Alice in underland

Alice in Underland

By Fillyphil

Part 2

Lush green eyes locked onto the impassioned, rose-red Irises with extreme intensity. Eye contact wasn’t broken for a second, not even a blink surfaced from the the two. Minutes pass, and neither faltered, their faces showing no sign of defeat any time soon. many more minutes pass, and the two began to lose their composure, the length of the battle taking its toll on both their muscles and will. Beads of sweat formed, streaming down the cyan cheek. Audible grunts emanated from the stetson, wearing mare, her orange chest bobbing up and down in an attempt to retrieve more oxygen from the air. Only another minute passed, when the battle appeared to come close to an end, as both females intensified their gaze, leaning forward for extra power. The strain began to seep deep into their mind, both letting out deep moans in both the pain of the extended battle, and as a clenched-teeth warcry towards each other. Suddenly, the green eyes widened in fear and pain as she realised this was it. The rose-red eyes grinned in with renewed spirit, and she pumped her hoof with the rest of her energy she had left. “Slam!” the stump shook as Applejack’s hoof flew down and hit the edge of the stump.

“Ow! Geez R.D.” Applejack said with affliction, rubbing her hoof.

Rainbow Ignored her, jumping into the air forehoof first, freezing mid air as her wings flapped to keep her up. “Aw yeah!” She yelled in triumph. “Third time in a row A.J.! You better step up your game if you don’t wanna be out hoof-wrested a fourth time in a row.” She recomended.

“Good game Rainbow, but I’d watch myself if I were you. If ya get too cocky, I’ll rip your ego out from under ya before you can make anything of it.” Applejack said with a competitive smile.

“Oh yeah? Is that when you finish your training with granny smith?” Rainbow Dash laughed.

“Heh, funny” Applejack said unamused, her brow furrowing at the mocking pegasus.

“Yah yah, sorry Applejack” Rainbow apologized, still chuckling.

“No hard feeling.” Applejack said with a growing smile. “Best ten out a twenty one!” Applejack challenged.

“You’re on! Rainbow Dash called out in acceptance of the challenge, hovering back down to the stump to lock hooves and intimidating looks in another intense battle.

Twilight Smiled at her overly competitive friends, their two pets not nearly as extreme as Winona played hide and seek with the tank’s head as it bobbed in and out.  She looked past the two wrestling mares to two creatures of different ends of the evolutionary tree. Owlicious competed in a nearly as intense staring contest with gummy, Owlicious obviously straining while trying to stare down the reptilians impermeable poker face. Twilight turned her head to her far left, observing Pinkie Pie waving her front hooves in the air spastically, shaking her hips, and opening her mouth like a silent scream.

“It’s a squirrel, wait no. Angry mob! no couldn’t be.” Rarity guessed at the impossibly complicated game of charades Pinkie was playing. Pinkie hopped in the air, flinging her legs around, then hit the ground with both forelegs up in the air together and shaking around in an odd dance. “Oh wait! It’s some pony who recently got ironically fired from being a firefighter for personal reasons, then became a hugely successful comedian, who performed all his jokes on buildings, but one day a particularly dangerous trick with a catapult sent him flying off the skyscraper screaming the punchline of his joke, bravely putting the act ahead of his own safety, before landing in a large, fabulously designed birthday cake being carried up the building as a surprise for him, and they all danced the night away.” Rarity took in a large breath, as the rest of the wind left her with the last word.

“Wow!” Pinkie exclaimed. “That was really close! It was actually “a large fantabulously designed cake”, but nopony has ever gotten that close to a guess when Pinkamena Diane Pie is playing charades!”

“What can I say, I can read body language like a book.” Rarity elegantly giggled, opalesence more willing to lick her paws on Rarity’s back, then play in the grass.

Twilight returned her eyes to her book to finish the last few pages, content with the wonderfully comforting weather, and her light hearted friends. The sunlight leaked through the branches, feeling warm on her face, the shade cooling her simultaneously. She leaned her head against the trunk of the ancient tree, and looked down at the old pages of her book.

“Malevolence grinned a malicious smile, “You can’t stop me! Nopony can!” She screamed with deranged delight over the roar of the massive engines, her dark mane of fire blowing in the violent gusts of the exhaust. The enormous machine lumbered towards the cave entrance, the evil Malevolence laughing a maniacal laugh from atop the crab-like creation. Ignia hung helplessly from the bottom of the machine, many of the hanging, tentacle-like claws holding the alicorn prisoner tightly, her mane burning dimming in lost hope, making the bruises all over her face indiscernible.

“I don’t think so!” A young mare yelled from the large cave entrance, her shadowy mane waving in the draft the large hole created, her dark colors in sharp contrast to the sunny spring day behind her.

The dark orange coat of the pony burst into color as her mane’s intense flame flared light upon it, impatient with the young alicorn's arrogance.“Or what?” The alicorn called out in sudden amusement. “You know very well of the Leviathan's immunity to magic!” She yelled, her horn amplifying her voice, while her wings spread outwards for effect, the left metallic wing shimmering in a brilliant bronze coating.

“We know that very well.” A fourth alicorn stepped into the scene, standing next to her younger sister with a brilliantly white coat and flowing, colorful mane. The princess levitated a beautiful, small, chest in front of her, to levitate out six stones of different colors from the mysterious box, the elements of harmony.

Malevolence’s face was filled with uncertainty, but then assurance washed back over with a grin “Oh no!” She cried out sarcastically, “Not the magic of friendship! What will I ever do!?” She let out another vile laugh.

“In a twisted way, I understand” the older sister said with a scowl “I can see why one might want to enact their revenge on their enemies over a misunderstanding, and why one would want to rule the world, but what I could never understand, is why you would beat and imprison your own daughter.”

The underground queen frowned at this question. “Daughter? Hardly a daughter anymore! She disobeyed me, concerted against me, betrayed her own mother! Ignia did this to herself!” Ignia Purus’s eyes perked up at hearing her name, her mane’s flame flared a bit brighter. “She had her rights to be my daughter revoked. She snuck out, to tell the surface ponies of my plans, after everything i’ve done for her!”

“M-mother! That is not true!” Ignia cried out.

“Silence you ungrateful swine!” Malevolence yelled out in anger of hearing her daughter’s voice. Ignia cringed, although not in her mother’s field of vision, her demeaning tone broke her heart. “I gave you everything! Power, knowledge, love! I was going to give you all of Equestria as your own kingdom! But you threw away my gifts for a bunch of worthless surface ponies!”

“NO!” Ignia cried out in anger and sadness, her mane flaring a bright yellow flame. Her yellow eyes bore lava-like  tears of sadness, anger, and oddly enough, happyness. The six stones of different colors began to glimmer. “I never asked for your kingdom, your gifts, your knowledge, but I was grateful for all of it, but I didn’t want your cruelty. I wanted everpony to be happy, I wanted to share and be kind, so I refused your “gift” of cruelty over my new found friends on the surface. You’re right, I am hardly your daughter anymore, because I don’t want to be yours, if that means being a terrible being like you!”she cried out, her flame growing more intense with every second.

Malevolence stood bewildered, her daughter never spoke to her that way, and it hurt her like a cleaver to the heart. She opened her mouth, tears welling in her eyes, but then anger shone brightly through her glassy eyes. “How many times do I have to say to SHUT UP!” She yelled, deafeningly louder than the roar of the machine. The last “Shut up” echoing off the cave walls.

Purus spoke softly, but loud enough for the queen to hear“Never, not if you're trying to hurt  my friends.” And with that, light exploded out of the six stones, the elder sister’s plan worked. The stones flew across the gap between the princesses of the outer world, and the inner one. One stone flew to the young Ignia, and circled around her, resonating a pink colored shield around her and the claws that held her, the rest staying to encircle the two sisters to add additional power.

“Now sister!” she yelled out. The two sisters’ horns glowed, one a bright white, while the other a dark black. They tilted their heads towards the machine, the queen growing nervous. There magic shouldn’t affect the leviathan at all, but the queen was still quite scared of their determination. The two princes’ horns grew even brighter, then a large beam shot from both horn, combining at a pinnacle to form an alternating yin-yang beam, launching towards the machine, only to miss by 30 yards, striking the ceiling above it. Malevolence nearly laughed a genuinely amused laugh before she  realised what they were attempting, they wished to collapse the cave ceiling upon the metal beast. She grew even angrier than ever, pulling levers from her perch upon the creation. The machine creaked to a stop, the front of the crab monster opening up wide to reveal a long tube inside of it. Ignia knew what was going to happen, and it shook her to her core. It would be nothing Equestria has ever witnessed before, a titanium barrel ten meters in diameter, rivets on the inside that spun in a circle to the dark back of it. A huge payload of ten iron balls, fitting the diameter of the barrel perfectly, were stored inside the cargo. The balls could be hurdled forward using black powder, at impossible speeds. The machine was meant to take down the largest cities in the known world with one fell swoop, but Malevolence intended to use it now. A loud “thunk!” was heard by Ignia as one metal sphere loaded in the back of the barrel.

“No! Run! She’ll destroy you and everything beyond!” The two princesses could not hear Ignia’s frantic screams, all their energy being used to bring down the cave ceiling. “No! Mother don’t do it!” but no actual response was heard from her mother, only a maniacal laughter. “No!” She thought, “Not them! Not my only friends! I can’t let this happen! I can’t!”. Fear, pain, and anger built deep within her, until the floodgates of her emotions could not hold any longer. “NO!” She yelled out in an angered scream, the fire of her mane spreading around to engulf her with blinding intensity. The  claws wrapped around her began to glow, a brighter and brighter white. Bolts were melting, plates were bending, metal supports were waning. Ignia focused deeply on becoming hotter and hotter, her eyes shining a magnificent yellow glow. “AAAGGGHH!” She yelled out in strain, the shield growing brighter and brighter as the torrent of the inferno spun within the orb. The shield went a bright yellow, then shattered in the eminence heat, the jewel falling to the floor. The freed flames spread outwards, instantly deforming and melting anything within thirty feet. The flames spread further, Malevolence noticing the flames licking from under the belly of the beast. Ignia was now in the center of a huge ball of flame, heating up the whole belly of the beast. The ceiling began to crumble, large chunks falling off from the dual beam damage. The large pieces struck the creation, staggering it with every blow. A front leg that got a particularly large blast of flame began to wane, until a large bolder landed on the side it supported, forcing it to buckle under the stress and bend inwards. As the leg fell, the queen pulled the lever to fire the devastating cannon, only for the whole machine to tip at an angle and launch into the earth. The cannon ball pierced the ground, creating  a large crack in the ground, wedging itself even deeper still. The claws of pure titanium that held the fallen princess melted slowly, meant to hold extremely hot objects, but not a raging inferno, sending Ignia to the ground unconscious and extinguished from the extended strain. The flames died as quickly as they came, leaving only a passed out orange alicorn on the mud floor. The ground shook, the crack in the earth from the immense blow, growing ever larger until it spanned all the way beneath the machine’s left front leg that was already busy trying to support the weight of the broken limb. The crack spread wider and wider, until the leg fell into the crack, lurching the whole machine to the left, while more debris from the ceiling banged away at the top.

Malevolence was slung off the machine 200 feet down below, only at the last moment did she flap her wings, changing her angle of descent. She hit the mud and slid across the ground in an undignified, muddy glide. She got up, furious with the two that were still firing into the ceiling. She charged the two princesses with an angry war cry, launching red beams from her horn that were deflected by the circling five elements. The crack grew ever wider as the creature tipped, Ignia regaining her conscious in time to jump out of the way of the sliding right legs that followed the large beast down the crevice as it toppled. The queen hardly noticed, or even cared, only the hatred of the two princesses being her only thought as she charged. The fissure spread even longer, rushing up from behind Malevolence before shooting ahead of her in a huge feet of coincidence. She stumbled into the crack, before using her wings to lift her back up,but only to find a large boulder rushing down from the ceiling. She didn’t move away, only hovering as she gawked at the boulder wide eyed with a waning flame on her head, a split second later, it fell directly on her, pulling her down deep into the dark abyss. The dark mare ceased her blasting first, dropping to the ground in exhaustion, followed by the older alicorn who nearly fell over too. As the two rested, the grumbling and rumbling stopped, silence taking over the cave, along with darkness as the absence of light sources other than the cave entrance took over. The only light on the inside, came from the dim mane of Ignia Purus, laying at the edge of the fissure. She spied downward, in long lost hope of finding her mother. Her head hung off the edge, lava tears streaming off her face, and down into the darkness below.

“I’m sorry” The younger sister said sympathetically as she silently hovered down. the dark princess could think of nothing else to add, other than laying next to her and spreading a wing over the sorrowful fire princess’s back, comforting her as she mourned. The elder sister followed in her example and laid on the other side of her. They loitered there for many minutes, before Ignia broke the silence. “It’s not your fault.” She said, fighting back a few more burning tears. She got up bravely, pushing aside the two princess’ wings. “Let’s go, it’s unhealthy to dwell on the past” she said mournfully. The two sister got up and left towards the exit with her, putting the past behind them.

Twilight dwelled on the last sentence for a moment, before shutting her book with a papery clap once again ,for what felt like the one thousandth time she has read it. She never really liked fiction novels, but when she was little, she accidentally stumbled upon the book in the royal library, and instantly loved the story, and Celestia was kind enough to give it to her even though it was one of her favorites too. Twilight examined the wrinkled cover, and stained backbone. For twelve years of wear and tear, it was in better condition than most little foal books. Twilight recognized nearly every rip in the paper, every scuff in the cover, every stain on the pages. She remembered the scars so well because every accident made her panic at the thought of tainting Celestia’s gift. She finished reminiscing and carefully slid the book back into her bag next to her.

She laid down and wondered for a bit longer where the story was supposed to be based, what inspired the antagonist, and who kept calling her name. Twilight sat up and scanned around, seeing Applejack and Rainbow Dash locked in combat still, while Pinkie drew out a huge tic-tac-toe board in the dirt with her hoof, Rarity still wondering what in the world she was creating. Ironically, Twilight noticed him, a green and purple creature, spied right over Rarity’s back from the angle she stood.

“Spike?” Twilight asked softly to herself, he would usually be knapping in his little cot at this time of day.

“Twilight!” Twilight heard faintly, it was infact spike rushing over calling her name, waving what looked to be a scroll. Twilight saw the uncertainty in his eyes, and she quickly got up on all fours and rushed over to meet him halfway, running past the fabulous pony, catching her attention as well. As she reached Spike and slowed down, he slowed to a walking pace, then slumped down to his knees, before falling over on his back onto the grass. Spike wheezed as Twilight stood over him, worried for both the message and the exhausted dragon at her hooves. Rarity trotted from behind Twilight to right next to her, interested on what was going on. Pinkie noticed this sudden shift of attention and bounced on over.

“My poor little Spikey-Wikey, what could be the matter?” Rarity said with sympathy and a puckered lower lip. Noticing his true love above him, Spike quickly got to his feet, taking a few more breaths before speaking.

“The princess! She sent an emergency letter while I was napping! I ran all the way here!” Spike said, pulling the scroll up to show, and hoping Rarity would be impressed with his physical feat.

Pinkie eyed the unopened scroll oddly. “How do you know it’s an emergency, and not just some hey-dee-doodely-do letter, or a party invitation!” Pinkie jumped in excitement at the last hypothesis.

“Because she used the Royal Emergency Protocol stamp!” Spike turned the scroll around to show an intricately designed, purple stamp with the symbol of the sun and moon side by side,  a shield decorated with a picture of an alicorn in front of them. Rarity and Pinkie stared at the stamp and its intricate beauty with awe.

“Hurry up Spike, read it.” Twilight said hurriedly. Spike peeled the stamp off and unrolled the fairly short piece of paper. He cleared his throat before reading the scroll aloud.

“My most faithful student, Twilight. I fear we have grim news, for Equestria might be in dire trouble once again. It pains me to ask one of my most beloved ponies this, but I need you and your fellow friends to once again wield the Elements of Harmony in the name of Equestria. I have reserved town hall for a meeting of a few ponies to discuss the issue further, some scientists, the Wonderbolts, and the general are among those expected”. Rainbow Dash’s ears perked up at the sound of the Wonderbolts being mentioned, turning her head towards the small group in investigation. Applejack took advantage of Rainbow’s distraction, and put enough power into one pull, to launch the blue hoof into the stump.

“Ha!” Applejack cried out victoriously, tossing her hat into the air and catching it with her head. Rainbow turned quickly to catch the animated earth pony dancing about in victory of the final round. Rainbow opened her mouth in expected agitation, but then stopped herself from saying a few hurtful words.

“Yeah, congratulations.” She said, trying not to sound too interested. She turned  back around to fly over the the ponies crowded around Spike. “Did ya just mention the Wonderbolts!?” She asked excitedly over Twilight.

“Shh, let him finish.” Twilight said impatiently, holding up a hoof to back off the pegasus,. Applejack mosied over to see what all the hubbub was about after her victory dance was through.

Spike cleared his throat once more before continuing on, “ I will arrive at ponyville at 1:30 p.m. sharp, and the meeting will commence at 2:00 p.m., be sure to bring the other elements of harmony. Your loving teacher, Celestia.

Twilight was dead silent as Spike rolled the scroll back up, her mind racing with what possibly could have gone wrong.

“Wow! the Wonderbolts here!? I gotta show them some of my moves, this is gonna be awesome!” Rainbow Dash said excitedly, swishing around over the group in miniature figure eights.

“Royalty! coming here? Oh I need my best gown, and some makeup touch ups, and a pedicure...” Rarity continued on down a list of things she would need to make a good impression.

“Oh yay! A party with royalty! I can show them how we get down, Ponyville style! How much cider do you think the princesses can chug? I bet Celestia’s a light weight, but I’m sure Luna is gonna go for the gold!”

“What in the world are you talkin’ about sugarcube?” Applejack said, confused with nearly every word she said.

“I don’t know!” Pinkie giggled before falling, engulfed in another one of her own jokes.

Twilight scowled at the other ponies that were fooling around in such a dire situation. “What are you guys’ problem!” Twilight yelled in agitation, breaking off the excited chatter. “The princess has just asked for our help to divert a potentially deadly disaster, and all you ponies could think about, is parties, makeup, and obsessions over pegasi in tights?”

Rainbow down slowly hovered back to the ground, “Geez Twilight, take a chill pill.” she said offended.

“You want me to calm down!? Of all the ridiculous and absurd times to panic, Equestria’s doom should be only appropriate time anypony should freak out!”

“Hold right there a minute Twilight. Sure, Equestria’s in danger, but that ain’t no excuse to panic and insult your friends” Applejack said, surprised by Twilight’s sudden outburst.

Twilight rolled her eyes at the arrogant pony.“Oh come on! You can’t seriously tell m...” Twilight stopped, looking straight in the faces of her best friends, all with concerned looks on their faces. “Oh gosh, I’m so sorry, I just don’t understand how I was taken over with fear like that.” Twilight apologized sympathetically. “I guessed I kinda...”

“Freaked out?” Rainbow interrupted with a raised brow.

“Yah,” Twilight replied with a small apologetic smile.

“Now that everypony’s calmed down, maybe...”

Twilight’s eyes widened, “Everypony!?” She thought to herself, her face covered in fear and regret.

“Sugarcube? is everything alright?” Applejack asked, concerned as she observed the massive change in facial expression all the sudden.

“Fluttershy!” She blurted out. “We forgot Fluttershy!” Twilight repeated. “It’s been more than an hour, and she still hasn’t shown up!” The others exchanged worried glances of fear and shame.

“Well where could she possibly be?” Rarity said.

“We’ll just have to find out. Rainbow Dash!” Twilight called to the cyan pegasus. Rainbow turned, responding to Twilight’s now authoritative voice. “Fly over to Fluttershy’s place to see if she’s there, make sure you scan the ground the entire way there. rendezvous at Ponyville town hall.”

“On it!” Rainbow dash said while flying upwards and giving a salute, then bolting over to grab her bag before shooting towards Fluttershy’s place.

“Applejack, Rarity!” Twilight alerted.

“yes ‘em!?” Applejack said simultaneously as Rarity calmly but purposefully said,

“Mm,hmm?”

“Split up and ask around town if anyone has seen her this morning, you two also meet back at the town hall with whatever you find.” She commanded. The two mares nodded and galloped off towards town.

“And Pinkie! stay here and keep an eye out for Fluttershy incase she somehow makes her way back here.”

“Okey-dokey-lokey!” Pinkie yelled out in a tone more serious than the words she used, bolting over to the large tree and up the side, to appear a moment later at the top, spinning around in a circle with one hoof over her eye in a lookout pose on an invisible rotating platter.

“Don’t forget to meet back at Town hall before 2:00!”

“Oooooooohhhkaaayyy!” Pinkie yelled back unnecessarily long.

“Ooo!” Spike cried out in excitement. “What do you want me to do?”

Twilight looked down at the baby dragon with a kind smile. “Could you take care of our pets, and our stuff while we’re gone?”

Spikes expression changed from excited to grumpy. he scowled at twilight before accepting the menial task “Yeah, sure”

“Thank you so much spike.” she said sympathetically, and with that, Twilight’s horn flashed, and she exploded into a ball of purple light as she teleported away, leaving Spike in the company of the five pets in the field.

He looked up at the probing Pinkie in the tree, then at the five pets that gathered around him. He slouched disappointedly, and walked over to pick up the colorful bags underneath the tree. “I’m going back to bed after this.” he mumbled to himself.

The town center was bustling with the commotion and energy of the sunday afternoon. A small patch of air next to a baked goods stall, exploded into a brilliant, but brief explosion of dark purple and violet, startling a nearby postal service worker, tossing the bundle of letters in her hoofs right into the air like post office confetti. A violet unicorn was left standing, and twirled around a bit, as if in search of something

The mail-mare took a closer look at the familiar librarian. “Oh, it’s just you Twilight!” The pegasus said relieved.

Twilight turned to the sound of the pony’s voice before looking directly into the eyes of a lazy eyed pony , noticing the scattered letters on the ground. “Oops, sorry about that Derpy.” She said apologetically.

“No problem Twi!” Derpy replied oddly ardent, retrieving her fallen letters and fresh muffin from  the nearby baker’s stall. After stuffing her bag haphazardly with the many letters, and taking a bite from the baked pastry before stuffing that in as well, she took a less than elegant departure as she took-off into a swinging shop sign, recovering with a “Woops”, then flying off to do what Twilight assumed was deliver mail.

Twilight looked around, trying to get a bearing on what part of the town square she was in. She spotted the large crowd around town hall before she saw the actual building, and heard the ecstatic crowd before seeing either. The building was the largest in Ponyville, nothing in comparison in the large and beautiful buildings of Canterlot, but pretty impressive for the town. Probably hundreds of ponies were crowding around the front of the building, watching in awe at the three pegasi clad in blue jumpsuits with a yellow lightning bolt going down the belly. As Twilight approached, she saw that these were the Wonderbolts that Rainbow always got crazy over, Twilight remembering the long conversations Rainbow had about the group to a point that she could recognize every one of them. Spitfire stood pridefully in the front, her mane colored like actual flames, behind her to her left stood the exuberant colt Soarin’ and quiet filly Fleetfoot to her left. Twilight reached the back of the crowd, and started pushing through the cheering fans, giving an ‘excuse me’ and ‘pardon’ every now and then, until she reached the front, her further progression blocked by several guards identified in silver Ponyville guard armor with green maned helmets, blocking the base of the stairs. Just as she reached her stopping point, a silver-maned earth pony got to the pedestal next to a unicorn in an officer’s metal suit of armor on the patio. She flicked a switch next to a mic, and the speakers on either side of the pedestal hummed to life.

“Excuse me! Excuse me citizens!” The lively chatter of the ensemble decreasing only a few decimals in response. “Now, I’d like to be the first to welcome the Wonderbolts to our little town, but it looks like a few hundred beat me.” The mayor chuckled at the dry joke. The crowd quieted down further to a bearable level, “Now I’m sure everypony is interested in what’s going on, but I can assure you it is nothing to panic about,” The crowd began to murmur, wondering what reason there would be to panic. The vanilla colored guard whispered in the mayor’s ear, informing her of her mistake. The mayor smiled an embarrassed smile and continued on, not able to take her last comment back, “Your royal highnesses are on their way to our wonderful town of ponyville!” This excited the crowd once more. Spitfire and her accomplices took their opportunity to escape the exhausting attention, walking towards the large double doors that two guards opened as they passed through, and slammed shut as they cleared the doorway. “...Now I’m sure the situation isn’t too serious, and I’m confident that it is nothing the princesses can’t handle.” She did it again, the crowd chattered with even more uncertainty than before while  the officer  rolled her eyes as she sat down on her flank that bore a spear tip cutie mark

As the mayor face-hoofed, she scanned the chattering crowd, not looking for anypony in particular, until she spotted the violet colored, Twilight Sparkle, close to the front. She pushed herself up off the podium and called out to twilight with a beckoning hoof. “Twilight, oh thank goodness you’re here. hurry come up!” Twilight looked to the earth pony guard in front of her that had large blue eyes that blocked her passage. The guard looked over to the officer for confirmation, who gave a nod to let her through. He whispered to the ponies next to him, and they stepped aside, leaving just enough space for Twilight to fit through, before quickly shutting closed.

Twilight trotted up the stairs, reminiscing on her days in Canterlot when she had VIP access to nearly every room in the castle, liking being giving special privileges like she once did. The mayor gave a welcoming smile, with a tinge more relief. “I’m so glad you’re here, I need help with the decorations, they wouldn’t let any other pony in, other than those who were invited, so I had to put up most of the things myself, could you please help me with your magic to put up a few more decorations?” The mayor gave a pleading look.

“Of course. By the way, do you have any idea what this meetings about?” Twilight asked.

“I honestly don’t know, all I received was a note saying the princess was coming over to hold a meeting in town hall, and a list of everyone invited. I had to stop what I was doing to make the preparations.” The mare brought her hoof up to feel the pink patch of mane on the back of her neck that has so far gone unnoticed.

“I heard it’s an angry dragon. Some dolt hit it with a guitar and really ticked him off, or so says the guys around the barracks.” Spoke up the officer, who sounded as if she was constantly annoyed at something.

“Oh, I don’t believe you’ve met officer Shield Breaker of Ponyville’s Neightional guard base.” The mayor said, bringing Twilight closer to the unamused pony.

“Nice to meet you” The guard said very monotone, almost sarcastic sounding, pulling off the silver helmet crested with green fur, to reveal a light violet mane to match her eyes.

“Nice to meet you too officer Shield Breaker” Twilight replied more meaningfully, guessing how she got her cutie mark as she looked at the frighteningly sharp horn.

“Please, just call me chel” She said more matter-of-factly than friendly, putting back on her helmet to hide her glorious hair.

The mayor broke the awkward silence with a clop of her hoofs “Alright Twilight, the crate of decorations is right over there, I trust you have a feasible taste in design, just hang them up where you see fit, I’d like to help you but...” At that moment, the officer interrupted the mayor with a tap on the shoulder, and a point towards the large squadron of pegasi in gold plated royal Canterlot guard armor, flying in V formation. They landed in the open area behind the crowd, creating an empty square area as they spread out to secure the LZ. Only after a few moments, A large chariot, pulled by eight pegasi flew into view, the princesses inside even more magnificent looking than their royal chariot. In front of it led a regular sized, golden chariot, with A large, important looking,  red earth pony that she recognized as the general, in intricate black armor, trimmed in gold, next to two unicorns of alternating colors that she didn't recognize. Behind the princesses’ chariot was two more chariots, filled with a few more unicorns and earth ponies, two particular earth ponies looking out of place in their lab coats. The convoy landed into the grassy clearing, the front chariot first, followed by the princesses, then the last two, a couple more pegasi following the convoy landed around the chariots.

“Scratch that Twilight, all I need you to do is greet the princess with me.” The mayor said, pushing Twilight towards the top of the stairs. The two unicorns next to the general immediately hopped out as the chariot as they came to a stop, barking orders that coincided with one and another’s commands with impressive skill. Guards ran around in reaction to the commands, assuming positions, filling in gaps, and some taking up positions on top of buildings for better field of view. Many guards though, made up the path that led from the chariots to the stairs’ base, lining up on both sides, splitting apart the crowd. The General stepped out of his chariot and made his way towards the princesses as they stepped out. He stood between both, and accompanied them down the aisle of guards. Two unorganized earth ponies rushed over to the back of the line, one a yellow mare with a messy, tangerine mane, the other brown pony she recognized in Ponyville before, remembering his name to be Dr. Whooves. The frantic mare nect to the Dr, with an apple core as a cutie mark, was grabbing loose papers she dropped,  then stuffed them in her bag while Dr. Whooves stuffed more into the other side. The two finished their packing, and ran down the aisle to the three ahead of them, slowing down a they reached the back of the three. As the entourage of ponies from different walks of life reached the base of the stairs, the Ponyville guards did a deep bow and opened wide to let the entire group through.

“On behalf of every pony in Ponyville, welcome your highnesses.” The mayor did a low bow with Twilight, along with the officer to the far right.

“Greetings mayor, and hello my faithful student.” Celestia lent out her head to nuzzle her young student. “You of course remember Luna” she said with a tilt of her head towards her smaller sister.  The young co-ruler smiled at Twilight, who gave a smile right back. “And you remember General Typhoon I presume.” The general gave a small smile and a nod as he remembered the filly when she was just a foal, wandering around the castle library.

“I’m mean no offense whirly...” Twilight began, using the nickname only his few, closest friends used. “But shouldn’t you be retired by now, settling down with somepony?”

“That’s what I said,” chuckled the older sister, “But he insisted he could still handle the job of both general and personal bodyguard, so me and Luna gave him the chance at the Physical Aptitude Test again, and he passed with flying colors like he did twenty years ago, so we allowed him to continue on as long as he was physically able.”

The general grinned a little, “This old horse husk was built for war, not love.” he said with a pat on his chest plate.

Two ponies in lab coats stood awkwardly silent from the rest of the group, the two trying to listen into the conversation through the loud crowd behind them. Twilight leaned over to see the two behind the princess, that were left out.

“Oh yes, and these two are Dr. Whooves, and Apple Core.” The princess said, almost forgetting the two who were accompanying them. Dr. Whooves took the chance to get in on the conversation with an extended hoof,

“Hello Twilight, wonderful to finally meet you” He said exuberantly. Twilight extended her hoof, to have it violently shaken up and down by the enthusiastic pony.

“Nice to meet you too,” Twilight said as she managed to shake his grip.

“I heard you’re quite the genius, as expected from a student of the princess herself.” The professor said with the tilt of  his head, Twilight blushing at the compliment. “You know, my lab assistant is quite the fan of your amazing magical and cognitive abilities.” The Dr. said, pushing his suddenly bashful student closer to the purple mare. Twilight gave an endearing smile, remembering that she was somewhat of a legend among the other little ponies in the school of the gifted in Canterlot.

“All I did was work hard, it was nothing amazing.” Twilight said, the comment making the lab assistant a little more comfortable.

“Shall we go on in? The noise is a bit... distracting.” The mayor said, moving the mic away from her mouth as to not offend the massive crowd of ponies with her comment, a mistake she hasn’t made again in a long time.

“Lets” The princess agreed. The double doors swung open as the seven walked into the large room, the eighth one, chel, staying outside to be debriefed of her status report to the two commanders who were taking over the operation. The doors swung back shut by the two silver-clad guards with the tops of their heads, sealing the seven in the secure building.

Rainbow was flying back uncomfortably slow, scanning the ground again as to see if she had missed something the first time on her way to Fluttershy’s place. Unfortunately she wasn’t there still,  her fear for her close friend was driving her to be extra careful this second fly by. masking her emotions was difficult around her friends, who knew her very well, but out here where she was alone, her face was a mosaic of fear, sadness, and determination.

“Rock, tree, another rock, another rock, fox, hole” Every object she examined on the path that she followed, she forced  through her head, leaving no room for the doubt lingering in the back of her mind. She was alert for the key colors of yellow and pink, the signature look of their missing friend, and suddenly, there it was, she halted mid flight to examine the yellow and pink object several feet below her. She hovered in closer to the ground, then landed directly above the object. It was cloth, a yellow base color, with three pink and blue butterflies on the surface, Rainbow recognized the cutie mark all too well. She looked around, for possibly any signs of what happened.

Rainbow noticed a large skid in the dirt, and widened her eyes in the prospect of what might have happened to their dear friend. She snatched up the cloth in her mouth and stuffed it in her bag. She planted all four hooves firmly on the ground, and reeled backwards in preparations for a slingshot takeoff, but as she launched forwards, the very ground itself seemed to roar, rippling through the earth, and knocking her off balance as she launched forward, redirecting directly into a tree. Rainbow flew belly first into a branch within the tree, suspending her for only but a moment before sliding backwards and down onto, luckily, soft grass. After a few moments of groaning, and getting the wind back into her lungs, the rumbling stopped, the roar now gone. Rainbow painfully learned upward, rubbing her sore belly.

“What the heck?”

“Pull it” an ominous voice commanded a short, hunched, green goblin from the shadows.

“But all the bits aren’t functional yet” reasoned the creature.

“Does it look like I care? I wish to see what it is capable of” She said demeaningly, her patience waning.

“Be reasonable miss ‘em, we...”

“Pull. It. Now.” The figure said through gritted teeth, stepping out of the shadows to, most of her shrouded in a brown cloak, but her face still visible to show her anger.

“Yes, of course mlady” The creature said with a quick bow. He placed both small armed hands onto a rusty lever, placing a foot forward to gain torque as he yanked at the lever. At first it went nowhere as he strained in vain. The large pony was getting tired of waiting, and was about to intervene, until the lever shot backwards, tossing the goblin to the ground. a deep rumbling was heard, and the building shook. One of the massive drills spotted from the window, began to spin, at first slowly, then very fast, but just as fast as it roared to life, did it slowly die and one system after another failed.

BOOOOOOOOM!

A large, fiery explosion rang out from outside the window, the thick pane doing very little to muffle the massive explosion, shaking the very foundation of the cavern itself. The mare stood her ground, keeping herself up from falling, the cloak’s knot loosening and falling off, revealing a large alicorn. Her coat was orange in the locations she had flesh, but a fourth of her body that was no longer flesh, it was instead covered in brass colored metal, including one of her wings and a large part of her chest, like an incomplete suit of armor. The goblin shielded his eyes from the bright flare of fire that followed, but the queen stared directly into the inferno, her eyes unblinking as ancient memories and feelings of hatred resurfaced. She continually looked outwards, even after the explosive blaze decayed to a lingering flame that licked the sides of the metal structure. She scowled a fearsome look, turning towards the goblin laying on the floor, still shaken from the explosion. He cringed in her gaze, waiting for whatever terrible punishment she had in store. Instead, she snorted a small plume of smoke from her nose, and walked out the porthole, leaving the goblin to sigh in relief.

The alicorn marched through the metal corridors, the section of the area she stood in still lacked a roof, leaving the cavern ceiling hundreds of feet above. She walked out of the metal structure as some more goblins raced by, buckets of water in hand, towards the flames. She took a left alongside the metal building, the stone floor now beneath her hooves. When a couple more green workers rushed by, she checked if more were coming. When she saw she was alone, she sat down, and leaned on the side of the creation,  sorting out her thoughts in her seclusion, then settling on anger to describe her emotion as she slid one hoof alongside the metal plates.

“They will pay.” She growled to herself.

Once again, thanks for taking your time to read this, who ever you are ( the undead elvis? Jesus? Hitler’s ghost? TWILIGHT!?). I do intend to finish this story, I won’t leave my bronies hangin’ with an unfinished story.

Also, My Little Pony is not owned by me, but I did steal some ideas that weren't patented. Please don’t sue me.

“I’m goin’ off the rails on a crazy train!” -long live Ozzy