Author's Note
Hello and welcome to my story. I hope you enjoy it.
Disclaimer- Any similarities between this story, its OC's, and other stories are purely coincidental and is not intended in anyway as a rip off.
Chapter 1 - Arrival Day
Chapter 1 - The Day the Sky Fell.
Rain
That is what the rest of my life was going to consist of: rain. Every day I would wake up and go ruin some poor pony’s afternoon with my special talent. Any pegasus worth their wings could do my job. But I had to do the dirty work because I was really good at it. I could create a rain cloud in an hour that would take a group of pegasi all day.
I should be good at what I do. After all I have the storm cloud cutie mark to prove it. To most of the citizens of Ponyville I was just that yellow pegasus who would show up unannounced and ruin their plans to work in the garden that day. To everypony else, I went by Quick Sleet.
My occupation didn’t exactly make me a well-respected or admired figure around town. I couldn’t exactly blame them though. While most would simply grumble under their breath and go inside to find something to pass the time whenever I showed up, I had my fair share of aggressive patrons. One time I had a particularly uptight unicorn scream at me from the balcony of her dress shop to stop what I was doing because she needed the sunlight to make her latest creation “shine”. Her voice reached an almost ear splittingly high pitch while she tried to make her point. When I offered her suggestions on where to cram said creation I spent the majority of the day bandaging cuts from a very aggressive cat that she hurled at me with some unicorn magic fueled by pure rage.
Despite all the depressing weather, disappointed town’s folk and flying cats, I still loved my job. Who wouldn’t? Without my services' nothing grows, the land is left either dead or dying. Without the rain we don’t have anything to eat. Without rain and the life, it brings, we lose everything. But even the knowledge that my job brings life doesn’t come close to my favorite part, storms.
I can still remember the first storm I ever witnessed. I was just a foal; I didn’t even have my cutie mark yet. I sat by the window and watched as the black clouds seemed to churn and move through the sky. The wind made the rain fall almost sideways, and threatened to rip homes right off of their foundations. The first strikes of lightning and the crack of thunder made me dive for cover under a table. When I re-emerged from my hiding spot I noticed that a bolt of lightning had struck a tree, and left nothing but a twisted mess where it had once stood. It was like nothing I had ever seen. That storm was beautiful and terrifying at the same time, and I loved it.
The following morning, I tried to create a little storm of my own while everypony else was busy cleaning up. I forced some clouds together in a desperate attempt to recreate what I had seen the night before. When I had finished what I was certain would be my masterpiece, I struck it with my front legs trying to create some rain. What I got was lightning. Which ended up blowing a hole in the roof of some poor ponies home. I cowered on that cloud hoping that no one had seen that I was the one responsible. Until my father showed up. He wasn’t exactly proud of my accomplishment. I spent the rest of the day in my room, feeling sick about what happened. When my parents finally entered I braced myself to receive the punishment of a lifetime, instead I was given a sign-up sheet for weather camp, followed by a punishment that in hindsight wasn’t severe enough for major property damage.
But it was a special day for me, nowhere in Ponyville needed a drop of rain. Which allowed me to take a much needed break. I settled into my cloud and took in a deep breath, trying to relax all of my muscles. I had managed to snag a prime napping spot before Rainbow Dash could claim it. A cool breeze was perfectly offsetting the summer sun. The natural melody of the forest slowly brought me closer and closer to a deep sleep. It was going to be a very good day.
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My ears perked up, an unknown sound bombards them and snaps me back into reality. It sounded almost like a large fire, mixed with a high pitched scream. I slid my glasses onto my nose and watched the world come into focus. I tried to trace the source of this strange noise. My eyes darted from place to place, to Ponyville on the horizon to the forest directly beneath me and everywhere in between, desperately looking for whatever had woken me. What I was looking for, I only raised further. The source of my unwelcome alarm clock was a miniature sun, and it was growing in both size and volume. I couldn't make sense of what I was seeing. I tried rubbing my glasses against a cloud to clean them off, but all that seemed to do was bring my mysterious light into slightly better focus.
As the screaming sun continued to grow in size I can’t help but become mesmerized, it was like nothing I had ever seen before. As I sat staring at the sky, I failed to notice how large the object had become, until it screamed over my head. I sprung up from my cloud, the air hot where it had passed by and watched as the ball of screaming fire slams into Ponyville.
“Oh shit!”
My thoughts moved faster than my wings as I raced towards Ponyville.
“What the hell was that? Is everypony ok? I hope it doesn’t crash into my house.”
These thoughts bounced around my head during my short flight, but when I arrived; my questions were not answered but only replaced with new ones.
I landed on the roof of somepony’s home and I tried to make sense of what I was seeing.
The object had landed right in the middle of Ponyville square, and buried itself in the ground. It looked even weirder now that it had landed. A leg on each of its four corners had dug into the ground and secured it in place. The material it was composed of didn’t look like anything I and ever seen before. It had a black tinge that made it look almost unnatural; it was dotted with lines of green that gave off a slight glow. It was no larger than your average stallion and topped with a small cylinder which spun slowly around. The entire object gave off an unsettling hum, which was the only noise that broke the silence that fell on the crowd of ponies that had gathered in a large circle it.
Everypony just stood there staring; no one was willing to go forward. A colt staggered into the interior of the circle formed by the ever-growing crowd. His steps were heavy as he inched closer and closer to the object. The look on his face made it clear that he regretted his decision to step forward, but he continued his slow march regardless. When he came within a foot of the object, he took in a long breath, then stretched out a hoof to touch the rotating cylinder. He came within inches of it before it slammed down with a sickening hiss. Plates on the sides of the device opened to reveal small holes that glowed violently with the same green light.
Another hiss rang out as a green substance exploded from the holes. Everything it touched was dragged towards the source. Screams echoed out as the colt fought to free himself. The green substance began to overtake his entire body, until he was completely covered and fell silent. Leaving only a green cast where he had once been. Others tried to fight the pull, but eventually all who were touched by the green substance were dragged to the object and replaced by a green shell.
My legs and wings were frozen in place. I kept telling them to move, to flee, anything! But they simply refused to move. The screams of fleeing ponies echoed through the air. From my vantage point I could see a filly knelt over one of the green shells. Tears streamed from her eyes. Her cries clearly heard through the screaming. It was impossible to know if she was crying over the correct shell.
Something about the sight of the mourning filly snapped my wings out of their trance, I only noticed when I felt my feet leave the roof of the building. I was airborne!
“I need to get out of here.”
I didn’t know where I was going; I didn’t really care. My only goal at was getting some distance between me and Ponyville. The sounds of fear and panic becoming weaker and weaker with every beat of my wings. I needed somewhere to land so I could collect my thoughts and plan my next move. I looked down I realized I was flying over a large, open field. My wings slowed in pace as I came in for a landing. Hitting the ground, I took a deep breath in and out, trying to collect myself. I could feel my heart pounding from a cocktail of residual fear and new found exhaustion.
“Ok, I can figure this out,” I started mumbling to myself. “A weird object falls out of the sky and crashes into Ponyville,” I began to pace back and forth. “This object squirts out this weird green stuff that turns ponies into said green stuff,” my voice grew in tempo and pitch. “And now I’m in the middle of a field having a panic attack because something fell out of the sky and turned ponies into goop!”
I looked up and saw the city of Canterlot in the distance. The majestic white city that stuck out of a mountain side and seemed to levitate in the air. Three separate waterfalls fell like long drapes from the city and fed the rivers bellow. Princess Celestia’s castle topped the city like a hat and gave her a perfect view of the city and the valley below.
“I wonder what Princess Celestia is up to.”
My mind switched into a new gear.
“That’s it! I’ll go to Princess Celestia and ask her what to do, she must have some idea. I mean she’s been alive for so long, you don’t live for over a thousand years and not gain at least some intelligence. Why the hell didn’t I think of this before, it’s so obvious!”
Invigorated by my own brilliance, I flapped my wings hard and set off for Canterlot.
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When I landed in Canterlot I was greeted by something I didn’t expect, silence. I had been to Canterlot a couple of times and its streets were always filled with ponies of all kinds. I was hoping for the regular hustle and bustle of Equestria’s capitol, but its streets were barren.
I looked around for any signs of life and noticed a large chunk had been ripped off of the roof of a café. I started to hunt what had done so much damage. Lodged into the paved street of Canterlot was an object that was identical to the one that had landed in Ponyville, several green shells already surrounded it.
Fear began to well up in my stomach, I sprinted back around the corner and slammed my back up against a wall. My breathing had become very heavy and rapid. I peered around the corner, and noticed that the object had lost the green glow that dotted parts of it. The hum that echoed from its duplicate in Ponyville was also gone.
“Oh no this is bad, this is very bad.” My breathing had become heavy and sporadic. My heart felt like it was going to burst out of my chest. I tried to calm myself down. “It’s alright,” I said to myself. “It’s going to be fine. Maybe these things only have one charge.” I looked back around the corner. “Only one way to fine out.”
I took in one finally large breath and stepped out from my hiding place. The fear in my gut intensified with every step. I stopped within a foot of the object. The memories of the colt that stepped forward flashed through my mind. I tried to ignore them, but they persisted.
I gave the object a quick tap with my hoof. A hallow bang emanated from the object. I froze and waited for some kind of reaction, but got nothing. The air in my lungs exited with a large sigh of relief.
“Okay, these objects only get on shot. Good to know.”
My gaze drifted upwards to Princess Celestia’s castle, the balcony outstretched from the tallest tower providing me with the perfect entry point. I had a feeling that what I was about to do was illegal in numerous ways. But I also felt that under the current circumstances the royal guards would find it in their hearts to forgive me this one time.
I landed on the balcony and headed straight through the already opened doors into what looked like a bedroom. A large pillow and blanket was set up in front of a burning fireplace. The walls were painted a dark blue and a banner of a shining star was hung on the wall with a single nail.
“Princess Celestia.” I called out to the empty room. “Are you in here?
I listened carefully for the soothing voice of the princess. What I got was something much different. It was a small chirping coming from outside of the princess’s bedroom. It wasn't quite a bird, but it also wasn’t quite a cricket.
I quietly approached the door and pulled it open. The creature making the chirping sound had its back turned towards me and was down on all fours. It was a light gray color with an overly large head. The outline of its bones could be seen through skin that looked stretched to the point of breaking. Its long dangling limbs ended in something similar to griffin or dragon claws. A small device was attached to one the limbs on its right side and gave off a green glow much brighter than the objects I had encountered earlier. When I leaned in to get a closer at the creature I noticed that it was hunched over the corpse of a Royal Guard.
I quite gasp left my mouth when I noticed the guard’s body. The creature stopped chirping and rose up to stand to its full height. I froze, hoping that it would go back to what it was doing. My heart beat was fast and loud in my ears.
“Please don’t see me. Please don’t see me. Please don’t see me.”
The creature spun around to look at me. Its eyes were a bright orange color with large pupils. A horrendous screech left its mouth as it dropped back down to all fours. It moved with more speed than I expected as it charged towards me. I jumped back into the princess’s bedroom and shoved my shoulder into the door. Before I could get it closed the creature lodged its body between the door and its frame; its limbs flailed wildly as it tried to force its way into the room. I pressed against the door as hard as I could but the creature refused to give up. Despite its relatively small size it was quite strong.
“You aren’t going to get me!”
I shifted my weight causing my hips to press into the door and my back legs to dig into the floor. With my new position I struck up with my front hoof as hard as I could. It connected with the creature’s cheek and caused its head to whip back and collide with the door frame with a hollow thud. The impact didn’t seem to weaken its will to fight back as it opened its mouth wide and bit down hard on my outstretched hoof.
I cried out as a burning pain travel down my foreleg and into my shoulder. The pain caused my back legs too lose their grip with the floor. I tried to regain my footing but with one last shove the creature forced the door open, causing me to fall backwards. The creature stormed into the room and pointed the device on its limb in my direction. Its chirping had become almost a low rumbling sound. Its lips were pulled back into a sickening smile. I could see my blood dripping from its teeth. I closed my eyes, and hoped my death would be quick.
A large boom echoed through the room followed by a high pitch and a load thump. I waited for some kind of new sensation to envelope my body. I waited and waited, but nothing happened. I opened my eyes to see the creature slumped over next to me. A green liquid oozed out a hole in the back of its head.
An earth pony was standing in the doorway. He was decorated with tan colored armor and helmet that covered every part of his body. A large box welded to a long hollow barrel was attached to his right side. On his left side another hollow tube was attached to the armor, it was mounted to a gear system that would allow it to swivel up and down. A symbol of a Y with a star in each gap of the arms with the phrase X-Com was etched into the chest piece.
“You alright there?” The tube on his right retracted into box with a small click.
“Yes, I think so.” I replied with a sigh of relief. “You arrived just in time.”
I tried getting back up when my legs lost all strength and I fell back onto the ground. The only feeling in my body was a fiery pain coming from the wound on my hoof. The unicorn dashed to my side and grabbed my hoof.
“Shit, he was bitten” He turned his head to face me. “Just hold on, you’re going to be fine.” He turned to look at the doorway. “Hey, I need a Med-Kit in here!”
I could feel my grip on consciousness loosen. I saw a unicorn dressed in the same armor enter the doorway. Then the world went black.
