They Walk Among Us

"Leave all that we can spare behind." said Twilight. "We travel light."

Twilight watched as everyone else in the cave started to pack up to leave.

"You still haven't answered my question, Twilight." said Steven. "Why do we need to go to Ponyville?"

Twilight dwelled on that thought. She remembered that she had only told them that they were going back to Ponyville and they had to pack up quickly. She hadn't told them about the message yet.

"Princess Celestia wants all of us to gather in Ponyville." said Twilight. "She hasn't told us yet, but we need to go quickly."

It was true that only a few minutes ago, Princess Celestia's voice had appeared in her and Fluttershy's minds, telling them to quickly head for Ponyville.

"But why didn't she appear in my mind?" asked Rainbow Dash. "Or Steven's?"

"I don't know." answered Twilight. "She only called for the Elements of Harmony, but I don't know why you didn't hear her, Rainbow Dash."

"Just as well..." said Fluttershy. "The moment I heard her voice in my head, I felt all of my strength leave my body..."

Twilight nodded. There was something different about Princess Celestia's magic. But she couldn't tell what it was. It just felt darker... Corrupt.

Nah, that was all just Twilight's imagination. Maybe it was like that because the crash between their planets affected her magic or something.

"Bring only small amounts of food and water." said Twilight. "Leave everything else behind."

"Come on, my little ponies." said Fluttershy. "We best be leaving now..."

The Cutie Mark Crusaders quickly followed Fluttershy outside, where they waited for the rest of them.

"Ready?" she asked.

"Yeah." said Steven.

"Let's go." said Rainbow Dash.

Suddenly, there was a great pain in Twilight's head.

Hurry up, my little ponies. Time is of the essence. I shall meet you back in Ponyville.

Twilight then realized that she was kneeling on the ground. Rainbow Dash helped her up.

"Thanks, Rainbow Dash." she said. "Fluttershy, are you alright?"

"I'm fine, Twilight." said Fluttershy, "It's okay, Sweetie Belle, I'm fine..."

Steven walked to Twilight, a confused look on his face.

"I-"

"I know you're going to say that you don't understand." said Twilight, interrupting him. "But can we talk about this on the way? We have to hurry."

Steven opened his mouth to say something, but thought better of it and walked out the cave.

Twilight and Rainbow Dash followed them out, and they all set for the foot of the mountain together.

"Oh, wait, I forgot something." said Twilight.

"What now, Twilight?" asked Rainbow Dash.

"A prevention spell." said Twilight. "With this, no hostile animals can come close to us. You know, to prevent another wolf incident."

She nodded at Steven, who unconsciously touched the scar on his left eye. He then chuckled and they all continued walking downhill, Fluttershy leading the way, followed by Steven and Rainbow Dash, then Twilight, and then the Cutie Mark Crusaders.

Twilight looked back. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle were on one side of the path, and Scootaloo on the other. They didn't seem to want to talk to each other, and they were very unusually quiet. Even when they were fighting back in Ponyville, they would've made a racket about it. Now they were just silent. he had alway found them to be annoying when loud, but this

was much worse.

Twilight closed her eyes and sighed. Rainbow Dash lost her wings. Scootaloo lost all chance of ever getting a cutie mark. Twilight herself could not imagine life without magic. It had become a necessity to her, instead of a blessing. She was now thankful of being a unicorn more than any other time in her life. But she still felt bad for those who had lost their blessings.

She wanted to talk to Scootaloo. She wanted to say something, anything that could cheer her up. But she was afraid that she might make it worse. She took a quick glance at Rainbow Dash, who was laughing and joking with Steven. Whatever Steven told her, it had seemed to work quite well. But again, that may be just because of their 'special relationship.'

Twilight sighed. Hopefully their meeting with Princess Celestia would clear things up for them. Hopefully, some questions can finally be answered. Questions like how they survived the planetary impact. Why Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo turned human. And most importantly, how to reverse everything back to normal.

Not long later, they had finally reached the bottom of the mountain.

"Okay, so we got to the bottom." said Rainbow Dash. "How do we get to Ponyville?"

"Don't worry." said Twilight. "Princess Celestia got the location of Ponyville into our heads. It should be about... 4000 miles to the east."

Steven choked on the water he was drinking. Fluttershy quickly flew to him and performed the Pony equivalent to the Heimlich maneuver. Steven immediately spit out all of that water.

"Thanks for that, Fluttershy." he said, panting heavily. "4000 miles? How are we going to get that far so quickly?"

"We teleport, of course." said Twilight. "But I'm going to need your help, Steven."

"My help?" he asked. "What can I do?"

"I'll need your help to power up my magic." said Twilight. "I'll never be able to teleport all of us a the same time. We might get spliced somewhere."

"Spliced?" asked Steven, sounding scared.

"It's when a body part of yours doesn't get teleported while the rest of your body does." she said, matter-of-factly.

Steven just looked more afraid.

"But, well..." he said, stammering. "I, uh... I can't do magic at will. And I've never powered up anypony's magic before! What makes you think that I can even do such a thing?"

Twilight stopped in her tracks. She quickly turned to look at Steven.

"Your magic is very ancient magic, Steven." said Twilight. "Blessing Magic. You can heal, revive, and so you should also be able to empower somepony else's magic."

"Yeah, well you see, Twilight... I've never really gotten the feel of magic. I've been unconscious each time I've done magic so far. I don't know how magic feels like." he said.

Twilight sighed. Her horn began to glow a bright purple, and she quickly walked up to Steven and touched his horn with hers. Steven looked confused.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"Stimulating your horn." she answered. "Your magic should appear soon."

Sure enough, Steven's horn began glowing a brilliant blue. Twilight looked at it in awe. She had expected his magic to be powerful, but not this powerful. Steven himself looked at the blue glow of his horn and looked surprised.

"Wow..." he said, lacking any other words to say.

"That's really powerful magic you got there, Steven." she said. "Now what I want you to do is to use all of your willpower to command your magic to empower mine."

Steven hesitated, but then he quickly closed his eyes in concentration. Twilight didn't know what he was trying at this point, so she and the others just waited. About half a minute of waiting, Twilight noticed that the magical aura around Steven's horn was beginning to grow. He was progressing.

"Come on, Steven." she said. "We have to be quick!"

Just then , Steven started to sway a bit. He looked as if he was trying to balance a whole stack of books atop his head.  He tried to maintain his balance, but he just swayed even more violently than before.

"Keep your balance, Steven!" screamed Twilight. "Just focus!"

"It's... harder... than... you think!" screamed Steven, in difficulty.

Just then, the sky started growing darker. Twilight saw dark clouds start gathering on top of them, looking dangerous aand threatening.

"Steven?" asked Rainbow Dash

Steven was now finding it difficult just to stand still.

"Control your power, Steven!" screamed Twilight. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Fluttershy gathering the children so that they could all shiver in fear together.

"I'll try to help!" shouted Rainbow Dash. The dark clouds above them were now stirring up a great storm. Rainbow Dash ran to Steven and tried to point his horn at Twilight.

"RRRRAAAAAAGHHHH!" screamed Rainbow Dash as she managed to bend Steven's head. Immediately, Twilight's horn began glowing purple, attracting all of Steven's magic to her. It was really powerful magic, and Twilight could just barely control it, never mind a complete amateur like Steven.

The load of magic on her horn was very painful. It threatened to shatter it, and here whole body along with it.

"Come here quick!" she shouted to the others. "I can't control it much longer!"

Rainbow Dash picked up Steven, and Fluttershy gathered the kids and they all ran to Twilight. Sensing that everybody was in place, she bent Steven's magic into teleportation magic.

"Get ready for a bumpy ride!" shouted Twilight, and everyone else screamed in unison (except for Fluttershy, who simply went "Eep!") as a purple and blue barrier surrounded them.

The barrier exploded, and they were gone in a flash.

Flash!

They suddenly appeared in the air close to the ground. As they fell, Fluttershy managed to grab up all of the Cutie Mark Crusaders. The rest of them, on the other hand, fell down to the ground face first.

"Oh... I'm very sorry... But I was only able to catch the little girls..." whispered Fluttershy. "Please don't be mad..."

"It'sch fine, Fwuttershy..." said Twilight, mouth full of dirt. She spit everything out, leaving the horrid taste of soil in her mouth. "We're okay. Are we?"

"I'm good!" said Rainbow Dash, face still on the ground, and giving and she lifted a thumb at her. Twilight didn't know what that gesture meant, but she was pretty sure it meant 'Okay.'

"I'm fine, too." said Steven, who began to sit up. "But I have a really bad migraine."

Now that he mentioned it, Twilight also had a very bad headache. She had never imagined that Steven's magic could be that powerful. Now she just wished that they didn't teleport too far.

"Are we in Ponyville now?" asked Steven, who Twilight had just remembered had never been to Ponyville before.

Twilight looked around. And the scene that she was met with surprised her like no other.

Despite of everything that had happened, especially the crash between Earth and Equestria, Twilight had no problem saying that his was Ponyville. And that was very troubling. Where there should be a pile of rubble and debris, Twilight saw that the whole of Ponyville was completely intact. Landing right outside Ponyville General Hospital, Twilight could see many of Ponyville's landmarks- Sugarcube Corner, Sweet Apple Acres, the Library, Town Hall, even Rainbow Dash's cloud home.

"Um... Twilight?" asked a voice behind her.

Startled, Twilight looked back. It was only Fluttershy.

"Yes, Fluttershy?"

"I was just wondering... if, um... I could go back to my cottage for a while?" she asked, giving her a nervous grin. "I need to go check on Angel Bunny... I mean, if you don't mind, of course..."

Fluttershy was still grinning at Twilight, waiting for an answer.Twilight knew that they should stick together, and that one of them going off on their own would put them in jeopardy, but she couldn't say no to that face!

"Sure, go ahead, Fluttershy." she said. "But be careful! And you can meet up with us again in Town Hall."

"Okay, Twilight..." said Fluttershy. "No problem..."

As soon as she said that, Fluttershy took off to her cottage, leaving everyone confused as to why Twilight had let her go.

"I don't think you should have done that..." said Steven, as he walked next to Twilight.

"She wanted to go find her pet bunny." she said. "In the meantime, we should go check around Ponyville."

Steven shrugged and shook his head as Twilight started to walk down to Ponyville.

"Come on, guys," she heard Steven say. "Let's go."

Twilight walked around Ponyville, observing each and every single detail. It was true- Ponyville was still in perfect condition. There was literally not a single brick out of place. But there was something wrong with it though...

It was completely deserted.

Nopony was there. The whole place was empty. Even though Twilight had a group of friends with her at the time, she felt strangely alone. It may be because of Ponyville, which used to be teeming with life everywhere, now being very quiet and sullen.

"This is Ponyville?" asked Rainbow Dash, looking everywhere to find any signs of life.

"Where is ev'rypony?" asked Apple Bloom, who was cuddling up with Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo, all three of them afraid.

"I don't know, Apple Bloom..." said Twilight. "But for now let's go to Town Hall. I think we'll meet Princess Celestia there."

As they made their way to Town Hall, Twilight attempted, in vain, to make sense of what had happened. Did all of the ponies get transported away like Rainbow Dash was? Or were they... captured by the monsters in that facility? Twilight began to sweat. She barely made it out alive, and even then a friend's life had to be sacrificed. But there was no proof yet, so Twilight still had hopes for them. Yet she still had a bad feeling, a feeling that she had tried to hide away.

Ever since the day night when the Earth came crashing down to Equestria, she had been having the same recurring nightmare over and over again. Nightmares about death and despair. Of sorrow and agony. She didn't want to think about it. She tried to throw the thought away. But alas! Such a thing can never be done. Twilight dipped her head down in brooding.

"What a place..." she heard Steven say. He was obviously admiring the place, completely oblivious to the fact that there was nopony around. He then turned to look at the sky.

"Wow." he said as he stopped walking. He was looking at the sky. More specifically, Rainbow Dash's Cloud Mansion.

"Who lives there?" he asked Rainbow Dash, who was also looking at the Cloud Mansion, only with a slight hint of longing rather than amazement, having lived there for so long already.

"I did." she said. "Of course, now I cannot reach there, and even if i could, I won't be able to stand on it, so..."

"Really?" he asked. "You lived there?"

"Yeah." said Rainbow Dash, smiling.

Twilight smiled secretly. Steven really did a good job in convincing Rainbow Dash to move on and let go.

Finally, they arrived at Town Hall, where parades, speeches, announcements, and special parties used to be made in. Again, the absence of the usually abundant amount of ponies made her feel a bit more down as well. But she had always admired the design of the Town Hall, and without the crowd that was usually there, she managed to observe the great building properly.

It was old. Being one of the first buildings ever made in Ponyville, it naturally has to be. For years before their time, it had served its purpose. And it had never been renovated at all, so that the residents of Ponyville can forever admire the long-standing, amazing building. Of course, it had to be renovated once- when Derpy destroyed the entire top part of the building.

But other than the apparent tall building that is the Town Hall, Princess Celestia was nowhere to be found. She scanned the skies, she looked all around, and she even took a peek inside the deserted, empty, and overall scary building to find her. But she wasn't there.

Why would Princess Celestia call us here if she herself is not here?

Just then, she heard a small beat of wings in the sky.

"Hey, Fluttershy," said Twilight. "Did you find Angel?"

"No..." she said, eyes darting everywhere and looking scared. "Twilight, we should go now."

"What's wrong, Fluttershy?" asked Sweetie Belle, who along with the rest of the Cutie Mark Crusaders were silent this whole time.

"Um..." mumbled Fluttershy. "I don't know, but we have to hide quickly."

"Come on down, Fluttershy." said Twilight.

Fluttershy looked uneasy, and hesitant to land. That behavior was much unlike Fluttershy, who would normally try to avoid flying at all. Eventually, though, Fluttershy landed on the ground.

Almost immediately, Fluttershy screamed (not squealed, which meant that something was seriously wrong) in pain, and she collapsed on the floor.

"What's wrong, Fluttershy?" asked Twilight, running to her screaming friend.

"Oh god..." said Steven. Twilight didn't know what that meant, but she was almost certain that it had something to do with just finding out something really bad.

"What's wrong?" she asked. It was only then she noticed something on Fluttershy's back hoof.

A hole.

A cleanly cut hole that pierced through the whole of Fluttershy's hoof. Blood was flowing all around that hind leg, and Fluttershy started to pant heavily.

"Come here, Rainbow Dash." said Steven.

Rainbow Dash ran to them. She winced as she saw Fluttershy's wound.

"I want you to press down your hand here." said Steven. "We need to apply pressure to slow down the blood loss."

Rainbow Dash, not hesitating at all, quickly put both hands on both sides of Fluttershy's wound. Fluttershy herself began releasing sobs, although she was not screaming in pain anymore.

Twilight couldn't help but think that she had seen that somewhere before. However, she quickly realized that there was only one thing in the world that can pierce through flesh and bone like that.

The same thing happened to Pinkie Pie.

"We have to hide. Now." said Twilight, with a completely emotionless face.

"But we have got to treat Fluttershy first, or-"

"C'mon, we have to hurry!" said Twilight, opening the door to the Town Hall. "We'll hide here. Come on!"

Steven and Rainbow Dash quickly carried Fluttershy to the Town Hall, followed by the Cutie Mark Crusaders, who had no idea what was happening but was silent in fear nonetheless.

As they laid Fluttershy down on the floor, Steven started giving out orders to the various people there available.

"Rainbow Dash, I need you to keep doing what you've been doing." he said. "Twilight, you go and find a bed, or any soft surface that Fluttershy can lie on. Kids..."

The Cutie Mark Crusaders looked up at Steven, looking as if they were wondering what small thing they could do to help them in this kind of situation. Steven knelt down to their height and talked to them.

"Okay, girls, what I need you to do is very important." he said, his voice low and comforting. "Some bad guys are on the way. Bad guys who hurt Fluttershy very badly. Now since we're hiding here, we cannot let them find out about us, so what you need to do is to tell us when they're coming, alright?"

The Cutie Mark Crusaders all nodded together in unison, and then proceeded to look out the window for any signs of movement.

Right after that, Twilight quickly ran around to find something for Fluttershy to lie on. But this was the Town Hall. There was nothing here that could fulfill medical requirements. So she had to improvise. She ran up to the Mayor's Office and found a folding table. She let it drop down the stairs, and then she went to find tablecloths from the cafeteria. She quickly opened a cupboard in the cafeteria and brought out their tablecloths. She then teleported to the bottom of the stairs, where the table already was. Using her magic, she picked up the table and tablecloths and ran to where Steven and the others were.

"I'm back." said a panting Twilight.

"That was quick." he said. "I'll get bandages and a splint. While I'm gone, you guys put Fluttershy on the table. Rainbow Dash, keep applying pressure."

As Steven ran off, Twilight and Rainbow Dash carefully put Fluttershy on the table- Twilight using her magic to move her, and Rainbow Dash still using both hand to press on to her wound.

As they put Fluttershy on the table, Twilight watched as Rainbow Dash tried desperately to keep the blood from flowing out. It was then she had an idea.

"Rainbow Dash, remove your hands." said Twilight.

"What? Are you crazy?" asked Rainbow Dash.

"Just do it!"

Hesitantly, Rainbow Dash put her hands down. Blood immediately started flowing, and Twilight knew that she had to do this quick. She quickly summoned her High-Density magic to Fluttershy's hoof, and kept it there. The blood stopped flowing. Fluttershy's expression also softened a bit.

Then, Rainbow Dash held up her hands.

"Oh... my..." said Fluttershy.

The hands were very bloody from trying desperately to keep the blood in, and Rainbow Dash looked at it with disgust and fear mixed into one facial expression. Twilight quickly used some more of her magic to wipe the blood off of her hands.

"You know, Rainbow Dash," said Twilight, attempting to make light conversation. "This is the first time we've been together where Steven wasn't hanging around."

Rainbow Dash looked up at her distractedly.

"I guess it is, yeah..." said Rainbow Dash, confused why Twilight was telling her all this.

"So..." said Twilight. "Do you like him?"

Rainbow Dash's expression quickly turned to one of shock, and then she began to blush heavily.

"Well... Hah hah..." she muttered. "Uhm... I, er..."

At that point, Sweetie Belle was looking back at them. She then squealed in glee and whispered something into Scootaloo and Apple Bloom's ears. All three of them then left the window and skipped around Rainbow Dash in a circle, singing "You have a Special Somepony" again and again.

"He's not my special somepony!" shouted Rainbow Dash, as she continued to blush harder, if that was even possible.

Twilight smiled.

"Come on, girls," she said. "Go back to doing your job."

Scootaloo then winked at Rainbow Dash.

"Congratulations, Rainbow Dash!" she said as she walked to her friends.

It was amazing how these kids were. One minute they were arguing and fighting with each other, then the next they were uniting to tease Rainbow Dash together. She knew that although one of them has changed forever, a bond such as this one will never fade away so easily. But it was not the time for that! This was the time she can use to tease Rainbow Dash!

"So..." said Twilight, smiling at Rainbow Dash. "Is he your special somepony?"

"No!" said Rainbow Dash. She then looked down. "I mean, don't get me wrong- I like him, but well..."

"Have you kissed?" asked Twilight, recollecting all the romance novels she read as a child and how everything was supposed to be.

Rainbow Dash sighed.

"No..." she said. "We almost did, but he pulled away right when we were supposed to have kissed."

Twilight chuckled and looked at Rainbow Dash.

"Don't worry." she said. "You'll get there."

"No, it's just that... It's just that Steven always has this dark aura around him, as if he had a secret that he even tries to keep from himself." she said. "I'm not sure what to do about it."

"May I offer a suggestion?" asked Fluttershy, whose comment made both caretakers jump.

"Have you considered asking?" she said. "You should try it. I mean... if you don't mind..."

"She's right, you know." said Twilight. "Why don't you ask him. I mean, if he trusts you, he'll tell you."

Just then, Steven's voice came from the stairs.

"I found the things! Just keep her there for the moment."

Twilight then winked at Rainbow Dash, who smiled back at her and Fluttershy.

Steven then came to them, bandages and a splint in his mouth.

"High Density magic?" he asked, smiling at Twilight. "Nice one, Twilight."

Twilight was surprised.

"How did you know it was High Density Magic?" she asked. "I thought you knew nothing about magic."

"Twilight, when you graduate form Harvard with a doctorate in physics and you are able to confirm String Theory," he said, very casually. "Then you naturally know when something has a high density or not."

Twilight, confused by what he just said, then proceeded to remove the magic. Fluttershy squealed in pain.

"Don't worry, Fluttershy." said Steven. "It'll be over soon."

Steven then skillfully started to place splinters on Fluttershy's hoof and bandage the wound. Fluttershy was still bleeding heavily even after this.

"We're lucky there's a First Aid Box here." he said. "Now let me try to get this right..."

Steven then lowered his horn and touched Fluttershy's hoof.

"Eep!" squealed Fluttershy, who was now fighting back her tears.

"Come on... Come on..." said Steven, as if willing his magic to go do its job.

Just then, a bright blue light began to emanate from Steven's horn, which then enveloped the bandaged area. Slowly, Fluttershy's face turned from one of great agony to a relaxed one.

Steven then touched Fluttershy's hoof. Fluttershy didn't scream.

"That should right things up." he said, wiping sweat from off his brow. "Be sure to stay off that leg for a week or two, just for the bones to fully heal themselves, because my magic might not have gone too deep."

"How did you do that?" asked Twilight, mouth agape.

"Well, I tried to simulate the same sensation I had when you stimulated my horn." he said. "Lucky it worked, isn't it?"

Twilight stared at Steven in amazement. In only a matter of hours, Steven was able to learn and almost master his magic. It took Twilight herself months to get used to the idea of magic. He might not be able to levitate things, summon objects or teleport, but his own field of magic should be very broad and useful for them all.

Fluttershy, who was just sitting there, looking at her hoof with her mouth open, quickly jumped and gathered them all into a group hug.

"Thank you, guys." she said, her voice louder than normal. "Thank you thank you thank you THANK YOU!"

"It's fine, Fluttershy." said Rainbow Dash. "You're welcome."

"Yeah, it was no problem." said Steven.

Suddenly, the Cutie Mark Crusaders came running to them.

"Twilight, can you come over here for a second?" asked Sweetie Belle, gesturing towards the window.

Twilight walked to it and looked outside. She immediately saw, clear as day, a human in something black and shiny (it looked very hard, too) shell, and carrying some sort of black stick on both of its hands. It was looking around, as if it was hunting something.

"We saw them strange things walking about, but we didn't know wha' they were, Twilight. "said Apple Bloom.

Steven then came to them.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

As he looked outside, the human in the shell took something spherical out of that shell and threw it at the Town Hall's door. Twilight saw Steven's eyes completely widen.

"Black Wesa? What are they doing here?"

Black Wesa.

Twilight immediately started feeling uncontrollable anger build up underneath her. These were the filthy monsters who killed Pinkie Pie. And she was not going to rest until she managed to kill each and every one of them.

"What's that beeping sound?" asked a scared Scootaloo. She quickly ducked down as she looked into Twilight's murderous eyes.

Steven's ears perked up.

"WATCH OUT!" he screamed, as he grabbed onto Twilight and the kids and quickly jumped backwards using the wall as a launch pad.

Immediately after they took off from the wall, the door and the wall exploded.

BOOM!

Steven, Twilight, and the Cutie Mark Crusaders landed with a heavy 'thud' on the floor. They quickly picked themselves up, only to find themselves being surrounded by the humans from Black Wesa, who continuously streamed inside the Town Hall.

"Don't move!" one of them said. "We've got you surrounded."

Steven gritted his teeth. Twilight knew that he must've wanted to fight them off and escape, but the fact that they were surrounding them said that victory would not be the most possible outcome.

"What do we do now?" asked Rainbow Dash.

"We wait." said Steven. "Then we'll all break off running into different directions, confusing them and hopefully breaking their formation."

"Won't that be dangerous?" asked Rainbow Dash.

"Highly." he said. "But after listening to Twilight's story and my own understanding about Black Wesa, I would rather die than be captured by them.

As Steven said this, a look of regret flashed in his eyes, but it disappeared immediately. Could it just be her imagination?

"Certainty of death..." said Twilight. "Small chance of success... Well, what are we waiting for?"

"Okay, now remember, Fluttershy." said Steven. "Do not use that leg of yours. And kids, you guys must travel in a group. As soon as we escape their perimeter, we regroup outside, then Twilight will teleport us, okay?'

All of them nodded.

"Good." he said. "Now I'll count to three. One..."

"Please state your name and business!" shouted one of the humans.

"Two..."

"We have permission to fire on you," shouted the human. "So if we you don't tell your your name and business, we will shoot!"

"Three!"

"FIRE!"

"CHARGE!"

As soon as they said that, another explosion appeared outside the town hall.

"They're here!" shouted the human! "They're here! Open fire!"

The humans from Black Wesa immediately ran outside and started shooting. The group stayed inside the Town Hall, trying to make sense of what happened.

They tried to look out the window to see what was happening, but all they could see was a combination of blurs of white, black, blue, and red. There was also a lot of smoke and dust that covered everything. Twilight saw, out of the corner of his eye, Apple Bloom trying to sneak out to get a better look.

"Get back here!" said Rainbow Dash, grabbing Apple Bloom back. "It's dangerous outside! What am I going to tell your sister if you get hurt?"

Suddenly, the smoke and dust cleared out, to reveal the unmoving bodies of the humans outside. Almost immediately, they heard a voice behind them.

"Ponies in the now-deserted and forsaken Ponyville?" asked the voice. "What are you doing here?"

They slowly turned to look back. What they saw was a tall, black furred, white maned stallion.

The other ponies (members of the Royal Guard) also came streaming into the room.

"Now, answer my question." said the stallion. "What are you doing here?"

"We came to answer a summons from Princess Celestia." said Steven.

"Likely story." said the stallion, sneering at them. "Why would Celestia want you to come here? I'd say you were nothing more than a spy. Now I don't have the power to execute you, but I know someone who will."

Just then, the door opened again, to reveal another stallion. A white furred, blue maned unicorn entered the room.

It was Shining Armor!

"General, we have found some ponies lurking about in the battle area." said the black stallion. "I'd say they were no more than spies. Shall we execute them?"

Shining Armor walked to the group.

"Shining!" shouted Twilight.

Shining Armor immediately cocked his head to where Twilight was.

"Twily?"

Twilight then broke out and ran to hug Shining Armor. The soldiers quickly drew their weapons to shoot.

"No! This is my sister." he said.

"Miss Twilight?" said the black stallion. "I'm sorry, I didn't see you there."

"Twily, meet Captain Octavius." said Shining Armor. "You might not remember him, but back when we were both Apprentices of the Guard, you guys met before.

"Octavius?" said Twilight, remembering him. It was true- that was a really long time ago. She was having lunch with her brother when Octavius dropped by to say hi. When Octavius found out that she was the Princess Celestia's protégé, he immediately started referring to her as 'Miss Twilight'.

"I assume that these ponies are your friends?" asked Shining Armor.

Just then Rainbow Dash popped out of the group of friends.

"Hey, you were suffocating me back there, Flu-"

"HUMAN! ATTACK!" shouted Octavius.

"No!" shouted Twilight, as she and the rest of the group ran in front of Rainbow Dash.

"What are you doing?" asked Shining Armor. "Are you harboring a human?"

"She's no human!" said Twilight. "Well, she's human now, but she wasn't born human! She just suddenly became like that after the crash!"

Shining Armor stared at her.

"That's Rainbow Dash?" he asked, doubting her. "Rainbow Dash. Your friend. The pony. The totally-not-human?"

"Yes." said Twilight, determinedly.

Shining Armor then ordered his guards to stand down. He then picked Rainbow Dash from off the ground.

"Thanks." mumbled Rainbow Dash.

"Sorry, guys." he said. "It's just that since the humans came and all, they've been doing nothing but destroying."

"So what happened?" asked Twilight. "What happened to Ponyville? And what is happening with the humans."

"It's a long story." he said, as his serious face cracked into a smile. "And I think your mentor would want to tell you about it herself."

"We're going to Canterlot?" asked Twilight.

"Yeah." he said. "Queen Celestia's been expecting you."