Chapters After Equestria: The Crystal War
I
David
David nearly died of cold. The moment he crossed the supposedly magical mirror he felt like he’d just taken a dip in the Antarctic. Cold threatened to overcome him, his lungs burned and screamed for air as he rushed a long a current of some sort, flipping and twisting in space with nothing to stop him.
Then, finally, he crossed over. And by that I mean, he was ejected from the cold and landed on his face in the dirt. Well, actually dust. As David got to his feet -swearing under his breath, he noticed that he seemed to be in a … well, actually he didn't know. The walls, the floor, everything sparkled like crystals or diamonds.
Considering that it’s a tree, and it’d probably grow back, I’m sure Twilight wouldn't mind me taking a small piece of her castle as a souvenir … David thought, grinning as he imagined what Twilight would say.
“You okay man?” Andrew asked helping David to his feet.
“Yeah, okay, sure. Tha-“ David stopped mid-sentence when he remembered who he was talking to, he pulling his hand away, and stepped back from Andrew. “Stay away from me you psycho!”
Andrew’s eyes flashed with hurt, and then were replaced by anger. “I was just trying to help you jerk!”
“Yeah, if I ever want to get barbecued I’ll ask you first.” David retorted.
Andrew took a step towards David, threateningly … and fell on his face.
“Scratch that,” David said smirking triumphantly. “If I ever need a douche bag, I’ll call you.”
“Alright, that’s enough.”Twilight stepped in between them. “You need to stop fighting everyone,” Twilight turned to David with a hard expression. “I’m talking about you, David.”
David blinked, he was shocked. Twilight had never talked to him much-hell, she didn't even know him-and yet, she was trying to stop him from fighting a guy who tried to kill him.
But Twilight wasn't done yet. “You’re always fighting everyone, every time! What’s your problem?”
“You.” David said, almost whispering, but his voice was filled with hatred nonetheless. “You’re my problem Twilight Sparkle, okay? You’re a cowardly scumbag and I’d give anything to knock your teeth in!” David was yelling at the end, his face red.
“Quiet.” Applejack whispered.
Crack!
A sound like a twig snapping echoed in the … throne room, apparently.
“Ya hear tha’?” Applejack whispered, wide-eyed. “Somthin’s here.”
“Yeah.” Sunset Shimmer said, quietly.
“What is it?” Andrew squeaked, he was trembling so much, David could have sworn he saw some feathers shake off the Pegasus’s back.
“Aw, grow some back bone you big baby!” Rainbow Dash said crouched in a defensive state.
For a long time nothing happened, everbo-er, everypony, stood tense, waiting for the inevitable attack. They stood so long; David began to feel stupid, until he heard the voice.
“Are you sssure you smelt poniesss?” One voice hissed, it sounded like a female-because the high pitch.
“Yesss, fresh and alive.” Another voice responded, this one sounded deeper-probably a male. “We will feast on pony flesh!”
“FLESH!” The others hissed in unison.
David turned to face the others, all of whom had fearful expressions, David couldn't blame them, his own experience with a changeling nearly resulted in his death.
“What are we going to do?” A deep voice growled.
David turned, and gaped. Behind him was a dragon the size of a van, it had bright purple scales and green blade-like (or rather, tooth –like based on their curvature.) spines sticking out of their backs
It was all David could to do to hold back a rather gillie shriek that was threatening to break loose. David stared at the creature for a second before remembering it was his … friend Spike. Suddenly the name 'Spike' didn't seem so much like a dog’s name.
“-Alright we got to barricade the door somehow, Rainbow Dash can you check those doors to see if you can anything,” Twilight was saying, in a rush. “In the meantime Spike will hold the doors.”
“No.” David said turning to face Twilight. “Open the big doors and Spike will rip those pests to shreds!” He practically shouted the last part. David hated feeling scared, and usually did rash things to combat fear, like the time he tired to climb down a deep canyon because he was afraid of heights.
Twilight looked horrified. “You’re asking Spike to … kill those things?! Are you crazy?! ”**
“Unless you wanna get ripped to shreds or starve to death you’ll go with my plan.” David replied.
“Listen, punk, Twilight’s the leader here not you.” Rainbow Dash said, sounding angry.
“Very well then,” David said, feeling angry. “Then Twilight can lead you to your deaths.”
“Alright, that’s quite enough!” Rarity said stomping her hoof; she regarded David with a barely controlled expression-like she was trying hard to pulverize him. “Twilight has spent her whole life in Equestria and you have been here for barely one day. You have no right to-“
“Wait,” Applejack said, loudly, cutting Rarity off. “Ah think we should give him th’ benefit of th’ doubt.” She nodded curtly, first to Twilight, then to David. “Well? Go on, tell us th’ reason you wan’ use to do … whatever.”
Twilight stepped forward- which was lucky because David was so dumbstruck he probably would have stood there staring at Applejack, looking like a moron.
“I think we shouldn't so carelessly allow Spike to-” Twilight began in an over professional manner, with the air of some esteemed professor giving a lecture to ignorant adolescents. Fortunately, she was cut off when the large crystal doors swung open.
“Ah-ah!” The changelings burst through the large sea-green doors, framed with gold. “I ssso told you there were poniesss here Buzz! You see?” The Changeling placed a hoof (at least, that’s the only way to describe the appendage) riddled with holes on … Is that thing a his, her or an it? David thought.
“No, you didn't! I wasss the one who told you.”
“Liar!”
“I’m not lying, Vice! Remember last week I said, ‘hmm, I thing I smell some ponies over there!’ and then you’re like, ‘no way, why would a pony be at Ponyvile?’ then you said, ‘oh for the Queens sake, work on your tracking skills!’” Said the changeling named Buzz.
The changelings continued bickering, calling each other names and all that.
“Spike!” David whispered, not daring to look away from the bug-pony things. “Kill them now.” David decided to call him, ‘Spike’ because it sounded like a better name for a dragon then ‘Stephan.’
Spike didn't say anything, for a second David thought Spike had somehow escaped without any of the Changelings noticing.
Then a roar from behinds David nearly deafened him, something large barreled past knocking David on his face. The changelings screamed like little girls and ran out of the room; however, Spike didn't pursue them, and instead stopped at the doors. He peaked outside-apparently checking if the cost was clear, before turning back to his friends.
“They’re gone.” Spike growled, but not in a threatening manner, more like a gurgling sound at the back of the throat.
Every one breathed a sigh of relief.
“Well, that’s good.” Rarity said. “I thought-“
“How could you let them get away?!” David demanded. “You should have killed them!”
Spike stared at him; evidently this was not the response he was expecting. “I thought-“He began slowly, before he was cut off by Rarity.
“Killed them?” Rarity asked in horror and disgust. “Spike isn't like you; he would never savagely kill a creature!”
“Why would we need t’ kill it anyway?” Applejack asked, coolly. “It’s gone now, see?” She gestured to the door with her hoof.
“Yeah, killing things isn't very nice!” Pinkie Pie added frowning.
“Argh!” David groaned in exasperation rubbing his temple with his hoof-which was a bad idea because he lost balance for second before putting his hoof down, literally, but he managed to cover-up his slip-up with the guise of stomping his foot. He opened his mouth to retort, but Sunset beat him to the punch.
“He should have, because it isn't dead, the Changeling has the chance to attack us again.” Sunset Shimmer pointed out.
“It doesn't matter!” David snapped, everyone turned to face him. “If we don’t find shelter, food and water soon we’ll be dead.”
“So let’s get moving then,” Sunset Shimmer said, in a annoyingly calm voice.
“Ah second tha’,” Applejack murmured eyeing the vines, ivy and moss that was growing all over the castle.
After Equestria: The Crystal War
II
David
David hated Equestria. It was filled with Manticores, weird rock-crocodile things and giant wooden wolves. A lot people-when presented the chance to go to Equestria, would be thrilled. It’s just a land of sunshine and rainbows! What could possibly go wrong?
David now knew first had that Equestria was not for the faint of heart or those who are too squeamish to kill, it was like the wild west except more wild and less west. In no less them … what, ten, fifteen minutes, they had been chased into the middle of Ponyvile by a pack-(was it a pack, herd, Flock or a Swarm?) -of Changelings
“Get back here delicioussss poniesss!” The Changelings taunted as they flew after David and the others. “Why you running from?”
“It’s what are you running from!” Twilight yelled back at them as the Changelings chased them to a scorched bridged stained with slime and what appeared to blood and pony skeletons.
The Changelings-like David ignored her. “You will join your kin Princessss,” they hooted maliciously. “You’ll be just another skeleton, rotting on the floor!’
“Like’ hell we will!” Applejack said. Then she bucked her back legs sending a small piece of concrete flying of the bridge that they running on and straight at the Changelings head.
The Changeling collapsed but it’s ‘friends’ ignored him and kept running. Some friends they are, David thought, then again, who said their friends? Maybe they’re part of swarm and they’re just trying to bring food back to their kin. David shook his head, trying to get rid of that thought. It’d be hard enough to fight them as it is, the last thing he needed was to feel … empathy to these bloodthirsty arthropods.
“Get to the Town Hall!” Twilight screamed. “We’ll be safe there!”
David didn’t argue, which just proved that the situation was dire. David recalled-at the back of his mind- hearing one of his friends (who was brony) telling him that Changelings fed on love. Judging on the way the Changelings kept screaming ‘FLESH!’ His friend was wrong.
“SPIKE!” David screamed. “Just chase ‘um of already!”
“I tried that remember?” Spike hollered back.
David remembered alright, it was one the stupidest things he’d ever done; telling Spike to chase off those weird Changelings, Spike had warned him that these Changelings scent was different. But David rolled his eyes and said, 'Please, what could possibly happen?'
Five minutes later the Mane Six, Spike, Andrew and David were trying to keep the Town Hall door shut as Changeling pounded on it demanding to be let in.
“Let usss in!” One growled.
“We ssso promise we won’t eat you.” Said another Changeling
“Kill you!” The seemingly more aggressive of the eight screamed. “Rip your eyes outs, I’ll eat you live!”
“Thanks,” David told them, his voiced straining from using his magic to help Spike keep the door shut. “But I think I’ll pass.”
Then with one big push Spike and David shoved the door shut.
“What the hell was that?” Andrew asked, panting heavily.
“What do you think, moron?” David snapped, glaring at Andrew. “There goddamn Changelings, what did you think they were, Santa’s Elves?”
Andrew face turned red. “What’s your problem with me, huh? What did I do to you?”
“You mean, other than blasting me with lightning?” David asked sarcastically. “Oh, jeez you’re right I’m so sorry I’m not going all buddy with you after you tired to kill me.”
“It wasn’t my fault! Sombra was possessing me and-”
“Please,” David snorted, smirking. “You being possessed the whole time and you know it!”
“Okay fine,” Andrew said in what seemed to be a poorly controlled tone. “I snapped, there happy now? Can you really blame me?”
“Yes.” David snapped, “Yeah I can. Starswirl did worse to me than what he did to you. And if you notice, I remained sane.”
“That’s debatable.” Andrew muttered, a little too loudly.
“What did you say to me, psycho? Huh? I think I’m insane? Was I the one who attacked a random teen in the bathroom and blasted him with lighting-“
“Dude, you totally hit me harder in return!” Andrew protested.
“AND YOU DESRVED IT!” David yelled, jabbing his hoof in Andrews’s direction.
Spike quickly stepped in between them before a fight broke out.
“Alright, everybody just calm down.” Spike rumbled in a placating manner.
“Yeah, we got bigger problems then-” Rainbow Dash began.
“No we don’t.”
Everyone turned to Twilight who starred in turn, with a cool look.
“Pardon me, Twilight,” Applejack said. “But wha’ the hay are ya sayin’?”
“I’m saying,” Twilight stressed those two words. “That we can’t just have half our team fighting ever five minutes-we need to work this out, now.” Twilight then addressed everyone in the group. “If we want to survive we need to work as a team. And in order to do that were going to have to trust each other, so Rainbow, Andrew and David,” she glared at David with a challenging look. “Apologize, now.”
And David did. He felt like a kindergartener, but he did.
“Alrigh’” Applejack said, cutting into the heavy silence that had conquered the room after the apologizes. “So I reckon we gonna figh’ ... um, Changing’s.”
“Changelings,” Spike corrected.
“Yeah, that,” Applejack responded. “So? Wha’ do ya say?”
“I’m in!” Rainbow Dash said, pumping her hoof in the air. “Let’s kick some butt!”
“Yeah, but …” David hesitating giving a fleeting look at Twilight. “… We’re going have to kill-or at least injure them in order to do that.”
“No we don’t, silly!” Pinkie pie said in a way too happy tone. “Spikey can just scare them off!”
Spike, Twilight and Applejack nodded at this, but Sunset was frowning and shaking her head.
“No, there’s something about these changelings that just … weird.” Sunset Shimmer said, more to herself than the others.
“Yeah,” Spike said. “Since when do Changelings eat ponies?”
Twilight frowned. “Fair point,” she conceited. “But just try not to hurt them too much, okay Spike?”
“I still don’t get why those ghastly things were here in your home Twilight,” Rarity said, thinking out loud. “Why would they … oh no.” She gasped and out a hoof to her mouth, her expression horrified. Rarity looked at Twilight fearfully, not afraid of her but afraid for her. And David knew why.
The Changelings killed the ponies in Twilight's home.
After Equestria: The Crystal War
III
Eclipsed Star
Even before he got run over, Eclipsed Star was having a bad day.
He’d been tasked with tracking down some Changelings in Ponyvile, hiveless Changelings, they-unlike their cousins, didn’t feed on love. They fed on flesh.
Eclipse sighed, staring at a ruined, ‘Welcome to Ponyvile’ sign with a big smiley face that had been ripped in two. This is * totally** gonna be great.* He thought sarcastically.
Ponyvile had been his home, one the last places to be overrun, about … ten years ago. It was the first-and last town to be used as the Lunar Republic’s hideout, al least until the Changelings overran it. He still remembered the shrieks and screams of terror as the Changelings descended …
No, Eclipsed Star thought; don’t think about that, think about something-anything, else.
' Death and despair … ' A voice whispered, ' you shall-'
“Oh, shut up already!” Eclipse Star groaned, he was sick of his nightmares, they going to drive him insane one of these days.
Alright, this is perfectly fine, just a routine trip of Ponyvile … and Faust knows I've put this off for too long …
Things had become desperate after Firestorm disappeared, that strange amnesiac unicorn had shown up and disappeared in one day. Commander Lyra was less then pleased about that. She had immediately assembled a rescue team to find Firestorm, Lyra’s reasoning for doing so echoed in his ears. ‘I don’t claim to be all-knowing or omnipotent or anything stupid like that. I don’t know if destiny’s real or fake or if all of reality is a figment of my imagination. But, I’m help shake the feeling that there’s something off about that unicorn; * Firestorm*.'
Firestorm. Who was he? What was he planning on doing? And who had- for the magically readings Glimmer had observed- been so desperate to kidnap him? The mystery behind that unicorn was intriguing. Eclipsed Star had met Firestorm, the latter seemed cool, casual and calm he never seemed like a big deal at the time but now ….
‘Isn't Big Mac a type of burger at Burger King?’ That comment seemed harmless-though no less strange, at the time but now, Eclipsed Blade wondered if Firestorm had lied about his amnesia. If he knew who he was and why he was there but didn't want to do it. ‘The reluctant Messiah’ that’s what ponies were calling him now. They believed he was sent by Faust to save them, and his disappearance was just a test to see if they would lose hope.
Some called it a prophecy, others deemed it plausible. Eclipsed Blade deemed it bullshit. He hated the idea of waiting for some ‘Messiah’ that clearly, would never arrive.
Hisssss!
Eclipsed Star snapped his head in the direction of the sound, his heart beating like a drum-not out of fear, but of anticipation. He knew what was happening; he’d be an idiot not to.
He was being watched, that was obvious enough-but by what? A Changeling, perhaps? But a single Changeling would not be foolhardy enough to give away its location unless …
Eclipsed Star widened, his body tensed and his horn charged and crackled with magic-probably not the best idea for a stealth mission but still, it helped.
The hissing grew louder, punctuated by shouts and screams.
Shit. Eclipsed Star thought, it would be hard enough to fend off a swarm of Changeling without having any civilians in the crossfire. Just get them to safety. That was the mission- his mission, it didn’t matter if he lived or died he just needed to save the ponies who were in danger.
Taking a deep breath, Eclipsed Star tensed. Then, he shot off like an arrow from a bow, running as fast as he could.
“HEY!” Eclipsed Star yelled. “Why don’t you take me on you Changelings scum?”
And that’s exactly what happened.
BANG!
A ruined house was blasted to smithereens, a small swarm of Changelings- six or seven- ran from the ruins.
Eclipsed Star had time to think; Oh shit. When the swarm knocked him over and galloped all over him. Pain rocked his body; Eclipse Star tasted the metallic taint of blood in his mouth. This it I guess, he thought bitterly. After trying so hard to survive I’m going to die here-in Ponyvile no less! The Changelings formed a ring around him, sneering and hissing at him.
“Well, what do we have here?” One hissed, triumphantly.
“It’sss a pony!” Another hissed.
“No.” The third one said. “It’s dinner.”
The changelings hissed in harmony-like laughter, the closed around him when-
“HEY!” A strangely familiar voice yelled. “GET THE HELL OFF OF HIM!”
A blue beam blasted a hole in one of the Changelings neck, gasping for air it fell to the ground, green blood like sap gushing from its wound.
Another purple one cut down a Changeling the tried to take a bite out of Eclipsed Star, the rest ran screaming.
“DRAGON!”
“Oh my freaking- Eclipsed Star?!” The familiar voice whispered. “What the hell are you doing here?”
“It doesn’t matter,” somepony said in a southern drawl. “We got ta’ save him!”
“Your right, Applejack,” said another pony. “We got to get him to safety-“
“Yeah but where can we take him?”
“I know.” Said the voice, the one he recognized.“We got to take him to the lunar republic.”
“Yeah, but where is that?”
“Look, first let’s take him to Zecora’s place.” A deep voice growled.
“We don’t even know if she’s still alive-“
“So? It’s a start, at least.” The deep voice countered. “And we might be able to put something together to help this guy.”
There was a pause that seemed to go on forever as the ponies- or whatever they were-mulled on the options.
“Alright,” the familiar voice said. “Let’s go.”
Eclipsed Star was gently lifted into the air and onto something large, scaly and warm- a dragon. Hanging helplessly from the reptiles back Eclipsed Star glanced up, only to see his long lost friend- Firestorm staring back at him.
After Equestria: The Crystal War
V
Radiance
Radiance dozed off mid-way through the teleportation.
She didn’t mean too, of course- in fact nopony had ever before fallen asleep during teleportation. But for some stupid reason as soon as Somepony yelled, ‘NOW!’ the world turned dark, an oddly comfortable feeling took hold. Like, when you’re dozing off to sleep in a warm, comfortable bed (though she had not slept in that kind of a bed in quite some time) and so a drowsy feeling that she had not felt all morning, suddenly overcame her.
‘Sleep, Child,’ a voice whispered in her ear. The voice was female, with a tone similar to one a mother uses when speaking to her young child. Except with this voice, Radiance got the feeling that if she disobeyed the mares orders, she would never wake up.
Somepony was yelling something incomprehensible, several others were just screaming. Something was going on, Radiance was sure of this, but she couldn't bring herself to open her eyes.
Five more minutes, she promised herself, but then five minutes passed and she still made no attempt to awaken from her strange condition-partially asleep and partially awake.
‘You are weary,’ they voice sympathized. ‘Fighting a war you cannot win, why bother? Why do you fight this war, for your so-called, friends? Trust me child, you would be better off without them.’ The voice sounded beautiful, melodious almost heavenly, and the more she heard it, the more she agreed with it. ‘They will betray you at the earliest opportunity.’
Why should she bother? There was no point in life anyway, she would die eventually … why not die now?
‘Sleep, child, when you wake all your troubles with disappears. You will-‘
No. Radiance thought fear overcoming her. Shut up, you’re lying! You –you –you’re- then she realized what was happening; charmspeak, Radiance thought, defiance overcoming all her emotions.
‘Child don’t bother-‘
SHUT UP! Radiance screamed at the top of her voice, GET OUT OF MY HEAD!
The darkness vanished, and Radiance found herself falling a hundred feet from the sky.
~
“What the fu-?” Somepony screamed as they fell.
“RADIANCE, POWER-UP THE SPELL CELESTIA DAMN IT!” Eclipsed Star yelled from somewhere above her.
Radiance shut her eyes concentrating; a buzzing feeling-like numbness-over took her horn.
“Na stamatí̱sei se kíni̱si̱!” Radiance screamed, her horn flared with light, tendrils of light engulfed her friends as well, slowing their descent.
Unfortunately, the spell didn’t hold. For about five minutes the eleven ponies –and a dragon- Slowed to a stop ten feet from the ground. Then the spell wore off, and they continued their descent.
“I HATE EQUESTRIA!” Somepony yelled.
“Na stamatí̱sei se kíni̱si̱!” Radiance said again, once more eleven ponies … and a dragon froze in mid-air, four feet from the ground. Then they fell and hit the ground.
“Ugh, I think I broke something,” Firestorm groaned, the others muttered or groaned in agreement.
“Radiance,” Eclipsed Star said, looking concerned. “Are you alright? I mean, you've never … well, missed our destination during teleportation before.”
“I-”Radiance hesitated, “I don’t know …”
Firestorm narrowed his eyes. “You don’t seem so sure about that,” he said suspiciously.
“Back off,” Eclipsed Star snarled at Firestorm. “What are you saying huh? That Radiance is lying?”He demanded, sneering at Firestorm now.
“Possibly,” Firestorm said, coolly.
“And why in Tartarus would she do that?” Eclipsed growled, taking a step forward with the air of a pony who was about to attack Somepony he/she despise.
Firestorm shrugged, “I don’t know, maybe she’s being affected by dark magic? That would explain why she-“
BAM!
Eclipsed Star slammed his hoof onto Firestorms face, the latter stumbled backwards nearly losing his footing.
“Don’t ever talk about my friends like that!” Eclipsed Star growled. “You’re a stupid egoistic, selfish, narcissistic bastard! Why don’t you go-“
Firestorm tackled him before Eclipsed Star could finish his rant.
“TAKE THIS, AND THIS, AND SOME OF THIS!” Firestorm snarled pummeling Eclipsed with his hooves.
“What the hell are you doing?” Radiance yelled, “stop! Apo̱thoún!”
A golden beam of energy erupted from her horn and stuck right in between the two unicorns, sending Firestorm flying off Eclipsed Star and the latter rolling away as if he’d been pushed.
Radiance stepped in between them before they could get into another fight.
“Lucky your gi-marefriend is here to save your ass,” Firestorm said, mockingly to Eclipsed Star.
“At least I have friends,” Eclipsed Star snarled. “What about you?! You’re nothing but a pathetic loser with no friends,even you’re cutie-mark is stupid and useless! You’re nothing Firestorm!”
“Be quite, both of you!” Radiance snapped, though the two stallions ignored her and continued their fight.
“Wow.” Firestorm said, neither his mocking tone nor his sneer faltered. “You’re judging me by a tattoo on my ass? Hey,” Firestorm paused for a moment, his sneer replaced by a thoughtful expression-before being replaced by a sneer, again. “Why are you looking at my ass? I know I’m hot but-“
“Shut up!” Eclipsed Star snapped, and then his horn flared with energy. BAM! A beam of dark-purple magic blasted Firestorm off his hooves and onto the dirt.
“Star!” Radiance said, shocked. “What the hell did you just do?!”
Eclipsed Star looked just as shocked and horrified as Radiance; he stared blankly at Firestorms unconscious body then turned to Radiance, before her was blasted off his feet by a bright blue beam of energy.
“My word!”
“What the hell?!”
“Hey, that wasn’t very nice!”
“What in tarnation?!”
“Wha-?”
“Take that, scumbag!” Firestorm snarled, spitting out a wad of blood from his mouth-maybe as a sign of disrespect and disgust at Eclipsed Star, maybe to clear his mouth of blood.
Eclipsed Star got to his feet, cussing like a sailor-pony; he growled them charged at Firestorm, who powered up his horn saying, “Oh, you want some more?”
“ENOUGH!” Somepony shouted, a purple force-field appeared, stopping the two headstrong stallions from killing each other. Twilight Sparkle stepped in between the stallion’s right next to Radiance. Despite the situation a spark of excitement went off inside her; she was standing next to the Twilight Sparkle, the Princess of Friendship!
Twilight turned and scowled at Firestorm, anger radiating from her, a kind of primordial rage.
“WHAT’S WRONG WITH YOU?!” She yelled at Firestorm, who glared right back, panting, seemingly from rage. “WHY ARE YOU ALWAYS FIGHTING?! FIRST RAINBOW DASH AND NOW ECLIPSED STAR, WHAT IN TARTARUS IS YOUR –“
“Why don’t you just say it,” Firestorm said in strange disembodied voice that was not his, a strange hush fell upon the group. “You think I’m worthless, that my presences here is nothing but another obstacle that you and you’re little friends have to overcome. Isn’t that true, Twilight Sparkle?”
“No,” Twilight said quietly.
“Liar,” Firestorm hissed, his irises turned blood red and the whites of his eyes turned greens, and green mist was spewing out the corners of his eye. “I’m not a tool or a chess piece to be manipulated as you please!”
“Calm down man,” Andrew told him, trembling slightly.
“David, what-?” Spike began; trying to reason with Firestorm, but the latter ignored him. Suddenly, Firestorms eye color returned to normal and the green mist vanished.
“I’m done,” Firestorm said in his normal, voice, trembling with fury. “I’m done.”
“If you try something-“Rainbow Dash began.
“David don’t-“Spike was saying at the same time, but Firestorm ignored them. Radiance stared, half in awe half in shock, at the enraged stallion, whose horn was engulfed in blue aura.
Then there was a flash of light, and he was gone.
~
Radiance stared ahead, into the deep of the Everfree where –hopefully- they would find the Lunar Republic, thought at the moment it seemed highly unlikely that they would find anything but tress and stupid Manticores. They had been attacked so many times that, Radiance had honestly lost count. Thankfully though, no one died … yet. And now they were mid-way through crossing a swamp-Rarity didn't exactly seemed eager to walk into what she called, ‘a soup of dirt and disgust .’
Eclipsed Star seemed to have fallen into shock and even days after Firestorm’s departure he was stoic and seemingly in shock. Eclipsed Star usually stood at the head of the ‘pack’ helping others as much as he could; now, it was up to Twilight and Radiance to make sure he didn’t get killed.
It was hard enough trying to use that magic trail to find the HQ of the Lunar Republic, but nooo, it had to be at the center of one of the most dangerous places in all of Equestria; The Everfree Forest.
Firestorms departure seemed to have sucked all the joy out of everypony, Pinkie Pie became moody and depressed, Sunset Shimmer took her place, trying to cheer up everypony to no avail. Twilight become distracted and angry-Radiance guessed it was because Twilight thought she was partly the reason Firestorm had ran off.
Rainbow Dash become even more reckless and became easily agitated for little while, before cooling down. Once Rainbow-Radiance still thought calling one the saviors of Equestria by her first name was weird-had cooled down she was determined to make sure they all made it to safety. And Andrew seemed slightly relieved that Firestorm was gone, and he also seemed to feel guilty because of that. Truth be told, Radiance thought that Andrew –what strange name, Radiance thought – was a little afraid of Firestorm. But why? Radiance thought, what happened to make this poor colt-
“CRAGIDIAL!” Twilight yelled snapping Radiance out of her stupor. A ten-meter Cragidial with three-inch claws and a tail nearly as wide as Radiance's chest, leaped out of the water.
“RAAA!” The Cragidial roared, leaping out the swampy water, straight for Applejack.
For a terrible moment Radiance thought the Bearer of Honesty was dead, however, Applejack kicked off the ground, striking the Cragidial's nape for extra momentum. The rock-covered beast hissed and snarled as it rose from the scummy swamp water once again, its tail thrashing, sending waves rippling outwards
“TAKE THIS!” Rainbow Dash yelled, diving at the Cragidial, and then kicking in the snout when it tried to bite her hoof.
“HARAGHH!” The beast roared, showing off its incredibly large teeth, the biggest was half the size of her hoof. A purple beam of energy struck the beast, it recoiled, pausing for a brief second in which Rainbow Dash managed to get out the Cragidial’s range.
Another beam of energy-this one dark purple- struck the reptile as well; unfortunately this one didn't have the same effect, only leading to the beast turning its attention to the caster; Eclipsed Star.
Snarling the beast charged at Eclipsed Star with surprising speed, and yet Eclipsed Star made no movement to evade the seven ton reptile that was barreling his way.
Radiance yelled, “NO! Aió̱nia fo̱tiá! ”
A massive wave of bright blue flames lit up the night, the flames engulfed the Cragidial, which roared in pain, backing away from Eclipsed star-who stumbled backwards and landed on his rump.
For a moment, Radiance felt pretty proud of herself, then the Cragidial dove into the shallow swamp in a last ditch attempt to extinguish the flames. To Radiances horror the lake caught on flames.
Stupid! Radiance chastised herself, hadn’t she learned that everlasting fire could only be put off by one spell? Think! Think, what was that spell?
“Antístrofo!” Somepony screamed, a torrent of air erupted from Radiances left, extinguishing the flames.
“RADIANCE!” A familiar voice yelled, “wha’ th’ hay were you thinkin’?!”
Radiance wheeled around to face the sound of the voice, she couldn’t believe her eyes; running towards her, was Big McIntosh.
Big Mac stopped abruptly with a strangled gasp, “Applejack?”
“Er … righ’, that’s me!” Applejack said, nervously crossing her left leg over her right.
Lyra ran up next to him, her hard eyes wide with shock. “The Savior Six,” she whispered.
Radiance couldn't even imagine what her leader was thinking at the moment, of all these … bizarre occurrences, this one definitely takes the cake.
Big Mac ran toward Applejack and wrapped his hooves around her neck,
“ah can’t believe yer okay,” Big Mac was saying, sobbing as he did.
“Uh, well, ah am so … no need ter fret …” Applejack said awkwardly, patting Big McIntosh on the back.
Lyra turned to Eclipsed Star and Radiance, her facial features still expressing shock. “Eclipse, Radiance, wha-?” She trailed off, shaking her head as if the question was too difficult to say.
“We’ll tell you later,” Radiance promised her.
“Yeah, it’s a pretty long story,” Eclipsed Star said, a faint smile gracing his face.
Lyra peered at Radiance for what seemed like eternity, her amber eyes searching for any form of deception in Radiance yellow ones.
“Alright,” Lyra said after awhile. “Let’s go.”
After Equestria: The Crystal War
VI
David
David hated Equestria, and apparently Equestria hated him too.
David ran, he ran as fast as his stupid hooves could run. Rage and adrenaline seemed to pump through his veins along with his blood, filling him with energy and anger. Leaves and branched struck David’s face as he ran, leaving a stinging mark behind.
But David ignored all of this; it was all trivial, unimportant. David ran next to a river which-unlike most Everfree water sources- weren't littered with scum.
David slowed down as ran alongside the river, panting heavily he dipped his hoof into the water tentatively, when nothing leaped out and tried to eat him; he sighed and promptly dunked his head into the water.
David gulped down cool refreshing water until his lungs burned and screamed for oxygen. David pulled his head out of the water, gasping heavily as he did.
What the hell is wrong with me? David thought, confused. Why did I just snap like that?
Silence. Neither Nopony nor anybody answered, save for the crickets and frogs whose chirps and croaks cut through the silence of the night like a knife.
The almost harmonious sounds of the animals nearby echoed all around David like some sort of strange song-and for some reason, David found it comforting.
Stupid Twilight, David thought sleepily. Stupid Equestria … I think I’ll take a short nap … maybe.
A strange rabbit like creature appeared right next to him, it was a silvery-grey rabbit. Except, sticking out of the rabbits head were large horns. Each horn was about as long as Davids hand (the size of his hand in his world) give or take, and the two horns resembled those of two different animals. The first horn was a curved rams horn outlined with ridges, while the other was a smooth deer-like horn- a smooth thin piece of keratin about one-fourth of a meter long – nearly as long as the rabbit itself!
“What the ...?”David murmured drowsily.
Crack!
A faint sound of a whip cut through the silence of the forest. A shriek of pain followed immediately afterwards. The rabbit-thing squeaked and ran in the opposite direction.
“What the hell?” David wondered out loud.
Crack!
The sound grew louder, as did the shrieks of pain. The once-silent forest was alive with sounds. There was a loud splash and David dove for cover behind some bushes as a huge golden wagon with stars embedded in it rolled by, carried by Griffons, Minotaurs, and earth ponies.
“Stupid-” Crack! –“Savages!” A gruff voice snarled, there was another sound similar to that of a whip.
“Why do we get all the stupid tasks, eh?” a wheezy voice asked. “We’re Unicorns too, we deserve some time in the spotlight!”
“Ah hear yah, brother,” The gruff voice growled. “But ah suppose we have yet ta prove are selves. Ah believe if we manage sumthin’ extoridi-extro-amazing, we’ll be at da top of da pack!”
“Yeah,” the first voice wheezed. “We’ll get some glory after the Mistress see’s the goods we got.”
“Yeah, well, we’re gonna have ta make it back first now, ain’t we, Sandy?”
“Whatever you say, Iron,” Sandy said before falling into a coughing fit.
David stared in horror at the scene in front of him; a large gold rectangle with wheels (kind of like a giant bed made out of gold.) On top of velvet mattress sat two unicorns, one a fairly buff stallion with a bright yellow coat and dark orange mane, levitated a whip and struck his ‘friend’ in the face with it.
“Ow!” The thin seedy unicorn with a light green coat on his left said, whimpering. Rubbing his back, ‘Sandy’ said, “hey! What the hay was that for?”
“For good measure,” Iron snarled. “You worthless worm, ah cannot fathom why th’ Mistress lets ya live, she is, ah believe, far too kind.” Iron’s voice took on a slightly formal tone as he spoke of his beloved, ‘Mistress.’
David stared at the creatures pulling the golden box, five or six Minotaurs were chained to the rectangle, pushing a large vertical golden rod in front of them which was connected to the ‘chariot’ they were dragging. The Minotaurs backs were littered with scars, a mixture of blood and sweat covered their coats; all of them had hollow sunken cheeks. Their ribs were easily visible, virtually straining against their skin.
Rage took hold of David, his teeth clenched and he hissed silently at the two unicorns.
“Scumbags, pieces of filth, worthless lowlife garbage!” David took a deep breath trying to master his anger, it’s no use, David said to himself. You can’t help them.
David took a deep breath.
Then his rage exploded.
With a guttural roar David kicked off the ground and charged into the river, straight after the two unicorns.
The two colts yelped in shock, then blast’s of magic erupted from his horns. But by then David was already out of their range. He leaped unto the velvet top of the box, the buff unicorn stepped forward but David’s horn glowed with energy, blasting Iron off, sending him tumbling off into the river.
“Hiyah!” The other unicorn-Sandy-screamed tackling David and pinning him to the velvet cushions as best as he could. “What do think you’re doing, rat? Huh?”
Sandy’s putrid breath almost intoxicated David, but it also enraged him. No, David thought angrily. I am not going to be killed by this crazy seedy drugging unicorn!
A sound like electricity buzzing/humming filled the air, a bright blue beam of energy erupted from David’s horn.
ZAP!
David closed his eyes, something wet and warm spilled on his muzzle. He opened his eyes and saw what it was.
Blood.
Sandy’s body went limp and fell on David, who pushed it off panting heavily. David glared at Sandy’s corpse, the dead unicorn’s hollow eyes.
“Serves you right, bastard.” David spat at him, literally.
ZAP!
A horrible feeling, like being numb, burned and electrocuted at the same time, pain overcame David’s body. The force of the blast knocked him off the box/chariot thingy; David hit the water so hard, he was sure he broke every bone in his body. The world blackened and dimmed, it narrowed to just David and unendurable pain.
The last thing David saw was a blurred buff yellow stallion standing a few meters way.
After Equestria: The Crystal War
VII
Alex
Alex was dead. The world was consumed with darkness, not even the tiniest speck of light was visible. A cold wind chilled him to the bone, the wind was so cold Alex thought it might have come from the Antarctic.
“Hello?” Alex asked, ashamed at how pathetic his voice sounded, he tried to change his tone. “Who’s there?” Alex’s voice sounded much more confident than he felt.
Nobody replied, and then an unbelievably strong wind blew past, nearly knocking Alex off his feet-or rather hooves . The cold and the dark was all that greeted him, and then, the world flared with light.
“What the heck?” Alex yelped covering his eyes with his … um … arm, hoof thing-his front leg.
“Ah, Alex nice to see you my old friend!”
When Alex opened his eyes he noticed the darkness had disappeared, a streak of light pierced through the otherwise black as night sky like something out of a myth or legend. A serpentine shadow blocked something like, twenty percent of the light. Dramatic music began to play;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYj8ciqAPcA
Discord floated down from the shinning hole in the sky, he was sitting in a pose akin to one someone would take when meditating. His eyes were closed and the light seemed to radiate from him like he was a star or a flashlight or something. He would have looked peaceful-like a monk who had achieved enlightenment, if he hadn't been smirking. The spot in the sky that was radiating light was covered with clouds and the light went out.
“What is it that troubles you, friend?”
Alex stared, not sure if he should groan or to scream. After about minute of waiting, Alex sighed. “Why am I not surprised?” He muttered to himself before pushing off the ground and flying up to Discord.
“Cut to the chase Discord,” Alex said. “You promised you’d give me answers.”
“Welll … I guess since you asked nicely,” Discord said, his eyes still closed and the smirk leaving his face. The music stopped and Discord’s expression became totally poker-faced, which was really unusual for a Spirit of Chaos. “What is it you wish to see?” And then Discord added, “Its porn isn't it?”
Alex’s face turned red. “No,” he said. “I want to know what happened to that other guy, David.”
“So you’re going through with this insane plan of yours after all, hmm?”
“Yes.” Alex said, the heat leaving his face. “Yes, I am, why, though? Are you going to try to stop me?”
“Nope,” Discord said casually, as if Alex had asked if he would like a glass of lemonade. “It a pointless idea, though, annnnd you’ll probably die.”
“What else is new?”Alex asked in what he hoped was a stoic tone and not a scared one.
“I put a memory spell on your parents,” Discord said randomly.
“Oka- wait, what? ” Alex asked shocked.
“You can thank me later, preferably with chocolate eclairs.” Discord said, rubbing his claws against his chest and then holding out his eagle in front of him, Discord stared at his sharp claws with a scrutinizing expression. There was a flash of light and his claws instantly became blunt."I do love chocolate eclairs!"
“What-I- you-I mean-why would I want to thank you?!” Alex demanded, anger for the chimera before him bubbling inside of him like a volcano ready to blow at any second.
Discord’s expression turned cold as the Frozen North.
“Because if I hadn't your family would still be looking for you-” Discord began coldly.
“Oh, and that’s a bad thing?” Alex retorted, “Why on earth would you do that-?”
“Think!” Discord said impatiently, “if your family realized you were gone what would they do, they’d look for you right?”
“Yeah, so?” Alex asked slowly, his anger fading. I don’t understand, Alex thought, confused. What’s Discord getting at?
“And what do you think would happen if they didn't find you after a year of searching?”
“They …” Alex trailed off, realizing what Discord was saying, a chill passed through his body as he thought of what would happen if Discord hadn't erased his parents memories. He hung his head in shame, “I… I guess you have a point, sorry.”
Discord appeared to calm down. “No," he sighed, his head drooping along with half his body. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have snapped at you like that. I-it’s just-ugh!” Discord swung his tail in frustration, then, a small rock flew out of the darkness, flying a couple meters before hitting the ground. The spot the rock hit suddenly turned into a barren, rusty red floor. The shadows continued their retreat until the barren landscape was visible.
This looks like … Alex realized that the ground he was standing on was akin to the landscape surrounding Magnus Regnum, the last great griffon empire, and his home.
“No,” Discord said, snapping Alex out his thoughts, he looked up to see Discord looking at him quizzically, like he thought Alex was about to do something strange. “This isn’t your current home; it’s the lad surrounding Canterlot, Equestria’s former capital.” Discord pointed ahead into the dark hazy sky, a shadowy smudge was visible in the distance, and it was roughly the shape of a castle.
“No way,” Alex muttered. Everyone in the Great Tree (the Great Tree was the center of Magnus and was the capital of the kingdom) knew about Canterlot, it was infamous because of the Great Changeling Invasion of C.E 1007, where the Changeling hive, Scorpion, launched an all out invasion of Canterlot during the wedding of Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, and Captain Shinning Armor I.
Alex remembered why he was talking to Discord in the first place, clearing his throat he asked,
“Um, can you tell me what happened to the David guy now?” Alex said.
“Hmm? Oh, okay, sure.” Discord snapped his fingers
Canterlot disappeared and Alex found himself in the Everfree Forest.
“Whoa,” Alex whispered, the Everfree was a hundred times bigger than what he’d expected, and it caused him to gain a sense of overwhelming dread. “Um, okay, this is nice and all, but can I please go home now?” Alex said, nervously. Fighting battles was one thing, but hiking through the Everfree with no plan, no weapons and no help was just suicide.
“Aw, buck up you big baby!” Discord told him, rolling his eyes.
Crack!
Alex turned his head in the direction of the noise, to his horror he saw a large golden carriage half the size of a double-decker bus being pulled by two Minotaurs who looked like they’d barely survived a famine, hollow cheeks, ribs straining against skin, and a desperate look in their eyes, like they were ready to do anything to survive. On the carriage lay two unicorns chatting away on their comfortable mattress as the poor Minotaurs struggled to move the carriage forward.
“How can they just … sit there and do this?” Alex asked furiously, his fear of the forest was over shadowed by his outrage at the scène before him.
“I quite surprised that * you** of all people, would say that,”* Discord said, his arms folded across his chest and his eyebrows rose, like a police officer who was listening to some pathetic excuse for robbing a jewelry store or something. “Wasn’t it you, who killed the traitor Skyfire?”
“That was different,” Alex protested. “We were at war, and she killed my mentor!”
“Well, these people are at war too,” Discord told him.
“Really,” Alex asked, skeptically. “Who are they fighting?”
“Why, the Lunar Republic of course!”
“Wait,” Alex said slowly. “Isn't the Lunar Republic the good side?”
“Ha!” Discord snorted. “There is neither any ‘good side’ nor any ‘bad side’ surely you of all people would realize that!”
“I know!” Alex said, his expression morphing into a severely annoyed one. “But the Lunar Republic is fighting against King Sombra, who completely gave himself up to dark magic and has gone completely insane! So, yeah, the Lunar Republicans are the good guys!”
“So you’re saying that you’re going to fight Trixie, correct?” Discord said, ignoring what Alex had said.
“Yes,” Alex said, sounding braver than he felt. “Me and my friends will fight against anyone who enslaves others, that’s what true heroes do! They fight for anyone who is innocent and needs help, and I’m going to strive to become one!” Alex wondered if he would stay true to those words.
“Fair enough,” Discord said, narrowing his eyes. “But know this, boy, not ever hero has a happy ending.”
Before Alex could ask what Discord was talking about, the latter snapped his claw-fingers and the world turned dark.
~
When the darkness gave way to dim light (and when Alex’s eyes adjusted to the light) Alex found himself in a massive underground tunnel. Seriously, it was so big; Alex reckoned an entire legion could fit in it no problem.
Torches on the walls provided a little light, so that Alex could see where he was going, but just barely. Where am I? Alex thought, silently laughing at the irony of the situation, for when he’d first arrived in Gaea/Equestria he had wondered the same thing. Except this time I have my memories, Alex told himself. This brought little comfort. And I know that my family has completely forgotten about me …
Crack!
That sound snapped Alex out of his depressing thoughts. The rattling of chains, pants, screams and wails followed. The sound grew louder and louder until something appeared just within Alex’s field of vision.
Griffons, Minotaurs and Earth Ponies, that’s what Alex saw. They all were chained, shackled riddles with wounds, as well as seemingly starved, judging by the way their ribs were visible through their strained and scared skin. Hollow sunken cheeks, eyes filled with despair, it rocked Alex to his core. They were dragging several carts of gems, the cart wheels squeaked as they moved, bumping occasionally and spilling the contents, in reply, a whip cracked, striking someone on the back.
“I don’t want to see this,” Alex muttered looking way in horror.
"Look over there," Discord told him. "Do you see him?"
Alex forced himself to look, his eyes widened when he saw a unicorn stallion chained to the carts as well, he was not in a as bad condition as the others, but it was bad enough, his bright red fur was damp with sweat, his muzzled dripped blood from a large cut on his lower jaw. The stallion’s mane was disheveled, ripped, covered in dirt and stuck at odd angles.
Firestorm, Alex thought, somehow he knew that the stallion was the other human Starswirl had brought to Gaea.
Alex trembled and took a step backwards, but he lost his footing and landed on his rump instead. The image before him was seared so deeply in his mind he knew he’d never forget it, even as the scene faded and was replaced by darkness.
Suddenly, the dark caves were replaced by the black crystal wall of the Crystal Empire. Alex’s breath hitched. In the History classes at the Great Tree he learned out the Crystal Empire, it was a thriving Utopian kingdom, everyone-ponies and some griffons, worked together for the good of the Empire. That is, until King Sombra arrived.
King Sombra’s origins truly were a mystery; nobody knew who he was before his rise to power because the Crystal Empire had been on a decline long before King Sombra could be born. So no one noticed that the Empire had fallen, no one, except Princess Luna.
Princess Luna detected Sombra’s dark magic and alerted her sister, together they vanquished Sombra. However, Sombra had foreseen something like that happening, so he placed a curse on the Empire. The curse made it so that, as long as the connection was working he was immortal, every time he was defeated he would just come back again and again until he regained his Empire.
When Princess Twilight Sparkle and her friends regained the Crystal Heart they were able to sever Sombra’s connection to the empire. But regardless, Sombra returned once more, due to his darkness festering in the mind of Starswirl the Bearded. Sombra corrupted the immortal wizard and convinced him that Celestia and Luna were tyrants. Starswirl fell victim to Sombra and tried to overthrow the sisters. When Starswirl finally realized he was being used, Sombra fled from his mind, and then, three years later, the Equestrian Empire fell.
Wait, Alex thought, confused. How did I know that? I’m pretty sure they didn’t teach it in History class-
“Oh, that’s simple; I downloaded the info into your brain.” Discord said casually as if to say; No biggie, I know I’m awesome.
Alex was not amused.
“Wait, you were messing around in my head?!”
“Maybe,” Discord said, unconcerned. Suddenly he was wearing a monocle and suit,(on the upper half of his body) and reading a book entitled; A History of Sapient Stupidity , with a picture of a stupid looking, drooling unicorn with humongous buck teeth on the cover.
Alex wanted to scream at Discord, he had way too many people messing around in his head and the last thing he needed was for a Spirit of Chaos to be taking a stroll in his mind, but out of a need to hear more Alex kept his mouth shut.
“So,” Alex prompted, hoping for Discord to explain whatever it was that he was doing.
Discord closed his book and looked up at Alex with a bored expression. “So what?”
“I-you-I mean, “Alex spluttered caught off guard by that stupid statement. “So tell me why you dragged me into this stupid dream!” Alex yelled, his anger finally getting the better of him.
“I already did,” Discord said, then seeing the look on Alex’s face hurriedly continued. “David’s been captured by the Unicorn Union, and his friend-plus the Savior Six- are back in action and are going to launch an assault on the Crystal Empire. There, happy now?”
“So what should I do?” Alex asked, gulping.
Discord ran his thumb over the title of his book, not looking at Alex. Finally he spoke. “Do what you think is right.”
Discord snapped his fingers and a card appeared at Alex’s feet, then, dream dissolved,
~
Alex’s eyes shot open, gasping he moved to a sitting position, looking around his room/hollow. It was just a dream.
Alex sighed in relief; he was safe back in his hollow. Griffons slept in hollow-like rooms that were almost entirely circular, even the door was round. Alex’s hoof nimbly turned his gas lamp back on. The walls of the hollow were shiny and smooth with shelves curving along the walls. The door was red with a golden door knob and lock, it looked strange in comparison to the brown bark walls of Alex’s room.
“What a weird dream,” Alex muttered, pulling off his covers. A card fell onto the floor, surprised, Alex picked it up.
On it was written:
Nice talk, kid, if your still in for that suicide mission then tell your friends to raid Unicornia’s underground capitol. Oh, and try to rescue Firestorm while you’re at it.
Your pal,
Discord
Alex stared at the note in mute shock, and then he picked it up and stumbled towards his door, clumsily prying the lock open and then rushing into the air to find his friends.
After Equestria: The Crystal War
VIII
Alex
“So, you’re saying that, Discord spoke to you?” Iron Claw asked, skeptically.
Alex was at the top of the first Great Griffin Wall surrounding the Great Tree, where his friends Iron Claws was on guard duty. Iron Claw was a lean Hippogriff with rusty brown plumage, except for a spot on her chest which was white. The horse half of her was a slightly darker shade, a scar ran down the right side of her face and over her beak, just missing her eye.
“Yes,” Alex said uncomfortably, for he realized he had no proof to back up his claim.
“You realize if old scar-face hears you saying that he’ll chuck you in jail for attempting to take the throne, right?” Iron Claws said, she was wearing golden armor with an iron spear strapped to her back, leaning against the one meter iron bars sticking out at the top of the wall as she said this.
“But I’m not trying to take the throne!” Alex cried, stomping his hoof and shaking his head in frustration
Iron Claw rolled her eyes, and then gaped in shock, dropping her spear. “W-what? That wasn’t there a minute ago how-?”
“Hey, Iron Claw!” Someone called out; Alex turned around and spotted Storm swooping down right next to him. Storm was a sub-species of griffon known as a Sphinx- though not the kind in mythology, he didn’t have the head of a woman, instead he had the head and front body of a tiger and the back legs of a bird, and his wings were feathered but were covered in almost fur-like fuzz. “Yo, Alex what are you doing’ here? It’s your day off man, relax, kick back have some fun!”
Alex sighed, “I was relaxing, but then I-“
“Storm, you got to take a look at this!” Iron Claw said urgently, pulling Storm over to Alex’s right side.
“Iron-“
“Shut it, Alex,” Iron Claw said, and then she turned to Storm. “There, you see it?”
Storms expression went from unconcerned to flabbergasted in seconds, “WH-what freaking … how in Tartarus did that get there?!”
“What is it?” Alex asked, confused and annoyed. “Well?”
“Holy mother of Ales, you don’t think-?”
“HEY!” Alex snapped, turned to face the two griffons. “Mind telling what so amazing about the side of my neck?”
“Alex,” Iron Claws said slowly, as if revealing radical news to an ordinary fisherman. (This honestly happened a lot here) “You have the mark of Discord.”
~
“Bullcrap!”
Alex gulped nervously, glancing at Iron Claw, who looked ready to strangle the council Griffon.
But Astraios wasn’t done yet. “You expect me to believe that the Spirit of Chaos, the great Discord, would speak to you of all creatures?!” The Council members began to mutter and whisper amongst themselves.
“And what is that supposed to mean?” Iron Claw asked, dangerously.
Astraios scowled at Iron Claw distastefully. His brown coat was streaked with yellow and red as were his feathers, this gave him a strange peacock-like look, except ugly. “Humph! Who gave you the right to speak, half-breed? ” The Council erupted into yelling, profanity, and (unfortunately) some cheering. Iron Claw made a sound like a leopard growling and tried to charge at Astraios, only to be held back by Alex and Storm.
“Clam the hell down, Iron Claw!” Storm said struggling to stop Iron Claw from murdering Astraios.
“‘Clam down?!’” Iron Claw snarled, “I’m gonna give this piece of filth what he deserves!”
“It’s not worth it,” Alex said half-heartedly. He really wanted to see Astraios get what’s coming to him.
“ENOUGH!”
Everyone became silent. All of them faced the King, Aeolus; Lord of Winds.
Normally, the King was a sight to behold, silvery feathers on his front half, and then dark grey feathers on his back half, his beak was curved like a hook, his claws like knives, overall, king Aeolus stood tall, twice the size of a grizzle bear. But recently (in the last 500 years or so), the king had become terrible sick with no signs of recovery. No one knew why he’d gotten sick, or what kind of disease was affecting him, so the people came to a conclusion; the king was dying.
“Alex,” the king said weakly, “do you have any proof of your claim?”
“Yes, we do my lord,” Iron Claw said, grabbing Alex and turning him so that the right side of his neck faced the king. Gasps of shock and even yelps of fright echoed thought the room, and then the muttering started.
“Can that really be-?”
“No! It can’t possibly be his mark!”
“I think it might be …”
“Ridiculous!”
But then laughter cut through the tension in the air like a knife.
“Ha!”A Sphinx-Griffon at the corner of the room was chortling madly. “Oh, how truly hilarious!” The Sphinx had the head and front of a panther and the rear body and legs of a crow, giving a strange look, like a mutant or a freak of nature. Still chuckling and apparently undaunted by the looks of annoyance and anger thrown his way, the Sphinx wiped a tear from his eye.
After a moment or two of silence Astraios, who seemed remotely unamused spoke up; “and what, pray tell, is so funny? Or are simply mentally dim or drunk?”
“Astraios!” Aeolus snapped, before erupting into a coughing fit.
“My lord, are you alright?” Astraios said, his outrage replaced by concern.
“Yes-”cough“-I’m fine.” Aeolus wheezed, he looked worse than ever and now a few feathers were falling off his coat and wings. “G-go on, Dionysus.”
His name’s Dionysus? As in the god of wine? Seriously? Alex thought, snickering softly, unfortunately Dionysus heard him, whipping his head in the direction of the sound he glared at Alex who looked away quickly, he wasn’t afraid of the old ass, he just didn’t need to get into more trouble.
Clearing his throat unnecessarily loudly, with a not so subtle sideways glare at Alex, Dionysus turned to face the other members of parliament. “This pegasus appears on our border while we’re at war, claiming to have no memory,” Dionysus put stress on that specific word with a skeptical sideways look at Alex. “And now he claims to bear the mark of Discord our most revered spirit, telling use to go to war right after we just won this war, doesn’t that seem … suspicious to you, lord Aeolus?”
“Not particularly,” Aeolus deadpanned. “You, Dionysus, you’re the son of Crius the first, former king of Magnus, son of Aegle the first griffon to discover the Laws of Magic, third queen of New Griffonstone. And yet, you share none of your ancestors qualities, you are a cowardly, faithless apóvli̱tos! You claim to find reason and sense in lordDiscords work? That is quite foolish, quite foolish indeed ..."
Pin-drop silence followed the insult, no one dared to speak up in fear that the kings wrath would then turn to them.
“I call this council to order,” Aeolus said in the same stoic tone as before, he looked around the parliament, daring anyone to question him. “Now, what are your suggestions?”
Aeolus went from one noble to the next listening to their point of views- most of them called for imprisonment or death not only to Alex but to Iron Claw and Storm Talon as well! And then he called a vote. “All those in favor of sending search-and-rescue parties to save the unicorn, Firestorm, raise your claws.” A few griffons-less than half of parliament- raised their claws. “All those in favor of banishment to Alex and?” Half of the griffons raised their claws. “Very well then,” Aeolus sighed. “Alex, Iron Claw and Storm of the Third Regiment, you are hereby banished from Magnus. You will have one week to pack your belongings and leave these lands … forever .”
After Equestria: The Crystal War
IV
Eclipsed Star
“You’re alive,” Eclipsed Star said, staring at Firestorm.
He had regained conscious only a few seconds ago, only to find himself in a strange hut with Firestorm smirking down at him.
“Don’t sound so shocked, Starry,” Firestorm said coolly. Eclipsed Star shut his eyes, and then opened them again, as if by doing so the pony in front of him would disappear-a gesture that didn’t go unnoticed by Firestorm.
“What?” Firestorm asked, smirking. “You’re worried about me being dead? Ha! Dude, you just got freaking run over by a pack of bloodthirsty Changelings and you’re worried about me?”
“I …” Eclipsed Star stammered staring at Firestorm as if he was a ghost-which in fact, seems very likely at the moment. Eclipsed Star tried to get up am winced.
“Ah!” Eclipsed winced, laying back down. “What the hell-?”
“You got run over by a pack of Changelings,” Firestorm told him, casually, glancing around the room. “You almost died, but luckily Twilight found this old hut and got out some potions to fix you up.”
“Where am-?” Eclipsed Star began, before being cut off.
“I don’t know.” Firestorm scowling at the mud and hay walls which were decorated by strange oval shaped masks. “Some weirdo hut-thingy that Twilight found.”
“Twilight?” Eclipsed Star asked, confused. “Who’s-?”
“You know,” Firestorm said, cutting Eclipsed Star of again-which was, in fact getting on his nerves. “The Princess Twilight-you’ve heard of her, right?”
“Princess Twilight is alive?!” Eclipsed Star practically shouted, wincing in pain afterwords.
Firestorm rolled his eyes. “Calm your tits boy, and yeah, she’s alive-and so are her friends.”
“Calm my-?! Princess Twilight Sparkle is alive and you me to-to calm my tits?! ” Eclipsed Star demanded.
“Yes, yes I do.” Firestorm said, looking through some jars with strange plants and animals floating inside of them. “I wonder what this is.” Firestorm asked, sounding mildly curious as he levitated a large glass jar filled with murky somewhat transparent liquid with some strange creature floating inside it.
“Who cares?!” Eclipsed Star shouted, angrily.
“I do.” Firestorm replied simply, and then his face broke into a smirk. “I love pissin’ you off.” Firestorm said, snickering.
Eclipsed Blade stared at Firestorm something about him was just … off. His whole personality seemed to have changed; he used to be calm, cool and collective. Now he was … well, arrogant and sarcastic.
Suddenly the sound hooves striking loose boards filled the air and a lavender alicorn ran in the room.
“What’s going on?” The alicorn asked, frowning at Firestorm. “I heard shouting and-“
“Nothing much Twilight,” Firestorm told her in a cool voice that was nothing like the cocky, sarcastic tone that he used with Eclipsed Star. “Just a reunion of two, ah, friends.” Firestorm smirked at the word 'friends' like it was supposed to be funny.
“Whose-?”Eclipse Star began, before he was once again, interrupted by Firestorm. Seriously that’s getting really annoying really fast.
“Eclipse Star,” Firestorm began in mock formal tone. “Meet Twilight Sparkle, Princess of friendship-and the only one who calls a Friendship Council in a time of international security risk.”
The lavender alicorn scowled at Firestorm. “Are you ever going to give a rest?”
Eclipsed Star wanted to say something to excuse his friend, but Firestorm beat him to the punch.
“Relax Princess, I was just kidding!” Firestorm told her coolly.
Eclipsed Star kicked him in the shin.
“Ow! Man, the heck?” Firestorm demanded, angrily.
“Please excuse him, Princess,” Eclipsed Star said in an overformal tone. “He’s a moron.”
“Hey, don’t talk about yourself like that, Starry!” Firestorm said in mock protest, “only I can talk about you like that!”
“If you’re done arguing,” a deep voice grumbled. “Let’s focus on how we’re going to get to this, ‘Lunar Republic’ thingy.”
“Who’s that?” Eclipsed Star asked, frowning.
Twilight opened her mouth to say something, but Firestorm cut her off.
“Oh, it’s nobody.” Firestorm said smirking. “Yeah, there’s, like, totally nobody there.”
Eclipsed Star scowled, Firestorm’s eyes had mischievous glint in them, like Eclipsed Star was about to become the butt of a joke. Rolling his eyes and ignoring Firestorm’s snickering, Eclipsed Star opened the hut door.
“MOTHER OF CELESTIA!” Eclipsed Star yelled in fright. “THERE’S A DRAGON OUTSIDE, RUN! GO, RUN SAVE YOUR-”
Eclipsed Star stopped abruptly when he saw that everypony was laughing there head off, hay even the dragon was laughing.
“What’s so funny?” Eclipsed Star asked, suspiciously. “Why are you all laughing?”
“Nothing!” David said, biting his lip, clearly trying hard not to laugh.
“Ah, give the kid a break.” The pony with the rainbow mane said, giving Eclipsed Star a sympathetic look. “Yo, Eclipsed Star, these guys are playing a prank on you. Spike a friendly dragon, okay? He’s not going to eat you.”
It took a couple seconds for that message to sink in. “Oh.” Eclipsed Star said stupidly, feeling his face heat up. Why was he acting like this? This wasn’t him; he wasn’t some clueless moron-that was Firestorms job!
It was this place, all the bad memories … well; they were making him fairly twitching. And who could blame him? After all life in Ponyvile wasn’t always sunshine and daisies …
“Alrigh’,” a voice said, snapping Eclipse Star out of his stupor. “That’s enough, stop makin’ fun of th’ poor fella’!”
Oh great, know I need people to defend me, apparently. Eclipsed Star thought, bitterly.
“Alright then,” Twilight said, still smiling. “Well, we better get to this … Lunar Republic soon.”
“Alright then,” Eclipsed Star said, glad for distraction. “Let’s go!”
“Um, actually, you still need time to recover.” The yellow Pegasus pointed out, eyeing his bandages.
“What?” Eclipsed Star asked, “no way, I’m completely- ah!” He tried to get of the bed only for his ribs to flare with pain, forcing him back onto the bed.
“Dude,” Firestorm said shaking his head. “I admire your sense of duty, but, you got run over man! You think your gonna be up and running’ any time soon?”
“That’s exactly my point!” Eclipsed Star snarled, seriously, Firestorm was pissing him off. “We need to signal the Lunar Republic so that-“
“Already did that,” Rainbow Dash pointed out. “A bunch of weirdo transformer ponies-bug-thingy’s nearly found us after we did that. So were going to wait awhile before we try it again.”
“So were trapped,” Eclipsed Star said, hopelessly.
“Nope,” Firestorm said.
“So then what are we waiting for?” Eclipsed Star snarled, “we should-“
“Were waiting for-“Twilight began, but was cut off when the door burst open.
“Eclipsed Star, what the hell happened?” A light brown pony, Eclipsed Star recognized as Striker.
“Who are these-?” Glimmer began, then she stopped abruptly her eyes widening. “Firestorm?!” She gasped, “You-you’re supposed to be dead!”
“Yeah, I missed you too.” Firestorm said sarcastically. “And my names not Firestorm it's David.”
Glimmer stared at Firestorm, gaping. Then she seemed to have recovered her wits.”That’s not important!” Glimmer said, urgently her eyes flashing with worry. “We got to get him to sick bay, now. ”
“But there isn’t enough time!” Twilight said in poorly controlled voice.
“I think … I think I might be able to take us to the Lunar Republic thingy.” Firestorm said uncertainly. “But, I’ll need help.”
“Alright,” Twilight said, nodding her head. “I lend you some of my magic.”
Eclipse Star blinked, what the hell is going on? He wondered, things were going way too fast for him to understand.
“If it involves not dying I’m all for it.” Eclipse Star commented.
“Alright,” Twilight said, taking in a deep breath. “Everypony picture this … Lunar Republic in your minds!”
Eclipsed Star closed his eyes imagining his real home in the Lunar Republic.
“NOW!” Somepony yelled and Eclipsed Star felt his body relax as he drifted into a dreamless sleep.
