A little colt sat as still as he could in the darkness. He laid down to make himself as small as possible, folding every limb into as tight as space as possible. Only his ears remained stiff and stretched, listening to the world around him for the slightest noise.
After a view minutes, his ears did catch the sound it was waiting for. A set of small hooves, galloping along a wooden floor. It grew loud as whoever pony it was drew closer, but the amplitude dissipated as quickly as it grew. The pony had galloped by and missed the little colt.
The little colt put both his hooves over his mouth, trying hard not to make any noise. It was difficult, but he managed. As the hoofsteps returned, however, the urge returned to the little colt even stronger than before. He couldn't help it anymore; the little colt let out the playful giggle he'd been trying so hard to seal away. The hoofsteps suddenly stopped.
Oh no, she heard me! thought the little colt to himself.
A few more slow hoofsteps could be heard outside the darkness, this time much slower, but each one grew louder and closer. The little colt held his muzzle in his hooves, shut his eyes, and steeled himself for whatever was about to happen.
After a few long, heart pounding seconds, the little's colt eyes were assaulted with blinding light, and his ears were battered to the sound of a filly's voice.
"Hey, Flare!" She cried out to somepony else, "I found him!"
"Alright, alright!" the little colt, said as he pulled himself out of the cardboard box, his hiding place.
The filly returned her attention to the little colt, "I gottcha' Flint, it's your turn now. C'mon, get out of there."
"I'm going, Gewehr, geeze." said Flint, the little colt.
Another pony raced down the hall to meet the two ponies. It the other little colt by the name of Flare, the one Gewehr (pronounced Ge-vehr) had called out to. The three earth pony foals had been playing hide and seek at Flint's house this afternoon. The game had just ended and it was Flint's turn to start the next round.
"You know the drill," Gewehr said excitedly, "go to the window seal and count to thirty."
"Yeah, and count all the numbers, a full second each," Flare added, "I'm gonna' count, too."
"Alright, I'm going." Flint replied. He dashed through the house, galloping to the window seal as quickly as he could so as to give his friends as little extra time as possible. He stood on his rear legs, put his elbows on the window frame and covered his eyes with his hooves.
He began to count, starting from one thousand and working his way up so as to satisfy Flare and his 'one second per count' rule. He patiently counted...
Thousand four...
Thousand five...
Thousand six...
Thousand seven...
Thousan-
But something suddenly happened. Suddenly his eyes detected bright orange and red, though his eyes remained shut for certain. It happened all so fast, it must've been only a fraction of a second. The glow was also outlining a pair of large black spots. Flint barely had enough time for his mind to even figure out what he was looking at. His eye where both closed, and covered his by hooves, but... could he be looking at the bones under his legs?! What was going on?!
The fraction of speedy thought was interrupted again by a loud, soul shattering thunder. It was as if lightning had struck his very ears. It was so loud, so sudden an instantaneous, Flint barely realized he was thrown back across the roo-
He blacked out.
***
Flint once again sat still in the darkness. Not from hiding or even actual intent. He woke to the sound of fire crackling beside him. As he opened his eyes, he looked to the sky. It was blue, clear and beautiful just a few minutes ago, but its color had been stolen and replaced with blood red and smoke all around.
Flint pushed with his hooves as hard as he could to get a large plank of wood of off him. He found the strength to get up, and finally take a good look around him. It was so sudden, so surreal, it took many seconds just to realize what had happened.
His house, his home was now a burning pile of rubble. The world around him was stained with a red hue, as if it there was a great cut in the earth and nature now bled around him. It took him another moment of pure shock and disbelief before he realized the screams and cries around him.
It wasn't just his home. As Flint looked around, he noticed his entire town, everything was destroyed. Buildings, homes, businesses, had been utterly flattened. It was as if the town had been transported to a plain of hell. It was fire and death all around him. Flames burned every which way. Distant screams of pain and cries of despair filled the air as much the smoke.
Without much thought, and while still in a state of disbelieving awe, Flint walked out of his destroyed home. He walked through what was left of his doorway and onto the simple dirt street. Or, at least it was a dirt street. As Flint walked on, he noticed his hooves had stepped onto a powder of some kind. He looked down for a moment to find ashes covering his hooves and the road.
He looked forward again, then left and right; it was all the same, no matter where he looked, it was all the same. Just bloodied air, thick with ashes and screams, and building all around him now made into burning piles of rubble.
Flint turned around to look at his home once again. He noticed one piece of it still stood significantly taller. A stone wall, part of the kitchen for sure, still remained. He could've swore he saw something beyond the ash choked air. Was it a pony. Without a second thought, Flint raced towards the stone wall to see who it was.
"Flare, Gewehr, is that you?!" Flint called out as he climbed over the rubble, careful to avoid any flames or any bit of wood that was glowing on its own. "C'mon guy, say something!" Step by step, Flint got closer to the pony, but he didn't get a response, "Come out already, you win." There was still no response, "Please, this isn't funny!"
Flint started to become very worried. Did something happen; is his friends alright? Flint moved more quickly, ignoring the little burns and cuts, now desperate to see his friends again. He finally found the pony by the stone wall, but his worries turned to complete horror and despair. It wasn't a pony by the wall, it was a shadow on the wall.
Two shadows to be exact. Shadows of ponies that seemed to have been burned into the stone. The pain and terror of the shadow ponies were captured in complete, dreadful detail; as if a moment of death had been painted on the wall. At the base of each shadow, was something even more frightful. Charred skeletons lay at the base of the stone wall. It didn't take long for Flint to realize what he was looking at, or who they were.
Tears began to flow down Flint's eyes, "Gewehr... Flare... no..." It was them, who else could it be? His friend were dead. His home was dead. His town was burning and dying. What could've happened?! What is all this?!
Emotions flowed freely though Flint, he collapsed where he stood. His cries mixed in with the many more all around him. He mourned his friends as he joined the cries out into the heavens; Why? Why?! WHY!?!
***
Was it minutes; was it hours? How much time had Flint laid there crying? How much time had the flames had to thoroughly destroy what little remained of his home. What did it matter. Did it matter at all.
Flint had only stopped to the sound of something unique. Something he had been taught to fear; something he had been taught to hate. He heard the sound of wings.
Flint immediately stopped crying. Instinct took over as he suddenly threw himself off the ground and next to the single foot of wooden wall that remained nearby, hiding.
Pegasi?! What are they doing here? Flint thought to himself.
The sound of flapping grew louder. It was getting closer. Flint shivered in fear. Even if only half the stories he heard about the pegasi were true, Flint had more to fear than just fire around him.
The flapping suddenly stopped and ended with the sound of hooves hitting the ground. The pegasus had landed on the road just outside his house, only a few yards away. Did it see him yet. Flint wasn't sure, but despite everything, he still managed just a little peak over the broken wall.
As if it could ever be, it was worse. Much, much, worse. The pony was worse than any pegasi. It was a tall, terrifying pony with a coat as white as clouds. Her mane flew in the wind with magical auras colored pink, green, and blue. Her eyes held a soul crushing glare. And to top it all off, she was the only pony in the world with both wings and a horn.
It was Celestia.
Without much warning, somepony called out from the rubble, "It's the Solar Tyrant! Kill her now!!" Flint held his ears with his hooves as the loud, repetitive, thunderous bangs of automatic gunfire filled the air. Flint didn't have to look (he didn't really want to, either) to tell that several earth pony soldiers had risen from the ashes and destroyed homes to take this small opportunity to try kill the evil queen.
The gunfire was met with splashes of magic, the sounds of dozens of wings, and clashes of metal as an engagement quickly broke out all around Flint. Other ponies called out "Don't let up, keep firing!!" and another screamed, "This is our only chance!!" Flint kept still in his poor hiding place, hoping not to get hit in the cross fire.
The gunfire had dwindled and finally ended with the screams of dying ponies. Was it over? After a few more seconds of waiting, Flint took another peak over the ruins. Celestia was still alive, and this time was surrounded by many unicorn and pegasi soldiers. Unlike the earth ponies, theses soldiers wore golden, enchanted armor that gave each one magic shields. Dozens more pegasi and unicorn soldiers lay on the ground, dead from the cross fire and bleeding out into the streets. The soldiers that stood remained unfazed, even while surrounded by fallen comrades.
Celestia herself had one earth pony soldier in her magical grip, holding him by the neck and chocking him. The odd thing was, this soldier only fought for the earth ponies. He was, in fact, one of the few remaining separatists unicorns that helped fight against Celestia.
"Now isn't this a curious find," Celestia said to her wounded captive. Her voice was cold and cruel, just like everypony said it would be. She continued, "Why don't you join the rest of your kind under my wings. We could create a peaceful world together."
The separatist unicorn could barely speak between coughs, "Because you not trying to create peace. You... You just want the world under your hooves. I won't blindly follow you. You might've... defeated Discord. But we will not trade one tyrant for another. We've had our taste of freedom, and... and we will not relinquish it. We will fight for it... We will have liberty...or...or...we will have death!!"
Suddenly the separatist used his own magic to pull out a revolver he had been hiding in his combat jacket. At point blank, he rapidly pulled the trigger. Six roars of thunder echoed as six bullets found their way into the side of Celestia's muzzle.
However, the Solar Tyrant stood still, and the separatist was not released. Only a single bullet had made it through Celestia's magical shield, and it only grazed her flesh. The wound quickly healed and what seemed like layers of amber glass grew and folded onto itself and Celestia's skin before seemingly disappearing entirely.
Within seconds, the wound had healed and the shield restored itself; Celestia was completely unharmed. With a frozen, emotionless voice, she said, "So be it...." replying to the unicorn's final war cry.
Her brows angled as she tightened her magical grip on the unicorn, snapping his neck and simply dropping his corpse on the ground.
Celestia called out to her soldiers, "Remeber why we're here. We'll need supplies for our little replacement project before we finish off this little rebellion."
Suddenly, a pair of hooves reached over the destroyed wall Flint was hiding behind and snatched him. Before he could do anything, Flint was captured by a large pegasi soldier. He bucked and screamed, but to no avail.
The soldier called out, "What about this one; seems well spirited - HAhahaa!"
Celestia calmly said, "Collect all the foals and the mares; we'll sort them out latter."
"And the stallions?" another soldier asked.
Celestia seemed to take an extra moment to think, "We've enough in the prisoner camps... kill them all."
"With pleasure," yet another soldier replied.
The soldier that captured Flint said to the frightened colt, "C'mon, you little mudling, we've got a new home just for you."
"No! No! NO!!" Flint cried out, but the soldier wouldn't listened.
Out of nowhere, somepony else called out, "Let him go!!" It was followed by several thunderous bangs. The soldier's head seemed to spark as he rear away and dropped Flint.
The pony jumped in front of Flint. It was an earthpony mare with a pistol in her mouth. She head butted the soldier as hard as she could, but he shrugged off the attack and hit back. The soldier quickly overpowered the mare and knocked her to the ground. A stomp from the solider knocked away the pistol and disarmed the mare, but she was not done yet. She quickly bucked the soldier in the face. The solider backed off and the mare took the split second to get up and grab Flint, holding him by his mane in her mouth.
She galloped away as fast as she could, dodging other soldiers in her path. However, the chase was short lived. The heroic mare was quickly blocked off and tackled the ground. Flint was knocked away from her grip. Enemy soldiers quickly descended on the two and captured them.
Even when outnumbered, the mare continued to fight. Flint tried his best to resist, but his small stature was no match to trained, adult soldiers. The mare was beaten unconscious and dragged way. As Flint was being dragged opposite direction, he finally got a good look at the mare that almost saved his life. He instantly recognized the mare; how could've he have not before. He screamed out:
"MOMMY!!"