TCSW Side Story: The Stone Guardian

Chapter 3: Guardian

Anteous was in middle of class as the cities siren sounded. The school's sirens were not far behind, causing the class to start to get a little worried. The brown pony caught himself thinking 'What is going on?' through the noise. 'We aren't scheduled for a storm today.'

"Everypony stay calm." Mr. Math commanded, "I'll go find out what all this is about. Stay in your seats until I come back." Everypony watched their teacher intently as he walked out of the classroom. Then, of course, every foal got out of their seats to try and listen to what was going on outside the door.

The door was crowded and Anteous was barely able to hear over the sounds of the sirens. Mr. Math's voice rang out from beyond the door as he raised his voice. Anteous was able to catch snipe-bits of the conversation.

"-Tarturus is going on... Attacked by...? How that even poss... Evacuation!"

The wall of students collapsed as Mr. Math opened the door. The stallion ignored the pile of students as made his way to the front of the class. Mr. Math's face gave a look of dead seriousness not seen since he caught a student skipping school a week ago. The whole class recovered their positions and moved into their seats, something was going on and it was big.

"Class." The stallion said. He stood there for a couple of seconds, searching for the correct words to use. "We are to evacuate the school." Worried whispers rang throughout the classroom, but Mr. Math silenced them as soon as they came. "We leave in an orderly fashion, I want nopony trampled on the way out."

"What's happening?" a voice called out.

"Why are we evacuating?"

Mr. Math raised his hoof again to silence the class. "The city guard is engaged with a group at the city wall."

A filly jumped out and shouted "We're under attack!?!" The whole classroom flew into frenzy, and it took a couple of seconds for the stallion to regain control of the classroom.

"Remain calm. The city guard has it under control. The city has been ordered to evacuate as a precaution. Now, I what you to line up and follow your fellow classmates outside. There will be teachers out there to supervise and there is no need to panic."

The students made their way out of the classroom, whispering to one another as they entered the hallway. Anteous found himself at the back of the line and was able to see his teacher whispering to the school principle at the side. The colt perked up his ears and tried to listen to the conversation.

"- you’re going to put them in a panic if you hurry them." Mr. Math whispered.

"Maybe panic is the appropriate response. The radio said that they have broken past the wall and making their way down Market Street. They'll be here in no time.

Anteous's ears stood straight up. 'Market Street? No!' The colt then bolted backward into a gallop down the hall. H e did not stop even when he heard the shouts of his teacher calling his name. He was in a panic as he ran and only one thought, one word crossed his mind.

'Mom.'

....................

Anteous ran down the street as he made his way to home. He saw nopony as he made his way down the street. The sirens had stopped their blaring and only sounds that he could hear were the sounds of his hooves as they hit the street and the sound of his own heart. The silence of the street only served to further unnerve him.

The street continued to look more and more roughed up as time went on. Anteous found several strange yellow colored crystal formations scattering the road, giving proof that a something took place.

The colt finally reached his home and found his worse fears realized. The front door was smashed in and the inside shop was a mess, broken flower pots scattered the floor with their contents spilled. Anteous ran inside shouting in a frenzied panic at the top of his lungs. "MOM!?!"

The foal searched furiously throughout the store and into the upstairs rooms, checking every door while shouting for his absent mother. He found nopony as he searched, he didn't even find any of the strange crystals that were scattered throughout the street.

As he continued to search his shouts slowly became quieter as his efforts proved fruitless. After he finished upstairs he slowed down to a crawl as he made his way down the stairs. "Only one place left,” he spoke to reassure himself. The colt made his way to the back of the house to the garden out back.

Anteous entered and was stunned to find that one big crystal formation decorated the destroyed garden. The silent stature stood untouched in the center by some miracle, the only witness to the events that transpired.

The colt broke sat down as tears formed in his eyes. Anger mixed in the grief and the confusion he was placed into, the three emotions wrestling inside him, threatening to explode.

A vibrating sound quietly filled the air, breaking the colt from his trance. Above him was the strangest sight in the foal's life as two creatures descended from the open sky of the garden. The creatures looked like giant honeybees with big eye's and no pincer to decorate the mammal like mouth. The creatures landed on two legs and pointed strange tube like objects at the young earth pony as he sat there confused at the sight.

One of the bees spoke in a strange emotionless voice. "Surrender pony. Prepare for capture."

Fear gripped Anteous and he shouted "HELP! ANYPONY, PLEASE HELP!"

"Silence pony." barked the insect, "Prepare for capture." The colt made a whimper as they stepped closer to the colt, making him back into the stone pedestal that the statue stood upon. He was trapped with nowhere to go. As fear continued to grow inside as the invaders continued to draw closer, something else started to build inside the pony, adding to his confusing.

The creature lifted his weapon and took aim at the earth pony, causing Anteous to cringe and close his eyes. The feeling continued to build, becoming unbearable in the colt's chest.

The insect fired his weapon, a yellow liquid flying out of the barrel, the energy burst simultaneously from the colt. Time seemed to slow as the room filled with a black flash that disappeared as soon as it left.

Anteous waited a couple of seconds, expecting to be hit by the projectile at any moment. A heavy thud filled the air causing the colt to cringe and then open his eyes when he realized he hasn't hit. His eyes were met by the sight of a grey stallion slamming his rear hooves into the second assailant, the first sprawled out on the floor.

The second bug was sent flying into a wall, the creature instantly falling unconscious onto the floor. Anteous was stunned as he started to recognize his rescuer.

Standing before Anteous was the stone statue.