Chapter One: First Impressions
Twilight Sparkle sighed.
It was going to be a long day again.
For starters, Pinkie Pie was recovering from a sugar hangover and she didn’t even know that was possible until it happened. But, to be fair, it was better than the alcoholic alternative.
Secondly, some ponies in Ponyville had been talking about strange lights in the night that had kept them awake.
Thirdly, she had suddenly been appointed head of all problem solving in Ponyville, which is why the previous statement was going to be even more of a problem.
She sighed again and rubbed her temples, sipping her tea lightly. Yes, this was definitely going to be a long day.
That door bursting open as Rainbow Dash charged in, making her jump, certainly did not help.
She yelped as the cup of hot tea dropped out of her magical grip and spilled over her legs, scalding her instantly.
“Oops, my bad,” Rainbow said meekly, ears flattening against her head. “You need some help with that?”
“Towel!” Twilight yelled, fanning her burning legs with a nearby book and pointing into the bathroom.
“Gotcha!” Rainbow yelled, saluting and shooting away to grab the towel.
She returned a moment later, holding the towel in her teeth and a bucket of cold water in her hooves. Twilight made protesting gestures, but Rainbow was already pouring the bucket over her. She squealed as she was drenched in the icy cold water and shivered, teeth chattering.
“D-Did y-you h-have to?!” she yelled in frustration, snatching the towel off of Rainbow and wrapping herself in it tightly.
“Well, cold water always treats a burn well,” Rainbow replied with an innocent smile.
“Not i-in that a-amount!” Twilight stammered, drying herself with the towel quickly. “Why was there a b-bucket of cold w-water left in th-there anyway?!”
“I don’t know, but who cares?!” Rainbow yelled, seeming to forget that she had just dropped bucket of cold water over her friend’s head. “Princess Luna is back in town! She’s brought like a whole army of her night guards!”
“Please tell me that’s an exaggeration, Rainbow Dash,” Twilight replied, hovering over her hairbrush to brush her mane as she dried it.
“Oh, it’s no exaggeration! There’s like ten of those guys out there!”
Twilight sighed. “One day, we’re going to teach you the real meaning of exaggeration, Rainbow Dash.” She shook the last of the water out of her coat and stepped out of the chair towards the door. “Then let’s go. The town probably want me to go and find out what it is anyway, after being appointed chief problem solver.”
“Whoa, really?” Rainbow grunted in annoyance. “I’m not chief of anything. I bet it’s cool to be chief of something.”
“Well, I’ll tell you what it’s like on the way.” Twilight wrapped a thick coat around herself quickly. “What? It’s cold and I’m still freezing after that water you threw over me.”
“I wasn’t gonna ask anyway,” Rainbow said as she headed back over to the door quickly. “Now come on! We’ve got a problem to solve, chief problem solver!”
Twilight sighed again and followed her. “Spike!” She called over her shoulder. “I’m heading out to see Princess Luna! Can you mop up that massive puddle of water and tea by my desk, please?”
She heard Spike groan, probably still waking up, but she took that as a yes as she closed the door behind her.
-=-=-=-=-
Princess Luna had been searching for the source of the noises and lights for an hour now, but still no luck.
She had been watching over a troubled pony’s dreams when they’d heard a noise from beyond the dream world and woke up. She’d taken it as a sign that something was coming, because her thoughts on the sound were that it was not of Equestrian origin.
It sounded alien.
Naturally, she’d been the first one to rally a detachment of her guards to bring to Ponyville, but her sister was currently forming a group of the more familiar guards to bring along just to put the citizens’ minds at ease. They hadn’t come along just yet, so Luna assumed that her sister was giving her complete control over the situation, as she’d had essentially none over the wedding that had been only two days ago now.
“Princess, we’ve found what looks like could be their vessel,” said one of the guards as he stepped out of the shadows, like they usually did.
It still made Luna giggle just to think about that: a bat pony stepping out of the shadows and appearing or disappearing whenever they liked. It was sort of comical to her.
“Good. Take me to it, please,” she replied, stepping closer to him. “We might be able to find these aliens and approach them peacefully.”
“I hope so, majesty,” said her guard as he led her into the Everfree forest. “Not that I’m not prepared, but I think this alien species would kick our sorry behinds if we got into a war with them.”
These guards were always so informal, too. They’d been ordered by Celestia to be a little more formal, but they and Luna had all joked about it and laughed at her.
It was kind of a running gag, by now.
“What makes you say that?” she asked.
“Well, Cosmic found it first, and you know how much he loves his science, and he said that it looked like a self-powered carriage of some sort. We don’t even have that tech just yet, and this looks like it’s old and beat up. It’s gotta be a few years old, so what are their new things gonna be like?”
Luna was silent, thinking about it for a moment. She didn’t like the idea that it might turn out like one of those books about alien invaders, where ponykind was nearly wiped out and then saved at the last minute by some superhero of some sort. As amusing as it was to read them, the real thing would be terrifying and heart-breaking.
They marched on in silence, neither of them wanting to break it for some reason, until they finally reached the vessel.
Luna gasped. It had crashed into a tree, but it was still mostly in one piece. She would have to examine it in great detail or have one of her sister’s scientists take it apart so they could study it.
It was a black, metal construct that looked like it seated five with what could be assumed was the driver’s tools up at the front. It had wheels, so it must have been equipped for land travel. What looked like giant plastic bags of air were inflated in the front, and one of them had an unmistakeable stain of blood on it. There looked to be words written on the rear end of the ship, and Luna squinted at them to read them better.
She cocked her head to one side. What was a ‘Volvo’?
-=-=-=-=-
“I thought you said she was here?”
“She was here like two minutes ago!”
“Well she’s not here now!”
“Then she must’ve gone somewhere, but she can’t have gotten far!”
“Hear that?” whispered Twilight as she hid behind a fallen tree. “Sounds like someone’s gotten lost!”
“Betcha we could help out!” Rainbow replied quietly.
They’d headed into the Everfree forest after a guard at the edge had told them Luna had already gone inside. He’d told them that she hadn’t gone too far and that she was looking for something. He’d also said that this was official Princess business and that no other little pony should be interfering.
Then he’d said not to worry and just go in, being two of the Elements of Harmony and having a lot more sway over him than other ponies would.
“Where the hell has she gone?!” yelled one of the voices, unmistakably male.
“I don’t keep all her actions in a freaking book all the time!” yelled the other, also male, by the sounds of it.
“Jenny?! Jenny, where are you?!”
“Jennifer Gray, you get back here right this second!”
“Never heard a name like that before,” Rainbow muttered, peeking out over the tree. “Think we could help out?”
“You just said you bet we could help out, Rainbow,” Twilight giggled. She motioned with her head and hopped over the tree. “Come on. They’re probably worried sick about their friend.”
“Jesus Christ… First we get abducted by aliens, then we crash the car, and now Jenny’s gone missing!” The sound of a snapping branch could be heard. “Yeah, just my luck. That makes sense.”
“Jack, calm down,” said the other. “She’s probably just as scared as we are. She must’ve panicked. We’ll find her, though. Don’t worry.”
“Excuse me!” Twilight yelled through the trees. “Do you need any help? We heard you were looking for someone!”
“Yeah, we’ve had an accident!” one of them yelled back. “We left our friend here and now she’s gone missing! We’d really appreciate the help!”
“Twilight, if their friend is lost in the Everfree forest, then we’ll be lucky to find her!” Rainbow hissed.
“We can still try!” Twilight whispered in reply.
The two of them stepped through the trees and into a small clearing, where the two…
What?
“No,” said one of the strange looking creatures. “No, no, no.” It took a step back. “Ryan, you see those too, right?”
“I’ll handle this,” said the other one quietly, pushing the other back gently. “Uh… Hello! We come in peace! We’re looking for someone! Could you please help us?”
“Ryan, those things are from a goddamn TV show!” the other one hissed. “Jenny watched it all the time!”
“I know that, Jack,” said the one closest. “My niece watched it once or twice while I was there.”
“What the heck are you?!” yelled Rainbow Dash, snapping out of her slack jawed state at last. “Are you aliens?! Are you going to destroy Equestria?!”
“Rainbow Dash, quiet!” Twilight whispered, grabbing Rainbow Dash’s tail in a magical grip and pulling her back. “I can handle this! We might be the first to encounter an alien species on the planet! Do you really want to make them angry and start a war?”
“I can see both of our friends are a little bit… hot-headed,” said the one that had been called ‘Ryan’. “Do you think we could maybe negotiate a few things before it gets out of hand?”
“O-Of course!” Twilight replied with a forced smile. “We don’t want to… start anything bad!”
Ryan laughed weakly, but had the same forced smile that Twilight had. “Y-Yeah!” he stammered, stepping closer to her. “We don’t want any trouble. We don’t even know how we got here. Do you think you could help us get back home?”
Before Twilight could say anything else, there was a shrill scream that echoed throughout the forest.
“JENNY!!” roared the one called ‘Jack’, taking off at a sprint in the direction of the scream.
“Rainbow, go with him!” Twilight yelled as he vanished into the thicket.
Rainbow was after him in the blink of an eye. Twilight and Ryan stood and stared at each other before coming to the same conclusion and hurrying after them.
-=-=-=-=-
Luna had seen the manticore long before hearing the scream.
She’d seen some tracks leading away from the ‘Volvo’ machine, and had instinctively followed them. There were four sets of tracks, three of which belonged to something that didn’t look even remotely Equestrian. The other’s was definitely of Equestria, but something that would definitely not be good for a first meeting.
The manticore had been skulking through the forest quietly, clearly hunting something. She’d lost sight of it a few minutes ago, but the scream that pierced the silence told her enough.
She’d charged through the forest towards it and, lo and behold, it was pouncing upon some poor creature that looked terrified, regardless of where it came from.
In a heartbeat, she’d reacted to the danger.
Her horn ignited and loosed a spell at the beast, stunning it and sending it hurtling away. The creature hugged itself tightly and dropped to the ground, shaking like a leaf.
“State thy intentions,” Luna barked, her military side taking over. She shook her head and crept towards it slowly, hearing it sobbing and whimpering defencelessly. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to sound so harsh. Are you alright?”
“Y-You’re… P-Princess L-L-Luna,” it muttered in a squeaky voice. “A-Am I d-d-dead?”
“No, you’re absolutely fine,” Luna whispered sweetly. She reached out and touched it with a shaky hoof. Its heartbeat was about twice that of a normal pony’s, or it was just terrified. “In f-fact, you’re so very much alive that you need to calm down. Everything is g-going to be fine.”
She didn’t mean to stammer. It was her nerves getting the better of her. She may be the first to interact with an alien species, but if she made one wrong move, she may doom the entirety of Equestria.
“B-But… y-you’re not r-real,” it sobbed, gently taking her hoof and squeezing it warmly. “Why am I-I here if I’m n-not dead?”
Luna could feel a great deal of responsibility overcoming her. This poor thing needed help. The scientific or official questions could wait until later. Now was the time for care and attention.
“Come now,” she whispered soothingly. “We don’t have to worry about that. Dry those tears and let’s get you something to cheer you up, and I know just the pony for that.”
There was a rustling behind her and, before she could turn around, the sound of stomping steps approaching at an alarming rate could be heard.
“GET AWAY FROM MY SISTER!!” roared the one that leapt onto her back and put her into a chokehold suddenly.
The way he was holding her… It was like he wanted to kill her! She had to put a stop to this.
She did the only thing she could think of. She let out a shockwave of force, knocking him off her back. It also knocked the other one back and into a tree.
She gasped as she saw the blood on the sharp branch, no doubt from the cut it had caused as she brushed against it so forcefully.
She whimpered and clutched at it gently, collapsing to the ground. She began to sob again, blood dripping out onto the ground.
“No!” she exclaimed, reaching out to her. “I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to do that!”
“WHAT THE HELL HAVE YOU DONE TO HER?!!” the other bellowed, charging at her again.
“Jack?!” called a voice from beyond the trees. “Jack, what’s happening?! Did you find her?!”
“HELP ME!!” shouted ‘Jack’, ducking under a stunning spell from Luna’s horn. “THIS THING WANTS TO KILL HER!!”
“N-No!” Luna protested, holding a hoof up. “I was merely…!”
He tackled her to the ground and punched her hard across the face.
“Jack, don’t do anything stupid!” the voice yelled. “I’m coming now! Just keep her safe until I get there!”
This was going way too far.
“Guards!!” Luna screamed as she teleported out from under the creature. “I need assistance!!”
“Princess?!” yelled a voice that sounded like Twilight Sparkle’s. “What’s going on?! I’m on my way!”
The creature that was attacking her leapt up and kicked out at her, knocking her back. She charged up a stun spell as he stood up straight and charged at her again. He jumped up, ready to slam her head into the ground. She heard a rustling of leaves as she loosed the spell. It hit him straight in the face.
He fell to the ground, stunned. She heard a gasp from behind her, but before she could turn around, something else tackled her to the ground.
“JENNY, YOU HAVE TO RUN!!” her new attacker screamed. “GRAB JACK AND GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE!!”
The sobbing female whimpered in reply and merely curled up tighter.
Luna struggled in the creature’s grip, but did nothing.
“Ryan, let her go!” yelled Twilight, hurrying over to the two of them. “She didn’t mean to hurt him! It was self-defence!”
“Whatever you are, get the heck off of our Princess!” barked a guard as he entered the clearing.
She heard someone approaching very quickly.
“Jack, don’t!” ‘Ryan’ shouted.
She glanced up just in time to see a large stone held by the creature she’d stunned shooting towards her.
She screamed in fear, but could do nothing in time to prevent it.
It slammed into her skull and everything just seemed to stop.
Author's Note
This story was proofread by me.
The cover art sketched way too quickly to be any good by me too.
Chapter Two: Picking Sides
Twilight gasped as the guards beside her tackled both of the creatures away from Luna’s squirming body.
The rock had shattered her skull entirely, splattering blood all over the ground nearby. Her eyes had gone white and there was blood seeping out of her nose, ears, mouth and even eyes.
He had killed the Princess of the Night.
“WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!!” the guard who had tackled Jack to the ground bellowed.
He was slamming Jack against the ground over and over again. The way it looked, they were going to have two deaths to deal with at this rate.
“Leave…! Leave him a-alone!” Twilight yelled, dropping to her haunches as she sobbed. “He was just scared! He was protecting his sister!”
“By killing the Princess?!” the guard shouted furiously.
There was another rustle of leaves and Rainbow Dash was suddenly in the clearing with them.
“Twilight, I lost him!” she yelled. “Did you see where he…?!”
She went silent and her jaw dropped at the sight of Luna’s quivering corpse.
“Sh-She’s not…! She can’t be dead!” Twilight yelled frantically. “Princesses are… They’re immortal! I r-read about them!”
“Immortal doesn’t mean unkillable!” a guard shouted. “Somepony go and get us some reinforcements! We can’t take these things back to base by ourselves!”
“I’m on it,” Rainbow Dash said coldly and quietly.
She flapped her wings hard and flew up above the treetops before turning in the direction of Ponyville and flying away so fast that Twilight could swear she was going to perform the Sonic Rainboom again.
Twilight sobbed quietly as she watched her friend go and closed her eyes. She didn’t want to look at Luna again. It wasn’t how brutal her murder had been, it was just the idea of a Princess dying.
A pained whimper from Jack’s sister drew her back into the real world. One of the guards restraining Jack looked up at her and growled, stepping off of him and marching towards her.
“N-No!” Twilight yelled, running over to stand in front of her protectively. “She didn’t do anything! L-Leave her alone!”
“Whose side are you on?!” the guard yelled, glaring at her with nothing but hate.
That was a good question. Whose side was Twilight on?
Why did she suddenly feel an overwhelming sense of responsibility for these creatures she’d never even seen before today?! Was she going to just turn her back on her own species that she’d lived with for her whole life for these complete strangers? Was she just going to let these three be damned for all eternity because they were scared and made a mistake?
There were so many conflicts in her head right now, and she didn’t know how to resolve any of them herself.
But this one that presented itself to her right now, she knew the answer to.
“You saw that she did nothing!” she yelled, trying to sound as authoritative as she could. “Are you going to base your opinions of someone on what someone else has done?”
“Miss, I’m not taking any chances,” he growled, putting his hoof on her shoulder and pushing her gently to one side. “Now, stand aside!”
Jack roared – literally, roared – as he hurled the guard on his back across the clearing and hurtled towards his sister. He put his arms out in front of her and stood as Twilight had: protectively.
“You heard the lady,” he growled so fiercely that it made Twilight shudder. “My sister did nothing!”
“I th-think that tree was…” his sister sobbed as she sank lower to the ground. “It’s… It hurts.”
Twilight spun around to face her and moved to help, but Jack growled at her.
“You stay back too,” he spat.
His sister’s whimpers turned into pained moans, drawing his attention to her. After a second of heart-breaking sobs, moans and whimpers, he turned back to face her slowly.
“I can h-help her,” Twilight offered. “Please."
“Hurry up, then.”
He stepped to one side and she rushed forwards, examining the wound that had grown increasingly worse than what it looked like when she’d first seen it. It had some form of brown… moss, to use the best term, growing around it now, and the blood that was leaking out of the wound had turned a horrid shade of yellow now.
“Hello,” she said as sweetly as she could manage, looking her in the eye. “My name is Twilight Sparkle. What’s yours?”
“I’m… J-Jenny,” she replied, smiling weakly. “W-What happened to your wings?”
“Hi, Jenny,” Twilight whispered sweetly.
“You’re not usually like this, T-Twilight,” Jenny commented with a weak laugh. “When did… Ow… When did you become a nurse?”
Twilight looked back at Jack and gave him a confused look. He shook his head and pointed at his sister forcefully.
“You’re from a TV show back where… we come from,” Jenny gasped, her wounded arm twitching. “It’s weird th-that we’d end up here, o-of all places.”
“Could I just… leave you here for a second, Jenny?” Twilight said warmly, moving away from her slowly.
“No, you don’t,” Jack snarled, grabbing her by the leg. The guard took a step towards him instinctively, but Twilight held up a hoof to stop him. “Not until you’ve helped her.”
“I need to talk to you,” she whispered, glancing back at Jenny. “Can we talk in private?”
“No chance, Miss,” a guard barked, glaring at Jack. “Not with these two. If it’s bad news, just say it and get it over with.”
“You are aware that she did nothing, right?!” Ryan yelled, making a noise for the first time in a while. “How can you be so heartless towards an innocent person?!”
“J-Just… tell me what’s wrong,” Jenny muttered, her veins pulsing through the skin with dark green light. “I’ve had bad news all my life. W-Why should it stop now?”
Twilight sighed and closed her eyes. “You may have a very rare infection that… really hurts,” she said calmly. “I can’t confirm it without some scientific equipment, but…”
“Is th-that just a nice way of saying it kills you?” Jenny laughed weakly.
“N-No! You’ll be…!”
“Can you stop it?” Jack snapped.
“If I had the right materials, I could try… But first I need to clean the wound before it gets too infected to cure. I need something sterile.”
“There’s a first aid kit back in the car,” Ryan stated.
“What’s a car?” Twilight asked, tilting her head in confusion.
“I’ll take you there,” he said, pushing himself up.
His guard shoved him back down to the ground quickly. “You’re going nowhere with her, murderer,” he spat, leaning in close to Ryan’s ear. “You just want to kill again, don’t you?" He growled in a low tone, "You disgust me.”
“For crying out loud, come with us then!” Ryan yelled angrily. “You want to let another innocent person die? Who’s the real monster here?!”
Twilight had been pushing that to the back of her mind, focusing on anything else to stop her from losing her collected calm. She felt more tears streaming down her cheeks as she looked over at Luna’s body again.
“Get up then,” the guard muttered, jumping off of Ryan’s back and hoisting him upright. “You try anything, and I’m authorised to use lethal force.”
“No, you’re not,” Ryan countered. “If you’ve been authorised, you’d have done it by now.”
“Yeah, well, I’ll use it anyway. The only witness we’ll have is a traumatised pony who the killer was going for.”
“Come on, Twilight,” Ryan growled, staring right into the eyes of the angry guard staring right back. “We’d better get that kit.”
Twilight tore her eyes off of Luna’s body and hurried after them. When they were out of sight and earshot of the others, Ryan sighed and wiped his eyes with the sleeve of his jacket.
“What’s wrong?” Twilight asked quietly, glancing at the guard marching beside them anxiously.
“It’s nothing,” Ryan replied hastily, implying quite the contrary. “It was just… We were on our way to the hospital before we got here. Jenny’s got… some sort of disease that hasn’t ever been seen before, or at least recorded.”
“W-What is it, exactly?”
“She has something that eats, quite literally, her blood cells and changes them into something… something that isn’t good for humans.”
“Is that what your species is called? Humans?”
“Yeah.” He sighed and rubbed his eyes again. “She was going to be operated on today. They said they were going to try and cure it. They even had the best doctors from all over the world come in to work on it.”
“I-I’m sorry,” Twilight whispered, seeing a single tear fall to the ground from Ryan’s cheek out of the corner of her eye.
“We’re here,” their escort barked, pushing through the brush to reveal the strangest contraption Twilight had ever seen. “Hurry up and grab your stuff.”
“Aye, sir,” Ryan replied calmly, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a set of keys with some strange oddments on the ring that kept them together.
He pressed a button on one of the keys and there was a clicking sound and a flash of lights from the contraption, startling Twilight, her escort, and the two left watching the thing.
“What was that?” Twilight asked.
“I unlocked it,” Ryan explained, grabbing what had to be the rear of the machine and lifting a large door open. “I’m guessing you guys have never seen a real car before.”
“Just hurry up and grab that kit,” the escort barked. “I’m gonna have a word with my associates.”
He marched over to his fellow guards and whispered something to them. The only words Twilight heard were ‘watch him’, but his speech went on a lot longer than a little warning should have. Ryan rooted around in the back of the car, ignoring them all. Twilight wandered a little closer, only earning a stern glare from her escort, but she ignored it.
“I-Is there anything I can do to help?” she asked, peering into the back of the car. “I mean… I really do want to take this thing apart and see how it works, but I don’t think that should be my priority right now.”
“Curiosity killed the cat, Twilight,” Ryan joked. “But, yeah. You’re welcome to.”
She smiled and leaned in to help, but was surprised to see that what they were looking for was right in front of them; a green satchel with a white cross and the words ‘first aid kit’ printed onto the front.
“Keep searching,” Ryan whispered, rummaging through a few books and some boxes. “The part of this show that my niece watched said that the Princess we met had a sister. What are the odds she’s going to be furious that her sister is now… no longer with us?”
“U-Uh…” Twilight stammered quietly, glancing around anxiously. “She’s p-probably going to… issue a death sentence to all of you.”
“I wouldn’t have thought a land of friendship magic even had a death sentence.”
“I-It’s more of a d-deterrent. Th-The law says that any act of treason this high is punishable b-by death. Th-That’s why it’s never happened b-before.”
“Hm.” He grabbed the first aid kit and smirked humourlessly. “And she’s the Princess?” Twilight nodded. “Is it friendship or dictatorship then?” He stood up and held the kit above his head, showing the guards that he had what he was looking for. “Here we go!” he exclaimed. “Thank you very much, Twilight. I wouldn’t have found it without your help.”
Twilight remained still for a moment before moving out of the car, allowing Ryan to slam the door into the back of the car shut. He pressed another button on his key and the car clicked and flashed lights again.
“Now come on,” the escort barked at him.
“Yes, sir, right away, sir,” Ryan responded with a tiny smirk and a sort of mocking salute.
He led the way back to the others and Twilight hurried to stand by his side. “Y-You said ‘cure it’,” she said quietly, continuing their previous discussion. “D-Does that mean… It’s going to be very bad for her?”
“I should’ve given the exact details,” Ryan said calmly. “They said if they didn’t operate on her today, she’d have less than a week left.”
“W-Why did they leave it so late?” Twilight asked. “Sh-Shouldn’t they have… d-done something s-sooner?”
“I thought so too, but they didn’t think it was that dangerous until this morning. They gave us a call and said they were sending an ambulance, but it was stuck in traffic. I drove her to the hospital myself. I’ve never broken so many traffic laws at once in my life, not even in Grand Theft Auto.”
Twilight stayed quiet and looked down, her heart breaking another time. When they stepped into the clearing, her heart broke once more at the sight of two guards crafting a makeshift stretcher for Luna’s body.
Luna.
These humans had…
She finally comprehended what had happened.
“W-Why…?” she sobbed, feeling more tears stream down her face. “Why am I…?” She collapsed and sobbed. Ryan turned back to face her and hurried to help her up, but a guard stepped between them. “Why did she… have to d-die?”
“Hey, purple pony!” Jack yelled. “This thing is getting worse! Get over here!”
But Twilight merely sobbed, letting her tears drop to the ground.
Why did Luna have to die?! She didn’t deserve it! That monster had murdered her in cold blood! He knew she was vulnerable and yet he did it anyway! Why was she helping them?!
And then Jenny screamed.
No.
She had to help her. Jenny had done nothing wrong except being in the wrong place at the wrong time. She was already dying. The least Twilight could do was ease her suffering.
“Oh god, it hurts!!” Jenny screamed, thrashing as Jack held her down.
Twilight stood up with a teary-eyed snarl and marched towards Jenny with a fiery determination in her eyes. She snatched the first aid kit out of Ryan’s grip with her magic and ripped it open. She quickly scanned over the contents before grabbing some antiseptic gel.
“Hold her, please,” she growled emotionlessly. “Jenny, I’m sorry, but this is going to hurt. If this is anything like our antiseptic material, it’ll get rid of the infective part of the infection. We’ll need to get you to a hospital to treat it properly.”
“It already hurts!” Jenny sobbed.
“Jenny, look at me,” Jack said, turning her face towards him with a finger on her chin. “You’re going to be fine. We’ll sort this out. Don’t worry.”
“Twilight,” Ryan whispered, nodding his head at Jenny.
Twilight got the message and moved forwards quietly. Jack glanced at her, and Jenny would have too had he not stopped her.
“Come on, Jen,” he whispered. “You can do this. Just keep looking at me. It’s gonna be fine.”
Twilight rubbed some of the cream onto the wound, making Jenny scream again. Jack closed his eyes as they welled up with tears and restricted Jenny’s squirming, at least of her wounded arm, to ineffective wriggles.
“It’s okay, Jenny,” Twilight whispered soothingly, rubbing more antiseptic gel into the wound. She breathed a sigh of relief as she watched the moss dissolve into nothingness. "There, see? It’s going.”
“Twilight Sparkle,” said a voice behind her that was very familiar. “You will leave the creature to face judgement for its crimes.”
“Oh, Christ,” Ryan whispered incredulously.
Every nerve of Twilight’s being was screaming at her to obey, but she hadn’t finished her work yet.
“I’m s-sorry, Princess C-Celestia,” she breathed, her fear rising. “I-I can’t r-right n-now.”
She took out some gauze from the first aid kit and unravelled it, ready to wrap around the wound.
“I’m afraid you don’t have a choice, Twilight Sparkle,” Princess Celestia replied, calmly and furiously at the same time. “Now step away.”
“Back off,” Jack growled, pointing at her accusingly. “She did nothing. In fact, that one over there did more damage to her.”
“Why, you insolent, little…!” Celestia snarled, dragging Jack away by the collar with a fiery magic. “You honestly think that my sister would dare harm an innocent creature without provocation?!”
Celestia had never been this angry before. In her whole reign over Equestria, she had never once used her magic on someone so aggressively without needing to defend herself or others.
Twilight shook with fear as she finished wrapping the wound. When she’d tied it up carefully, she turned to face the punishment she deserved for betraying her Princess and mentor by saving the innocent.
She was in tears. Celestia looked as though she was crying herself dry. Her eyes were bloodshot, she was panting breathlessly and her horn was glowing with fire.
Actual fire.
Twilight had never even read about this kind of magic before. Yes, Princess Celestia was the Princess of the Sun, but she’d never utilised that power so much until now.
Understandably, of course.
“Twilight Sparkle, you will tell me exactly what happened here,” she breathed severely. “What are these monsters? Why did they come here?! What gives them the right to EXECUTE MY SISTER?!!”
“Princess, I’m so sorry,” Twilight wept. “They were… defending themselves. I was j-just… helping the one that… Princess L-Luna...”
“YOU THINK LUNA WOULD DO THAT?!!” Celestia screamed, stomping a hoof so hard that the earth beneath it cracked. “SHE DID NOTHING!! NOTHING THAT WOULD WARRANT SUCH A CRUEL DEMISE!!”
“L-Listen, Princess,” Ryan stammered, stepping back from her. She turned to face him with tears gushing from her fiery eyes. “W-We… We don’t know how we got here. W-We’re… as confused as you are. More than that, we’re scared.”
“AND SO YOU SHOULD BE!!” she screamed, slamming Jack into the ground powerfully. “NOT OFTEN IS IT THAT WE ARE THIS FURIOUS!!”
“Princess, it w-was an accident!” Twilight cried, shrinking before the Sun Princess’ gaze as it turned on her once more. “O-One thing led t-to another! S-She was trying to stop it all a-and… they w-were defending themselves!”
“FROM WHAT, PRAY TELL?!! IF THIS WAS AN ACCIDENT, WHAT WAS IT THAT BEGAN THIS ENTIRE ORDEAL?!!”
“A-All I heard was Jack screaming and then Luna calling for g-guards.”
“SO IT IS YOUR FAULT!!” Celestia bellowed as she rounded on Jack again, who was recovering from his heavy impact with the ground. “YOU ARE THE CAUSE OF ALL THIS!!”
“H-He was just trying to… protect me, P-Princess,” Jenny whimpered. “He was… s-scared.”
“We saw this one pinning Princess Luna,” a guard snapped, motioning his head at Ryan. “Then the other one came at her and…”
“B-But… we got here when she hit Jack with a stunning spell!” Twilight yelled frantically. “When Ryan tackled her, he told Jenny to grab Jack and run!”
“YOU SEEM TO BE ON A FIRST NAME BASIS WITH THESE ANIMALS, TWILIGHT SPARKLE!!” Celestia roared, glaring at Twilight again. “DID YOU HAVE SOMETHING TO DO WITH THIS?!!”
“No, ma’am, she did not,” the escort guard put in. “The only ones in on this act were these… ‘humans’.”
“Look, Jack was terrified,” Ryan said calmly, stepping closer to Celestia. “While his actions were a bit extreme, he was only protecting his sister. Don’t tell me you wouldn’t do the same if you thought someone was trying to hurt your sister.”
Celestia seethed in silence for a few moments before dropping onto her haunches and sobbing. Her flaming aura faded away as Twilight approached and hugged her warmly. A minute passed before Jack was back on his feet and tending to Jenny again. Ryan glanced between the two pairs and hurried over to the siblings.
“L-Listen, I don’t mean to offend, but she’s going cold,” he said after checking Jenny’s temperature. “We need to get her to a hospital.”
“Show some damn respect!” a guard barked angrily.
“N-No,” Celestia said sternly as she wiped her tears and pushed Twilight away gently. “I… I am not… c-cruel. W-We should… t-take her to a hospital.”
The guards glanced at each other anxiously.
“Thank you, Princess,” Ryan thanked, bowing lightly.
She glared at him fiercely. “Do not think this removes your punishment, human,” she spat, the last word containing more hate than Twilight had ever heard from Celestia.
“I know that,” Ryan replied, leaning down to help Jack carry Jenny away. “But can we please get this sorted out first?”
“Guards,” Celestia said sternly, not looking away from Ryan. “A detachment of the Royal Guard is on its way. You will take my sister to the palace and have a doctor… repair her image. I will not bury her like that.”
“Yes, ma’am!” the guards barked collectively, saluting as one.
“Uh, if you’re going to leave, wouldn’t it be better to take a guard with you?” asked one of them.
“If they so much as look at me the wrong way, I shall rip them all to shreds,” Celestia said so coldly and calmly that it made Twilight shudder.
She watched Celestia march away, not even faltering in her step as she led the humans out of the Everfree forest. It was obvious that she was going to exact harsh vengeance upon these poor humans, but was that truly the right thing to do? Was it right to slaughter a group of terrified creatures for trying to protect themselves?
Twilight just didn’t know whose side she was on anymore.
