waits for a few moments, and seeing as nothing else had come down (yet) he slowly opens the hatch again and is greeted by a sweet smell, one that is probably the most familiar thing beside seeing the Vulger since he hit the ground. He reaches his hand out and wipes it over the sticky liquid and brings his finger up to his mouth, breaking out in a satisfied grin as he realizes, Pineapple, but quickly closes the door again as another drops into the ground a few feet from the hatch, then another and another, quickly turning into a rain of pineapples. "What the hell? There has to be an explanation for this..." says Robin to himself before he wanders about the interior of the beached destroyer, noticing the bodies of some of his crew mates, and wakes up Ordan from a midday nap on the console, telling him to get the electricity running. Ordan nods and runs off to the engineering bay, checking the circuits and is dismayed to find a few circuits had shorted out in whatever event had happened. Robin walks around to the hatchway leading toward the deck, takes a deep breath, and throws it open, bolting out and running to the AA gun placements, dodging pineapples and finding Lance slumped behind the turret, with a small bruise forming in his hair, and quickly drags him inside, bringing him down to his bunk where he lets him sleep it off, then lets his weary feet lead him to his, where he flops down and falls asleep under the weight of staying up late and the rain of pineapples. Reginald was now very close to the carrier when something clanked against his helmet, the force sending him off-balance and owards the ground. His grip loosens on his tommy gun and it bounces a few feet in front of him, so he quickly gathers himself up and runs forward, grabbing his tommy gun as he resumes his pace, now looking in the air for any more falling objects, which there were many of. Coming to a massive opening in the front of the carrier, he runs in, seeing bodies, tools and chess pieces alike laying about, though a few of them were quietly moaning on the ground or trying to regain their feet. One did, and staggers over to a control panel, attempting to sound an alarm for medics, but the console refused to power up, so he begins a groggy walk down the corridors to the infirmary to find medical supplies. Reginald looks on with a weary suspicion, eying the strange uniforms until his eyes come to rest on the patch of an American flag on one of the men's arms. he sets down his gun and runs over, helping him to his feet, then another, kicking knights around and stumbling upon the occasional pawn. The men give him weird looks, not exactly knowing why one would dress up in world war 2 attire, but don't say anything, just glad for the help from the one person apparently not on a hangover.
The Run-on sentenceAuthor's Note Okay two things. First, I lost my marbles, second, I am amazingly tired and made the mistake of deleting my old Notes, so fun! Also, I don't know where I'm going with this anymore, so if there is anyone else still reading this, then suggestions would be thought upon! (not immediately accepted because, well, reasons.) The Run-on sentence Luna was enjoying a warm cup of tea, sitting on her balcony, overlooking the kingdom. She gazed over the green landscape that was Equestria, the ridge-line that hid the train tracks leading to Ponyville from sight. as her gaze followed them, she smiled as her eyes came to rest upon the peaceful town, remembering her first Nightmare Night. looking on, she takes another sip, smiling at the taste. Suddenly she jumps as a small rumble shakes her room, but she quickly calms down and laughs at herself, taking another sip. Luna's guards sat just outside her door, lightly resting on the halberds they wielded, but snapped to attention to see a familiar and not so happy Celestia galloping up to them. "Out of my way," she said angrily. "I need to speak with that annoying child I call my sister!" The guards hastily opened the doors, and Celestia stomped inside, slamming the door behind her. "LUNA!!" Celestia yells out, drawing a curious glance from her sister, but Luna does other other than say, "You could have opened up by saying 'hello,' Tia." "This isn't a time for jokes, Luna, and this time I think you pushed it a bit far, don't you?" Luna looks over and gives her sister a more serious look, setting down the tea and turning her body over to face her. "Tia, what do you think I did? I haven't caused any shenanigans since yesterday." "Then how do you explain THIS?!" Celestia brings over a mirror and casts a spell over it, showing a grassy field not far from Sweet Apple Acres. Turning it to Luna, she sees the land is dotted with small, yellow splotches and numerous, eh, things. Luna looks up and gives her sister a startled look, asking "Are those pineapples?!" "Yes, Luna, they are." "Can you tell me why you think I would be behind this?" "Because it certainly isn't normal, and I don't think Cadance has gone mad yet." "She does not have to be insane to do this." "Neither do you." "But I didn't!" "Then WHO DID? This is obviously impacting the wildlife, and if this goes on for much longer, then the whole of Equestria may be in a crisis!" Luna shrugged, trying to regain her cool, which at the moment was about to run away, and said, "Maybe this 'crisis' will sort itself out. maybe its like an on-off switch, something that happends on its own but goes away." Celestia gave her sister a look that said "Yeah right," and replied, "So if it WAS like an on-off switch, how long do you think these intervals would last?" Luna could only shrug. She held no power over falling pineapples. "Minutes, maybe. Hours, days, maybe even- or maybe just that long." Luna looked out her balcony again to see the rain had stopped. No pineapples in the sky, the land now more yellow than its previous shades, and a noticable amount of damage done to windows. Celestia caught the look and followed her gaze, gasping at the sudden stop in downfall. "It seems our problem may have solved itself, sister. I'll talk with the council about this later." She turned and made to leave, but, remembering something, suddenly turned and gave her sister a sudden whack it the head with one of her pillows off her bed, surprising Luna, who at the moment was attempting a sip at her tea, from which she spat out the balcony. "AND NEXT TIME LEAVE MY SINK ALONE!!! IT WAS FINE WITHOUT ALL THE LIQUID CHEESE IN IT!!!" Celestia turned again and quickly trotted out, leaaving her sister dumbfounded on her balcony, who moments later broke out in laughter, stopping when she dropped her tea and splashed it on her flank. "Oh, dear..." she muttered, examining the stain and picking herself up to make for her shower. This was certainly going to be a long day. Several hours later Lance awoke in his bed, not remembering how he got there and frankly not caring. What he did care about was his brother. "LIMBO!" He yelled out, stumbling on a loose bullet rolling on the floor. Making his way out of the bunk room, he stumbles around inside for a moment, fumbling with the latch and opens the doorway, finding his brother laying on the deck and runs over to him, checking his pulse and, when finding one, lets out his breath, giving the bruise on Limbo's face a look but dismisses it. Turning back to Limbo, Lance shakes him a little, and Limbo rolls over, muttering, "Bugger off, Lance, it's past 9." "No it's not, Limbo, now get your ass up," Lance reaches down to grab his shoulder and roll him over, but Limbo swats his hand off and says, "lies." Sighing, Lace slowly gets up and walks over to a nearby sink just inside the doorway, opening the cupboard and pulling out a bucket, turning on the tap and filling the bucket. That being done, Lance walks back to Limbo, carrying the bucket. Tipping it ever so slightly, he lets the water trickle down, down to Limbo's head, soaking his hair and drizzling over his cheek. Lance tips it back and keeps much of the water inside the bucket. Limbo gives out a small groan but does nothing other than that. "You brought this on yourself," Lance says, and dumps the rest of the water, splashing it on Limbo's head, and he screeches, jumping to his feet and wiping his face, stopping to slap Lance, glaring at him. "Goddamit Lance! I was having the best- oh hey, what the hell?" Limbo observes the landscape, just now seeing the lack of water. "I was wondering that too," says Lance, not turning and instead facing a familiar sight. "At least the Parliament Followed us here. Limbo turns around, looking at the supercarrier, then remembers something. "y'know, I think Swift, Raven and Robin are all aboard. Do you think they're alright?" Limbo turns and gives him a look that says, "You serious mate?" "Yeah, they'll be fine." Just then Robin decides to make himself known. He had been leaning on the door frame, looking at them with his tired gaze. Though he had slept a while, he still felt a bit tired, probably form the stress of not knowing the fate of his brother. "Hey lads, sleep well?" Lance turns and gives him a lazy thumbs up. "Sure, did you tuck me in?" "I'll leave that question unanswered." "Have it your way. Hey, how'd you get on board? The power's out, and I get the feeling the mattress was torn." "Walked in the front door." Lance gives him a funny look, but says nothing else about it, instead asking, "Do you know where we are?" Robin simply shrugs. "No idea, but if I had to guess I would say, uhh, not Earth. Nothing can possibly be this perfect in that pollution-ridden world." "Maybe an alternate dimension?" Limbo drops in. "Whatever it may be," Robin says "It can't be much worse from how we are now." Obviously, he jinxed it. Robin suddenly stopped and listened as he heard a small moaning coming from somewhere, tensing his muscles in the case of an ambush. Lance and Limbo see the movement but stay relaxed, confident in their current security. Honing in on the source, Robin climbs the ladder leading to the Missile Turrets, finding a sorry-looking Falcon laying on the ground, clutching his knee. He rushes over, helping Falcon to his feet and slinging his arm over his shoulders, carrying him to the slower, much more convenient elevator leading back down to the main room, and Lance runs back inside with Limbo on his heels. Robin holds Falcon while Lance and Limbo clear a table top, and Falcon continues to be useless by making pitifully painful noises every so often. After the table is cleared, Robin runs to the infirmary to find first aid supplies, and Lance calls Ordan over the intercom, calling him down to the scene. Limbo keeps pressure on the injury and tries to calm Falcon, though there isn't much he can do other than cover the injury with a cushion. Ordan rushes in moments after Robin jogs in with a jumble of supplies and bandages and such, and Ordan runs over, grabbing a needle filled with morphine, turning to Falcon. Flicking the needle for effect, he then plunges the needle into a vein on Falcon's arm, making him yelp but goes silent as the morphine takes over. Robin puts the set down, and Ordan takes a cloth from it, slipping it over Falcon's eyes before getting to work. Robin steps back and runs a hand through his hair. "So it can get worse than we were..."
Eagle's Flight12 miles from Canterlot Somewhere in the Austeer Empire 20 minutes later The day the gates opened was the day it happened. But i'm going to far ahead in the story, so i'll start with now. Tainted Dawn was resting her head on the window sill, drooping her front hooves over the edge, sitting on her bed with a bored look on her face. Staring off into the distance, she focused on the castle nestled at the bottom of a looming mountain, its snow-capped ridges threatening to topple over and cover the city with snow and rocks. She sighed with inward contempt, not really caring about anything in the world other than if the doors would open today. A few days ago an announcement went out around the empire that after years of closure, the gates of the castle would open, letting any pony in, be it poor or rich. Of course, After the news had spread many families packed traveling bags and packed out to make it in time to witness the gates opening, though Tainted Dawn had the luck of living in the same city. Today was, of course, the day all the ponies in the empire had marked on their calendars, not only because of the gate-opening, but also because an important treaty was to be signed by the neighboring Canterlot empire, ending the tension that had settled itself over the ponies of the Austeer empire. No one wanted a war to break out, though it seemed that at the rate things had been going, one could only be imminent, if not for this event. Dawn flinched as her brother, Dusk, opened her door and set down beside her, laying one of his hooves over her back. "Today might just be the day, Dawn." He said, and Dawn replied, "Maybe." and went back to staring at the landscape. It's so beautiful, Dawn thinks, gazing over the thatched roofs and following the cobbled roads, watching the Earth ponies and Unicorns trot down the streets, mingling amongst each other as they make for the massive stone bridge, separating the rest of the town from the spired castle. The Pegasi had promised clear skies today, but a wind was picking up, making the flags and banners flap in the wind as they hang from numerous door signs and posts alike. Wind blows in through the open window, and Dawn shivers, sending small ripples through her dark fur and ruffling her feathers. Dusk stands up and says, "I'm going to meet up with our brothers by the bridge, will you be in the air?" Dawn looks over and gives him a small nod, replying, "Sure, better to get a bird's eye view than to be stuck in a crowded space with no breathing room. Yeah, i'm thinking i'll be in the air." And with that she stands up and opens her wings, letting the wind run through them before she jumps off and begins flapping them, taking to the skies, swirling around and dodging clouds until she finds the proper height to view the opening. She gazes around, overlooking numerous clouds that seem promising, until she spots one, hanging far overhead of the bridge, and she flies toward it, coming to rest on it. She tucks her wings on her back and looks over the crowd, looking for her other brothers, of which Dusk would also be with. She spots them near the back of the ever-growing mass of ponies, giving them a small wave, even though she knew they wouldn't see her. That is, until Dusk looks up and waves back, and she smiles inwardly, turning her gaze over to the gates once more. Dusk saw her, and waved back, smiling up at her until he hears trumpets and looks behind him, seeing a yellow, sparkling speck in the distance. As he watched it grew larger, forming into the shape of a pegasus-drawn chariot, and sitting upon the seat was the representative of the Canterlot empire, Princess Celestia herself! Dusk gaped as a booming voice called out from the castle walls. "MAKE WAY FOR PRINCESS CELESTIA!!!" And the crowd parted on the bridge, some sitting on the small walls alongside the bridge, others clearing off of it to make room for a landing, and Dusk continued to gape with his brothers as the great doors, closed for years without end, finally opened, allowing the princess passage into the castle of the Austeer Empire. The princess flew in, and ponies were about to move for the gates when they closed again, causing confusion, and even more so when A great barrier was raised, turning the castle a light yellow tint. As Dusk and his brothers continued to watch, behind the shield they could make out numerous guards rushing about the ramparts, bearing crossbows and ballistae pieces, assembling the defences for the castle. "What the buck?!" Dusk cried out, and one of his brothers kicked his flank, muttering something under his breath before saying, "Is that it?" Other ponies began to curse under their breath or walk around, talking under their breathe, generally expressing their anger in the second quietest way possible. Dusk was about to say something when the sky turned suspiciously red, and before he could say anything else, a massive fireball pounded into the bridge. Dawn was watching the shield, wondering why that would be needed in a diplomatic time, when she saw a large, flaming ball of death fly over a mountain and land on the bridge, blowing it apart. She gasped as ponies were tossed into the air, some with burned bur, others in torn pieces and misshapen lumps of flesh. Those that did not fall into the water were thrown to either side of the moat, some landing on top of houses, others hitting the shield and bouncing off to some to a sicking crunch on the cobblestones. Getting over her shock, Dawn looked down to where her brothers were, and found them, running to and fro, helping ponies on their feet and trying to move those on their side towards the buildings, when another fireball arced in and landed near them, blasting more ponies and setting houses ablaze. One of Dawn's brothers was in the epicenter of the explosion, and she could only watch in horror as his body was blown to pieces, burning like a torch. She looked away and hid her face in her hooves, trying hard not to cry, but found tears rolling down her cheeks, and she buried her face in the cloud, trying to hide from the chaos. Dusk was helping a group of fillies to the town hall when he saw the second fireball come down on his brother, blowing him to bits and ending the lives of many others. "No! Brixton!" He cried out, and his other brothers looked up from hearing the sound of their brother's name, and realizing his fate, shocked looks came over their faces. Dusk ran over to where he had seen his brother, to find any evidence, any hope that he was still alive, but all he found was the charred remains of unrecognizable body parts, and he let out a sob before running back to his brothers, tears welling up in his eyes. When he got back, his brothers were making for the Town hall with the fillies, and he galloped after them, vaguely hearing more explosions in the background. When he reached the doors of the hall, he ran inside and searched for his siblings, finding them in a corner, trying to keep the fillies together, which wasn't a problem seeing as all they wanted to do was huddle under a table cloth in a corner. Other ponies were milling about, quickly talking back and forth about the current events. As he approached them one of his brothers saw him approaching and split from the group, trotting over to him with an angry look in his eyes. "What the buck is going on?! Why aren't the princesses doing anything about this?" Dusk gave him a weary look and replied through sobs, "I don't *sob* know, Tarrel. Maybe *sob* hey just don't *sob* care anymore." and with that last part Dusk leaned in to embrace his brother, and Tarrel's face softened as he caught him, then saw something over Dusk's shoulder. "Oh no." Dusk looked at him through teary eyes, then turned around to see multiple ponies wearing grey-plated armor, swords drawn, slowly advancing towards the group of ponies gathered in the hall. Dusk took one look at the weapons and his face hardened, replacing his sadness with a burning anger, and he made for the soldiers but was pushed aside by Tarrel, who strode up to them and looked the leading soldier in the eyes. "What the buck is going on?!" He asked. "Why isn't the princess trying to help us?" The leader looked at him with a blank stare, and replied, "We do not work for the princess." Dusk got the idea quicker than Tarrel did, and called out, "Tarrel get back!" But it was too late, and Dusk watched in horror as the soldier swung his sword around, slicing into Tarrel's neck and cutting deep into it, causing a sudden spurt of blood when he hit a vein. Tarrel tried to skirt back whilst gurgling out incoherent phrases, but the soldier moved with him, tugging the sword out and bringing it down on Tarrel's head, splitting his forehead open and snapping his neck to the side. Dusk gasped as blood began to well out of his brothers' neck and head, and again when the guard brought his sword out again and stabbed it forward, into Tarrel's heart and ensuring his death. His body fell towards the ground, his head cracking against the hard wood floor, and settled on it, blood spilling out of the wound, pooling on the floor. Dusk backed away, toward his remaining brother, and told him, "Get the back door open!" His brother nodded and ran towards the back door, but one of the soldiers saw the movement and drew his bow out, raising it above the heads of his comrades and let loose. It soared towards him, cutting the air and whistling past Dusk's ears, causing him to duck and turn to follow its flight. It came closer and closer to Dusk's brother, digging into his left leg and breaking his kneecap, and he fell to the floor, crying out. The leader nodded to the archer, and he lowered his bow, bringing up a small dagger, saying, "Anyone who gets in the way is dead," with such certainty that when he walked towards the fallen stallion the crowd parted without an upstander. "well, they already are-" one soldier began to speak up, but was stopped by one of his comrades, but the damage was done. The silence was broken as a citizen began to scream and run for the doors, and slowly more and more ponies got the idea and ran from the soldiers, some calling out, "WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE!!!" while others just screamed and ran. the lead soldier smacked a hoof over his face, almost certain that at this rate some might escape, and commanded his comrades to "kill them all!" until an explosion blew the back door to pieces, caving in that part of the town hall as a fireball blew up on it, blocking in the remaining citizens. The citizens turned around fearfully, looking into the eyes of their doom. And the bloodbath began. The soldiers dove into the mass of ponies, swinging their swords left and right, slicing into flanks and stabbing with coordinated abandon, careful not to stay too close to one another. Dusk was standing in the open floor, no being stabbed at or run through, so he had about an instant to himself to think before somepony saw him. He peered around a corner where he saw a shivering table clloh and began to moe for it, stopping when he sees a soldier advancing towards it, a small smile on his face. Angered by their lack of mercy, Dusk picks up a knife from the floor with his magic and makes for the soldier, but stops when he sees his last brother half galloping, half stumbling towards the soldier, attempting to tackle him but instead tumbling into him. The soldier falls to the floor with him, and Dusk watches in amazement as his brother tries to throw weak punches into the soldier's face, and the soldier gives out small grunts while he fumbles with his sword. Snapping out of his stare, Dusk resumes his pace, this time aiming to help his brother take down the soldier when the soldier gets a hold of his sword, swinging it around into his brother's flank, and he cries out and stops the assault. "NO!" Dusk cries out and rushes over, in a rage stabbing the knife into the soldier's eye, making him scream in pain and switch on the floor, and Dusk draws it out and stabs it home again and again, until the knife is bloody to the handle and the soldier no longer has eyes, or a single jawbone. Dropping the knife, Dusk looks over to his brother, who is still breathing, but weakly. Dusk begins to try and calm him, but his brother holds a hoof up, pointing to the table cloth. "Get them out of here," he says weakly, and suddenly gasps in air, taking a last, haggard breath before his eyes glaze over, and his hoof drops to the floor. Trying and failing to fight away tears, Dusk gets up and trots over to the table cloth, drawing it up to reveal three scared fillies, looking up at him with pleading eyes, and he holds a hoof up, indicating they stay there for a moment, and goes back to the dead soldier, loosening the straps on his back pack, bringing it up and off his armor, and lifts it over his own back, tightightening the straps and emptying it of its contents, leaving food rations, a dagger and other things on the floor as he runs back to the fillies, lifting them one by one into the back pack, then turning to gaze about the room that was once a place for meetings and formal events. It was, quite literally, a bloodbath, for the living anyway. The soldiers ran around, their armor no longer a visible grey but a shade of crimson, the blood even staining their fur, making it hard for thm to tell each other apart, though the leader had a puff of red hair sticking out the top of his helmet. Seeing that the soldiers were preoccuupied, Dusk made for the door, taking one final glance at his dead siblings, and with a heavy heart ran from the building, though he was almost obliterated by a falling ball of death, landing right in front of him and splattering the pavement in flaming chunks. He ran aound it and continued his pace, looking down alleyways to see stallions and mares being massacred by soldiers bearing the same armor as the ones in the hall. Leaning into his strides, he bent his head down and ran faster, not looking at the horrific scenes before him. Author's Note heh heh... The funny thing is, I lost track of who the real main character is, so i'll just introduce another one here...
Eviction Notice2 minutes later... Dawn slowly lifted her head out of the cloud to see a pair of purple eyes looking at her from behind a small fluff. "Hello?" she asked weakly. The eyes flinched from behind the mound, and Dawn added, "Hey, it's okay, i'm not here to hurt you," and sniffed back tears, wiping her eyes to try and clear them. Slowly, the face returned, and a blue-ish pony with a yellow mane crawled over the mound, giving Dawn a curious .look before asking, "Are you alright? You look sad." And dawn replied, "No, I suppose i'm not alright, considering recent events..." and her tears started again. The pony gave her a sympathetic look and walked over, taking a quick glance at the battered city before sitting down beside her, laying a wing over Dawn's flank. "Hey, i've felt kinda down lately too," the pony said, and Dawn looked up at her, asking, "You have?" The pony looks up and in to the distance for a moment before responding. "Yes, today actually. My parents saw the explosions and told me to hide up here. They said they would be back soon, but it's been a while..." She looks back at Dawn with a sad look on her face, which is quickly replaced by a smile and a question. "So, what's your name?" "My name?" Dawn takes a moment to think, then says, "My name is Tainted Dawn, but my friends just call me Dawn." "Tainted Dawn... what an interesting name. My name is Sparkling Star, but my parents called my Sparks." "what about your friends?" Dawn asks. Sparks replies, "I didn't really have friends, but I guess that's another reason to be happy that I met you!" and Sparks looks over at Dawn, bringing back her wing and giving her a smile that made Dawn feel like Sparks was much more childish than she first let on. He had made it. Right out of the place he used to call home, Dusk kept running, stopping to catch his breath when he was outside the outer wall of the city, going past the bodies of guards laying over the battlements, splotches of blood and broken swords and arrows laying over and next to the bodies of those that used to patrol the walls. Leaning against a tree, Dusk sets the saddlebag on the ground next to him and coughs, his throat dry from running such a distance. It was then that he began to feel a small pain growing on his flank and, looking down he sees a small gouge running along his side, blood slowly flowing out. He stares at it in horror for a moment before a rush of fatigue catches him, and he topples over, hitting his head on the soft ground. As his vision fades, Dusk sees the saddlebag open up, and the head of one of the fillies pokes its head out, giving him a startled look before fumbling with the straps, struggling to get out. The last thing Dusk sees before his vision blackens out is a hooded figure slowly striding towards him, shadows covering their face. I stayed on the cloud with Sparks for a few more minutes, talking about the events that had taken place, gazing over the cloud and looking down at the killing field and all the soldiers that were now banging on the shield surrounding the castle, though the shield held strong, for now. Whatever was on the mountain ridge had changed its aim and was now firing upon the castle, though the shield either reflected the shot or simply absorbed it. Some soldiers were just milling about, others flew lazily around in the lower layers of clouds, and unicorns practiced their archery by taking shots at bodies of the slain. There was still killings to be had, ponies hiding in their locked houses to be found, but the commotion had generally settled to where all one could hear was the continued explosions of fireballs and the burning of houses, followed by he occasional shriek as more ponies were found and slaughtered. Dawn moved her gaze skywards while Sparks simply rested her head on the cloud and stared off into the distance, asking, "Why do you think they did this?" Dawn looked down, and Sparks looks up at her. "I mean, why kill everypony rather than just keep them as hostages? All of this is pointless killing, and none of them did anything wrong." "I wouldn't know," Dawn replied. "I don't even know why they're here." "well, at any rate, I don't think its really that safe up here anymore." Sparks rose to her hooves and arched her back, flexing her wings. Dawn got up and did the same. "Agreed. Where should we head?" "Anywhere but here. I can't think of anywhere, can you?" "Hmm, well, maybe Trottingham?" "Definitely not. Isn't that place run by Canterlot?" "Yes, but this isn't the doing of Canterlot, their armor is different." Sparks nodded. "Right, all sparkly golden and stuff. Yeah, maybe we could head there, but it's a while." "Hmm, what if we headed to Canterlot itself? its close enough." At this Sparks looked over and shook her head. "Coming from here, they'll want to know why their princess was held up, then they'll hold us under suspicioso reasons, and long story short we all fall in a cellar." "Darn, you're right." Dawn cursed under her breath, and sat down to think, until she got an idea. "I know! what about Ponyville? I've heard so much of it, what with all that Elements business and all that." "ooh, that sounds FUN! Sounds good to me! You lead the way, Dawn." Dawn got back up and flapped her wings a few times before backing up a few paces, asking Sparks, "Ready?" before she ran forward and jumped off into the air. Sparks was about to follow her when she saw a flash of movement on a nearby cloud, and screamed at Dawn, "LOOK OUT!" But it was too late, as the soldier popped out from behind the cover of a cloud, wielding a crossbow, and fired it at Dawn, striking her side and sticking there. She let out a cry and lost her focus, dropping like a stone through the air. She looked about, searching for something nearby to grab, but saw nothing. Her vision began to let out as blood flowed freely from the open wound. Sparks looked about franticly, then back at the soldier, who was loading another bolt. "Oh, this is crazy," she told herself before she dove down towards the soldier, flying into him and grabbing the crossbow, bringing it about and smashing it on his head, knocking him out. Turning back to Dawn, Sparks jumped off the cloud and left the soldier their, a large dent left on his helmet. Dawn could barely keep her eyes open, and she couldn't feel one of her wings. She tried to flap them and realized the bolt had gone through one, pinning it to her side. In a spite of panic, Dawn tries to flap harder, and cries out as part of her wing tears, though the bolt stubbornly stays there. Looking down, she sees the dark current of the ocean, smashing against the beach, and she thinks to herself, So this is it? I'm going to die by a load of water? Suddenly she feels hooves wrapping about her flank, trying to drag her up, and Dawn looks up to see Sparks trying to stay aloft, though she was doing a sorry job of it. They were still falling. Fast. Out of the corner of her vision, Dawn sees a form flying towards them, then there's another Pegasus there, helping Sparks lift her from the clutches of gravity, and together they flew around the town, thankfully not in the sight of any soldiers, and they land on the beach, setting Dawn down and trying to stand, or rather, the other pegasus, which Dawn saw as a stallion, was. Sparks flopped over onto her side, though she quickly remembers and gets back up, shaking the sand off before she inspects the wound. The stallion walks over as well, Widening his eyes when he sees the bolt. "she'll need a doctor for this," he says, and Sparks nods. Looking over at Dawn's face, she says, "It'll be fine, you're in safe hands with us now." and tries to smile, though she herself was not feeling on the most keen edge. Suddenly feeling tiresome, Dawn sets her head down and closes her eyes, drifting off.
