Chapter 3: All hope is….

‘It was just a dream….wasn’t it?’ Sweet Rose asked herself after hours of running with her friends. Here they were. Outside the Stable that they had lived in their whole lives, never dreaming of stepping foot outside the Stable Door. That really just happened to where they had lived their whole lives? Sweet Rose knew something wasn’t right when they said there were more than just one blip on that screen. The distant explosion that she heard the hours before didn’t help her feel any better. But it wasn’t like she had any time to process what had happened that night, not until now. It was all still fresh in their minds.

***

Sweet Rose awoke to an alarm that she had never heard before blaring through the Stable PA system. Sounds of short and quick pops came from beyond her dwelling door. Screams of agony and pain penetrated the solid steel door. Sweet Rose thought she was dreaming, but was shaken from that thought as Riot Shield busted into her dwelling.

“Sweet Rose, no time to explain, we need to go.” He said throwing off her blanket with his magic and throwing some of her clothes in a bag.

“Come on.” He insisted and nearly pulled her out of bed with his magic.

“I’m up. What’s going on?” Sweet Rose tried to ask, but Riot Shield was more worried about getting her out of there. “Riot, I can run on my own.” She said taking to the ground running after him. Riot slung her saddle bags over his back and led her down a hallway that she didn’t recognize anymore. Red. Everywhere. The pops she heard back in her dwelling sounded louder. That is when she saw it. A robotic looking pony that started shooting at them. Riot Shield pushed them both out of the way and the bullets missed Sweet Rose but grazed Riot’s flank. Gritting his teeth, Riot ran at the robot and kicked his hind legs and seemed to disorient the pony, long enough to get her out of that area. She then noticed he was taking her up towards the Door. “Riot, where are you taking me?” but once again, Riot Shield was more focused on the task at hoof.

“Jewel and Flutter Shy are out there waiting for you, Lightning and Meadow are on their way. Stay there until I get back.” Riot said in her ear. He pushed her towards the open Stable Door and rushed back into the Stable. Sweet Rose looked at the gaping hole where the Stable Door used to be. She was told stories about ponies that tried to leave on their own, how they never returned. She was scared to step out, until loud popping noise came from behind her. It gave her the push to go out and see Jewel clasping onto Flutter Shy. Just what was going on?

Moments later, Lightning Dash and Meadow Lark emerged with Riot behind them. “RUN!” Riot shouted. The group had no choice but to just start running. They found stairs that lead up towards something. “Don’t stop.” He shouted again. The girls lead up the stairs out into a place of ruins and stopped. “Don’t stop!” Riot shouted once more, and the girls started running. Lightning Dash started flapping his wings and took to the air.

“I’ll scout ahead Riot.” He shouted before flying off. Riot watched as Lightning flew off as Meadow Lark caught up to the girls.

“Come on, Lightning Dash is finding us a place to hide, we just need to keep running.” He said to Flutter Shy who was still in hysterics. That seemed to calm her down some, enough to run on her own.

“I’ll explain everything when we get to safety, right now, we aren’t safe.” Riot Shield said while bringing up the rear.

“Up ahead. A building mostly intact. We can hide there!” Lightning Dash said flying back. “Flutter Shy, flap your wings. You can fly.” He came down next to her and tried to encourage her to fly, but it didn’t work. But it didn’t matter much, they were there in a matter of moments.

**

“I guess you all are wondering what happened tonight.” Riot Shield said after a while of them catching their breath.

“How did those things know where we were?” Jewel asked.

“….” Riot Shield went silent for a moment. “It’s partially my fault. I suggested to the Overmare that we send them a signal that there was still life in our home. If only we had known that these ponies had meant harm, I….”

“Oh, darling, you couldn’t have known. It’s not anypony’s fault.” Jewel said.

“Mom….” Flutter Shy whimpered. Sweet Rose was holding onto her now.

“Riot, what was happening?” Sweet Rose asked. She could tell he was hesitant about telling him what happened.

“Those things we saw were called Steel Rangers. Back in the time of peace and war, they were created to help bring peace during the war. I don’t know why they attack us, but it was clear that they were out to kill. Poor Flutter Shy’s mother was one of the unlucky ones.” Riot Shield informed the group.

“But what are the current numbers?” Sweet Rose asked.

“Many are dead, Rosie. But we all look to you now.” Meadow Lark spoke in a more depressed tone than she had ever heard him in.

“What?” Sweet Rose wanted to make sure she heard him right.

“Sweet Rose, you are the new Overmare.” Lightning Dash said swooping in after he had done a check of the parameter.

“I’m not following.” Sweet Rose was confused.

“Your mother is dead, Sweet Rose. Your step-father and little brother as well.” Riot Shield told her, putting a hoof on her shoulder. It wasn’t long before Sweet Rose was reeling and about to pass out.

“My….mother….is….” Sweet Rose got out before passing out.

***

Sweet Rose woke up hours later. She looked around and noticed that this was not just a dream, it was reality. A harsh, and cruel reality that means what happened to them, happened. Nothing will change. They were all now subjects in the world outside of the Stable. They knew nothing. “How are we….” Sweet Rose voiced as the others noticed she was awake.

“One day at a time.” Riot Shield told them. “We have to stay strong for those who died and those who survived.”

“But the Stable….” Sweet Rose voiced everypony’s concern.

“We can’t go back.” Meadow Lark said. “If we go, then the stable perishes. We need to believe we are the sole survivors.”

“But what of our families Meadow? My little sister, mother, father? They are probably going to worry.” Jewel spoke concern.

“We can’t go back. We need to trust that they can survive until we can find a new place to take the survivors.” Lightning Dash said. “We just have survive until then.”

“Our first priority is to find water and food. Who knows what we will find here?” Riot Shield assessed the situation.

“Our first priority is rest. Riot look at us. We were pulled out of our beds to escape. And it is still dark outside.” Sweet Rose said. “We don’t have the stamina you do. Why don’t you and Lightning Dash take first watch? We’ll switch every two hours until something happens. When we are rested, we’ll take off and look for food and water.”

“But….” Riot started and was cut off by Sweet Rose putting her hoof to his nose.

“Sleep.” She said. “Flutter Shy, Jewel and I will be together. Meadow could sleep with you guys.” Sweet Rose helped Jewel get Flutter Shy to another room of the building. This room had a big bed that was dirty and had springs sticking out.

“Oh my. Don’t tell me you want to sleep on that.” Jewel proclaimed.

“Jewel, it’s more comfortable than the ground.” Sweet Rose observed. “More comfortable than the beds in the Stable.”

“Really?” Jewel climbed in after helping Flutter Shy in. The poor mare had curled up to Sweet Rose. “Well, I will it that, but I hope I get nothing from this bed.”

“Flutter Shy it’s ok. We are all together and we won’t be separated.” Sweet Rose laid her head on Flutter Shy’s shoulder to let her know that she wasn’t alone.

***

The sky was already light out when Riot woke Sweet Rose up. “Lightning and I need a rest. Think you and Meadow can handle?”

“Yeah. Think one of you can rest up some? I rather not have Flutter Shy take watch.” Sweet Rose asked.

“I will.” Riot said and started to walk off.

“Jewel told me. About your mother. I’m sorry that you witnessed it. She also told me that Flutter Shy watched as her parents were gunned down before you pulled her out.” Sweet Rose apologized as she walked to the lookout point.

“I still have to keep going. I can’t show weakness during this time. I swore to your mother that I would protect you.” Riot said as he followed her.

“What?” Sweet Rose looked at him.

“Your mother was dying when I got there. Both your step-father and brother were already dead when I arrived.” Sweet Rose could tell he was also suffering his own loss but just putting on a brave face. “She told me to take you outside the Stable and escape. She believed that you should live and be able to come back one day and reclaim the Stable. I swore that I would protect you and all our friends until we could come back.” Riot looked out over the area after sending Meadow Lark back to bed.

“I thought…” Sweet Rose watched as Meadow headed back to his corner.

“I’m fine. I can last.” He convinced himself.
Sweet Rose was quiet for a while watching cautiously. She then heard quiet deep breathing and looked to see Riot Shield asleep at her side, head resting gently on her shoulders. With her magic, Sweet Rose moved him and laid him down. “Rest well Riot.” She smiled and nudged Meadow Lark. “Hey take watch with me.”

“But I thou-” Meadow started but then saw the sleeping Riot Shield. “Oh, ok. Let’s do this.”

***

It was dark out when Flutter Shy stirred and woke up. "Sweetie Rose?" her soft voice woke Rose up. Only Flutter Shy called her Sweetie Rose, so she knew that her friend was awake. Sweet Rose lifted her head and noticed Jewel was back in the room. Watch must have switched while she was asleep.

"Yes Flutter?" Sweet Rose asked yawning.

"Are we really outside the Stable?" It was the most she had heard out of her friend since they left. She must have come to the reality of what happened.

"Yeah. Riot said that we are going to be out here for a while."

“Oh. Ok.” Flutter Shy looked around the room. “Where are we?”

“I’m not sure. We ran until Lightning told us about this place.” Sweet Rose got out of the bed to check on the guys. Flutter Shy followed her.

“We are here until we rest up. I think we are going to start searching for food and water. Well as soon as Riot wakes up.” She told her. “You don’t have to follow me Flutter.” She told her friend when she noticed that she was following her closely.”

“I-I know. I-I just don’t want you to be a-alone.” Flutter squeaked.

“I didn’t mean it like that. But you know, somepony’s gotta pee.” Sweet Rose blushed that she had to explain that.

“Oh…I’m sorry.” Flutter Shy slunk back to the room. But that wasn’t what Sweet Rose was going to do. She needed to get back to the stable and the boys fell asleep on the job, so it gave her the perfect opportunity.

***

Sweet Rose had been running for a while and found the place where they had come out from. She followed the structure up and it looked to be the ruins of a castle like structure. She saw the hole they came out of, but there was a door not too far away. She went through the door and saw what would have been a grand entrance. She walked over and saw a tapestry that survived the war and showed of a time where a baby dragon saved the people of this place. She recognized this tapestry. It was in their history books. ‘What was this place called again? Crispal….cryisal……Crystal! The Crystal Empire!’ She then realized that her stable must have been under the Crystal Empire. She walked around some more in the entrance and it was pretty much bare except for that tapestry.

Sweet Rose looked over and saw that the first floor only consisted of the entrance, so she climbed another set of stairs and found more rooms. She first found the dining room where part of the room was missing. “Must have been blown away by a blast of some sort.” She spoke aloud to herself. She was starting to get a little creeped out about this place, hearing her voice calmed her. ‘Maybe I should have brought Flutter Shy with me.’ She thought before moving on. She then came to a room that lead out to a balcony. There was another tapestry there, it showed a symbol that she didn’t recognize. She was about to move on when her Pipbuck made a noise. “The Crystal Castle.” Sweet Rose read out loud. “So this was a castle.” She had forgotten all about her Pipbuck until that moment. The fact it was still functioning means that maybe she could find more information about the place.

She sat on her haunches and pressed a few buttons to enable voice search. “Search ‘The Crystal Castle’. Give most recent data.” She talked in her Pipbuck. Her Pipbuck warned her that this could take a while, so she decided to explore some more while she waited.
Sweet Rose moved on and found what looked to be a throne room, the only seat smashed. Looking around, Sweet Rose noticed more tapestries. One depicted a wedding of some sort. Another was just like the one in the entrance way. “Must have been a special moment if there are two of those.” Sweet Rose made note to herself. A third depicted something similar to the one in the previous room, only with more details. A giant ball of ice was on that one being melted by the same baby dragon as the previous tapestry. The next one held a picture of the same ponies in the first tapestry with a small foal with the next one a similar picture with a bigger filly and another small foal. The one filly looked very familiar. She was thinking back about her parents’ dwelling when her Pipbuck made a noise notifying her that it finished its search. Sweet Rose looked at the results and read them out loud.

“The Crystal Castle is the home of Princess Cadance and Prince Shining Armor, rulers of the empire. It is a huge crystal tower that fires a ribbon of energy into the sky whenever the Crystal Heart at its base is powered by the Crystal Ponies. After the Balefire Bombs hit Canterlot, Splendid Valley, Manehattan, and Fillydelphia, the rulers left and went to go aid in recovery. While away, a Balefire bomb hit the empire in the northwest, flattening the area and damaged other buildings in the surrounding areas. Status of rulers and their family is unknown.” Sweet Rose read aloud. “Well, that sucks, but it also explains why part of the roof in the dining hall was gone.”

Sweet Rose looked around some more on the floor before finding the stairs. As she followed them up, she heard the wind howling outside. “Oh man, I wish I was back at that building with the guys.” She said as she came to the top. It was a hallway that had some skeletons in it. She freaked when she saw them but had to continue on. There were pegasi, Earth, and a few unicorn skeletons scattered about. Sweet Rose opened one room to find it completely gone and looked over to see the next room with only a corner away from the door still intact. Sweet Rose went to another room to find it completely intact with part of the wall missing. She looked around and found pictures. It was of the same ponies on the final tapestry she had looked at, only the second foal was grown up. The room looked coltish, so the second foal must have been a colt. There was one where the stallion and colt were out playing some sport while the mare and filly watched on. It was there Sweet Rose noticed that the mare looked different than the other three, she had wings in addition to her horn.

“Pipbuck, look up ‘unicorns with wings’. Give results in all instances.” Sweet Rose spoke to her Pipbuck. The results came back fairly quickly.

“Alicorn. Alicorns are ponies that have a horn of a Unicorn, wings of a Pegasus, the strength of a god, true heart of an Earth pony. Alicorns are most notably royalty. Princess Celestia and Princess Luna being the most famous. Another Alicorn was Princess Cadance of the Crystal Empire.” Sweet Rose read to herself out loud again. “So your mom was an Alicorn. She must have been an awesome mom.” She spoke to the room like the colt was still there. She looked at the other three only to notice that the stallion was a unicorn like her as well as the filly. The colt was a Pegasus. Sweet Rose looked around the room and noticed that it lacked a skeleton and looked like it hadn’t changed since the bed had been made the morning of the attack. “They must have all been gone that day.”

Sweet Rose made her way back out into the hallway and made her way to the room at the end of the hall. She pushed on the doors but they didn’t budge. Sweet Rose tried again, but still they didn’t budge. Sweet Rose then bucked at the doors and they flew open. “Whoa…” She gasped when she saw that the room was bigger than the other one she found. The bed was nicely made still and was grand. The chandelier was solid crystal and built into the celling. “This must be Princess Cadance and Prince Shining Armor’s room.” She walked around the room and looked out the giant window in the room. She looked around and noticed a desk in front of the window. It was a long desk that could fit two people working at it, with things sprawled everywhere, comfortably. On the desk was a terminal that Sweet Rose remembered seeing in her mother’s office.

“What’s on this?” She pressed a button and the monitor lit up. It had a few files on it and a message alert. Sweet Rose clicked on it and it opened and the voice came over was male and spoken with a sense of urgency.

*

“Cadence, if you haven’t left yet, don’t. Go down to Stable 6 and tell our daughter to let you in. It isn’t safe anymore anywhere. Ponyville has taken a hit by the wave from Canterlot. The major cities have been hit and Cloudsdale is closed off from the rest of Equestria. Twily’s place is no longer there in Splendid Valley. I don’t want you to perish my love. Please, if you haven’t left the empire, get down to the Stable. I’ve sent Corduroy to Trotonto. There has been no signs of Radiation there and I sent him there to keep it that way. Cadance….I love you.”

*

“Princess Cadance must have left before getting that message. And who is Twily?” Sweet Rose asked to the air and decided to look through the drawers. It felt like something called to her in one of the many drawers. After sifting through some drawers, Sweet Rose opened a drawer and found a statue of a mare. The statue said “Be Smart” and held a mare of purple coat, darker purple mane and tail with a pink and another shade of purple stripe. She felt empowered with it and decided to keep it. But something kept bothering her. The stallion in the message said that his and Cadance’s daughter was in Stable 6.

“Pipbuck, can you scan through the history of the Stable?” She asked her device. It gave her an error beep. “Must be because I’m not in the stable anymore. Still holding the statue in her magic, Sweet Rose went back to the monitor and downloaded the files using a cable she found in one of the drawers. There was another message on the monitor that she decided to listen to.

*

“Princess Cadance, Prince Shining Armor. I’m contacting you as a last resort. Things have gotten bad here in Canterlot. Princess Celestia and I are doing the best we can to keep the Pink Cloud from spreading. I don’t know how much longer we can last. I am begging that you take safety measures in the Crystal Empire.

“Prince Shining Armor, I am hoping you received the package from Applejack’s ministry. Please use the armor to help us. The other Rangers could use a leader like you. You were our best Royal Guard Captain and my sister and I still hold you in that regard. I need to go now, I’m afraid that Canterlot will fall not too much later. Celestia and I can’t hold much longer.”

*

“The voice must have been Princess Luna.” Sweet Rose said as all the files finished uploading on her Pipbuck. Sweet Rose looked about the room and saw nothing of interest to her, but she decided to look in the closet. Not much was in there. A dress here and there and a set of formal attire for a stallion. There was also a set of armor in the closet, like the armor that was on the skeletons out in the hallway. There was also a set of saddle bags that had a mark on them with a shield like picture with a sparkle sign, like the cutie mark on the statue that she held in her magic, with three stars on the top. “It’s exactly like the stallion’s, Prince Shining Armor’s saddle bags. Might come in handy.” She floated the bags out and put the statue in the bags and bagged a few of the articles of clothing in the closet before placing the saddle bags on her back. Sweet Rose had forgotten all about going back to the stable at this point. She needed to get back to her friends though. She made her way back out of the Castle and saw two ponies coming out of the hole that led down to the Stable. One looked like the ones that attacked the Stable, others soon followed them out.

“You here to finish the job your buddies did?” She ran out with horn glowing and crackling.

“Wha? No…we…..” The mare, a Pegasus, started confused. “We defeated the Rangers that were attackin’ that Stable.”

“What?” Sweet Rose looked at the group in disbelief.

“We defeated the Steel Rangers that were attackin’ Stable 6.” The mare said slowly.

Jewel: The most fashion forward pony in Stable 6. Current Age: 21. In a relationship with: Meadow Lark. Stable Position: Dweller. Stable Job: Barding Designer. Hobby: Hanging out with the girls of the group, going on walks with Meadow Lark in the Farm Floor on Floor 18, designing different bardings for different occasions. What she looks like: Jewel

Author's Note

Just a little house keeping, if you dislike this story, can you leave me some comments about what you don't like? I also want to note that I am writing this in third person perspective because it is the style I am most used to writing. And if there is any constructive criticism out there, I would love to hear it.