Death City

Blah blah blah blah. That’s a good enough opening to work with. Now on to the story!!! Also, I’d like to give a warm welcome to Mister Moneybags for editing this chapter. Turns out I got a beta reader now.

Chapter 32 – One Intersection Leads to Two

The sunlight rose over the horizon once more as it enlightened the entire country of Equestria. No more could enemies lurk around in the burning radiance of day. They had been forced back in the underground or towards a safer place where only moonlight shone upon them.

As the light produced by the sun made its way into the bedroom, Ace could feel himself warm up. The sunlight had been directly aimed on him as he slept.

Suddenly, Ace began to blink his eyes, perform a little yawn, and even stretch a little bit in bed. It had all been part of his morning routine.

Once all that had been over, he had opened his eyes to find that the sunshine that spread through the bedroom had coaxed his eyelids into opening. The sun had been beating down on Equestria hard today, maybe even too hard. Ignoring it and putting a hoof above his eyes in order to prevent the intense sunlight from reaching his eyes, he looked over to his side to where Rainbow Dash should have been. To his surprise, she hadn’t been there anymore. The bed sheets on her side had been thrown overboard as the door of the bedroom had been open. Ace knew what had happened.

“I guess that wasn’t true love after all.” He thought to himself. He gets rescued the other day by this mysterious mare who he doesn’t know anything about, they talk a little, nighttime, sleep, and then he wakes up to find that she abandoned her.

Getting out of bed, Ace slowly began trotting out the room with his head hung low. Making his way gently down the stairs, Ace passed the kitchen. He hadn’t been in any mood for eating right now. But that was until a sudden smell made its way up to him. Deeply inhaling the stench, he could tell that it had been coming from the kitchen.

Trotting backwards a little, Ace could see that inside the kitchen had been what seemed to be food being sizzled onto a preheated pan over the stove… y’know, just a basic routine for cooking. But what he soon noticed afterward was who had been cooking the food.

“Rainbow,” Ace pronounced in a shocked fashion. “You cook?!”

At the sound of Ace’s voice, Rainbow Dash turned around and replied. “Woah! Don’t sneak up on me like that!” Her words became a bit muffled as she held a spatula in her mouth by the handle.

“Well, I’m sorry and all, but…” Ace mentioned.

“But what? Never seen an athletic pony cook?” Rainbow Dash announced before turning back around and attending the food once more. “It’s a secret hobby that I do from time to time, like your music!”

“Heh, yeah.” Ace blushed a little. He didn’t really enjoy it when somepony, even Rainbow Dash, poke of his secret hobbies and qualities. “So, whatcha cooking?” Ace approached Rainbow Dash by the stove and looked over to see what was sizzling in the pan. “And more importantly, where did you even get this?!”

“Oh that,” Rainbow Dash began, putting the spatula aside on the countertop before speaking again. “That’s just some leftover hay-wheat and flowers I found over at the grocery store in the distance. The store had already been destroyed, so I just snuck my way in and took what I needed and left, simple as that.”

“Where I come from, we have a saying: No mercy for those who steal.” Ace mentioned. “Stealing was the number one concern for our community since it occurred just so many times.”

“Hey, that wonders me,” Rainbow Dash took her eyes of the sizzling food and had now looked directly into Ace’s eyes. “Where are you from, anyway?”

Ace could feel himself being pressured as Rainbow looked at him. He didn’t like it since it mad him more nervous in the scene, but he didn’t hate it either. It was one of her main physical attributes that made Ace “enjoy” her as company.

“Well, um.” Sweat began trickling down Ace’s forehead as he tried to think up an excuse.

Suddenly, there was a burnt smell that lurked through the room. Ace turned his head toward the food sizzling on the stove to see that it had no longer been sizzling anymore, rather literally burning.

“Look!” Ace yelled, pointing a hoof to the burning food on the stove.

“Shoot!” Rainbow Dash replied, picking up the handle of the pan on the stove, careful not to burn her mouth in the process. She then quickly placed the pan aside onto the table as she released the grip of the handle with her mouth.

“Well, breakfast is served!” Rainbow Dash announced in a somewhat cheery voice.

“Heh, what a feast!” Ace mentioned, looking over at the somewhat burned mixture. “A very, um, unique texture and style it has.”

“Hey!” Rainbow Dash snapped, turning around to face Ace. “You try cooking something with only a few ingredients that aren’t in very good shape!”

“Well, if you say so.” Ace had approached the table and took a seat onto the opposing side Rainbow Dash had been on. Rainbow soon took a seat afterwards.

“So, now what?” Ace asked Rainbow Dash dumbfounded.

“What kind of question is that?!” Rainbow yelled at him. “It’s breakfast time. What do you usually do then? I don’t know, maybe eat!” Rainbow began playing with the blue stallion.

“I’d love to, if there was anything edible to have.” Ace said, looking at the mixture before him. Rainbow Dash had already been gobbling a portion of it down as if she were a pig of some sort.

“Fine, don’t eat. But when you come back crying to me saying that you’re starving, see what I say.” Rainbow Dash took a moment to spit out those words.

“An event that will never occur in the distant future, my good Rainbow.” Ace replied with an English accent to it.

“Oh, shut up.” Rainbow Dash said for the third time today.

Silence flew between the two as Rainbow Dash finished eating. All Ace did was watch as she devoured down the food. She ate in some sort of a messy fashion, yet for some reason, Ace found it pretty cute. It reminded him a lot of his younger sister, how she would always dive into food and eat like a monster.

A tear soon shed out of Ace’s eye as the thought of his younger sister came to his head. Rainbow Dash quickly noticed this and put down the remainder of her breakfast in order to see what had been going on.

“Anything you want to talk about specifically?” Rainbow Dash asked in a comforting voice, looking at Ace.

‘No, it’s kinda personal. “ Ace responded, wiping away the tear with his hoof. “I’d rather not say.”

“Suits yourself.” Rainbow said once more before diving back into the small amount of her breakfast. Even though the food she cooked technically hadn’t been edible, she still ate with great furry. She hadn’t eaten in days and all her energy had been drained. She needed something that would supply her with enough energy for the day, and her breakfast happened to be it.

All Ace thought about while Rainbow Dash ate was how he had lost his parents and siblings when young. All he remembered was a house fire when he was only a colt and how he had been the only survivor. For some reason, the fire went around him. It still had been hot, yet it never came in contact with his hide. As everything in his home had been burned to ashes, including his family, he had been the last one standing. Ever since then, Ace wanted to know more on this special attribute that had been inside him. And he knew that the rainbow maned pegasus before him would lead the way.

After the two finished up breakfast, or at least Rainbow Dash did, they began searching the apartment for any items they could use along the way. Ace had been able to find a few shotgun shells st the bottom of the closet in the bedroom, but no shotgun. Rainbow had found a small bottle of whiskey in the cabinets of the kitchen, and it still had been valid. She also found a herbal plant on the windowsill that had still been growing, but she decided to take that as well. They didn’t know what they would be facing in the future, but they both knew that it was better to come over-prepared than under.

Checking the apartment once more for any tools or anything, Ace found a Swiss army knife in the office room of the apartment. The tip had been a little rusted, but it still had a sharp point. Putting that by his side, Ace checked the office once more for any items he could find that would be advantageous, unlit he came across a set of papers laid out onto the main desk of the office room.

The papers had been slightly crumbled and some even had dried blood on them. Approaching the papers, Ace began skimming through the papers on the desk. Turns out that they hadn’t been any normal papers, they had been letters.

Reading them carefully, Ace noticed that they had all been threat letters. It had been a conflict between two ponies as they sent letter by letter back and forth. Taking his time to read, Ace soon found out that the pony that the letter came from had demanded a special type of medication delivered to him. He had gotten the medication for years now, but all of a sudden, the company that made the medication declined his purchase. They happened to find out what he had been using the pills for and had shut down their sales toward him. This maddened the customer as he began writing letters to the owner of the company saying that he would threaten him if he decided to decline his purchase any longer.

They kept on going back and forward with this controversy until the customer called it finals. The rest of the papers had been literally covered in blood from there as Ace had realized what had happened from that point on. Suddenly, there was a shout emanated from the end of the hallway.

“Hey, Ace!” Rainbow Dash called out. “Did you find anything valuable?!”

Quickly rummaging through the papers one last time and stuffing them into his saddlebag, Ace turned around and called back out. “Nothin’ good here!” With that, he trotted out of the office and headed down the hallway to where Rainbow Dash had been waiting. He had the papers with him and knew that when the time came, he’d have to tell Rainbow Dash. “We better get going before the sun sets again and we have to spend another night here.”

“Yeah,” Rainbow Dash agreed. “I’d hate to have to camp out here for another night.” With that, she turned around and trotted over to where the wooden trap door had been. Opening it, she made her way onto the ladder and slid down it with ease. This time, Ace had been the one following Rainbow close behind.

Coming out of the trapdoor at the end of the hallway, Rainbow Dash found herself in the same exact ally that they had been in last night. He had already been out here before when she went to go take food form an already destroyed grocery store down the street, so the feeling of the warm sunlight had been nothing new to her.

“So, now what?” Ace asked as he too got out of the trapdoor. “Is there a specific place we should be heading in?”

“Well, now that you mentioned it, yeah, there is.” Rainbow Dash mentioned. “There’s still some civilization still left in Ponyville, maybe we can stay there for a while.”

“Hm, Ponyville.” Ace thought to himself. “Isn’t that the quiet town on the edge of the Everfree forest.”

“One would refer to it as that.” Rainbow replied as she began trotting forward. “Just follow my lead and we’ll be there in no time!” With that, she had unfolded her wings and took off into the warm mornings air. “Come on!” She shouted from the sky.

Ace had done the same routine as Rainbow Dash as he also unfolded his own wings and flew into the air. It had been a while since he last flew and he nearly forgot to fly as he wobbled back and forth through the air.

Regaining his balance in the sky, Ace followed the rainbow trail that Rainbow Dash made from her tail. Off the two had gone in the small little town known as Ponyville. Who knows what new adventure would await them there.

The wooden door of the library creaked open as Rainbow Dash slowly entered the area. Ace had been following close behind. They had been inside a tree that had a library carved on the inside. It had been not only been the town library, but also the home of one of the smartest and most talented unicorns of all Equestra.

“Hello?” Rainbow Dash yelled through the library walls. “Anypony home?” To her surprise, there had been no response.

As Ace entered the library after Rainbow Dash, he gently closed the door behind himself. The library at a whole had been in quite a good shape. There were only a few books here and there that either hung out of the shelves or were on the polished wooden floor.

“So, now what?” Ace had asked, turning to Rainbow Dash.

“Just make yourself comfortable for now.” Rainbow Dash began trotting farther into the library until she reached the stairs over to the side. “The rest of the gang should be here soon.”

“The rest?” Ace repeated, taking off his saddlebag off his back and placing it aside near the doorway. “You mean, it’s not just you and I here?” Rainbow Dash began blushing violently as she heard that. Apparently, she interpreted that the wrong way as if something were to go down between them.

“Just, just stay down here, ok?” Rainbow Dash said before she resumed trotting up the stairs.

“Wait, where are you going?!” Ace shouted towards Rainbow Dash.

“To take a nap!” Rainbow Dash yelled back as she made it to the top of the floor. “It’s been a heck of a long day for me. I need more than ever to rest up right now.” With that, she leaped up onto Twilight’s bed as she landed onto her left side of her back. She didn’t even tuck herself under the blankets as she had been already fast asleep. All that Ace could hear by now was the gentle and calm snoring of Rainbow Dash as she slept.

Trying not to disturb Rainbow Dash, Ace gently trotted over to where the basement of the library had been. He knew that if he had been anywhere else, he would have woken up Rainbow Dash, which had been one of the last things that he would want to do. Ace knew that he could have his peace and quiet in the basement as well as Rainbow Dash could too.

Reaching down to the basement, Ace could see that the room had been dimly lit due to there being a simple candle lighting the entire basement. But what Ace saw was that he had not been the only one in the basement.

He could soon see that there had been another pony all the way at the end of the basement. He had been working on a desk near a candle. He had been rummaging through the drawers as if he had been trying to find something specific. The loud clatter noise had been emanated through the entire basement as he did so.

Suddenly, the pony stopped searching through the drawers as he turned his head upwards. He had been facing the opposing direction that Ace had been in as he looked up. The pony could feel Ace’s presence as he stopped searching through the drawers.

All Ace remembered was the lights going out as he was literally launched to the nearest wall. He had been thrown up against the hard wooden surface of the wall as the pony that had been by the desk charged towards him. Ace had taken the time to observe the enemy he had been dealing with more carefully before making any more sudden movements.

It took him a while to realize it in the dim light, but he could see that the pony who had pinned him against the wall hadn’t really been a pony. It had been a robot of some sort. Its red metal covered where its coat should have been as its dot-like green eyes were stained on me. It seemed to have no mouth, rather a few slits as air holes for its mouth. Its nose curved as if it had been a mare, yet Ace could tell that his had been a male robot.

The enemy had pinned Ace against the wall as he placed his hoofs against Ace’s arms to prevent him from moving. All of a sudden, he had lifted his left front hoof into the air, and as an instant, it evolved itself into a razor blade. Ace knew that no good could come from this, so he began struggling harder, but it had been no use. The grip of the enemy had been as strong as hell as it refused to let go of Ace.

“What do you want from me?” Ace asked with a feared tone of voice. There had been no reply as the robotic pony neared him with his razor-like hoof. Ace shut his eyes as he braced himself for what would happen next.

Ace soon felt a blistering sensation on the left side of his body as he opened his eyes to see that the razor blade had been gently cutting along his hide, leaving a trail of blood after it. The enemy kept descending more and more with the razor blade until he had gone an entire foot length.

From there, the robotic pony had pushed the razor blade deep into the hide of Ace. Tears streamed out of his eyes as he let out a wale of pain. Blood flew out like a waterspout as the razor blade had been fiercely pushed into him. The pain had been too much to take, yet he persisted himself to just stay calm as he prayed that everything would be alright. To his luck, it did.

The lights of the basement suddenly turned on as light flooded the area. Taking this at an alarming rate, the robotic pony had quickly pulled out the razor blade drenched in blood and disappeared with the light itself. He dove across the basement as he snuck his way out an open window in the far upper corner of the basement. It had been as if he had been a master of all things stealth.

“What in the name of Equestria is going on over here?!” Rainbow Dash snapped. She had a muggy feeling in her eyes, indicating that she had just woken up from a nap. “OH MY CELESTIA!” She soon shouted, realizing what had gone on. Rainbow Dash rushed over to where Ace had been. He had been curled dup into a ball as he tried to cradle the intense wound imprinted onto his left side.

“What happened?!” Rainbow Dash snapped. “What went on?!”

“Oh, noting major.” Ace replied, trying to seem as calm as possible. “Just a slight encounter that nearly killed me and all.”

“What?!” Rainbow Dash yelled. “Who?! Who did this?!” She placed a hoof around the back of Ace and began rubbing it, trying to ease the pain.

“Well, I don’t know specifically, but,” Ace began in a sore tone. “At first I thought it had been another pony that I saw, but after I got a closer look, I noticed that it hadn’t been a pony, it had been a robot of some sort.”

“A robot?” Rainbow Dash said to herself. “Wait a minute, Spectrum!” She said aloud. “Did this specific robot have a red body and dot green eyes?”

“Pretty much.” Ace responded. The pain only worsened as air made its way to his already-exposed body.

“But, why?” Rainbow Dash questioned. “What did you even do to tick him off?!”

“Nothing really.” Ace answered. “All I did was come down here to the basement only to find that he had been in the far desk over there at the end,” Ace mentioned, pointing a hoof to where the desk had been. “He had been searching though the drawers of the desks s if he was trying to find something important. As I entered, he must have detected my presence as the next thing I knew, I had been flung against the wall. From there, he began literally cutting me open with his razor blade hoof thingy. If it weren’t for you, I would’ve been completely murdered.” Ace thanked Rainbow Dash.

“Still, that doesn’t answer my question.” Rainbow repeated. “Why did he want to do so? What had he been looking for.”

“Now that’s where I am of no use.” Ace replied. “It just so happens that I have the slightest bit of what the entire purpose of violating private property and nearly killing me had to do with anything. If you ask me, he might have just had a mental breakdown or something.”

Suddenly, Ace began to bleed more and more as the blood fell from his left side all the way to the wooden floor he had be lying up against. It literally stained the floorboards as he just laid there.

“Here, we need to get you upstairs.” Rainbow Dash announced. “I think I might know where all the medical supplies are. With that, Rainbow Dash gently helped Ace onto all four of his hooves as he slowly assisted him up the stairs of the basement. When they reached the top, Rainbow Dash had been surprised on who she saw up there.

“Guys!” Rainbow Dash yelled out as she noticed all of her friends before her. The entire gang, besides Shadow and Dusk knowing that they had been missing through somewhere around Mystic Cauldron, had just entered the library themselves and had been tired from traveling such a long distance home.

“Rainbow Dash!” Twilight yelled as she approached her cyan friend. “Where the hay have you been?!” She snapped. “And more importantly, who is he? And what is that?!” Twilight screamed, pointing a hoof towards the cut alongside Ace’s left side.

“Well, if you didn’t mind, I’d been out rescuing a new friend of mine.” Rainbow Dash answered. “His names Ace and he just so happens to be the new prince of Equestria. Isn’t that right Ace?” Rainbow turned to look at the blue stallion.

“Um, well yeah! I am!” Ace added on. “Ever since the princesses of night and day were lost, they needed somepony to take their places, and I happened to fit the bill perfectly.”

“Oh, so you’re the new prince? How exciting! Wow, I never knew this whole time they had been looking for somepony to replace princess Celestia and Luna. Big shocker if you ask me. Oh and also, now that you’re a prince and all, do you govern the entire country. If so, can you add on a day onto each week meant  for partying? ‘Cause I mean really, life’s too boring to not have a party every once in a while, and that makes me sad knowing that there are some ponies out there who have never experienced a party before and that’s why they’re so grumpy but if you could add a day to party on to every week then that would be so much bet, mmhmm.” Lightning Flash had placed a hoof over Pinkies mouth to ensure she wouldn’t talk anymore.

“Sorry, she talks WAY too much.” Lightning Flash apologized to Ace.

“I can tell.” Ace responded.

“But still, you never answered my question,” Twilight jumped in again. “What’s that?!”

“It’s a long story.” Ace announced aloud.

“Here, I’ll tell them.” Rainbow Dash stopped Ace. “You’ve been in enough pain for one day.” Stepping forward, Rainbow began the incident. “Just as we entered the library, I had been stressed out and everything, so I decided to take a simple nap as usual. While napping, Ace must’ve wandered off into the basement where he noticed a mysterious pony that had been going through the drawer of the desk all the way at the end of the basement. It was if he had been searching for something valuable. Then, the pony could feel that Ace had been in the same room as him and had charged towards him. The pony had then pinned him against the wall and then realized that it hadn’t been a pony he had been battling, but instead a robot. A robot we all know and love, who happens to go by the name Spectrum.”

“Ha!” Snake snapped. “I told you guys that he had been behind all of this.”

“Shh!” Twilight tried to silence the gloating Snake. After she did, she signaled for Rainbow Dash to continue.

“From there, all Ace told me that he turned his front hoof or something into a razor blade and began cutting along his side around here. Ace told me that he would have died if it hadn’t been for me who turned on the lights of the basement. Instantly, Spectrum fled from the library unnoticed by everypony, everypony but Ace here.” Rainbow had reached a hoof up and rustled the blue stallions mane.

“So Spectrum is the one behind this.” Twilight said gently to herself.

“Now that’s where you’re wrong.” Ace spoke up again, using one of his hoofs to cover the incision from leaking any more blood onto the wooden floor. “If you don’t recall,” Ace said, looking over to Rainbow Dash who had been at her side. “But Queen Chrysalis had also said something about wanting me and her to rule the world together.”

“Queen Chrysalis!” Applejack shouted. “Not taht evil mare with taht army of shape-shifting vermin’!”

“I’m afraid so.” Ace added on. “Apparently, she was able to sneak in her way into Canterlot again, only this time she took the form as Princess Luna rather than Princess Cadence. And during the ceremony, that’s when she changed.”

“Well, couldn’t Shining Armor and Cadnace banish her and her army like last time?” Rarity asked with her usual British style voice.

Ace just shook his head as a response to her question. “I’m afraid not. Since last time, Queen Chrysalis has gain more power and so has her army. She found her way around the love spell and isn’t able to be brought down. If we don’t do something soon, the entire city of Canterlot will be literally destroyed to the ground.”

“Well that’s just great.” Strife announced. “Right after we defeat one of our common enemies, we only come back to where we started to find that we receive two more enemies in return. And to make matters worse, we don’t even know which of the two to go after!”

“We can always split up.” Raymond said form the back of the group. As usual, he had been on his hind legs as he leaned his back against the wall of the library. “You know, half of us go after Spectrum while the other half goes after Chrysalis. It’s not that hard.”

“You may actually have a point there.” Twilight agreed. “With that, we can kill two birds with one stone.”

“Kill two birds with one stone? Why would you want to kill some innocent birds. What you should be doing is killing those meany pants creatures with one stones rather than those poor bi, mehmme.” Like last time, Lightning had placed a hoof over her mouth to keep her silent.

“So now that we know what the plan is and everything, what will our groups be?” Thunder Ice asked from behind Twilight.

“I would insist in splitting the groups into mares and stallions so that no controversy would occur between the groups.” Raymond expressed.

“How sexist of you to even think of that idea!” Rarity shouted. “What I would do is split the groups up randomly to ensure a fair option and everything.

“Well, that could work.” Twilight thought. “Ok, everypony line up!” With that, everypony had stood beside each other as Twilight began to count off by twos. As she finished counting and the groups had been organized, she checked to see if the group orders would work or not.

In the first group had been Pinkie, Applejack, Snake, Raymond, Lightning, Blur, Fiiasco and Justine while in the other group had been Rainbow Dash, Ace, Twilight, Rarity, Thunder, Seamus, and Strife. The first group would be going after Spectrum while the opposing group would go after Queen Chrysalis and her army in Canterlot.

“Now, since everything has been organized, is there any questions you would acre to ask?” Twilight began marching around the groups as if she had been a general. One said, Rarity had raised a hoof into the air. Seeing this, Twilight had called on the white mare. “Rarity, is there something you would like to ask?”

“Just a small thing that’s stuck in my head, but where does Spike happen to be?” As if on cue, a small chirp sound had been emanated from the far side of the library. Everypony had turned their heads to see where the voice had been coming from.

“Over here!” It said as the creature hopped down from the top shelf of the library. It had been a small baby-like dragon with a purple cover and green scales atop his head.

“Spike!” Twilight yelled as she rushed over to the dragon. “Where have you been?”

“Oh, nothing much.” Spike replied. “Just hiding from that killer pony who had been previously lurking around this library and all.”

“I’ve heard.” Twilight added. “So now that you’re here, do you care to join us?”

“Nah, not in the mood.’ Spike replied. “It’s not safe for a young dragon like me to be wondering around in devastation like that.” He said as he pointed out the window. Ever since the enemies stormed the gates of Equestria, life in the outside world hadn’t been safe for pony nor dragon.

“So what will you be doing when were gone and all?” Twilight shot at the dragon once more.

“Oh, me?” Spike began. “I’ll just be keeping guard of the library from any intruders.”

“Are you sure?” Twilight asked. “Seems like a big job for somepony as small as you.”

“Just trust me this once. I can take care of this place, I swear. “Spike answered.

“That’s all I needed to hear.” With that, Twilight turned around and began trotting over to where the two groups had been. “Now that you all know what your positions are, it’s time to move out. Just remember, stay with your group, follow directions and orders, and most importantly, look out for each other, ok?”

Around everypony had replied “ok” as Twilight asked this.

“Well, ok then.” Twilight announced. “Time to save the world for real this time!” With that, Twilight charged out of the library followed by everypony else. Ace had been the last to leave as before trotting through the door, he picked up his saddlebag with his mouth and placed it over his back. He knew that he had to show Rainbow Dash the papers soon, just not yet.

This had also been a log chapter to write too. I never knew that I had been missing Spike in this fic until now. That’s when I decided to add him in and put in a silly excuse on why he had been absent for the last few chapters. Still looking for new song requests but no more OC requests for now. I’m right now planning on having the next chapter focus on Shadow and Dusk as they had been trapped somewhere else from where the rest of the gang had been. Also, be happy that I used Spectrum once more. Turns out, he hadn’t been pure of heart after all. But who knows? Maybe he’ll turn good once more or something. The only way to find out is to stay tuned to the story and keep reading. Now review, review again, review again, review again, and keep reviewing till it kills you.