Ancient evils

Chapter 24: Manehattan

Star and Topaz continued down the road, looking for some sort of friendly faces. They were in the wrong spot for that. The growth around them completely stopped. The dirt was barren,and it almost looked as if the dirt couldn't even survive here, as it took on a very strange texture that crushed plant roots. This has to be part of Sin's corruption. They reached Manehattan, and, to their surprise, ponies were all around them. The city was in ruins, effectively just stacked up rubble shaped vaguely like houses, but no one left. Not to mention the gigantic crack in the earth running through the town, leading into a deep pit below. Except for the pegasi, they all had to be extremely careful just to walk through town, lest they be devoured by the caves. Considering neither of them were pegasi, they made their way very slowly across the sides of the road. The ponies looked very happy,as if nothing had happened. This was somehow more disturbing, it seemed as if this was how they had always lived. Topaz had been to Manehattan a few years back, and it wasn't ruins, but the people act like its their home. Topaz decided to talk to them to see what was going on. He saw a yellow mare walk by, and walked up to her.

"Excuse me, but did you know your town is a hunk of rubble?" he said. "All the plants are dead, where are you getting food from?"

The mare looked at him nervously, and just continued on like she hadn't heard a thing. A large red stallion was heading down the road, so Star decided to talk to him. As she approached, she realized he had started to look very familiar.

"Macintosh!" she yelled, chasing him down.

The stallion heard her, and bolted away. She gave chase, and Topaz followed after seeing her run off. The stallion ran into a dark alleyway, and star followed. A large pile of bricks blocked his path, and he nervously waited.

"Macintosh! Don't you remember me?" Star asked. "I was one of the fillies that hid out with you during the occupation. You saved our lives back there, I won't forget it. Now why are you running from me!"

The stallion let out a loud whistle, and flashed green. He was a changeling! Star and Topaz were right where he wanted them. More ponies started to pour in, each of them a changing as well. They were heavily outnumbered, and didn't stand much of a chance. They might be able to hold them off if they fought defensively, but Star was in no mood for that. She charged right into the sea of changelings. She took out one,and charged at another, but it was no use, they swarmed her and grabbed her. They began to carry her away, kicking and screaming. Topaz wasn't much of a fighter, but he was quite good at magic. He blasted spells at them, but was quickly overwhelmed as well. There were just too many. They were carried down into the caves beneath the city, chained up and taken to a dungeon. A young filly was chained nearby, not yet cutie marked. She eyed Topaz's scroll cutie mark enviously. She was yellow, with red hair and a bow. Star remembered her from back when they hid out with Macintosh. But not well enough she felt like talking to her, she didn't need some little filly sobbing all over the place to make her stay any more pleasant. she had bigger plans. She gestured to Topaz, who remembered what to do. They had been in dungeons before, and this one didn't look too hard to escape from. He magically levitated one of the bobby pins she hid in her hood out, and started to pick the door. He made sure to make it quiet enough so no changelings outside would hear it, yet loud enough the jailer would notice. He got the door open, and the jailer went to investigate. Star slipped behind him, and Topaz simply waited. The jailer grabbed him and slammed him against the wall, and then fell over, releasing his grip. Star flashed a grin, holding his keys in her teeth. She had knocked him out with a kick to the back of the head. She started unlocking cages, and gathered all the prisoners together. She unbound the filly, but gestured to her to stay in her cage, as she's much to young to fight changelings.

They all grouped together, and prepared for the upcoming battle.