A Journey Across

Book 3 - Burning Hope

Chapter 2 - The Empire

8 days since Canterlot's fall / T-28:20:36:34

Twilight was laying down on the floor. Cold moonlight entered through the windows. In front of her a warm, dimm red fire crackled steadily, almost burnt down. She was in deep thoughts when Fluttershy entered the room.

Fluttershy saw Twilight's face, the sadness and solitude, and approached her. "Twilight? Is everything alright?" she asked.

"No," came to short response.

"Still thinking of Canterlot?" the yellow pegasus asked.

"I was there. Last night. The first night since Canterlot. I wanted to see it again," the princess explained.

"You know that Canterlot is in quarantine now? They won't even let the search teams in anymore," Fluttershy was worried.

"I know, I just wanted to see. But when I was there I had this strange feeling." - Fluttershy got comfortable beside her - "Like I could see everything."

"Hydraulics Failure!" screamed Jeb.

"What had happened..."

Tell me Chrysi.

"IGNITION!" exclaimed Jeb.

"I am Entropy, the god of evil."

"What will happen..."

The computer continued to fire, despite the plane already burning up.

The thunder of running rocket engines echoed through the caves.

"I will accept my fate," Trixie answered.

"The one thing Entropy wants..."

"ANARCHY IN THE EMPIRE!", shouted the revolutionary.

"is Chaos. The problem is, he knows us better than we know ourselves..."

The distant roaring of plane engines was heard over Manehattan.

"That's why I went to Canterlot last night. I had to see it."

"Trixie shall get her Revenge on you, Twilight Sparkle!"

Midnight! Unmask! Unmask!

"The feeling, like everything is connected, like in a big puzzle,"

Discord began screaming as every part of his body faded out.

The alien stopped right before Applejack's locker.

"A long chain of events streching back, before Canterlot's fall. Before all this mess."

"You are the mare in the moon!" exlaimed Twilight.

Twilight fired a giant beam of raw alicorn magic onto Tirek.

"A perfect pattern, laid out in front of me..."

In the hands of the doctor appeared a .36 caliber revolver.

Only Applejack's hat remained and fell to the ground.

"Jeb, tell me. What happened before you crashed here? What was your mission?"

"and we are all trapped by it, even though we think we are free."

"I. AM. A. GOD!"

"This was HUGE. Bigger than anything."

"The end of the all existence, obviously," answered Death.

"So, do you know what is going to happen?" interrupted Fluttershy.

"No," answered Twilight, "it was just a feeling, but I can guess. With the destruction of Canterlot..."

Second signal detected and confirmed.

13764 ponies and 1 baby dragon

"Celestia and Luna are no longer as invulnerable as most ponies would like to think. Somepony is going to do something stupid."

"ANARCHY IN THE EMPIRE!"

"We've been hit! We lost control on the left back wing!" reported Jebediah.

"And when they do things will turn nasty, chaos will prevail."

Third signal detected and confirmed.

The shells hit the frame of the aircraft and ripped it apart.

"DOWN WITH THE DIARCHY!"

"Just like he wants. All he needs to do..."

The distant thundering of the AAA echoed through Manehattan.

"Why Hello there. Sam, Dean, Lucifer, Death, nice to meet you," smiled Entropy.

"...is to give us the final hit and then..."

Fire embraced and consumed the palace.

The Titan was hit by one of the missiles.

Mushroom clouds rose from the ground.

"Failure in life support and navigation," reported Trixie.

"So this was it, wasn't it?" asked Order.

"Their fate is not chiselled in stone. They can change it!" claimed Order.

"Your god is dead!" laughed Entropy.

"Tell me. Do you think this is the end?" asked Entropy.

"Twilight. You shouldn't worry that much. I think everything will turn out alright," Fluttershy claimed assertive, "Besides. I got good news from the Crystal Empire."

"Okay. Tell me then," responded the alicorn.

"They, to be more precise Cadence, will allow us to setup a temporary council until we reestablished our government apparatus back here. The letter says they can allow 7 members as permanent guest in the palace," recited the pegasus.

Twilight noticed the change in her friend. She wasn't as shy as before, instead she tended to be more rude, almost unfriendly at times. Her eyes showed the fires behind. Even though she was calm, rage burnt in her mind, tearing apart anything that Twilight was used to.

The princess had her own problems too. From time to time she had seizures, blacking out and coming back concious in weird places. She couldn't remember what she had done during these episodes and her concerns towered before her. Canterlot had changed them all.