Legend of The Six: The Beginningby The Pinkie PieChaptersIntroductionCollege CruiseThe MeltdownA Black SacrificeOnward To Green OakNo Turning BackA Legend ReturnsIntroductionIts the year 4326, our galaxy is wrapped within an bloody intergalactic war between the Night March, an nation full of cruel night ponies and type A changelings who stand for power and who wishes to control the whole universe. And the Harmonial Alliance, multiple civilizations who work together for the good of us all. This all started in 2750, when the night ponies and changelings decided to work together to gain power and enough strength to attack the other nations on Old Earth. Back then it was the home planet to most of the nations, filled with the wonders and history of Old Equestria and the lessons the The Six had brought us now more then 2000 years ago. Sadly, not everypony took their words for gold... The Night March started to use horrible weapons on the planet in the year 2762. Ozone Drills, making the planet lose the needed oxygen for plants and creatures to survive. And Core Melters, making the core overheating resulting it to expand and roast the planet. When those two nukes fell and exploded. One in the air and one within the planets core, everything began to die, slowly. It took 3 days before it got to an critical level where everything that was left burned alive or drop dead from the lack of oxygen. Luckily, most of the inhibitors got evacuated in time. Sadly, not everypony had the same luck... For 33% of the planet's population help didn't arrive in time... Forced away from their own home planet the nations had to find new ground to stand on. The zebras and saddle arabians decided to go for their own, hoping they could become a neutral party to step out of the war and remain out of conflict under the name: U.I.T.A, the United Independent Trading Alliance. The remaining and weakened nations of the Harmonial Alliance recolonized on a planet not that different from Old Earth. In memorial of Old Earth and The Six they called their new home planet: Harmony. As years went by and ages went on all the nations claimed more planets and space, making the war even more complicated. Now a period in time has come that the Night March and the Harmonial Alliance didn't attack one another in 20 years of what supposed to be an temporary peace trade for 1 month. Finally a full generation could grow up within peace and harmony without having to constantly live in fear. And hopefully, many after that. The galaxy is finally at peace, but for how long?... Author's Note I decided to set my work on FIMfiction. I hope you all enjoy! ;) What you see here and the nest upcoming 3 chapters come from my Wattpad account. It all belongs to me and I didn't copy anything from anybody else. I wanted to make that clear before anybody would judge me for stealing. When ever I upload a chapter on Wattpad it will also be uploaded to FIMfiction that same moment. So no worries, you will be able you enjoy the full story here if you wish. Link: https://www.wattpad.com/story/63300735-legend-of-the-six-the-beginning Thank you for reading! Now, go! BE FREE! \o/ College Cruise"As time goes on, and the memories of the ancient world fade into darkness. An new era dawns." - Professor Brainpower. ***Chapter 1: College Cruise*** Its 09:00 in the morning as ISA our very own Intelligent Self-Controlled Assistant wakes me up with the radio just as I told her to do. "Good morning Friendship City! Wakey wakey, its 9:00 on a sunny day in our beautiful capital of Equestria! You're listening to Radio Galaxy FC. I'm Update and next to me, Live Hearts." "Thank you for introducing me, Update. There is allot going on today in Friendship City. The grand opening of the Old Earth Museum is happening today on Celestial Main Street at 12:00 afternoon exactly, be sure to be there. They'll be showing Old Earth exhibits like antique furniture and the first version of the mobile phone device. I know what I'll be doing after work." "Sounds very interesting, Hearts. Also, FC College has a two week space cruise planned for all their students after the exams last week. They'll be on a five stars Space Cruiser with all the activities you can imagine. Hoofball, sauna, disco. Heck, it even has its own swimming pool! I must say, these kids really deserve it. I've bin in their position, brain melting." "Wow, I wish I could be on board my self." "Same here, Hearts. To be honest, I'm a bit jealous. Why can't I get a fancy trip on cost of this studio? I want to speak my manager, immediately." "Update, you do realize we do not have a manager, right?" "Ow, well. At least I've got an beautiful face! That is something nopony can take away from me. Right, Hearts?" "Mah, I've seen better." "... Well... Uhh... We'll be right back after these messages..." I stand up and go to wash myself. On my way to the shower ISA starts to talk to me. As usual a screen moves down from the sealing following me. On the screen is a line that moves as ISA talks. "Good morning Ms. Stella. My sensors confirm you slept well last night. Are you ready for your cruise?" She asked with a friendly robotic female voice. "Morning ISA. Yes, I'm more then ready for the cruise. Two weeks on a vacation with my fellow students and friends. It will be awesome! And yes, I had an good sleep. Thanks for asking." I said to her polite as I keep walking. Its strange to have a conversation like this with a robot. But robot or not, they deserve respect. "That's wonderful! Anything I can do to make it easier for you, Ms. Stella?" Asks ISA. "Well... If you would prepare some breakfast for me it would spare me allot of time." I said as I enter the bathroom and lock the door behind me. ISA responds from behind the door. "On my way Ms. Stella. Don't forget to say your parents goodbye when you leave. I'm sure they would like that." "I will ISA, don't worry." I take an nice warm shower. I look in the mirror and see myself. Purple coat, cyan mane and tail, pink eyes. And of course a few freckles on my cheeks. After that, I dry my self up, brush my teeth, jump into my uniform, take my LEC Device which stands for: Life, Entertainment, Care. Put it in my pocket and went downstairs. By Celestia, I love my LEC Device! It makes everything so easy. Watch a movie, play a game, call somepony, weather, news, check my own health, I can even pay with it. And that all for a flat small rectangle. Its kinda like those old mobile phones I read about in books, but way more advanced. Its nothing special. Almost everypony has one. I arrive in the living room. I saw my pegasus mother, but I didn't see my father who is also a pegasus. "Morning pa, morning ma." I said. "Morning sweetheart. Ready for your trip?" Asks my mother. "I sure am! I'm so exited. I already packed my stuff and loaded it on my hovermoter." "Alright, good. Just be sure to leave in time." Responds my mother. "No problem. I'm gonna go check on dad. He didn't respond to my hi yet." I walked to the holovision room, my father is there most of the times. Logical, he works as a shipper so when he's home he needs some relaxation. I enter. The news was on. "In other news: The tension between the Harmonial Alliance and the Night March has risen once again. After 20 years of silent peace the treat of war has climbed to high levels once again. Emperor Mendax has announced that their troops are ready for battle. The Harnonial Alliance takes the warnings seriously and brought the military to the highest state of alertness." My father seems worried, and so am I now that I know this. Anyway, I came to say hi, so. "Uhh, dad?..." He turns hid head, once he noticed me he quickly turns the holovision off. "Ow, uhh... Hi. How is my little girl?" I rolled my eyes. Not in an angry or irritated way. I know he's just teasing me. "I'm not a little girl anymore dad. I'm 20." He laughs a bit. "To me, you will always be my little girl." I giggle. "Sure I am. Hey, what was that all about on the holovisin?" My father rubs his neck. "Ow, nothing to worry about... Come on, lets have our last breakfast together for the upcoming two weeks." We go to the dining table where my mother is waiting. ISA is making breakfast with her controllable robot body in the form of an earth pony. This model has a bonus, it has a movable mouth. Smells good, she's making pancakes. She knows I love those. Most be because I will be gone for two weeks. Its cool that for a robot she is actually good at reading emotions and stuff. Guess that is just how she's programmed. "There you are. Come, sit down. ISA's pancakes are almost done." Said my mother as she yawns a bit. Me and my father sat down. "Are you sleepy?" I asks to my mother. "There was something on the holovision yesterday night that I just had to see." Responds my mother. ISA walks to the table with the robot and sets the pancakes on the table. "Here you go. You all enjoy, I'll start cleaning the house." She said and goes to work. My father stares after ISA's robot body. "Am I the only one who finds it a bit creepy that ISA always stays so friendly even when you insult her?" He asks whispering. I took it up for ISA. "He, be nice to her. She dose almost all the shores for us." "Its just a machine, watch." My father turned to ISA. "ISA, I touched your moms hard drive. She was bagging me to press her buttons over and over again." ISA turns around and responds: "Thank you sir. Now tell me, was that before of after I found a site called igw.milkmares.eq in your browse history?" She asks with a warming voice. Me and my mother spit out a peace of pancake and are laughing our flanks off. My father is amazed and had his mouth wide open. ISA walks to him and offers him a drink. "Coffee, Mr. Glide?" She asks. My father accepts it and ISA went back. "I'll be honest. I didn't expect that one... These robots keep getting more advanced after every upgrade." "You shouldn't have insulted her." Said my mother giggling. I laugh a bit more. "I told you to be nice to her." Now my father had to laugh two. "Alright. I deserved it. So Stella, have any things in mind your going to do on that fancy cruise?" "Well. I heard they have some spaceship simulators on board. I will totally try that out. I just can't wait until I can FINALLY begin my education for becoming a pilot. The speed, the moves, the amazing looking spaceships! Thinking about it makes my heart beat faster. Now that I finally finished this year of college I can start next year on the military academy in New Canterlot." "I know Stella, but don't forget the stallions at the cruise." Said my mother. My father quickly speaks before I could respond. "No stallions!" "Ow, come on Glide. She can just talk to them right? You where young once two, remember that time?" My mother asks to him. My father crosses his front hooves. "Fine... But only talk! Do not wave your flank around..." "No worries about that, I'll behave. Its not that I'm some sort of MILKMARE." I laugh when I said that, and my mother two. My father facehooves. "I'm gonna hear this for a looong time..." he said. "Your welcome Mr. Glide." Adds ISA with a friendly tune in her robotic voice. I look at my LEC Device for the time and I jump up. "Ow, fudge!" From all the laughing I lost track of time. "I'm gonna be late!" I said as I hug my parents. "Bye mom, bye dad. I'll miss both of you!" "We will two sweetheart." Said my mother. "Just be careful, alright?" Adds my father. "I will, Pinkie Swear! Bye ISA." "Goodbye Ms. Stella. Have fun!" I quickly took an pancake in my mouth, ran outside and jump on my hovermotor and start the solar engine. I head towards the dock where the cruise is located on the west side of the city. On my way I realize how silly it looks to have a pancake sticking out of your mouth flapping in the wind on a hovermotor. I try to bite a of a small piece, and it worked. What I didn't overlook is that pancake slips away from me and lands right in the face of an unsuspecting earth pony male with an SLAP! I looked back at him and yelled: "Sorry!" Normally I would stop, but I'm kinda short in time... Note to my self: Pancakes and hovermotors do not mix. I'm totally speeding right now, but I don't care. I must be in time for the cruise. let's just hope watchbots wont catch me while doing it. After hovering for 10 minutes I finally arrive at the dock. And boy, I don't believe what I see. A spaceship two times as big as my school. That is the cruise I'll be on in a few moments. I park my hovermotor, make sure it could not move anymore, take my stuff and walk to the entrance of the space cruiser. There is a Pegasus male asking your name and checking a list. I went in line. Strange, I was expecting a bigger line. Must be because I'm a bit later. I really hope that not all the good rooms are taken yet. Finally it is my turn. "Name?" He asks. "Stella Sparks." I respond. "Yep, your on the list. Go on right in Ms. Sparks. You are assigned to room B103, you can pick up your code for your room at the help deck. Its not a big room, but hey, it has a holovision." "Thank you." I move on, and enter the cruise. There are allot of students on the main deck. ponies, griffins, crystal ponies, some buffalo, yaks, type B changelings and a very few naturians. I gotta find my friends, but first I take that room. I think that the help desk might be located in the main lobby. One way to find out. I followed a sign that tells me to take the floatpad in a glass tube down that was located on the deck. I press button with the word lobby on it. As I go down I see the lobby. It looks so modern and big. The help desk is in the center of the lobby. I arrive at the lobby floor. The door opens. I step off the floatpad and go to the desk. "Hello. My name is Stella Sparks. I'm assigned to room B103 if I'm correct?" There is a unicorn mare behind the desk, she looks into her computer. "Ah, yes. Ms. Sparks. I'll send you the code to your LEC." She sends the code, and I heard a beep confirming that I received it. "Your room is on the second floor on the left side in sector B. Have fun and enjoy your stay." She gives a warm smile. I smile certified. "Thank you." I said and once again enter the floatpad. I go to the second floor and turned left into sector B. It takes a while, but I found my room. I walk to the door, use my LEC to make contact with the door, open it and walk into the room. I'll be staying for the upcoming two weeks. Ow! It smells like roses in here. I like the decorations, And by Luna. like the stallion said. A holovision! A big one. Score! I start to unpack my stuff. Luckily I'm not that type of mare that packs to many things she doesn't need. Only the items I truly need. After 10 minutes I'm ready to go, now I have to find my friends. The cruise shakes a bit, it takes off. I hear students cheer. I take my LEC Device and start calling Fauna and Flora, my best friends. They're both earth pony, yellow coat, orange mane, tail and eyes. The only difference is that Flora has glasses. Fauna picked up. "Hello, Fauna here. Sub?" "Hey Fauna! With me, Stella. I'm on board of the cruise. Where are you?" Fauna gasps. "Finally! I was wondering if you still would show up. I'm at the cafe with my sis Flora. Be fast, before we get drunk and wander off!" I'm silent for a moment. "... Uhh... Why would you get drunk?" "Because reasons. Are you coming?" "Okay. But just don't overdo the booze." I said calm. "Ow, alright. We will drink with caution." "See you soon." I hang up. Then I walk out of my room, lock the door, scan my eye into the door pad's system and I'm ready to go. A male robotic voice sounds from the door pad. "Door locked. If you wish to enter your room again, please connect your LEC Device BEFORE scanning your eye. Otherwise the door wont open. This is because of our bubble lock system. Or you can disable the dubbel lock simply by asking me so you only have to scan your eye on entering." "Alright. Thanks for the heads up." I said. The door gives a responds. "Your welcome Ms. Sparks." I follow the signs to the cafe, and arrive. There I see them. The twin sisters Fauna and Flora. I wave at then. Flora waves calm back while Fauna yells. "HEY! WE'RE OVER HERE!" The hole cafe looks at her, I need to giggle. Typical Fauna. I walk to them and sat down on the round table they where sitting at. "Hey girls! Enjoying your self's?" I ask. Fauna slides a glass of apple cider towards me. "The heck we are! And we will even more once we enter the disco. Woooo! FC College, yeah!" Fauna is always full of energy. I truly wonder how she keeps it up like that. Flora on the other hoof is very calm. "So, Flora. Your also enjoying it?" Flora shrugs. "I think so." Fauna turns to Flora. "Pfff, please. I tried to set you up with an stallion one hour ago but you didn't even hit on him." "But Fauna. He wasn't even my type." Responds Flora "So? You don't have to stay with him. Ever heard of one night stand?" Said Fauna as she watches an stallion walks by. "I don't believe in one night stands." Said Flora. "Have it your way. I'm not the one who ends up with a desert at her back side." Said Fauna bitchy. Flora rolled her eyes. I try to keep this a pleasant day. "Girls, lets just enjoy this, alright? We're on vacation! Just relaxing on this 5 stars cruise while staring at the stars. This is something that only happens once in a lifetime." "Your right. Sorry Flora, It wasn't nice of me to say that." Flora smiles softly. "Already forgiven." "Hey, lets go to the disco. I wanna party hard!" Offers Fauna. I nod. "That's fine by me. Are you ready Flora?" Flora looks insecure. "Uhh... Okay. But don't leave me alone even for one minute. I feel insecure around many ponies." I look at her. "No worry, Flora. Fauna and me will stick onto you like glue." "Lets go then. PARTY HARD!!!" Said Fauna loud. She pays the bill of 7 Credits with her LEC and we go to the disco. We are at the disco. We've bin here for a while, but it doesn't get boring. It most be getting night by now. The music they play is just awesome! "Isn't this music sick or not!?" Said Fauna while twerking. I nodded. "Yeah, its cool and.... Umm, Fauna. I believe your dragging attention." I see three stallions staring at her ass. Fauna looks behind her and sees the stallions. "Ow, I know. I just don't mind." She Smacks her own flank. The three stallions look very dreamy. Flora facehooves. "Here we go again..." She said. I don't know why, but at the moment Fauna slaps her own flank for those stallions I start to blush. I shake my head. "Well. You sure like to use your body, do you?" Fauna nods. "Yep! Speaking of my body, it needs a drink. I'll be right back. Fauna's body, out!" She goes to get a drink. Flora and I keep on dancing in a less seductive way as Fauna did. Then I hear somepony asking my attention. "Excuse me, could you help me?" I turn around. It is a cute earth pony stallion. "Sure, what up?" "Do you happen to know where the library is?" He seems very polite. "I do. Go to the third floor on the right side. From there, just follow the signs." "Thank you. Nice dance moves by the way." He walks off. Heh, he liked my dancing. He is handsome. I turn back to Flora, only to discover that one of the three stallions is harassing her. "Come on babe, I know you can't resist me." Flora looks away. "I already said no... Now please, leave me alone." The Pegasus stallion does not stop. "Come on babe, don't play hard to get on me. Just give me a taste of your body." "N-no... Go away!" Flora is clearly not interested, but the stallion keeps going, getting more intimidating. "Come on, you'll like it." He takes her hoof and starts pulling her away. "No, wait!" Flora tries to get free. I run to him and pull Flora loose. I am furious. "She said no you creep. Now go away before I rip your dick off with my freaking magic and report your behavior to the watchbots!" The stallion doesn't look to happy but my response scares him off. He left the disco. I check if Flora was okay, I feel very guilty. "Are you alight? I'm sorry. I turned away from you. Did he touch you somewhere?!" Flora looks down. "This is why I rather avoid places like this... He touched my behind so I looked back. Then he started to talk to me in that horrible way..." "Okay, we're getting out of here. This is clearly not the best place for you." Fauna returns. "I'm back." She saw that Flora looked sad. her face went serious. "What happened?" "An creep was harassing Flora. We're going to her room for the rest of the evening. Your free to join us." Fauna nods. "I'm coming with you. But what did that stallion do, Flora?" Flora sighs. "It was one of the stallions you where seducing. The black one with red mane and tail. First he touched my ass to get my attention... Then he tried to talk me into bed. When I kept refusing he got more intimidating and started to pull me away. Stella noticed it just in time and scared him off..." "I'm sorry... That was my fault. Lets go, before more of those creeps show up." "Yeah. Lets go." I said and we go to Flora's room to round up the night. I stayed there till 03:00 at night, said bye and then went to my own room. I use my LEC, scanned my eyes and walked in. "Welcome back, Ms. Sparks." Said that male robot voice. I yawn. "Hi there..." "I can read from your face that you're tired. I advice that you get some sleep." I rub my eyes. "Yeah, I was thinking the same. Good night." I said to the robot voice, take off my clothes and head to my bed to get sleep. "Good night, Ms. Sparks." He turns the lights off. The Meltdown"War... War never changes." - King Sentium of the Frozen Kingdom. ***Chapter 2: The Meltdown*** I'm sleeping, but then I get woken up by something... Something that makes allot of noise. I don't know what, but is seems to be over. I look on my LEC, it is 5:37. I turn around, and close my eyes. It's probably nothing. But then, I hear a loud explosion. Everything around me shakes. I got startled and get up in my bed. Not 5 seconds after that the alarm starts to sound and all the lights go on. I start to hear laser cannons. I look out the window. I see an Night March star explorer firing at us. The cruise fires back, but our weapons, 4 simple space trash busters are nothing compared to their rapid fire zappers, laser cannons and controllable rockets. Then there is the fact that they are protected by an magical shield. My heart started to beat fast. I feel scared, more then I ever did before. "Shit!" I yell and jump out of bed and quickly put on my college suit. I hear other ponies panic. The male robotic voice starts to speak. "Attention. This is WaSP speaking. The Watchbot Steering Program. This spaceship your currently are located on is under attack by an potential enemy or is under friendly fire. Please remain calm and take your LEC Device with you for possible evacuation. DO NOT start to pack all your stuff. This WILL slow you down and result in you losing time you probably need to escape. DO NOT attempt to leave your room just yet. That could result into chaos and definitely slow you down. DO NOT try to open doors who have the red alarm light activated. This could mean that on the other side is a fire, or there is a hole that caused the pressure to fall away. The captain will speak to you any moment and give your further instructions. I repeat, stay calm at all times." I knoe WaSP just told us to be calm, but I was everything but calm. I take my LEC and walk to the window and see that some parts of the ship are on fire. There are some holes to. Sadly, I'm not able to see if there are any fires near my room... Or holes. I take a deep breath to calm myself and wait for the captain's words. Then, after a minute, the captain starts to speak. "Attention, this is your captain speaking. We ARE under attack by an enemy spaceship of the Night March. Just like WaSP just said, stay calm, this is not a drill. Everypony is instructed to take their LEC Device, leave their rooms and follow the watchbots to the main lobby. Once in the lobby, staff will give you further instructions in how to leave the cruise safely. Calling help from the outside is a no go. The enemy ship is sending out a signal that blocks any from of communication on our side. Again, stay calm and follow the instructions. This is not a drill." I shake on my legs, I'm so scared. I keep thinking about my family. Even worse then dying is knowing they will have to live on without me. My mom and dad... They would be heart broken. Terrified I step out of my room. All the students who have an room within the same hall stand outside. I look into their eyes. I see the same fear. Then a watchbot starts to speak. "Everypony, follow me to the main lobby for evacuation. Form a line and stay calm. The watchbots have anything under control. Please, do not use any floatpads. They may show some errors in situations like these." Everypony does as told, still in panic but luckily nopony is running around like a hyperactive squirrel. As we move on there are some rooms with the alarm light on. Its scary. did those ponies made it out?... We hear and feel a gigantic explosion. Then we hear some alarming news. WaSP speaks again. "Critical breach in sector C. Initiating lock-down." Sector C?... Isn't that the sector next to ours?... Some start to run in blind panic. The watchbot tries to calm us down. "Do not run. Please, help to maintain order." A random male Pegasus stallion responds. "Have you gone nuts?! Sector C is an living sector just like this one! There are ponies trapped there and they WILL die! Who says that us awaits not the same fate if we wont move now?!" The watchbot repeats his dialog, as programmed. "Do not run. Please, help to maintain order." "Ow, fuck this!" The Pegasus male flies away as fast as he can. More start to follow and within a few seconds almost everypony is running or flying. I hate to disobey a watchbot, but I do not want be left behind... So I decide to follow the rest and sprint to the main lobby. I'm almost there, but then I got past an gate that blocks sector C on my right side. There is a body, it looks like a younger female unicorn, around 16 years old, tried desperately to crawl underneath the gate when it closed. But she only made it half the way... Blood flows from hes open torso, mouth, nose, ears and eyes. It is horrific to witness... I had to vomit over the floor. I hear bonking coming from the other side. I get closer. Hesitatingly I hold the left side of my head against the gate, listening what's happening on the other side. I hear screaming and yelling. There is a stallion bonking in the door. "OPEN THAT FUCKING DOOR! WE'RE STILL IN HERE!" A mare is with him, she cries. "The stench of dead is horrible... All the burning buddies, Including the one of my own brother over there... ...And the fire... The oxygen is dropping... ...Breathe, I CAN'T BREATHE!" The mare seems to have dropped on the ground. Now the stallion starts to cry two. "NO, HELP! HELP US! THE FIRE, ITS GETTING CLOSER. EVERYPONY ELSE IS DEAD!" I respond. "Alright, hold up! I'll get you and that mare out of there." The stallion laughs from joy. "Really?! Thank you! Thank you so mush! Haha! You hear that Crystal? We're saved!" The mare doesn't respond anymore. I'm not even sure if she's still alive... I try to hack the gate with my LEC, but the system is to advanced. I try it over and over, but no result. The stallion gets impatient. "Why is it taking that long?! WE'RE GOING TO DIE HERE!" I start to as cry as I to realize that I wont be able to get these poor ponies out... "I'm so sorry! I can't open it!" The stallion yells at me. "DAM IT, NO! THIS CAN'T BE HAPPENING! YOU CAN'T DO THIS TO US! SAVE MY MAREFRIEND! LEAVE ME, BUT GET HER OUT OF HERE!" I drop in front of the gate in the pool of blood. This is horrible... Its like I just landed in a horror movie... What supposed to be the time of my life ended in an big nightmare. One more time I talk to the stallion while still crying. "I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! But I can't open the gate... There is nothing I can do to get any of you out of there! This may sound cruel, but at least wont your marefriend feel any pain..." The stallion is silent for a moment. "... Your right..." He sat down and leans against the door. I could hear him doing that. "I guess this is it then... Who ever you are, thank you anyway... No worries, crystal. I'll see you again, soon... I love you..." I start to see smoke coming from the gate followed by the screams of the stallion who burns alive. By The Six, it smelled horrible... I cover my ears, hoping to block away the horrible screams, but it doesn't work. I cried even more now, it feels like forever and I hope his suffering will end soon. Then its got silent... He's dead... Shocked and confused I move on. I just witnessed the death of two ponies... It wasn't till then that I start to realize I haven't seen Fauna or Flora yet. I'm very worried about them... I hope that both are still alive... I enter the main lobby, covered in the young mare's blood, and just in time. There sounds an loud zoom. Everypony gets quiet, and a female staff member starts to speak. "Alright, listen up everypony! The captain ordered us to lead all of you to the evacuation capsules. They are behind those gates. Move calm and steady to it. DO NOT run past the leading staff member. If you will, the remaining watchbots are forced to shoot you down. Why you ask? Because in there the capsules WILL start to move around on their own. If you go off path, the capsules will try to avoid you and may fly into other students. In other words: If you endanger somepony else, you'll get shoot. I hope that's very clear. Now move along!" I move along, following the staff member. Behind us follow the other staff members, but no captain. Of course, the captain stay behind with his ship. There are watchbots all over the place, making sure nopony did anything stupid. we heard another big expolotion. WaSP speaks once more. "Critical breach in sector F. Initiating lock-down. Warning, ship's engine damaged heavily, cooling systems offline, overheating had start. Meltdown in 5 minutes." The staff member leading stops for a moment and speaks. "I know this looks bad, but remember what my colleague said not long ago. Sprint away, and you'll be shot." He walks further. Meltdown? FUCK! Could this get any worse?! We enter the evacuation room. once all the ponies are in, the gates behind us closed. WaSP speaks for one last time. "One life form detected in control room, force ignore by code 1912. Remaining life forms save in evacuation room. Initiating full lock-down. Warning, 3 minutes remaining until meltdown. Setting full processor capacity in watchbots and evacuation capsules. Disabling voice now." The evacuation capsules start to move. Fast. The captain plays some music to calm the students, but that doesn't help allot. They all open around us, there is room for at least 20 ponies in each one. Ponies start to enter and capsules start to move away. They flew out an energy of field that covers the opening to space. That most be there to keep the oxygen and air pressure in the right condition. Slowly everypony was escaping. Now that I think of it, it goes to slow... At this rate, will only half of the ponies will make it... I look at the field and so outside. I saw parts of the ship, but also dead bodies floating around. Some even burned, or incomplete... I almost needed to vomit, again... But I knew to hold it in. I heard fellow students cry, some covered in blood, missing a ear or a other non fatal body part. There is a female Pegasus in front of me. she misses her left wing, while her right wing is burned. She bleeds heavily and the blood spurts out of the place where her lift wing used to be. She drops on the ground, she lost to mush blood. I really want to help her but I have to move on, or I will die... This is not about evacuating anymore. Its surviving. A watchbot connects to the intercom to warn everypony. "1 minute left till meltdown." I lost hope at that point... I'm gonna die here... Its over. I make my self ready for the end. I see my hole life flashing by. From the first time I walked to this very moment. Then I got pushed into a capsule by somepony. I look, and see the friendly face of that stallion I helped to find to library the in the disco. He smiles at me, then he sat down. Knowing he will not make it and he accepted that fact. "Thank you..." I said as the door of the capsule closes. I quickly sat down and poot on the seat belt. The capsule starts to move and flew out, its completely full. I survived... I can't believe it... I got saved by him... He gave his live, for me?... We soar past dead bodies and spaceship parts. Before I had time to take a breath the meltdown started. It begins with 3 smaller expositions, followed by a gigantic one. I see from a window that 3 capsules try to escape from it, but its no use. Then I realized the following thing. We're not save yet... The expolotion is expanding! The autopilot tries to take us away from it, but we get hit anyway. Our capsule flies away with the force of the explosion. We hit a part of the cruise and stand still. I look out the window again and see capsules everywhere. All the autopilots seem to be disabled. All the ship parts fly past us, but not everypony is that lucky... I look around in the capsule and ask: "Is everpony okay?!" The responses where mainly a sad nod. Then i heard two familiar voices. "What the fack was that?! What are we gonna do now?!" "I don't know... I knew I should have stayed home..." It where Fauna and Flora! I made my self loose, jumped up and run to them. "Fauna, Flora! Your still alive!" I yelled. Fauna and Flora look up. Joy shines from their faces knowing I'm okay. We group hugged and cry of joy. "I'm happy your okay!" Said Fauna. "We thought you where dead." Adds Flora. "I was almost dead, But somepony pushed inside at the last moment in his place... I will never forget him." The other ponies look at us. Most of them are in deep shock. One mare in the back keeps crying, very loud. It kept going. A stallion is annoyed by it. "Ow, for the love of Candance! Shut up, SHUT UP, SHUT UP!" The mare stops crying out loud, she holds it in. An other mare tries to comfort her. Hold up a second... I know that voice... I look at the direction the voice was coming from, it was that same stallion that tried to do stuff with Flora at the disco. Well, shit. From all the ponies that could be in here, we bump into a sexual harasser. I whisper to Flora and Fauna. "That harassing stallion is here." They respond with a nod. They already knew. Its strange... The Star Explorer doesn't leave, but neither attacks the capsules. Its kinda frightening. "What now?" Asks a male Pegasus. "How are we gonna get out of here?" Adds a earth pony mare. I am normally not a leader type, but I felt that I needed to keep order. I stood up and went standing on a desk to get everyponie's attention. "Everypony, calm down! We can get out of this, if we stick our heads together there might be a way!" The harassing stallion protests. "Who made you the leader, smart ass?" I respond calm. "Nopony did, I'm not your leader. I just say if we think strait we might be able to get out of this." "Do you have an plan?" Asks unicorn a mare. I nod. "Actually, I might have. Is somepony here able to hack?" A white male Pegasus with gray mane and tail and purple eyes with glasses raise his hoof. "What do you want me to do?" I point to the computer. "Could you hack all the other capsules and connect them to us? It will be allot saver if we can communicate." He nods. "Should be no problem I believe... I could try to break into the VVC Ports and set the output to our capsule using the local IGW Connection. But only we will be able to talk, the visions should be fine." "That is good enough for me." I said. The white Pegasus makes him self loose, walks to the computer and starts hacking. "This might take a moment." I looked around. "Alright. Who here can handle spaceship weaponry?" A yak stands up. "I do." "Okay. Go sit in the copilot seat. Capsules like this are mostly armed with a normal zapper. You probably know what to do from there." The yak walked to it and sits down. He had the zapper under control in no time. "I see where your going, but who will control the capsule?" Asks a earth pony mare. I took place at the captain seat. "I have learned for this. Allot of simulations, flying with my hovermoter and even flying with my grandpa's self made fighter." Again, the same stallion has something to say in attempt to take me down. "How do we know your not lying to us?... Who are you anyway?" "My name is Stella Sparks. And if anypony here thinks he or she might do it better, here is their chance." I stood up from the seat. Nopony responds. Even that stallion is silent now. I take the seat again without saying anything. The white Pegasus with glasses gasps. "I believe I did it! Let's see... Patch... Capsule 33... Force port... And enter!" A screen moves down. It turns on. We see the inside of every capsule that is still online. I try to communicate. "Hello? Can you hear me?" Most of them respond and try to talk. "Your all connected to an local network. We are able to talk and see you. But that is as far as it goes. Wave if you hear me." They wave. Some are smart enough to write stuff down. "It works! Yes!" Said Fauna happy. I start the capsule again, ready for the next move. "You, white Pegasus. Are you able to hack the autopilots of the other capsules and make them follow us? Also, what's your name?" The white Pegasus whipped his glasses for a moment. "My name is Firewall. Nice to meet you Stella. And, yes. That might be possible. But I have to change their PCH, Pilot Control Host. But with that they wont be able to use their zappers." I turn to the screen again. "Any other pilots out there?" They all shake their heads or write no. Then back at Firewall. "Do it." He begins. "On it." Again, my attention went to the screen. "In a few moment we'll activate your autopilots. Please, remain in your seat." The responses are positive. "Your actually pulling this off, don't you?" Asked the female unicorn. I smiled a bit. "Yes, yes I do." I might just have gone trough allot. From witnessing the death of ponies to seeing decapitated body parts, which will haunt me in my dreams. But it really boost my spirit to finally experience something positive. This seems also the case with the others. Finally, joy. We might live after all! But the mare in the back still cries. I decide to talk to her. "Hey there, are you alright?" The mare looks at me. "No... My little sister died on the cruise! We where in sector C when there was an explosion. We flew trough the hall and ended close to the door... When we heard there was coming a lock-down, so I quickly jumped out. I tried to pull my sister with me... But... She only made it half the way when the gate closed, and... I killed her! I can still hear her scream!" Once again she starts to cry out loud. Almost everypony feels bad for her, all but that same harassing stallion. I have seen her sister, that young unicorn mare... It most have bin very traumatic for her to see how her sister got cut in half by that gate... I have her blood on me... I sit down. "I am truly sorry to hear that, but look. I don't want you to stop grieving, take all the time you need for that. But we most focus on our own survival. Just keep your head in the game, alright?" She nods. "Okay..." Firewall jumps up and cheers. "I did it!" All the other capsules start to follow ours. My plan begins to take off. I walk to the captain seat and sit down. I waited a short moment for all the capsules to catch up with us. And then the star explorer starts to turn away from us. "Hey look, their leaving us!" Said Flora happy. I took a close look, and my joy changes back to fear in one second. "No, their NOT leaving us, they are preparing to release their fighters! The docking gates are on the back side of an star explorer! Everypony, hold on tight!" I go at the maximum speed of the capsule. I want that the world would know what happened, so I started to record everything. Gates open on the Star Explorer, and around 20 of the 250 fighters are released. "I don't wanna die!" Yelled a Pegasus stallion. We are fast, but not fast enough... The fighters open fire, bit by bit I see more and more capsules disconnecting from the screen. The yak fires back, but our zapper dose no shit on them. Now there is wild panic. Screaming, crying from all sides. Now we are at a point that we are the only capsule left. I made an unexpected move, turning around, flying past them. 14 fighters fell for it and crashed into one another. The remaining 6 shoot aggressively at us. "I love you sis!" Yelled Fauna. Flora embraces her sister. " I love you two Fauna!" Then, it happened. We got shot in one of our main boosters. We became steer less. We enter the gravity field of an nearby planet. The fighters stop following us, knowing we will die anyway. I look into the camera of my LEC. It record the whole thing. I started to say my last words. "Mom, dad. If you ever see this... I love both of you! I never could have wished for better parents. I had a great life, and I'll always be there with you." The ship catches fire from the outside, everything starts to shake. "Everypony, get ready for impact!" Said Firewall. Fauna and Flora keep holding with closed eyes. They cry softly. I cry as I speak the words I never wanted to say to my parents. "Farewell..." I stop the recording. I pressed send. And thank Twilight. It did send somehow... At least my parents know my fate, and soon the hole galaxy. I close my eyes and wait. Just like everypony does, waiting for their death... then, it happens... BAM! Everything went black. Author's Note SPOILERS! Story may contain pony. A Black Sacrifice"What's one life, compared to a hundred?" - Emperor Conquest of the Phoenix Empire. ***Chapter 3: A Black Sacrifice*** "Wake up Stella, wake up!" I get slapped in my face two times. "Wake up!" Slowly I start to wake up. Everything around me is blurry. I hear Firewall. Finally I get my vision back. The capsule is heavily damaged, its a big mess. I shake my head. "Ahh... My head..." "I'm glad your okay." Firewall helps me on my legs. I wipe my forehead, because I thought I felt sweat. Instead, I find blood. "Is that... Blood? Am I bleeding from my forehead?!" "When the ship crashed, you smacked your forehead on the control panel with heavy force. I am the only one who didn't black out... Or died." I looked around. "Died? Who died?!" I saw huge leaves covering up the... Bodies... Like I haven't seen those enough today... Firewall walked to an body. He looked at it. Judging by the size, Its the body of the yak. "From the 20 ponies, only 6 survived. You, me, the twins, that mare who lost her sister and that black coated Pegasus stallion with red hair named Black Trigger. Or the harasser as you call that guy. Yeah, Fauna and Flora told me all about him." "Where are they?" He walks back to me. "Outside. Your lucky you know. Other ponies would have had their heads bin smashed to goo." I check my LEC Device. It's damaged, but still functional. Then I realize something. "Wait a minute... If you knew I was alive, then why did you and the others left me with the bodies in here? Why not move me outside?" Firewall rubbed his neck. "Well... You have been out for over 3 hours, we thought you wouldn't wake up anymore, that the hit to your head would have damaged your brain and gave you like some sort of coma. But luckily, we where wrong. I'm glad we waited. Although, Black kept telling us why we should move on and leave you." I roll my eyes. "Why doesn't that surprise me?..." Firewall nodded. "I know. He's an asshole. I can tell by his attitude." "Lets join the others. I don't wanna be around corpses anymore... I've seen and heard some... Horrible things out there..." I walk to the broken door. Firewall follows. "We all did." I walk out. The light of two nearby stars blinds me for a second. The first thing I see is a jungle in the background with huge trees covering the hole area. I see the others, we're crashed on a beach. The others just sit there on a dead tree. Shocked, tired, wounded... Normally ponies would be happy if you woke up after three hours being knocked out, but they are just to deep in shock to think strait. Fauna's mascara is ruined. "We crashed on a jungle planet... We're gonna die..." Flora tries to calm her down. "Don't say that Fauna. We'll be fine. Ships will come any moment for us." "Heh, yeah. To blow our heads off. They will come looking for us soon to make sure we're all dead." Black stood up and tries to think. Fauna got only more stressed. "I didn't even think of that!" Flora looks pissed at Black Trigger. "Thanks for that, jerk." "Your welcome lady. Just so you know, I'm still interested in you. Yeah, that body is just fine... There will be a moment nopony else is around... Hahehe!" Flora is disgusted and afraid of the stallion. She remains silent. The other mare stood up and walked to him. "If you dare to do that I-" She gets interrupted by him. "You what? Gonna cry and say how sad you are?! Look at me, I just lost my young sister! Bo ho... WE DON'T GIVE A SHIT!" The mare burst into tears and was about to jump him out of rage. I stop her. "STOP! Calm down, please. And you, knock it off! What is wrong with you?! We're crashed, our cruise exploded, allot of ponies died in frond of our eyes and yet you try to make it even worse by insulting and bullying others?... I mean, what the fuck man!" The mare walks back and sits down. "I can't do this... It's to mush..." She covers her face and lets it all out. Firewall went to her and tries to comfort her. "You better shut your mouth. Mares who keeps flapping their lips like that attract the wrong types..." Black took an good look at me and licks his lips. "Your disgusting..." I said and I walk away from him. He laughs mean. "Don't go far." I walked to the mare. Firewall managed to calm her down. I started to talk to her. "Are you okay?" She nods sad. "What is your name?" I ask. She takes a beep breath. "Minty Sweets... My name is Minty Sweets." Now that I have more time, I take a good look at her. Shes an light blue unicorn with white mane, tail and green eyes. "Ow, I like that name. Its nice to meet you Minty." She nods. "Same here." Finally, a smile. Fauna starts complaining. "What that that Star Explorer did was a war crime... Attacking innocent ponies. And now where stuck in this planet..." "Now that you mention it. On what planet are we?" Adds Flora. "I don't know..." I respond. Black walks closer. "We're on Deltonax. A jungle planet with highly aggressive wild life. Everything on here wants us dead. To them, we're all are an walking hearts warming meal." He grinned mean. "That is, if they get you of course." I don't like to talk to him, but I had no choice. "Is there any city or town near?" He looks at me, surprised I respond to him. "I only know of one city. In fact, the only city on this planet. A Naturian city, Green Oak. The only bad news, it takes six hours to get there from here." Flora raises an eyebrow. "How do you know this?" Black looks at her. "I studied planets and the locations of them. Its needed for my education as royal trooper. Why would you care?" Firewall didn't seem to like this. "Great. Stuck on a wild planet and our only hope is a Naturian city who is six hours away from us through a dangerous, endless jungle with no food or what so ever. Can this get any worse?" I stood up. "Yes, we could have bin dead. We where very lucky to survive that crash. We most think of a plan." Black responds. "How do you mean? We've got one. We go to that city." I shake my head. "Have you gone mad? That right there is a wild alien jungle! Celestia knows what we'll find in there. I think we most stay here for a while and think of a better plan." Black laughs a bit. "Yeah, right. Your welcome to stay here, but I go to that city. Don't forget to send me a nice pink card once your head is blown off." He walks towards the jungle. URRGG! I hate that guy, but he's right... The jungle might be an living tartarus but staying here will guarantee our death. I look over at the others. "His right, we most head for the city if we wanna make a small chance of survival." It hurts when I said that. They stand up and follow Black Trigger. But they are not amused. "I hope he knows what he's doing..." Said Firewall as his ears flop down. Flora sighs. "I can't believe I'm doing this..." Fauna stops. "Hold up, aren't we supposed to bury the death? You know, give then a last honor?" She's right, actually we should. But we do not have time. "Fauna, there is no time for that. We most advance now or we might get fighters on our tails." She nods, but I could read from her face that she didn't liked it. We are in the jungle. There are strange noises all around us. From the animals to the gigantic plants, everything sounds somehow terrifying. I start to walk next to Minty Sweets. I needed some distraction and I wanna know if everything is alright with her. I have the feeling she's the most sensitive of us all. Well, she saw how her sister got slashed in half by an door, can't blame her for that. But the way she responds and acts says allot. I wait till we where a small bit away from the others, but their still in sight. "Hey Minty. You haven't talked in a while. Are you alright?" She nods slowly. "I think I'm alright I guess. I... Keep seeing my sister... I try to think of something else but I keep hearing her scream..." My ears slip down, I really felt bad for her. I know she tries to forget about that horrible moment. Maybe if I remember her of the good moments she'll feel better. "So, about your sister. What was her name?" Minty sighs. "Her name is-.... WAS Bubblegum Sweets..." I sign Firewall to stop for a moment, he nods and they stop. Even Black strangely enough, but he seems inpatient. I wrap my left hoof around her. "It seems you love your sister allot. Hey, you have similar names. How come?" She looks at me. "Our mom and dad own a candy shop named The Sweet Tooth. We make all sorts of traditional Equestrian candy like sugar bellies, sour sweets and of course, pinkies. We have allot of good memories there." Her face has a soft smile. It heads the right way. "Like what? Do you wanna share one with me?" She seems to enjoy to talk about this. "I still can remember when she decided to become candy maker. She was so small, I needed to levitate her up everytime when she wanted to reach something. On a day she found out what her special talent was. She turned out to be a natural bubblegum maker. I felt so proud as big sister, to see how my little sister got her cutie mark and was setting her first step into adult hood. I remember her hugging me, thanking me for helping her to find her talent." She gets silent. "But she'll never would have forgiven me for what I did to her today... Its my fault..." I start to rub her back. "Its not, trust me. You where not responsible for any of this. And after what I heard, I think she would have forgiven you for sure. Minty, you tried to do the right thing as a big sister, you tried to save her life. She may not have made it but in every view your a true hero. I bet she's watching you right now, and she has those wonderful memories with her, looking back on all the good times you had with her. You also have those memories, something nopony can take away from you. And as long you remember her she'll live fort, in here." I move in front of her and held my right hoof at her heart. "Death is not the ending. For memories will keep our loved ones alive, and somehow keeps them with us." I pull my hoof back. Mixed feelings jump in on Minty's face. Sadness, happiness. She smiles widely as a few tiers roll down her cheeks. "That was beautiful... Thank you." I smile back. "Your welcome. Now, do not blame your self aga-" Out of nowhere, she starts to hug me. I just went with it and hug back. She stops but still holds my right hoof. She looked me in the eyes. "Your such an nice pony. Even after all what happened... And that, really warms my heart. I wish I had something I could give to you but I got nothing..." She thinks. Then, blushed. She looked to the others, their not paying attention. Then she quickly moves up close and gives a small kiss on my cheek. "Again, Thank you." She whispers and quickly walked off to the others. I just stood there, frozen, red as a tomato. Why do I keep blushing with mares?... I feel, confused... Am I... What, no! Don't be silly Stella. You like stallions and always will. Mares ARE NOT your thing, you know that... It was unexpected, that's all. I sigh deep and the blushing stops. I walk back to the others and we start moving again. Black starts to jerk around... "That took long, was hoping something caught both of you." I had enough. "You know what, Black? Go dig a hole and wait in there!" He looks back surprised. "Fine." He got the massage. As we move on, it got hotter. The temperature is rising. Fauna starts to complain. "I HATE these suns... Why didn't we crash near a nice beach with booze, stallions and happy pills." Flora shakes her head. "We're getting cooked here by two suns and THAT is the only thing you can think about?" "Well, yeah, duhh? Of course I do." Said Fauna as she starts to wipe away her ruined mascara. Flora seemes annoyed by her sisters attitude. "Your impossible..." But helps her anyway. "Here, let me help you." She licks her own hoof clears everything. I saw the hole thing, I scratch my head. "One moment you enter a argument and the other you help each other out. Why is that a thing?" Fauma smiles. "We're sisters, its what we do. "No worries, you'll get used to it. You'll be seeing this allot more now." Adds Flora. Then Fauna spots some yellow colored berries, her eyes sparkle from excitement. "Food! Finally, I'm dying here!" She grabs three and was about to eat them. Flora her eyes open widely and slapped them out of her hooves. "DON'T!" "Ouch! He! You don't have to hit me..." Said Fauna as she kicked the berries away. I need to laugh a bit, but cover my mouth and hold it in. I know Fauna did something stupid judging by Flora's reaction but Fauna's randomness is really funny sometimes. Flora apologized. "Sorry... Those are quick choke. It has poison that attacks your longs. It makes your longs glue together from the inside. Without the right treatment you could die within three hours. And that is one berry. You where about to eat three, that makes it one hour. Just do not just randomly eat things you see, let me check them first. I didn't study plants for nothing you know... That counts for all of you. Also, Fauna is an expert in animals and alien wild life. So that might come in handy two." "If you say so..." Said Black. Firewall picks a fruit. "How about this?" He said as he shows it to Flora. Its some kind of blue round fruit. Flora nods. "That's bluefruit. Its eatable, but it might have an tripping effect on you. Do not eat more then two a day." Firewall nods. "Okay. Thanks, Flora." Fauna gasps and walked to the tree. Its full of those things. She grabs 6. The others look at her worried, even Black found it an bad idea. "You shouldn't do that..." He said. Fauna looks around. "What? Give me a break." She starts to eat one. Minty shakes her head. "Ow boy..." Flora slaps her face. "Just... Don't trip like shit, alright?..." Fauna rolls her eyes. "Fine... I'll save some for later...." Flora takes an whole bag of those fruits. She knows this is maybe one of the few eatable things around. So she doesn't take any chances. She is aware that Fauna might try to get more, so she guards them well. Thirty minutes later. It feels like forever! I got thirsty and a bit hungry. I got Flora's attention. "Hey, Flora. Could you give me one of the bluefruits please?" Flora took one out of her beg. "Sure. Here, catch!" She threw it towards me. I got it. I took a bite, and it was AMAZING! So juicy, and the sweet, sour taste. Its better then apples, that's for sure. I kept going. Every bite is delicious. Then, I hear something. A growl not far away from us. I drop the fruit and walk to Fauna. "Uhh, Fauna. I hear-" She interrupts me. "Everypony, quite!..." She already heard it. We hear the growl again. Its getting louder. Fauna signals to stay. "Do not make any sound!" She whispers very softly. Minty starts to hold my hoof. I didn't mind, somehow is works calming. Then, something walks out from a bush ahead from us. Its a horse sized pony/dragon like creature. It has small dragon wings, dragon skin, fangs, reptile eyes but the body of a horse. the head is not pony nor dragon like, it's just in between. Fauna made her self small. "Do as I do, make your self small and back off SLOWLY... That is a Dovahequus. They eat meat and can be VERY dangerous... Luckily, its a male. I can tell by the orange skin color. They are mainly harmless. But a female... They can breath fire and are highly aggressive. So, watch out for those with a red skin color." I start to shake a bit as we slowly back off. That thing follows us, like its playing with us... Black tried to scare it away. "Shoo, go! Ksssst!" He waves his hooves. Fauna stops him. "No don't!" She yells to him. It lets out this terrifying sound, some kind of growl. We hear more of it all around us as some kind of responds. Then he starts to run towards us. Fauna took Flora by her hoof and yelled: "RUN!" As she runs away with her sister. We are right behind them. Firewall in front of me and next to me are Minty and Black. I look back. That thing, its to fast! We jump and run as best as we can, but its no use. It keeps getting closer. I have to stop it somehow! I charge my horn and shoot an weak bean at it. The beam misses, but the dovahequus got scared and stopped following. It made strange noises again. I did it! I think... "Hey it gave up!" I said proudly. Fauna shakew her head. "It did not! Its calling for help!" We kept running, but suddenly one jumps in front of us, and so blocking out way. Two more from behind. We can't go left nor right for their are huge rocks blocking our way. Minty panics. "I don't wanna die, not like this! The three male dovahequuses slowly get closer, growling loud. I look around quick, trying to find an way to escape. Then, I saw a cave on the left. I don't know where it leads... Or ends... But we are out of options. "Everypony, there is a cave on our left! Let's go!" "Shit! Shit, shit!!!" Yells Fauna as we entered the cave. Its dark. But me and Minty light the whole place up with magic. Normally we could also have used our devices for that, but the running makes it hard to grab them. In here we could hear those monsters getting closer as the sound egos back to us. I look back, and saw how one of them misses my tail by an inch. With an slam the mouth of it closes. I scream it out. The next bite, will be in me... Minty saw it, she tried fire at the one that was targeting me. she charges her horn and aimed. Then Black did something unexpected. He gave Minty a push against the wall. She hits the wall and falls on the floor. I stopped and yell. "WHAT THE FUCK BLACK?!" The others stop. "Don't tell me he did that!" Firewall ran back. The twins both close their eyes and hold each other. They know what happens next. Minty tries to get up fast, but one of the Dovahequus jump her. He bites in her leg. She starts scream and begs for her life. "NOO! HELP ME! AHHH! WHY, BLACK, WHY?! AAAAAAAHHH! NO, PLEASE! SAFE ME!" The other two get around her and start to eat her alive. Minty could see how those monsters start ripping peaces of meat away from her body. She cries, screams, move, but they don't stop... The twins cry, trying to look away from the horrible sight. I see everything... I watch in horror how they feast on her body... Black did this... I turned to Black, and punched him in his face. Bulls eye! His muzzle starts to bleed. "You sick psychopath!" "Fucking bitch! I saved our asses!" He punched me to the ground. I got up again. I was about to jump Black but Firewall starts to hold me. "Calm down..." I cry. "Calm down?! THEY ARE EATING HER ALIVE!!!" One of the dovahequus attempts at finish off Minty. He starts to hold Minty's neck with his mouth. Minty tries to get away, but he already has his teeth on her neck. The other two keep eating from her. She cries, but knows its over... She looked at me sins her head was stuck in my direction, and said her last words. "I'm coming for you, Bubblegum... Tell our parents. Ahhh!... We... Loved them..." She closes her eyes. Finally the Dovahequus bites through her neck and with that brakes it. I could hear her final breath slip away from her longs as her body goes limp. Blood starts to flow from her neck and mouth. She's dead... I feel weak... I rage. "NO! YOU MURDERER! YOU COLD BLOODED MURDERER!" Firewall drags me away. He was getting a bit emotional himself. The twins follow. Black didn't come yet. He watches Minty Sweets, like he enjoys her death. The Dovahequuses didn't came after us and ignore Black. They have what they want. We found an exit. The twins sit down on a rock and embrace to find support. Firewall lets me go, I drop on the ground. "No... Its not fair... ITS NOT FAIR! Rrraahhbh!!!" I stood up shot a laser around with my magic from anger, destroying plans. Firewall lets me do my thing. The twins look at me, afraid. After I while I calm down. I cry again... Firewall holds his hoof on my shoulder. "Better?" He asks. I nod. I'm still weeping. The twins walk up to Firewall and me. We group hug quickly. Flora sighs. "Minty is with her sister now..." I feel still angry. "She didn't deserve this..." Firewall nods. "We know, we all know..." Then, Black Trigger walks out the cave. We stop hugging and gave him a dirty look. "How could you?!" I yell at him. He looks psychotic with a grin. "What? I saved our lives. The strongest survive, that's how nature goes. Besides, she was only holding us up, I saved us." Fauna walks up him. "Saved us? You killed her!" Black nods. "Yes, I did. So what? What do you wanna do about it, hu? Kill me? Come on, try! I'll make sure to drag your dead body to those dovah things." I charge my horn. "Shut up right fucking now!" He laughs and looks my in the eyes. "Come on, do it. I know your weak... I do not see a killer in your eyes, I only see a weakling." I was about to blow his head off, but I... I can't do it... I uncharge the spell. "See, like I said. Weak!" He laughs mean. You know, it did me good to see how Minty died. My favorite part was when you guys left and those dovah beasts started to rip her legs from her torso. I laughed my ass off. Here, I made some pictures." He projects some pictures he made with his LEC Device. Minty is open on all sides. Her organs lay across the cave floor. We can see her brain all little bit, stomach, hart... It was simply disgusting. I need to vomit again. Flora did the same. Firewall walked to him, took his LEC and throw in to peaces. "You sick fuck!" He smacks him in the face. Black grinned as he gets smacked in the face. His lips bleed. He literally picked up Firewall and threw in on a sharp rock. Firewall yells as he lands. "AHHH! FUCK!" The rock penetrates his torso a little. He bleeds lightly. Black laughs insanely. "Is that all?... IS THAT ALL?! Come on, kill me, KILL ME!" He picks up a rock and was about to crush Firewall his skull. I quickly ran to them and blocks his aim. But he was planning to use it anyway. But then, there sounds growling behind Black. Fauna signals us to take distance from Black. And so we did. I help Firewall up and got him safely to the others. Black drops the stone and turns around slowly. He saw a female dovahequus, as red as blood. By the looks, it wants him. Suddenly, he doesn't feel that bad ass anymore as he faces the beast. The beast stares at him, waiting to strike. Black simply said one thing: "Fuck..." Then, the beast claws with a roar at his belly. His organs fall out of him and after a few seconds he drops dead on the floor. The twins look away again, but me and Firewall watch. He deserved this... The female dovahequus roars loud and kicked his head off. His head flies away. She begins to eat his organs. My body shakes, I looked at Firewall and sigh. "Lets go..." He nodded. "Alright, we've seen enough here." I walked to the sisters and hug them both. "I'm so happy both of you are okay..." Flora smiles. "Same here." I stop hugging and turn back to Firewall. "Now that I think of it, Firewall, Are you okay? You had nasty fall." I added. Firewall shows the left side of his torso where he landed. "Its... Fine... Do not worry about me. We most head to that city... For Minty. For everypony who died on that ship." I nod. "For Minty." We walk off. Deeper into the jungle. I feel... Empty. I was starting to like Minty... At least she sees her sister now... By Celestia... I hope Black Trigger burns in tartarus... Onward To Green Oak"I'll tell you what we've learned Discord. We've learned that friendship isn't always easy. But there's no doubt it's worth fighting for." - Princess Twilight Sparkle of Equestria. ***Chapter 4: Onward To Green Oak*** Three hours have past, the jungle has proven itself to be merciless. We didn't talk mush after the death of Minty, after how Black Trigger pushed her into doom. I'm happy, very happy he died himself shortly after that... Minty didn't deserve that horrible death. It was totally uncalled for. On the other hoof, if she didn't die there, who would have died?... Those beasts looked hungry and where not planning to stop. One was close of grabbing my tail with his mouth... So... I would have died?... You know what, I do not want to think about this now. I check out the other, they all look tired, just like me. This in kinda insane. From all the students on board, only four of us survived. I also realize, if we wont find help soon, there will be no survivor at all to tell the story. And without Black, finding the city will be a huge problem. I check my LEC, still no internet connection and GPS contact, so any kind of navigation is useless. Even now, while we're far away from that star explorer. I sigh. Firewall saw notices me sigh and started talking to me. "I know, our situation looks bad... very bad. But we can make it. I mean, heck. We survived that ship, a crash, beats. And with Black out of the way, their will be way less trouble." I nod. "But Minty... She should be with us right now..." "True... But we can't do anything do get her back. She's with Bubblegum now." Said Flora as she noticed that her sister took a Bluefruit from her bag. She took it back quickly. "Fauna! Why are you taking this? Where are the other six bluefruits?..." Fauna laughs. "He, why is your head purple? Its supposed to be yellow..." Flora sighs. "Great... You're high..." "Well... You're purple!" Respons Fauna. "Fauna, this wasn't the right moment to get a high... What where you thinking?!" I said as I hold her making sure she doesn't wander off. Fauna giggles. "Because I can... Screw you all, I love you guys!" Firewall looked annoyed. "This is gonna be a looong trip..." As we keep moving onward, Aside from the fact that everything wants to kill us, the planet looks very pretty. And all the plants are SO big. A simple flower is around the size of a teenage pony. And then the trees, by Twilight, their huge! When I look up its almost that there is no ending. And those leafs. Would it hurt if one of them drop on you? We arrive near a fast flowing river. We can't walk around it. Left from us is a cliff with waterfall that goes strait up, right from us is a deep drop. Luckily there is a thick dead tree laying over it that makes it possible to cross it... Hopefully... Dear Celestia, I HATE deep water... I don't like this... Firewall looks at it. "We have to cross it." Fauna responds... Still high... "You aspect us to risk our lives, on that... giant dance pole?..." Firewall nods. "Yep, indeed. As you can see, there is no other choice." Flora hesitates a bit. "How do we know for sure... Its safe?" Firewall shrugs. "I don't. But we'll know soon." He climbs on the stump and starts walking on it. "Here I go!" I I run to the tree. "Firewall, have you gone mad from the heat?! What if it breaks or something?" Firewall stops at turns to us. "No worries. If it breaks, then I..." He shows his wings. I smile awkwardly. "Heheh... Of course. I forgot about that for a sec." He nods an continues. Then he stops again and yells. " HOLY FUCKING LUNA!!!" I respond fast. "What, is something wrong?! Did it crack? Moved?!..." He turns around again with a serious face. "Yes..." It got silent. Flora responds. "Well?!" His face turns from serious to a wide grin. "Yeah, did you see that view from here?" He said as he points to right and starts laughing. I stomp left front hoof on the ground with force. "That's not funny, Firewall!" He keeps laughing. "Ah, come on. It was at least a bit funny." He said and starts walking again. Flora giggles. "I find it funny." I rolled my eyes with a smile. "Alright, you got me, it was a bit funny. I admit." Firewall reaches the other side. "See? Told ya it was save." He flew back to us. "Okay, who's first? No worries, I'll hold ya when you cross it." I think for a moment. Then I came up with a small idea. "I think its the best you take Flora first, then Fauna so Flora can take an hold of her on the other side and them me." "Pppfffffff! I'm not a baby! I can do this my self!" Fauna tries to climb on the log alone while being as high as shit. I grab her and tog her back. "How about you wait till Flora has passed? I mean, look at your sister how afraid she is. Maybe its better she gets it over with first. Am I right?" Fauna thinks and looks away. I wink to Flora. She nods and winks back. Fauna looks back at me. "Alright, for her." She sits down on the floor. Her eyes look so weird from those bluefruits. Their a bit red and her pupils are bigger. Flora climbs onto the dead tree and Firewall helped her up. Then he holds her as she moves to the other side. "Here I go..." She said. Firewall flew carefully next to her. "That's right. Calm and smooth." I watch as Flora crosses the river. I look at the water, I didn't feel well... What if I fall in and Firewall fails to catch me? I would fall in the water... And then fall down the waterfall. Okay, not helping... I looked up again, Flora got save to the other side. Firewall flew back again. "Next one." Fauna got up. "Finally!... Ow my Celestia, I'm so hungry! I wanna eat a pizza with extra cheese." "You will, first get to that city." I help her on the dead tree carefully. Firewall Holds a hoof while flying next to her. "Okay Fauna. We know your stoned but keep your head in the game here." Said Firewall as he keeps her balanced. He's nervous about this. Fauna laughs. "You look like a deformed bird while flying. So funny!" Firewall raises an eyebrow and looks at me "Tell me, why shouldn't I drop her?" I laugh a bit, I knew it was a joke. "Just take her to the other side." Flora heard the joke but didn't laugh. She's to worried about her sis at the moment. Fauna was speaking bullshit on there. She got giggly at the wrong moment. "Look at those wings, its just against nature! Big body, small wings. Its looks ridicules! Hahaa!" Firewall ignored it, he's to busy keeping her on the tree. "You know what they say about stallions with small wings~" Said Fauna giggling. Firewall blushes. "Hey, that's not true! Its avarice sized and I'm happy with the way it is!" She laughs from his responds. She takes a beep breath and whispers. "You have a small penis~" I just can't hold it up anymore and laugh. I tier from joy. Even Flora who's worried couldn't stay serious any longer. Firewall his face is tomato red. "We're done talking..." He said. They reach the other side. Flora helped her sister down. Flora is still laughing a bit. "I hope my sister here didn't offend you that bad." He shrugs. "Nahh, I can take it. Besides, I'm sure I can laugh about it once I look back later." He flies back to me. "Okay, you're next Stella. Hob op the tree." I start to freeze, I don't wanna do this, but I most. I climb on it and look to the water. I turned pale. I see the water rush by and I shake a bit. Firewall notices that I was nervous. "Stella, are you alright?" I looked at him right from me, I shake my head. "I... I can't..." He's surprised to hear that. "You can't? After all the things that happened, this is what scares you?" I nod embarrassed. Then I got close to his ear and said: "I... I have fear of water..." "Ow... That is a big problem..." He thinks for a bit and then jumped on the tree facing me. "Come on. Hold me with your front hooves. No worries, I know you can do this." I'm not sure about this... "What?... But you can't see where your going. You could fall!" Firewall shakes his head. "That won't happen, pinkie swear. You can do this, trust me." I took an deep breath and hold him. "I can't believe I'm doing this..." We start to move. I look down, in reaction Firewall stops. "No. Don't look down. It will only make it worse. Eyes up here, look at me." I Look at him. "W-what?... But how am I supposed see where I'm going then?..." He stays calm. "Just do it. I'll lead you thought this." I sigh and do as he said. Holding him and looking at him in the eyes. Slowly we walk over the dead tree. For every step I make, he follows. Fauna wants to say something but Flora signed her not to. Strangely, she listens. Finally we got to the other side. Firewall jumps off the tree "We're there. I knew you had it in ya." He holds a hoof out offering some help to get me off. I accept his hoof and jump off. "Thank you for guiding me through this... I couldn't have done it with out you." He nods. "Your welcome, that's where friends are for. "You did awesome right here. It takes allot of courage to face your fears like that." Said Flora. I smile at her. "Thanks. That's kind of you to say." Firewall turnes to the direction of the city. "Come on, lets move on. Only two and a half hour left." As we go on there was still no sign of life, and the jungle is endless. The good news is that Fauna her drug is starting to fait off. Ouch... My legs start to hurt from all the walking. But that's no problem. Only two more hours and we're safe! I look up again and saw an opening in there jungle. The two suns shine down upon spot. We may suffer from dehydration a bit, but that is a pretty view. And then the- "AAAAAHHH!" I fell into a hole. The others yell my name. "Stella!" I keep falling, deeper and deeper. Then the walls start to curve making me slide down this weird hole. Then, I finally hit the ground. I'm still alive?... Its cold in here, I most be in some sort of cave. I light my horn, the room gets lighten up. Shit! I'm bleeding... The sliding made nasty wounds. I hear the others yelling for me. I can't see them. First I hear Firewall. "Stella, are you there?!" Then Flora. "Please tell us you're okay, answer!" And then Fauna. "Don't you dare to fucking die on us! Not after where we went through!" I respond as loud as I can. "I'm okay! Just a few abrasions but I'll be fine!" Firewall responds back. "Thank Discord, you're unharmed... Do you see a way out?!" I look around and saw this strange stone plate... It looks like a gate. "I think I found a gate! Its made out of stone and has this weird painting on it!" The painting looks like six weird tiny stones, what are those? Then I notice a text on it. "Hold up, there's text on it! Its written in Equestrian!" Flora sounds exited. "A gate?! That means intelligent life! We're gonna live! What dose it say?!" I start to read the text. "Lets see..." "Before you may enter these halls, you have to answer our calls. For what's beyond this gate, may contain your fate. Only he or she, with an hart of gold, can answer this riddle, the legends of old. Moments came, and moments past. But there's one thing that ever lasts. In life we laugh, in life we cry. Together we stand, never we die. The magic will light our way, even through the darkest day. As long the magic shines in our harts, not even the death can drive us apart. For this magic stays by your side. As long as you follow, and stay in its light." Shit, all the yelling is really starting to mess with my voice. "Guys, its a riddle! Whatever is behind that gate, it most be important! I think if I solve it, the gate might open!" Fauna responds. "Do you think you have the answer?!" "Hold up! Now lets see..." I took a close look. Magic, their talking about magic, but what magic?... Together... Light in darkness... Moments came and pass... Death has no effect... Wait... Is it?... "Friendship?" I said curious. The gate starts to move and a hall gets visible. Torches go on by itself. "I did it! It opened! I see this hall! I'm going in and hope to find an exit! If I won't return in thirty minutes, then move on without me!" Flora doesn't like that. "NO, WE WON'T LEAVE YOU!" "Lets be realistic here! If I won't return, the chance is big I didn't make it! Promise not to wait to long!" "Alright, we promise! Now find an exit!" Yells Firewall. I turn to the gate, look at it. Okay Stella, here you go... I make my way through the hall. The deeper I go I start to notice that the walls are getting flat, this is curved out and this seems to be equestrian architecture. Then I see more paintings on the walls. I take a look at one. I see six ponies who seem to defeat an scary looking mare. Hold up... Those are The Six! And that's Nightmare... Uhh Nightmare Spoon? Nightmare... Screw it! Nightmare Bitch. But why is that painting here? Weird place for one. Who would even care to get here within the cruel jungle. I walk to another painting and look at it. Its The Six again, they seem to defeat some kind of demon. That's... Ummm... Lord Tirek? Yeah, that's him! I look ahead. All the paintings are about The Six. I look up and saw a beautiful decorated sealing full of what seems to be six different cutie marks. Those are their cutie marks I guess. This place. This most be some kind of temple. This all seems so old... There's dust everywhere. I keep going and make a left turn. There is a gigantic double wooden door. Each door has one big purple star like like that cutie mark on it. I walk to it and open the door. Its dark in there for a moment but then the torches light up. This is impressive! A gigantic ball shaped room full with books, scrolls, an others items that help with magic, and what are those? Wands?... Those aren't used anymore in like 1800 years after the invention of the magic amplifier. A little machine that is worn on your horn that makes your magic stronger. My focus goes to the center of the room. There I see a golden necklace on a stone altar. I walk to it, but then a magic force field appears around it. I stop, it startles me. I'm not sure if it's save... I pick up a rock throw it at the shield. It bounces off on the field and comes back at me with the same force. I dodge it just in time and the rock flies against a vase. Of course, it broke. Shit... That was antique equestrian art... I took a wand that was next to me on the floor and start to poke the field. It goes right through it. No burning, nothing. I guess its save... I place the wand back where it belongs and carefully I stick a hoof out into it. Nothing happens. Alright, it's harmless UNLESS you try to be aggressive towards it. I walk in, and there I see the necklace, from up close this time. The necklace itself has a small round purple gem on it, but it seems that five other gems are missing. That's a shame... Maybe if I take it and give it to the Old Earth Museum in Friendship City, they might wanna restore it. I look around and then to the necklace again. I hope it's not trapped... Carefully I pick it up with magic. Thank The Six, it's not trapped. I wonder where the other five gems are. I shove the necklace in my pockets and looked around. Here most be an exit around here. I saw a lever on the wall. I walk to it and pulled it down. A book shelve moves aside, and I see a stairs going up. Well, that most be it. I enter the stairs, going up. After a short while the stairs appears to have an dead end that leads to the sealing and I find myself another lever. I tried to pull it, but it's stuck. I gave it a buck and that works. The sealing opens, sliding to the right. Now I see it is a door disguised as a rock. Smart, but why hide this? I hear Firewall. "Okay, did that rock just move?..." "Ow, you saw that two? Good. I thought I was tripping again." Responds Fauna. I walked out. "Stella!" Yells Flora as she runs towards me. The others follow. The stone sides back to its place. Firewall inspects me. Holding up my left front leg and sees the stretches from my fall. Their all over my body. "Are you okay? Did something happen in there?" Fauna rips a bit away from her own suit and wraps it on my right lower hoof. I had a deep scratch there, I didn't even see it. Its bleeding allot. How didn't I feel that?... Ouch... Well, it hurts now. "Thank you Fauna, but your suit." Fauna smiles. "What, this? Its nothing. Besides, your wound would have gone infected." "But are you okay? What happened in there?" Asks Flora concerned. I nod. "I'm totally fine, no worries about that. Please. It was some kind of abandoned temple devoted to The Six. Did something happen while I was gone?" Firewall shakes his head and kicks away a rock. "Nope, nothing sadly... I guess we gotta move on again." "Great. Another two hours bait for meat eating monsters... What a joy!" Said Flora as she took a bluefruit and eats it. Fauna yawns. "Lets go. I hear a bed calling for me." I'm not sure if I should tell them about the necklace... I mean, it could be dangerous. It's bin locked away from a reason. Better to leave it in my pocket save of sound. "Okay, yeah. Lets g-" Before I can finish my sentence I start to hear jets. Allot of them. "Do you hear that?!" I said exited. Firewall hears it two. "Ow yes I do, the sweet sounds if modern life!" He tries to fly up to drag attention. But he's to weak to get that high and falls down. "Dam it! We need to get their attention!" Fauna yells in hope to drag their attention. "HEEEEEY! WHERE HERE!" Flora took her LEC and tries to send out an signal. The sounds gets closer. I think. Maybe I could... But It might be to much for me... Well, it's now or never! I charge my horn and prepare an big spell. I start to sweat from concentrating. "Fuck, my head..." My head hurts and my nose starts to bleed. "Rrrrrrraaaaaahhhhhh!" I shot a gigantic ball into the sky. It explodes and it was loud. The trees around us shake from it that powerful. Firewall, Fauna and Flora look at me amazed. Then I fell down, I feel so weak... Flora catches me up. "Holy... Stella. I didn't know you had that in you." I had trouble staying awake. She lays me down. Then a ship flew to the opening and a light shines on us. Its a naturian scout, we're saved! We all laugh from joy and cry of happiness. We hear a voice. "Do not move. This is the Naturian Army. Help is under way." "We did it! We made it!" Said Fauna as she hugs her sister tight. Firewall holds my hoof. "Hold on Stella, we're almost there." I smile at him. I'm to weak to show my joy at the moment. So tired... A second ship appears. That's a dropper. Used to drop goods and troops. It opens and troops in spacial fly suits jump out. Fauna looked with open mouth. "That's cool. I've seen it on holovision but to see it with my own eyes." Firewall grins. "I would like to have one of those." Flora drops the bluefruits. we don't need that any longer. The soldiers land and get an hold on us. One of them speaks. "No worries, you're all safe now." It's a mare and she took care of me. "Thank you." I said and they go up with us attached to them. They get us on the ship. The door closes and we fly fast to the city. The troops set us down and take a distance as medics take it over. One of them starts to help me with my wounds. I look out the window, and I see everything flashing by I experienced today. And I burst into tears. It doesn't take long before Fauna and Flora cry with me. Firewall wraps a wing around me. He cried to but not as mush. "We're gonna be fine." he said. The mare in the suit took of her helmet. Its a female naturian. "I'm... So sorry that you kids had to stand these horrors... I can assure you, these actions will not go unnoticed. The Alliance is already moving around their fleets. But that's not important now. You are being taken to Green Oak. The safest place on this planet. Once in the city our head-stallion wishes to speak with you all. He will give you more information." Firewall still his wing around me even though I'm not crying anymore. I look at him, he looked back and smiled. I can't believe we're still alive... But we're here, and I'm happy with that. I can't stay awake anymore, and fall asleep. Author's Note I admit, this chapter was a real challenge, but I did it. If you notice any typos please let me know. All help is welcome. Stay tuned for more. Thanks for reading. No Turning Back"Every change sets down a road for you to walk upon. Some are good, some bad. But that's life, and you have to move on." - Silver Oak The wise. ***Chapter 5: No Turning Back*** I wake up in a warm soft bed. I looked around. They gave me a room to sleep in. How nice. Then I look out of a window. Its night. I slept through all day. I took of my blanked, and notice my suit was gone. Okay, that raises a few questions... One: Why did they take it off? Two: Where did they take my suit? I look left and saw a wooden nightstand. They left my LEC and on it. I took my LEC, hanged it around my neck with a rope that's attached to it. Hey, where is the necklace?! Dam, they most have taken it away from me... But why? I stand up. Where are the others? I notice that this rooms looks a bit primitive. Almost everything is made out of wood. Interesting choice. I go to the door and waited for it to open, nothing happens. I walk back and forward. Maybe it's a bug, but no. The door remains shut. Did they lock me in? I try to call the home computer. "Uhh, hello? Computer sir/ma'am?" It doesn't answer. This is nuts, am I captive?... Then I notice a heck on the door. No automatic doors, no computer helper, great... I landed in the stone age. But I saw those naturians fly in those fancy suits and spaceships. Then why would they have these primitive items? Its all very strange, and for the first in a long time I open the door with my hoof. Wait... Even the hall looks like this? Wood. Everywhere I look, wood. This seems kinda bad for the ecosystem... I walk further and saw an open door. I walk to it and peeked inside. There I see Firewall. I walk in and greet him. "Hey Firewall. Where's Fauna and Flora?" Firewall smiles as he sees me. "Their in the main hall, trying to reach our home I believe. But how are you? Are you feeling better?" I shrug softly. "I guess so. I still can't believe we made it out alive. We should have bin dead. Very dead. Its a miracle." Firewall nods and then replies. "I know, but we're alive. That's all that matters." He looked around. "Did you happen to walk past an holovision on your way here?" I shake my head. "No. Actually, I've seen not a single bit of technology in this wooden structure. I had to open the door by my self. I mean, can you believe it? First time I touched a door in ages." Firewall nods. "Yeah, noticed that. Lets see how Fauna and Flora are doing. Maybe they already got contact." I nod in agreement. "Your right, good plan. Lets see them. Also, where is my suit?" "They took it for some reason, same with mine. I don't know why." I follow him to the main hall. I see some guards in here, and there are Fauna and Flora. Fauna saw me and yelled. "Stella! Hai!" I looked at Fauna. "Well, good to hear your doing fine. How about you Flora?" Flora is messing with her LEC to get contact with our home. She looks at me. "I'm fine, still very scared, but yeah. I had a few hours sleep, so that's good. I'm trying everything I can but I can't get contact. I think the LEC is not strong enough to send the signal from satellites to space stations and stuff. Its like there isn't a single one near." Then she looks at her LEC again. I roll my eyes. "These naturians clearly don't like technology." Fauna agrees. "Great... Caveponies..." "And how are we getting home then?" Asks Firewall as he looks with Flora at her LEC. Flora points to a guard. "Maybe they know?" Fauna jumps up and blocks the way. "DON'T, before they give us a feather, ink and paper!" "Come on, Fauna. It can't be that bad." I said as a naturian with paper walks by. "Or is it?..." Fauna saw it. "Paper? Yep, we're fucked." "Is there just one holovision in this building?!" Said Firewall. There sounds a voice from behind us. "There is." We turn around. Its a naturian in a fancy suit. He speaks again. "I'm Pencil, the head-stallion's personal assistent. He wishes to speak with all of you. Would you be so kind to follow me to him?" "Sure. No problem, sir." Said Firewall. "Alright, this way." He leads us way to the head-stallion's office. We approach a big gate, made out of wood, of course... The assistent knocks and the door opens. We walk further. Fauna gasps and smiles. "You see that? Automatic doors! So they can be mode-..." Her smile turns to a big frown once she looks back. "There guards did open the doors..." We see the head-stallion, sitting at his desk. "Ah, there you all are. Please, take a seat. We have to discuss a few things." His assistent and guards leave the room. We took a seat in front of his desk. They already provided four chairs for us. There is a awkward silence. I can see that the head-stallion is thinking about to way to start this very unpleasant conversation. He signs and begins. "So... How is everypony? Still in chock about all the events yesterday?" Flora shakes her head. "Chock is not the right word, sir. But we are surely traumatized." He nods. "I can believe that, and we'll make sure all four of you get the right help you need to process this. But first, and I know this isn't fun at all, but you gotta tell me exactly what happened. From the start of the attack, to the moment of rescue." All four of us start to feel uncomfortable. Fauna rubs her neck. "Do we really have to, like now?" The head-stallion nods. "I'm sorry, but we need this information so we can tell all those parents and family members what happened to their loved ones. As you can imagine, they have the right to know how and why it happened." I look up, and saw a camera. Pointed at us. WOW, MACHINE. "Sir, sorry to interrupt, but are we getting recorded?" He nods again."That's correct. You have to understand, we have to do that for the investigators so they can re watch every little detail when needed." I sigh. "Okay then..." I take a deep breath. "I... Uhh... I was... Okay, this it harder then I had in mind..." "It's okay, take your time." Said the head-stallion as he lays a box of tissues on the desk. I try again. "Alright, this is what happened..." We told him the story, all four of us. Every single detail. From the explosions to every dead body we saw. And of course the incident with Black Trigger and Minty Sweets. I can tell by the head-stallion's face that he's horrified. So now and then he lets a few tiers him self, but he keeps him self strong. Then after like an hour or two, we finished. "And then we got saved by your troops. That's the hole story, sir." Said Firewall. Flora is crying about what happened. All the talking has awakened her trauma. Luckily is Fauna there is cheer her up. The head-stallion thinks again. "Are you sure that was all?" Fauna nods. "Very sure." He stood up. "Very well. I'll leave the four of you alone now. You may stay here to talk, feel free to leave when you want." He pressed a button and a gigantic holovision slides down from the sealing. "Its voice commanded. If you need food, a drink, call my assistent. he'll help you. I'm going to get professional help for all of you. No worries, soon you all will be back home." He was about to leave, but I quickly asks an important question. "Uhh, sir. Where are our collage suits?" "We did take those off and brought them to the waste incinerator. They where mostly ripped and covered in blood. It was way beyond repairing." I felt nervous. "Did they check my pockets?" The head-stallion was silent of a moment. "I don't know... Is there something missing?" I stand up, stressed. "Yes, it wasn't on my nightstand when I woke up. Don't tell me they burned it already..." "No, your in luck. The incinerator will not start its proces for the next 24 hours. It has some kind of error. Here, I'll send you the route to your LEC." He takes out his LEC and sends it. My LEC made a peep sound, i got it. "I have to go now, I would love to come with you and help you find it, but duty calls. keep your hopes up, ponies." The head-stallion walks away. Firewall looks at the holovision and smiled. "Show time... Holovision, activate!" It went on. Its an a naturian channel. I'm surprised, they actually have a channel. The view raring most suck... They most be happy with 3 viewers. When I look outside, all the buildings, WOOD. This only proofs more how they avoid technology. The fire department most LOVE this city... I look at the others. "I will be right back, okay? I need to get my item back." Flora, who wasn't crying anymore, stood up and walks to me. "I'll come with you, I need some distraction. I nods in agreement, but actually I don't like it at all! She'll find out about the necklace. Ow well, as long she doesn't know where it came from, right? "Alright, you can come with me. Later you two." "Yeah, bye." Said Fauna who seems to be hypnotized by the holovision. Flora and I move on to the waste incinerator by following the route on my LEC. We arrive at the main gate of the waste incinerator. Flora knocks on the door. On the door it says restricted acces. "Hello? May we come in?" She asks hoping for a respond. A mare responds with through an intercom. "Who's there?" "We're two of the survivors of the collage cruise. We came here because we suspect that one of my items is still in my collage suit." I said as a little floating robot with a camera shows up. It has the logo of the company that owns this waste incinerator. A company named the Solar Corporation. The mare responds. "Ah, I can see both of you now. Stella Sparks and Flora. Of course both of you may come in." Okay, that's strange. "How do you know our names?" I ask the mare as Flora and I walk in. Finally some familiar things. Machines and robots. Now that looks as pretty as the jungle, but its WAY less deadly. Also, trash. Trash everywhere. "The local covermunt looked in all of your LECs while you all where asleep. No worries, only information that was important. Everyone here know the four of you by now. It's all over the news. And not to forget the video massage you send out. That really dragged everyone's attention." I don't know if I'm happy with that... Now I can't walk around anymore without being seen as one of the four ponies who survived the crash and the jungle... A door opens and a earth pony mare walks out. She moves to Flora and me and shakes our hooves one by one. By the looks, she's around 35 years old. Her coat pink with purple mane and tail. She has blue eyes and a wrench as cutie mark. "My name is Pink Wrench, its a pleasure to meet you both." I shake hooves with her and respond. "Heh, thank you. Hey, do you happen to know where to find our blue with orange suits? It has FC Collage on them." Pink Wrench thinks. "Lets see... Did I see those... Yeah, I did. Just follow me, right this way." She leads us to the suits. "Eew, you smell that?" Asks Flora as she covers her muzzle. I did the same. "Yeah, that smell. Its like rotten egg." Pink Wrench laughs. "You girls never bin at a waste incinerator before? Just take it all in. The smell of industry." Flora rolls her eyes. "Or the smell of rotting food..." "That two." Said Pink Wrench as she happily gallops through the trash. I raise an eyebrow. "You seem quite happy. You like your job, do you?" She nods. "Yep! I do this for 20 years now and I'll do this for allot more. Ow, look. Here we are." We arrived at the location. Like she said, our suits are there. They lay on the floor. Eek, its good that they got rid of it. All the blood... Flora and I walked to them. I picked up my suit. Look at it, its ripped at all sides. I check the pockets. Then I found it, the necklace. I took it out and hold it. Flora sees it. "Wow, is that yours? Its beautiful. Why didn't you wear it before?" Pink Wrench saw the necklace, her smile went away from her face. "That's a pretty necklace you've got there. Where did you find it?" I hear that the change of tone in her voice changed. And her expression is also different. "I got it from my mother. It was a gift." Of course I didn't get it from my mother, but its better to tell a lie then that I start to yell around that I found it locked away in a temple. She nods. "I see... You gotta keep on eye on that. There are plenty of ponies who would try to steal it. Want a saddle bag to carry it around? Would attract way less attention that way." "Sure, it would come in handy." I have the feeling she knows more about that necklace... She takes her own saddle bag. "Here, keep it. I don't need it anymore." I accept the saddle bag and poot the necklace in it. I wore the bag. "Thanks, Pink Wrench." "Shall we go back? I wanna make contract with my mother and father." Asks Flora as she kicks away a empty can. I agree. "Yeah, your right. Thanks for your help, Ms. Pink Wrench." "No problem girls! Come back anytime if you need anything. And like I said, keep an eye on the necklace. I nod. "Will do. Bye." We head back to the others. That Pink Wrench sure acted strange about the necklace... She has to know more about it. However, she gave me a free saddle pack. That was very sweet of her. I can't wait to get home. After a while we arrive. Fauna and Firewall where sitting on the couch. They seem very quite. Flora went in first. "Hey there! We ba... ck... Ow no..." She looks at the screen. Then I walk in. "Did I miss something?" I ask. I didn't hear any greet. Fauna points at the screen. She sounds sad. "Look." I watch, and I felt like I was dying from inside out. We see Friendship City. Its getting attack by the Night March. Buildings burn and we can hear ponies scream. It shows LIVE at the top left corner of the hologram so its happening right now. I drop on my knees. "No... Mom, dad..." The other three try desperately to reach their family or friends back home, but no result. I took my LEC, and did the same. I fail every time as I try to connect. I start to cry as it seems hopeless. "No... WHY?!" I try one last time, but this time, I was in luck. I starts to connect to the intergalactic open network and begins calling... Now hope they pick up. I inform the others. "Its working! Its working!" Fauna looks at me happy. "REALLY?!" They get around me, waiting for a hologram to appear from my LEC. In the meantime, they try to connect to their families as well. Then my hologram activated and the audio started. I see my mom and dad, by the princesses, their fine. "Mom, dad! I'm so happy to see both of you! The cruise, all the ponies, their dead... I... I wanna go home!" My mom and dad seem very emotional. My father speaks. "Stella, by the six your still alive! Your mother and I where fearing the worst... We know what happened and we feel horrible. But sadly you can't come home. Its to dangerous out here." Then my mother speaks. "That also counts for your friends. I'm glad so see your not alone, at least you will have somepony to rely on." Firewall his ears flop down. He knows that means no good. The girls and I don't realize it yet. I finally feel relieved. Everything is gonna be just fine. "So you and dad are leaving the planet, right? On what planet do we meet?" My mother starts to cry. My father has to cry two, but holds it in. He speaks again. "My sweetheart, we're not going anywhere... They are bombing the city down. All the ponies will be shot on sight. Our military is overwhelmed by their numbers and weapons. We're stuck... And we might not..." He takes a short break in the middle of the line. It hurts him to say this. "We WILL not make it... Our government reports that they are doing all they can to take the city back before sunrise, but that is to long... More equestrian troops are moving in, but it will take time for they gain ground. On the bright side, the Night March has to flee our planet soon, they can't stay here for to long. But again, it will be to late for us..." I stomp my hoof on the ground, angry but also crying. "NO! This can't be! You and mom can't die, you're lying!" The twins went to a corner of the room. They need a moment alone to cry for their selves. Firewall tries to keep me calm. "I know... Just calm down." Strangely he didn't had to cry or anything. My mother speaks up. "Know that mom and dad love you, okay sweetie?" I could hear in her voice that she had to cry so badly. I didn't want to hear this, but its reality. "But... Mom!..." My father nods in agreement. "Your mom is right. We love you Stella. You will be always our little girl." tiers roll down my father cheeks. I burst into tears, as I do my farewell. "Farewell mom, dad... I'll miss you!..." I triy to keep most of my crying in. It would be even more painful of them if their daughter would snap in frond of their eyes. "Goodbye, Stella." Said my mother, as she walked closer to turn off the device. But right before she could press the button, enemy fighters start to bomb the neighborhood. Everything around them shakes. The expolotions are getting closer, and my father covers my mother. "HOLD ON HONEY!" And then, it happened. BOOM! with a flash, the call ends. I froze for a few seconds, and then I drop on the ground, I cried like a little filly. Firewall embraces me. "It's not fair... IT'S NOT FAIR! Do we have to lose everything?! Why I ask you, why all this violence." Firewall keeps embracing me. "I don't know, Stella. I don't know..." I embraced him back him back and let it all out. I never cried so hard before in my life. Then the doors open, and the head-stallion walked in. "Listen up, Friendship City has been..." He stopped in the middle of the line, he was to late. The next morning, I woke up. Everything changed... My hole life has bin blown of track. I lost my parents, my home city. Almost everypony I ever knew is gone... At this point, I wish I was dead... As I stood up, I picked up my LEC and start to look at some pictures. It are pictures of me, my mom and dad in Friendship City. Looking at them gives me a warm feeling, but it also makes me feel sad. I cry a bit, then somepony knocked at the door. I wipe my tears away. "Come in!" The door opens, it was Firewall. He walked in and closes the door behind him. He sits down next to me. "He, are you okay?" I shake my head. "No... My parents are dead..." I start to cry again and he hugs me. "I know... I feel horrible for you." After a minute or five of crying, I feel a bit better. And the crying stopped, for now... I looked at him again. "How is it that you aren't sad? You live in Friendship City right? Don't you have family there?" He sighs. "I... Never knew my parents. I was raised in the orphanage. When I was old enough, I moved out and went to live on my own. If I had family in that city, I would have never known them." I was silent for a moment. "Ow... I didn't mean to..." "Its fine, really." He stood up and looked out the window. I notice he wears a green suit. "Hey, where did you get that suit?" He points to the end of the bed. There is a suit there. The same type. "They gave us new suits. It looks nice." I take the suit and wear it. "Ow, its a bit tight." He shakes his head. "Nahh, it's perfect." "So... You know what the plan is? Where are we going?" I ask as I try to bend over to test the suit. Nope, it doesn't rip. He looks away. He doesn't want to see that. "Guiding Light told us that we will be transported to an other planet. He didn't gave any details about which one precisely. But he said that it will be an inhibited mostly by equestrians." I scratch my head. "Who's Guiding Light?" "That's the head-stallion. He's bin very kind to me. I couldn't sleep, so I help him with his work last night. He appreciated it." "So... Shall we get some breakfast?" I ask as I walk to the door. Firewall followed me. "Alright, count me in." We went to the dining table. The sisters where there. For once, Fauna saw me and greed me out loud. We sit down, its total silence. I try to speak with the sisters. "So... How's it going?..." Flora responds, she's clearly broken from inside. "Bad, very bad..." I nod. "Yeah... I also feel horrible..." Fauna doesn't eat or talk. It's better I'll let her alone for now. She looks very angry while at the same moment she cries. Firewall dose what I avoided. "Do you wanna talk, Fauna?" Fauna looks at him, her anger really shows now. "WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU WANT?!" Firewall his hears flop down. "Sorry... I'll leave you alone." She lets her head smack on the table, and cries. Flora pets her on her head. "Sis, please don't cry... It hurts me when I see you like this." Well... There goes my appetite... They did their best trying to make us eat... Look at all the food, there are a few things I didn't see before. Like that... Purple looking banana like thing... Normally I would have asked Flora that it could be, but at the moment its better not to bother her with those questions. The head-stallion walks into the room. He sat down. "Alright. As you all most likely know, your being transported to a safe planet controlled by Equestria. You'll be going to the city of Generosity on the planet Emropia. The mayor of the city will assign all of you to a house. And I have good news, you'll leave in one hour. Go prepare your zelfs. Meet at the main gate, a ship will be waiting there for the four of you. Good luck. All of you will need it." He left. Well, that was clear. Short but strait to the point. I stand up. "Come on guys. Let's go. The soon we're there, the sooner we can start to recover..." I head to my room, the others did the same. Within an hour we walk to the ship. Its pretty big. Its as big as three houses. We took place on board and the ship takes off. We are on our way. Things are different now... We can't go home anymore... There's no turning back... A Legend Returns"Where one life ends, an other begins." - Discord, spirit of chaos and disharmony. ***Chapter 6: A Legend Returns*** It's bin eight hours as we finally enter Emropia's rather purple atmosphere. There hasn't bin mush of talking in that time. As I look out the window I see Generosity. Its a beautiful sight, the city looks so elegant. I love the color combination of the skyscrapers. White with purple and here and there a little bit of blue. Then after a minute we land. I sigh. "Alright guys, we're here." We all stand up. Fauna Looks angry at me and said sarcastic. "No, really?!" I decide to ignore her behavior. She needs some time, that's all. After we take our suitcases with barely anything in it we head to the gate of the ship. As it opens, the light of the nearby star shines on our faces. It blind me a bit. Then I notice something else. There is an whole crowd of ponies standing just outside our ship waiting for us. Some of them have a camera. Journalists? Great. Just what we needed... There is a line of guards holding them back from both sides. Making enough space for us to walk through. There is a unicorn mare with a funny hat and necklace. Its the mayor. Good thing town hall is just a minute away. She speaks. "Just ignore the journalists and follow me. Do not answer any questions if you don't want to answer them. Lets not waste any time, we have lots of things to take care of. My name is Scroll by the way. Welcome to Generosity." As we move forward to town hall, the journalists starte to record us and take photos. Here and there one tries desperately to force their questions onto us. "Stella, Is it true that you and your friends are the only survivors?!" "Firewall, what is the most traumatic thing you saw?!" "What do you all think about the current situation of your home planet?!" Fauna was about to snap, there is to mush pressure on her, I can read if from the body language. Flora tries to cover her sister from the paparazzi. One of the journalists tries his limits... "Fauna, are you worried about your parents?!" That was it. Fauna turns to the journalist and yells right in his face. "Of course I do you dip shit! There is a high chance that both died, now fuck off!" It was silent for a moment, then all the journalists went crazy and bombarded Fauna with questions. I grab Fauna and we all run into town hall and locked the door behind us. Fauna is over stressed. She takes beep breaths. "I can't take this anymore!" She yells. Flora hugs her stressed sister. Mayor Scroll checks all the windows of the current room first before returning back to us. "Sorry about that, but we couldn't force them to leave. That was a public area and they have the right to film there." Flora sits down on a chair. "How did they know we would arrive here anyway? Did somepony at Green Oak flap their lips?" "No, it somehow leaked out. Darn journalists, always lurking down like a group of vultures." Said mayor Scroll as she turns on some lights. Firewall walks to the mayor. "Don't tell me they'll be following us around everywhere we go." "We'll make sure that doesn't happen, now please follow me to my office." Said the mayor as she leads us to her office. This building looks very modern, with the latest teck provided. Here and there I see an employee and some robots walking and floating around. The city looked big, I hope I'll find my place here. Then we arrive at the mayor's office." "Please, take a seat." She said before taking place behind her desk. We sat down, and there we where again, sitting at a desk... I hope that this mayor only brings us good news, we're not waiting for more misery. Mayor Scroll first checks the window on eavesdropping journalists, nopony is there. "I hope the trip here wasn't to long, I bet that you youngsters want some rest, and a place to stay. Luckily, we've got everything covered. Shelter, transport, food, you name it. You will also get protection against the paparazzi. We found a house big enough for four ponies to stay. Is there anything else you kids need?" We shake our heads. "No, ma'am." I answer a bit depressed. The mayor sighs. "Look, everything is gone be better from now on. I promise." Fauna looks at the mayor. "We'll see about that..." Mayor Scroll smiles friendly. "It will. I'll send the code of your new home to your LECs. I'll also send my number if you ever need anything." Our LECs make the familiar peep noise, we received the code and phone number. "My personal driver is waiting outside in a hovercar, he'll bring you all to your new home save and sound. Are there any more questions?" Asks mayor Scroll before checking her window again. Still nothing. "Thank you for you're hospitality Ms. Scroll. We appreciate it." Said Firewall. Scroll nods. "Its fine. Take the back door, its right over there." She pointed to the back door. "And no worries. Journalists aren't allowed back there, its private property. If you need anything, give me a call and I'll see what I can do. See you all around." We stand up and make our way to the hovercar. One more time I turn around. "Thank you." I said to her very satisfied. Mayor Scroll nods. I turn to the door, open it, and we are out. Wow, this is a big garden. There is the driver with the hovercar, waiting. He seems to be asleep. Flora gasps as she sees a blue flower. "Ow my Celestia, they have poison joke here!" Fauna looks at it. "Uhh, its just a blue flower." Flora shakes her head. "Its not just any blue flower, its one of the few flowers they managed to save after Old Earth's fetal attack." I'm curious. "And why are they called poison joke?" Flora smiles. She forgot about everything for a moment. "Good question. They have poison on them that plays a practical joke on you if you touch them. For example: I'm not mush of a talker, so to poison would maybe force me to speak, ALLOT. More then needed. The only way to cure it is to take an herbal bath." "A herbal bath? That most smell horrible. I think I'll walk around that little flower." Said Firewall before continuing his way to the hovercar avoiding the poison joke. We also continued our way to it. As we got there, we try to open the doors. Locked... I knock on the driver's window, and he woke up. He sees us and unlocked the doors. We load our suitcases in the trunk and enter the hovercar. "Sorry for that, I fingered out that it would take some time before you would arrive, so I took an nap." Said the driver. Flora nods. "It's alright. Nice hovercar by the way." "Thank you." Said the driver before starting the engine. The hovercar start to hover, of course. Why wouldn't it? The driver checks everything and then talks again. "I'll take the shortest route I know, you'll be at your new home in no time." "That would be great." I respond. He begins to hover to our new home. This gives me the opportunity to view this city from up close. I notice they have tons of activities. And what are those?... Cloud houses? That's pretty cool. Classic Pegasi architecture between these modern buildings. I will take a look around soon, but first I have to get everything ready in our new home. By The Six, I wish I could go back to Friendship City, but it's to dangerous right now... And even when the enemy leaves again, the city has to be rebuild first. And mom, dad... I'll revenge them somehow, some day! For all the ponies who have died. On the cruise AND within the city. The driver stops. "Here it is, your now home. Go ahead and enter, its all yours." "Thank you for the lift, Sir." Said Firewall. We get out and take our suitcases from the trunk. "My pleasure. I'll head back now, Ms. Scroll probably has a new task for me. Later, kids." He hovers further. We walk to the house. "Well, here we are." I said as we arrive at the door. "Lets go in, I need some time to think." Said Flora sad. I take my LEC, that's still damaged, and used it to open the door. It works and we got access. We go in and then I heard a familiar voice. "Welcome to your new home, everypony. My name is ISA, your very own Intelligent Self-Controlled Assistent. You can ask me everything, there is almost nothing I can not do." They have to same computer assistent system as the one I had in Friendship City. She sounds the same, but its not her. She reminds me a bit of home... She starts to give us tips right away. "To improve the security, I advice that all of you scan your eye into the system. That way you don't have to take out your LEC every time if you need to proceed with something important. Like entering the house." "Good idea." I said and start to scan in my eye right away. FLASH. "Ouch! That's bright!" "Scan complete. Any others who want their eye to be scanned in?" Asks ISA as she holds her scanner ready. "I'll pass for now. Remind me tomorrow." Said Firewall as he starts looking for a room to claim. Flora agrees with him. "Yeah, same here. Me and Fauna are going to look for rooms. I should do the same if I where you, Stella." I nod. "Yeah, your right." I head upstairs and started looking. I see that Firewall already claimed a room, it has a small holovision. That was fast. I guess he's not that picky. I open a random door and the lights went on. I see two separated beds. This is perfect for Fauna and Flora. It also has a holovision with a nice view on the city. "Hey, Fauna, Flora! I found the perfect room for both of you." Both walk in. Fauna looks around. "Yeah, I can live with this. You Flora?" Flora agreed. "Fine by me. Just do not take a coltfriend to SLEEP with to our room when I'm home..." Fauna rolls her eyes. "Okay, will do." "Ow, and Stella. You might wanna see the room next to this one. I bet you'll like it." Said Flora as she starts to unpack her stuff. I nod. "Okay, thanks for the tip." I walk out and went to the room next to that one. I enter and couldn't believe what I see. "Ow... My... Luna... Is that a Equestrian light lazer canon against the wall?!" Fauna responds from the other room. "Yep. Its probably disabled, but we knew you would like it." "This canon used to belong to an Equestrian stealth scout of the X40 series. A small space ship, smaller then a fighter, meant for quick exploring before battle or patrols. I recognize the shape and everything. This is so awesome." I start to fan girl. "Somepony is nerding out." Said Firewall with a teasing tune in his voice. I giggle a bit. "Such you." Then I close my door and started to unpack my stuff. Or, what's left of it... After a while when everything is set, I look at the saddle pack which Pink Wrench gave me. Kind lady. I open it and took the necklace I left in there to keep safe. I lay down on the bed levitating the necklace above me and inspecting it. Why was this down there? It doesn't make any sense... I was planning to bring it to the Old Earth museum in Friendship City, but I guess with the attack I'll stick to it a bit longer. Then I look left, and saw a mirror. I wonder, would it fit me?... I stood up and walk to the mirror. I hanged it around my neck. Not bad actually. It looks pretty good. Then, something strange happened... The purple gem starts to glow. I get scared and take it off. What was that?... Magic? I hang it around my neck once more, and it glows again. Okay, this is strange... This never happened before in my life. Is this necklace cursed or something? I try to use my magic on it, to see what would happen. Nothing. So, this necklace glows, without any reason?... Yes, its pretty, but what is the use to it? Ow well. I inspect the necklace a bit more. Then I hear a mare's voice coming from behind me. "Okay, please do not freak out." I freeze, I didn't hear that voice ever before. It can't be Fauna pulling pranks on me, she's with Flora in the room next of here. Slowly I turn around. I saw nothing. "W-what?... Where are you?! Show your self! You know that breaking into someponies property without permission is illegal, right?! are you one of the bloody journalists!" The voice of the mare sounds very close, yet I can't see her. "No, I'm not. Please calm down, I mean no harm." "We'll see about that... Come out and stop hiding. Or I'll call the watchbots!" The mare sighs. "Lets make a deal. I'll reveal myself and you stay calm, okay?" I'm getting annoyed by this idiot. Who the actual fudge dose the think she is?! "Fine, I'll stay calm. Now come out." A ball of purple light appears in front of me. I freak out and walk backwards. The ball makes a flash, and there she is... The mare. She's a purple unicorn with classic golden Equestrian armor. Why is she transparent? "Okay, what kind of magic is this?... Do you think I would fall for it?" The mare walks closer. "What do you think? Its the magic of friendship." I laugh. "Your so fake. This necklace is to funny. Who cursed this thing?" The mare looks annoyed. "I'm more real them you think, Stella Sparks..." She unfolds her... wings? Hold up... She's an alicorn?.... Wait... No, can't be... Is she? No! That's impassible. "Who are you?" I asked suspicious. She smiles. "My name is Twilight Sparkle. Princess of friendship and the element of magic." I shake my head. "Your lying. How do I even know your real, and if you're speaking the truth..." She uses her magic and my LEC goes crazy. Making allot of strange noises, and showing weird texts. I look at it, it is creeping me out. "OKAY OKAY... So you're real... But ARE you the princess? I don't believe you, proof it." The mare who claims to be the princess of friendship her self thinks for a moment. Then she has a plan. "Here is something only you and I would know.' She repeats the riddle that was written on that stone door in the temple. "Before you may enter these halls, you have to answer our calls. For what's beyond this gate, may contain your fate. Only he or she, with an hart of gold, can answer this riddle, the legends of old. Moments came, and moments past. But there's one thing that ever lasts. In life we laugh, in life we cry. Together we stand, never we die. The magic will light our way, even through the darkest day. As long the magic shines in our harts, not even the death can drive us apart. For this magic stays by your side. As long as you follow,-" I finish it. "And stay in its light..." I'm amazed. How in the entire universe dose she know?! Wait... "So... you're... You are Twilight Sparkle..." She nods. "Holy shit! I mean, uhh... Chips. Pardon me princess." I bow immediately. "Ow, there is no need for that. Please, call me Twilight." She said modest. Its her, its truly her! This is awesome! An alicorn princess is here, and she's talking... TO ME! "I can't believe you're truly here. Where have you bin all that time? Everypony thinks you died over two thousand years ago." Twilight rubs her neck and then looks at me. "Uhh, heheh... About that... Let's just that's somehow completely true..." I raise a eyebrow. "What? Do you mean you're... Dead?" Twilight laughs a bit nervous and uneasy. "I died in the year 2088 at an age of 108." I took a good look at her and think for a moment. "So you like, what... A ghost?..." Twilight nods again. "A spirit to be exactly." I turn pile as I realize I've bin talking to a ghost or... Spirit in this case. Before I knew I fall to my side and became unconscious. After a while I woke up. I see Fauna, Flora and Firewall standing around me. "Stella! What happened?" Asked Flora concerned. Firewall helps me on my hooves. "We heard a loud bonk so we came to check it out. Then we found you unconscious. How did that happen?" I look around. Twilight is gone? Then I see that the necklace on the floor, it most have fallen off when I went unconscious. They most be connected somehow. I look at the others. "I... Didn't feel well. But everything is fine now I guess." Firewall scratches his head. "Are you sure? Not feeling dizzy or anything?" I smile. "No, really. I'm okay." Flora seems relieved. "Good. Don't scare us like that, okay?" Firewall and Flora left the room. Fauna doesn't leave yet. She looks at me. "With who where you talking?" Shit, she heard us... "What? How do you mean?" She rolls her eyes. "Come on, I heard you talk when I walked past your door. Who was here?" Ow no... I can't tell her, at least not yet. Not until I find out what this all means. "I... Was talking to myself. Yes, to my self! I do that sometimes." I give her a fake smile, hoping she would fall for it. Fauna looks at me for a moment, hesitatingly. "Okay then." She also left. As soon as she is out of sight I quickly grab the necklace. This is getting interesting. I have to talk to her again, but not here. The others might get on to me. Especially Fauna. I have so many questions, and I want answers. I start to think. Where can I talk to her and not be interrupted? I know! A basement. But do we have one? "ISA, do we happen to have a basement?" "We do, Ms. Stella. The entrance can be found underneath the staircase on the first floor." "Thank you, ISA." I said and I head to the entrance and enter it. I make sure the door is locked. Its dark in here... I try to turn on a light, but its broken. Great... I take my LEC and try to use that as licht, but the flashlight on it seems to be dead. I really gotta let this be repaired. With all the other options out of the way, I use my magic to light up the basement. That's better. This basement is dirty, not a big surprise. I hang the necklace around me yet again. The gem starts to glow and Twilight appears again. She looks guilty. "I'm sorry. It was to mush to take in, was it? You have to understand, I had no other way to bring it, otherwise you wouldn't have believed me." I got exited. "Its fine, I understand. I just have so many questions. I don't know where to start... How are you linked to this necklace?" "Have you ever heard of the elements of harmony?" She asks. I nod. "Of course I did, they told me everything at school. There once where six ponies, each one of them representing an element. Loyalty, honesty, kindness, laughter, generosity and magic. These ponies where the ancient protectors of Equestria, including you. I guess I don't have to tell what they did exactly. I mean, you where there." Twilight looks at me, wondering. "That seems to be right so far. But do you know HOW we became elements?" I nod again. "You, and the other five, received their powers while fighting off Nightmare.... Nightmare......" Twilight helps me out. "Nightmare Moon?" "Exactly! You, Twilight Sparkle found the true value of friendship. At that moment the inner elements got unlocked and Nightmare Moon was defeated." Twilight shakes her head. "Not completely true. You see. That necklace your wearing. What if I told you that the gem on it actually is the element of magic. Same thing with the other elements." I'm amazed yet again. "No way!... So this necklace, is the ACTUAL element of magic? No way! But that doesn't explain why I'm able to see you." Twilight sits down on a rusty old chair. "That's because from the moment me and the others wore the necklaces for the first time, it bounded to us. It magically attached itself to our souls. So when we died, our souls went to the afterlife, but yet still kept existing here, within the elements." I get inpatient. "Again, what has this to do with me seeing you?" Twilight raises her hoof, signing me to hold up. "I'm not done talking yet." She continues. "From the moment we died, everypony thought that we where gone forever. So they kept our elements save in Canterlot Castle on what you call Old Earth. The elements changed form that day. Instead of six necklaces, it tuned into one. With the gems as some kind of puzzle. One day an old night pony psychic visited Canterlot Castle named Nightfall the Mysterious. She told about a vision she had about the elements. A prophecy. That one day he or she, with an heart of gold would rise and serve as the bridge for the six to return to the world of the living and so stop the evil that's growing within the darkness. Many have tried to serve as this bridge, but all of them failed. But you, Stella Sparks. You are the one." I sit down on a old broken couch. "Hold up... What you're trying to tell me is that I'm that pony the prophecy told about and that its MY FATE to bring you and the other five back to live and stop the Night March from taking over the entire universe?..." Twilight sighs. "We're not coming back to life, Stella. That's why we need somepony to be our bridge. Without you, the Wielder, there won't be any return anytime soon. We will remain spirits. Even in the world of the living." I... I don't know what to think anymore... Is this all real? Am I dreaming this? Did the recent event mess up my mind? Maybe I'm just seeing things... " Won't be anytime soon, but you're here right? Your literary sitting here with me in this basement at this very moment." "Not exactly." She said as she takes off her head piece of the armor she's wearing. "Right now, I'm only able to speak and be seen by the Wielder of the elements, that's you. I'm also able to manipulate some electronic devices a little bit, like I did to your LEC earlier. But that takes allot of energy. When the element is not worn, I'm able to hear any conversations that are happening around it. That's how I know most of the things I'm telling you now, and I found stuff out myself. I'm kinda stuck between the afterlife and the world of the living everytime we talk. Kinda like I'm halfway through." I'm staring to understand it now. "What's has to be done to get you fully back into this world? Your spirit that is." She stands up. "We most find the other elements in order to make me, AND my friends to return." That raises a few questions. "Hey, where are your friends anyway? Aren't they supposed to be with you? Why aren't their gems on this thing?" Twilight looks at her element, then back at me. "As long you do not wield their elements you won't be able to speak or see them. When the Night March attacked, and the ponies fled Old Earth they took the elements with them. But with no Wielder they where afraid the Night March would find out about the prophecy and might try to destroy the elements. So they took the elements apart, and hidden it throughout the hole galaxy. All six at an other location. Hidden in secret places. so secret, I don't even know the locations of them." This seems impossible, but I want to know more before judging. "Can't you just go back to the afterlife and ask your friends where their elements are?" Twilight sighs again. "I wish they could. But like me, they have no idea to what planet their element was send. And finding them is another problem. The ponies back them did their best to keep unwanted ponies away from it, so be careful." Now everything makes sense. But WHAT dose she expect from me?... "So, long story short... I'm the so called Wielder. I have to bring back The Six from the afterlife, and stop the Night March from take over everything. BUT in order to do that I have to find all elements. go through all corners or the galaxy. probably run into tons of danger, and having a high risk of getting killed almost everywhere I go by ponies who want this power for them selfs OR destroy it. Correct?" Twilight doesn't like the tune in my voice. "Uhh, yes... You've making it sound very bad." "Well, I'm sorry for not picking this up the positive way princess. But this doesn't sound like an job that just an everyday pony can accomplish. What do you expect me to do out there? Smack that Night March scum on the head with my bare hooves? I never held a gun before in my life. How am I supposed to defend my self against an evil so great that its actually getting close of total domination of the entire galaxy and maybe even beyond!" Twilight's ears flop down. "Listen, Stella. I know, and I'm sorry. I ask allot of you, and it may seem impossible now but I have fait in you. There are some ponies I know who might be still alive who can help you out but you have to trust me. Without you all hope is lost and there won't be ANYTHING left that stands in their way of total domination. I beg you with all the good of my heart. Please do the right thing." She starts to bow down to me. The princess of freaking friendship just bowed down... TO ME!... Now I feel guilty... I think for a moment and sigh. "Alright, I'll consider it alright? Give me one intergalactic day to decide, I have to think about this." Twilight seems to have respect for that. "Okay, I see the logic in that. But not more then one day, alright? Everyday that passes is a step closer to victory for the Night March. Till that time, bye Stella. When you made your discussion, wear the necklace again. And I'll accept whatever you may decide. No hard feelings what so ever. Good luck." "Bye." I said as I take off the necklace. I can't believe what just happened... The Wielder, afterlife, elements... I... I have to think. ALLOT. From all the ponies out there... Why me? I'm not that special. I'm just me. I make my way up again to my room. I lay on my bed thinking what I should do next. If I won't help Twilight the galaxy is as good as lost. If I accept her task I might die in thousands of horrible ways... The more I think about it the more pressure I get. Stress is building up, and I start to feel like shit again. Great... I just wish this all was over. Like an dream that ends. Waking up in my warm bed at home. But sadly that's not the case... Celestia, why me?...
IntroductionIts the year 4326, our galaxy is wrapped within an bloody intergalactic war between the Night March, an nation full of cruel night ponies and type A changelings who stand for power and who wishes to control the whole universe. And the Harmonial Alliance, multiple civilizations who work together for the good of us all. This all started in 2750, when the night ponies and changelings decided to work together to gain power and enough strength to attack the other nations on Old Earth. Back then it was the home planet to most of the nations, filled with the wonders and history of Old Equestria and the lessons the The Six had brought us now more then 2000 years ago. Sadly, not everypony took their words for gold... The Night March started to use horrible weapons on the planet in the year 2762. Ozone Drills, making the planet lose the needed oxygen for plants and creatures to survive. And Core Melters, making the core overheating resulting it to expand and roast the planet. When those two nukes fell and exploded. One in the air and one within the planets core, everything began to die, slowly. It took 3 days before it got to an critical level where everything that was left burned alive or drop dead from the lack of oxygen. Luckily, most of the inhibitors got evacuated in time. Sadly, not everypony had the same luck... For 33% of the planet's population help didn't arrive in time... Forced away from their own home planet the nations had to find new ground to stand on. The zebras and saddle arabians decided to go for their own, hoping they could become a neutral party to step out of the war and remain out of conflict under the name: U.I.T.A, the United Independent Trading Alliance. The remaining and weakened nations of the Harmonial Alliance recolonized on a planet not that different from Old Earth. In memorial of Old Earth and The Six they called their new home planet: Harmony. As years went by and ages went on all the nations claimed more planets and space, making the war even more complicated. Now a period in time has come that the Night March and the Harmonial Alliance didn't attack one another in 20 years of what supposed to be an temporary peace trade for 1 month. Finally a full generation could grow up within peace and harmony without having to constantly live in fear. And hopefully, many after that. The galaxy is finally at peace, but for how long?... Author's Note I decided to set my work on FIMfiction. I hope you all enjoy! ;) What you see here and the nest upcoming 3 chapters come from my Wattpad account. It all belongs to me and I didn't copy anything from anybody else. I wanted to make that clear before anybody would judge me for stealing. When ever I upload a chapter on Wattpad it will also be uploaded to FIMfiction that same moment. So no worries, you will be able you enjoy the full story here if you wish. Link: https://www.wattpad.com/story/63300735-legend-of-the-six-the-beginning Thank you for reading! Now, go! BE FREE! \o/
College Cruise"As time goes on, and the memories of the ancient world fade into darkness. An new era dawns." - Professor Brainpower. ***Chapter 1: College Cruise*** Its 09:00 in the morning as ISA our very own Intelligent Self-Controlled Assistant wakes me up with the radio just as I told her to do. "Good morning Friendship City! Wakey wakey, its 9:00 on a sunny day in our beautiful capital of Equestria! You're listening to Radio Galaxy FC. I'm Update and next to me, Live Hearts." "Thank you for introducing me, Update. There is allot going on today in Friendship City. The grand opening of the Old Earth Museum is happening today on Celestial Main Street at 12:00 afternoon exactly, be sure to be there. They'll be showing Old Earth exhibits like antique furniture and the first version of the mobile phone device. I know what I'll be doing after work." "Sounds very interesting, Hearts. Also, FC College has a two week space cruise planned for all their students after the exams last week. They'll be on a five stars Space Cruiser with all the activities you can imagine. Hoofball, sauna, disco. Heck, it even has its own swimming pool! I must say, these kids really deserve it. I've bin in their position, brain melting." "Wow, I wish I could be on board my self." "Same here, Hearts. To be honest, I'm a bit jealous. Why can't I get a fancy trip on cost of this studio? I want to speak my manager, immediately." "Update, you do realize we do not have a manager, right?" "Ow, well. At least I've got an beautiful face! That is something nopony can take away from me. Right, Hearts?" "Mah, I've seen better." "... Well... Uhh... We'll be right back after these messages..." I stand up and go to wash myself. On my way to the shower ISA starts to talk to me. As usual a screen moves down from the sealing following me. On the screen is a line that moves as ISA talks. "Good morning Ms. Stella. My sensors confirm you slept well last night. Are you ready for your cruise?" She asked with a friendly robotic female voice. "Morning ISA. Yes, I'm more then ready for the cruise. Two weeks on a vacation with my fellow students and friends. It will be awesome! And yes, I had an good sleep. Thanks for asking." I said to her polite as I keep walking. Its strange to have a conversation like this with a robot. But robot or not, they deserve respect. "That's wonderful! Anything I can do to make it easier for you, Ms. Stella?" Asks ISA. "Well... If you would prepare some breakfast for me it would spare me allot of time." I said as I enter the bathroom and lock the door behind me. ISA responds from behind the door. "On my way Ms. Stella. Don't forget to say your parents goodbye when you leave. I'm sure they would like that." "I will ISA, don't worry." I take an nice warm shower. I look in the mirror and see myself. Purple coat, cyan mane and tail, pink eyes. And of course a few freckles on my cheeks. After that, I dry my self up, brush my teeth, jump into my uniform, take my LEC Device which stands for: Life, Entertainment, Care. Put it in my pocket and went downstairs. By Celestia, I love my LEC Device! It makes everything so easy. Watch a movie, play a game, call somepony, weather, news, check my own health, I can even pay with it. And that all for a flat small rectangle. Its kinda like those old mobile phones I read about in books, but way more advanced. Its nothing special. Almost everypony has one. I arrive in the living room. I saw my pegasus mother, but I didn't see my father who is also a pegasus. "Morning pa, morning ma." I said. "Morning sweetheart. Ready for your trip?" Asks my mother. "I sure am! I'm so exited. I already packed my stuff and loaded it on my hovermoter." "Alright, good. Just be sure to leave in time." Responds my mother. "No problem. I'm gonna go check on dad. He didn't respond to my hi yet." I walked to the holovision room, my father is there most of the times. Logical, he works as a shipper so when he's home he needs some relaxation. I enter. The news was on. "In other news: The tension between the Harmonial Alliance and the Night March has risen once again. After 20 years of silent peace the treat of war has climbed to high levels once again. Emperor Mendax has announced that their troops are ready for battle. The Harnonial Alliance takes the warnings seriously and brought the military to the highest state of alertness." My father seems worried, and so am I now that I know this. Anyway, I came to say hi, so. "Uhh, dad?..." He turns hid head, once he noticed me he quickly turns the holovision off. "Ow, uhh... Hi. How is my little girl?" I rolled my eyes. Not in an angry or irritated way. I know he's just teasing me. "I'm not a little girl anymore dad. I'm 20." He laughs a bit. "To me, you will always be my little girl." I giggle. "Sure I am. Hey, what was that all about on the holovisin?" My father rubs his neck. "Ow, nothing to worry about... Come on, lets have our last breakfast together for the upcoming two weeks." We go to the dining table where my mother is waiting. ISA is making breakfast with her controllable robot body in the form of an earth pony. This model has a bonus, it has a movable mouth. Smells good, she's making pancakes. She knows I love those. Most be because I will be gone for two weeks. Its cool that for a robot she is actually good at reading emotions and stuff. Guess that is just how she's programmed. "There you are. Come, sit down. ISA's pancakes are almost done." Said my mother as she yawns a bit. Me and my father sat down. "Are you sleepy?" I asks to my mother. "There was something on the holovision yesterday night that I just had to see." Responds my mother. ISA walks to the table with the robot and sets the pancakes on the table. "Here you go. You all enjoy, I'll start cleaning the house." She said and goes to work. My father stares after ISA's robot body. "Am I the only one who finds it a bit creepy that ISA always stays so friendly even when you insult her?" He asks whispering. I took it up for ISA. "He, be nice to her. She dose almost all the shores for us." "Its just a machine, watch." My father turned to ISA. "ISA, I touched your moms hard drive. She was bagging me to press her buttons over and over again." ISA turns around and responds: "Thank you sir. Now tell me, was that before of after I found a site called igw.milkmares.eq in your browse history?" She asks with a warming voice. Me and my mother spit out a peace of pancake and are laughing our flanks off. My father is amazed and had his mouth wide open. ISA walks to him and offers him a drink. "Coffee, Mr. Glide?" She asks. My father accepts it and ISA went back. "I'll be honest. I didn't expect that one... These robots keep getting more advanced after every upgrade." "You shouldn't have insulted her." Said my mother giggling. I laugh a bit more. "I told you to be nice to her." Now my father had to laugh two. "Alright. I deserved it. So Stella, have any things in mind your going to do on that fancy cruise?" "Well. I heard they have some spaceship simulators on board. I will totally try that out. I just can't wait until I can FINALLY begin my education for becoming a pilot. The speed, the moves, the amazing looking spaceships! Thinking about it makes my heart beat faster. Now that I finally finished this year of college I can start next year on the military academy in New Canterlot." "I know Stella, but don't forget the stallions at the cruise." Said my mother. My father quickly speaks before I could respond. "No stallions!" "Ow, come on Glide. She can just talk to them right? You where young once two, remember that time?" My mother asks to him. My father crosses his front hooves. "Fine... But only talk! Do not wave your flank around..." "No worries about that, I'll behave. Its not that I'm some sort of MILKMARE." I laugh when I said that, and my mother two. My father facehooves. "I'm gonna hear this for a looong time..." he said. "Your welcome Mr. Glide." Adds ISA with a friendly tune in her robotic voice. I look at my LEC Device for the time and I jump up. "Ow, fudge!" From all the laughing I lost track of time. "I'm gonna be late!" I said as I hug my parents. "Bye mom, bye dad. I'll miss both of you!" "We will two sweetheart." Said my mother. "Just be careful, alright?" Adds my father. "I will, Pinkie Swear! Bye ISA." "Goodbye Ms. Stella. Have fun!" I quickly took an pancake in my mouth, ran outside and jump on my hovermotor and start the solar engine. I head towards the dock where the cruise is located on the west side of the city. On my way I realize how silly it looks to have a pancake sticking out of your mouth flapping in the wind on a hovermotor. I try to bite a of a small piece, and it worked. What I didn't overlook is that pancake slips away from me and lands right in the face of an unsuspecting earth pony male with an SLAP! I looked back at him and yelled: "Sorry!" Normally I would stop, but I'm kinda short in time... Note to my self: Pancakes and hovermotors do not mix. I'm totally speeding right now, but I don't care. I must be in time for the cruise. let's just hope watchbots wont catch me while doing it. After hovering for 10 minutes I finally arrive at the dock. And boy, I don't believe what I see. A spaceship two times as big as my school. That is the cruise I'll be on in a few moments. I park my hovermotor, make sure it could not move anymore, take my stuff and walk to the entrance of the space cruiser. There is a Pegasus male asking your name and checking a list. I went in line. Strange, I was expecting a bigger line. Must be because I'm a bit later. I really hope that not all the good rooms are taken yet. Finally it is my turn. "Name?" He asks. "Stella Sparks." I respond. "Yep, your on the list. Go on right in Ms. Sparks. You are assigned to room B103, you can pick up your code for your room at the help deck. Its not a big room, but hey, it has a holovision." "Thank you." I move on, and enter the cruise. There are allot of students on the main deck. ponies, griffins, crystal ponies, some buffalo, yaks, type B changelings and a very few naturians. I gotta find my friends, but first I take that room. I think that the help desk might be located in the main lobby. One way to find out. I followed a sign that tells me to take the floatpad in a glass tube down that was located on the deck. I press button with the word lobby on it. As I go down I see the lobby. It looks so modern and big. The help desk is in the center of the lobby. I arrive at the lobby floor. The door opens. I step off the floatpad and go to the desk. "Hello. My name is Stella Sparks. I'm assigned to room B103 if I'm correct?" There is a unicorn mare behind the desk, she looks into her computer. "Ah, yes. Ms. Sparks. I'll send you the code to your LEC." She sends the code, and I heard a beep confirming that I received it. "Your room is on the second floor on the left side in sector B. Have fun and enjoy your stay." She gives a warm smile. I smile certified. "Thank you." I said and once again enter the floatpad. I go to the second floor and turned left into sector B. It takes a while, but I found my room. I walk to the door, use my LEC to make contact with the door, open it and walk into the room. I'll be staying for the upcoming two weeks. Ow! It smells like roses in here. I like the decorations, And by Luna. like the stallion said. A holovision! A big one. Score! I start to unpack my stuff. Luckily I'm not that type of mare that packs to many things she doesn't need. Only the items I truly need. After 10 minutes I'm ready to go, now I have to find my friends. The cruise shakes a bit, it takes off. I hear students cheer. I take my LEC Device and start calling Fauna and Flora, my best friends. They're both earth pony, yellow coat, orange mane, tail and eyes. The only difference is that Flora has glasses. Fauna picked up. "Hello, Fauna here. Sub?" "Hey Fauna! With me, Stella. I'm on board of the cruise. Where are you?" Fauna gasps. "Finally! I was wondering if you still would show up. I'm at the cafe with my sis Flora. Be fast, before we get drunk and wander off!" I'm silent for a moment. "... Uhh... Why would you get drunk?" "Because reasons. Are you coming?" "Okay. But just don't overdo the booze." I said calm. "Ow, alright. We will drink with caution." "See you soon." I hang up. Then I walk out of my room, lock the door, scan my eye into the door pad's system and I'm ready to go. A male robotic voice sounds from the door pad. "Door locked. If you wish to enter your room again, please connect your LEC Device BEFORE scanning your eye. Otherwise the door wont open. This is because of our bubble lock system. Or you can disable the dubbel lock simply by asking me so you only have to scan your eye on entering." "Alright. Thanks for the heads up." I said. The door gives a responds. "Your welcome Ms. Sparks." I follow the signs to the cafe, and arrive. There I see them. The twin sisters Fauna and Flora. I wave at then. Flora waves calm back while Fauna yells. "HEY! WE'RE OVER HERE!" The hole cafe looks at her, I need to giggle. Typical Fauna. I walk to them and sat down on the round table they where sitting at. "Hey girls! Enjoying your self's?" I ask. Fauna slides a glass of apple cider towards me. "The heck we are! And we will even more once we enter the disco. Woooo! FC College, yeah!" Fauna is always full of energy. I truly wonder how she keeps it up like that. Flora on the other hoof is very calm. "So, Flora. Your also enjoying it?" Flora shrugs. "I think so." Fauna turns to Flora. "Pfff, please. I tried to set you up with an stallion one hour ago but you didn't even hit on him." "But Fauna. He wasn't even my type." Responds Flora "So? You don't have to stay with him. Ever heard of one night stand?" Said Fauna as she watches an stallion walks by. "I don't believe in one night stands." Said Flora. "Have it your way. I'm not the one who ends up with a desert at her back side." Said Fauna bitchy. Flora rolled her eyes. I try to keep this a pleasant day. "Girls, lets just enjoy this, alright? We're on vacation! Just relaxing on this 5 stars cruise while staring at the stars. This is something that only happens once in a lifetime." "Your right. Sorry Flora, It wasn't nice of me to say that." Flora smiles softly. "Already forgiven." "Hey, lets go to the disco. I wanna party hard!" Offers Fauna. I nod. "That's fine by me. Are you ready Flora?" Flora looks insecure. "Uhh... Okay. But don't leave me alone even for one minute. I feel insecure around many ponies." I look at her. "No worry, Flora. Fauna and me will stick onto you like glue." "Lets go then. PARTY HARD!!!" Said Fauna loud. She pays the bill of 7 Credits with her LEC and we go to the disco. We are at the disco. We've bin here for a while, but it doesn't get boring. It most be getting night by now. The music they play is just awesome! "Isn't this music sick or not!?" Said Fauna while twerking. I nodded. "Yeah, its cool and.... Umm, Fauna. I believe your dragging attention." I see three stallions staring at her ass. Fauna looks behind her and sees the stallions. "Ow, I know. I just don't mind." She Smacks her own flank. The three stallions look very dreamy. Flora facehooves. "Here we go again..." She said. I don't know why, but at the moment Fauna slaps her own flank for those stallions I start to blush. I shake my head. "Well. You sure like to use your body, do you?" Fauna nods. "Yep! Speaking of my body, it needs a drink. I'll be right back. Fauna's body, out!" She goes to get a drink. Flora and I keep on dancing in a less seductive way as Fauna did. Then I hear somepony asking my attention. "Excuse me, could you help me?" I turn around. It is a cute earth pony stallion. "Sure, what up?" "Do you happen to know where the library is?" He seems very polite. "I do. Go to the third floor on the right side. From there, just follow the signs." "Thank you. Nice dance moves by the way." He walks off. Heh, he liked my dancing. He is handsome. I turn back to Flora, only to discover that one of the three stallions is harassing her. "Come on babe, I know you can't resist me." Flora looks away. "I already said no... Now please, leave me alone." The Pegasus stallion does not stop. "Come on babe, don't play hard to get on me. Just give me a taste of your body." "N-no... Go away!" Flora is clearly not interested, but the stallion keeps going, getting more intimidating. "Come on, you'll like it." He takes her hoof and starts pulling her away. "No, wait!" Flora tries to get free. I run to him and pull Flora loose. I am furious. "She said no you creep. Now go away before I rip your dick off with my freaking magic and report your behavior to the watchbots!" The stallion doesn't look to happy but my response scares him off. He left the disco. I check if Flora was okay, I feel very guilty. "Are you alight? I'm sorry. I turned away from you. Did he touch you somewhere?!" Flora looks down. "This is why I rather avoid places like this... He touched my behind so I looked back. Then he started to talk to me in that horrible way..." "Okay, we're getting out of here. This is clearly not the best place for you." Fauna returns. "I'm back." She saw that Flora looked sad. her face went serious. "What happened?" "An creep was harassing Flora. We're going to her room for the rest of the evening. Your free to join us." Fauna nods. "I'm coming with you. But what did that stallion do, Flora?" Flora sighs. "It was one of the stallions you where seducing. The black one with red mane and tail. First he touched my ass to get my attention... Then he tried to talk me into bed. When I kept refusing he got more intimidating and started to pull me away. Stella noticed it just in time and scared him off..." "I'm sorry... That was my fault. Lets go, before more of those creeps show up." "Yeah. Lets go." I said and we go to Flora's room to round up the night. I stayed there till 03:00 at night, said bye and then went to my own room. I use my LEC, scanned my eyes and walked in. "Welcome back, Ms. Sparks." Said that male robot voice. I yawn. "Hi there..." "I can read from your face that you're tired. I advice that you get some sleep." I rub my eyes. "Yeah, I was thinking the same. Good night." I said to the robot voice, take off my clothes and head to my bed to get sleep. "Good night, Ms. Sparks." He turns the lights off.
The Meltdown"War... War never changes." - King Sentium of the Frozen Kingdom. ***Chapter 2: The Meltdown*** I'm sleeping, but then I get woken up by something... Something that makes allot of noise. I don't know what, but is seems to be over. I look on my LEC, it is 5:37. I turn around, and close my eyes. It's probably nothing. But then, I hear a loud explosion. Everything around me shakes. I got startled and get up in my bed. Not 5 seconds after that the alarm starts to sound and all the lights go on. I start to hear laser cannons. I look out the window. I see an Night March star explorer firing at us. The cruise fires back, but our weapons, 4 simple space trash busters are nothing compared to their rapid fire zappers, laser cannons and controllable rockets. Then there is the fact that they are protected by an magical shield. My heart started to beat fast. I feel scared, more then I ever did before. "Shit!" I yell and jump out of bed and quickly put on my college suit. I hear other ponies panic. The male robotic voice starts to speak. "Attention. This is WaSP speaking. The Watchbot Steering Program. This spaceship your currently are located on is under attack by an potential enemy or is under friendly fire. Please remain calm and take your LEC Device with you for possible evacuation. DO NOT start to pack all your stuff. This WILL slow you down and result in you losing time you probably need to escape. DO NOT attempt to leave your room just yet. That could result into chaos and definitely slow you down. DO NOT try to open doors who have the red alarm light activated. This could mean that on the other side is a fire, or there is a hole that caused the pressure to fall away. The captain will speak to you any moment and give your further instructions. I repeat, stay calm at all times." I knoe WaSP just told us to be calm, but I was everything but calm. I take my LEC and walk to the window and see that some parts of the ship are on fire. There are some holes to. Sadly, I'm not able to see if there are any fires near my room... Or holes. I take a deep breath to calm myself and wait for the captain's words. Then, after a minute, the captain starts to speak. "Attention, this is your captain speaking. We ARE under attack by an enemy spaceship of the Night March. Just like WaSP just said, stay calm, this is not a drill. Everypony is instructed to take their LEC Device, leave their rooms and follow the watchbots to the main lobby. Once in the lobby, staff will give you further instructions in how to leave the cruise safely. Calling help from the outside is a no go. The enemy ship is sending out a signal that blocks any from of communication on our side. Again, stay calm and follow the instructions. This is not a drill." I shake on my legs, I'm so scared. I keep thinking about my family. Even worse then dying is knowing they will have to live on without me. My mom and dad... They would be heart broken. Terrified I step out of my room. All the students who have an room within the same hall stand outside. I look into their eyes. I see the same fear. Then a watchbot starts to speak. "Everypony, follow me to the main lobby for evacuation. Form a line and stay calm. The watchbots have anything under control. Please, do not use any floatpads. They may show some errors in situations like these." Everypony does as told, still in panic but luckily nopony is running around like a hyperactive squirrel. As we move on there are some rooms with the alarm light on. Its scary. did those ponies made it out?... We hear and feel a gigantic explosion. Then we hear some alarming news. WaSP speaks again. "Critical breach in sector C. Initiating lock-down." Sector C?... Isn't that the sector next to ours?... Some start to run in blind panic. The watchbot tries to calm us down. "Do not run. Please, help to maintain order." A random male Pegasus stallion responds. "Have you gone nuts?! Sector C is an living sector just like this one! There are ponies trapped there and they WILL die! Who says that us awaits not the same fate if we wont move now?!" The watchbot repeats his dialog, as programmed. "Do not run. Please, help to maintain order." "Ow, fuck this!" The Pegasus male flies away as fast as he can. More start to follow and within a few seconds almost everypony is running or flying. I hate to disobey a watchbot, but I do not want be left behind... So I decide to follow the rest and sprint to the main lobby. I'm almost there, but then I got past an gate that blocks sector C on my right side. There is a body, it looks like a younger female unicorn, around 16 years old, tried desperately to crawl underneath the gate when it closed. But she only made it half the way... Blood flows from hes open torso, mouth, nose, ears and eyes. It is horrific to witness... I had to vomit over the floor. I hear bonking coming from the other side. I get closer. Hesitatingly I hold the left side of my head against the gate, listening what's happening on the other side. I hear screaming and yelling. There is a stallion bonking in the door. "OPEN THAT FUCKING DOOR! WE'RE STILL IN HERE!" A mare is with him, she cries. "The stench of dead is horrible... All the burning buddies, Including the one of my own brother over there... ...And the fire... The oxygen is dropping... ...Breathe, I CAN'T BREATHE!" The mare seems to have dropped on the ground. Now the stallion starts to cry two. "NO, HELP! HELP US! THE FIRE, ITS GETTING CLOSER. EVERYPONY ELSE IS DEAD!" I respond. "Alright, hold up! I'll get you and that mare out of there." The stallion laughs from joy. "Really?! Thank you! Thank you so mush! Haha! You hear that Crystal? We're saved!" The mare doesn't respond anymore. I'm not even sure if she's still alive... I try to hack the gate with my LEC, but the system is to advanced. I try it over and over, but no result. The stallion gets impatient. "Why is it taking that long?! WE'RE GOING TO DIE HERE!" I start to as cry as I to realize that I wont be able to get these poor ponies out... "I'm so sorry! I can't open it!" The stallion yells at me. "DAM IT, NO! THIS CAN'T BE HAPPENING! YOU CAN'T DO THIS TO US! SAVE MY MAREFRIEND! LEAVE ME, BUT GET HER OUT OF HERE!" I drop in front of the gate in the pool of blood. This is horrible... Its like I just landed in a horror movie... What supposed to be the time of my life ended in an big nightmare. One more time I talk to the stallion while still crying. "I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! But I can't open the gate... There is nothing I can do to get any of you out of there! This may sound cruel, but at least wont your marefriend feel any pain..." The stallion is silent for a moment. "... Your right..." He sat down and leans against the door. I could hear him doing that. "I guess this is it then... Who ever you are, thank you anyway... No worries, crystal. I'll see you again, soon... I love you..." I start to see smoke coming from the gate followed by the screams of the stallion who burns alive. By The Six, it smelled horrible... I cover my ears, hoping to block away the horrible screams, but it doesn't work. I cried even more now, it feels like forever and I hope his suffering will end soon. Then its got silent... He's dead... Shocked and confused I move on. I just witnessed the death of two ponies... It wasn't till then that I start to realize I haven't seen Fauna or Flora yet. I'm very worried about them... I hope that both are still alive... I enter the main lobby, covered in the young mare's blood, and just in time. There sounds an loud zoom. Everypony gets quiet, and a female staff member starts to speak. "Alright, listen up everypony! The captain ordered us to lead all of you to the evacuation capsules. They are behind those gates. Move calm and steady to it. DO NOT run past the leading staff member. If you will, the remaining watchbots are forced to shoot you down. Why you ask? Because in there the capsules WILL start to move around on their own. If you go off path, the capsules will try to avoid you and may fly into other students. In other words: If you endanger somepony else, you'll get shoot. I hope that's very clear. Now move along!" I move along, following the staff member. Behind us follow the other staff members, but no captain. Of course, the captain stay behind with his ship. There are watchbots all over the place, making sure nopony did anything stupid. we heard another big expolotion. WaSP speaks once more. "Critical breach in sector F. Initiating lock-down. Warning, ship's engine damaged heavily, cooling systems offline, overheating had start. Meltdown in 5 minutes." The staff member leading stops for a moment and speaks. "I know this looks bad, but remember what my colleague said not long ago. Sprint away, and you'll be shot." He walks further. Meltdown? FUCK! Could this get any worse?! We enter the evacuation room. once all the ponies are in, the gates behind us closed. WaSP speaks for one last time. "One life form detected in control room, force ignore by code 1912. Remaining life forms save in evacuation room. Initiating full lock-down. Warning, 3 minutes remaining until meltdown. Setting full processor capacity in watchbots and evacuation capsules. Disabling voice now." The evacuation capsules start to move. Fast. The captain plays some music to calm the students, but that doesn't help allot. They all open around us, there is room for at least 20 ponies in each one. Ponies start to enter and capsules start to move away. They flew out an energy of field that covers the opening to space. That most be there to keep the oxygen and air pressure in the right condition. Slowly everypony was escaping. Now that I think of it, it goes to slow... At this rate, will only half of the ponies will make it... I look at the field and so outside. I saw parts of the ship, but also dead bodies floating around. Some even burned, or incomplete... I almost needed to vomit, again... But I knew to hold it in. I heard fellow students cry, some covered in blood, missing a ear or a other non fatal body part. There is a female Pegasus in front of me. she misses her left wing, while her right wing is burned. She bleeds heavily and the blood spurts out of the place where her lift wing used to be. She drops on the ground, she lost to mush blood. I really want to help her but I have to move on, or I will die... This is not about evacuating anymore. Its surviving. A watchbot connects to the intercom to warn everypony. "1 minute left till meltdown." I lost hope at that point... I'm gonna die here... Its over. I make my self ready for the end. I see my hole life flashing by. From the first time I walked to this very moment. Then I got pushed into a capsule by somepony. I look, and see the friendly face of that stallion I helped to find to library the in the disco. He smiles at me, then he sat down. Knowing he will not make it and he accepted that fact. "Thank you..." I said as the door of the capsule closes. I quickly sat down and poot on the seat belt. The capsule starts to move and flew out, its completely full. I survived... I can't believe it... I got saved by him... He gave his live, for me?... We soar past dead bodies and spaceship parts. Before I had time to take a breath the meltdown started. It begins with 3 smaller expositions, followed by a gigantic one. I see from a window that 3 capsules try to escape from it, but its no use. Then I realized the following thing. We're not save yet... The expolotion is expanding! The autopilot tries to take us away from it, but we get hit anyway. Our capsule flies away with the force of the explosion. We hit a part of the cruise and stand still. I look out the window again and see capsules everywhere. All the autopilots seem to be disabled. All the ship parts fly past us, but not everypony is that lucky... I look around in the capsule and ask: "Is everpony okay?!" The responses where mainly a sad nod. Then i heard two familiar voices. "What the fack was that?! What are we gonna do now?!" "I don't know... I knew I should have stayed home..." It where Fauna and Flora! I made my self loose, jumped up and run to them. "Fauna, Flora! Your still alive!" I yelled. Fauna and Flora look up. Joy shines from their faces knowing I'm okay. We group hugged and cry of joy. "I'm happy your okay!" Said Fauna. "We thought you where dead." Adds Flora. "I was almost dead, But somepony pushed inside at the last moment in his place... I will never forget him." The other ponies look at us. Most of them are in deep shock. One mare in the back keeps crying, very loud. It kept going. A stallion is annoyed by it. "Ow, for the love of Candance! Shut up, SHUT UP, SHUT UP!" The mare stops crying out loud, she holds it in. An other mare tries to comfort her. Hold up a second... I know that voice... I look at the direction the voice was coming from, it was that same stallion that tried to do stuff with Flora at the disco. Well, shit. From all the ponies that could be in here, we bump into a sexual harasser. I whisper to Flora and Fauna. "That harassing stallion is here." They respond with a nod. They already knew. Its strange... The Star Explorer doesn't leave, but neither attacks the capsules. Its kinda frightening. "What now?" Asks a male Pegasus. "How are we gonna get out of here?" Adds a earth pony mare. I am normally not a leader type, but I felt that I needed to keep order. I stood up and went standing on a desk to get everyponie's attention. "Everypony, calm down! We can get out of this, if we stick our heads together there might be a way!" The harassing stallion protests. "Who made you the leader, smart ass?" I respond calm. "Nopony did, I'm not your leader. I just say if we think strait we might be able to get out of this." "Do you have an plan?" Asks unicorn a mare. I nod. "Actually, I might have. Is somepony here able to hack?" A white male Pegasus with gray mane and tail and purple eyes with glasses raise his hoof. "What do you want me to do?" I point to the computer. "Could you hack all the other capsules and connect them to us? It will be allot saver if we can communicate." He nods. "Should be no problem I believe... I could try to break into the VVC Ports and set the output to our capsule using the local IGW Connection. But only we will be able to talk, the visions should be fine." "That is good enough for me." I said. The white Pegasus makes him self loose, walks to the computer and starts hacking. "This might take a moment." I looked around. "Alright. Who here can handle spaceship weaponry?" A yak stands up. "I do." "Okay. Go sit in the copilot seat. Capsules like this are mostly armed with a normal zapper. You probably know what to do from there." The yak walked to it and sits down. He had the zapper under control in no time. "I see where your going, but who will control the capsule?" Asks a earth pony mare. I took place at the captain seat. "I have learned for this. Allot of simulations, flying with my hovermoter and even flying with my grandpa's self made fighter." Again, the same stallion has something to say in attempt to take me down. "How do we know your not lying to us?... Who are you anyway?" "My name is Stella Sparks. And if anypony here thinks he or she might do it better, here is their chance." I stood up from the seat. Nopony responds. Even that stallion is silent now. I take the seat again without saying anything. The white Pegasus with glasses gasps. "I believe I did it! Let's see... Patch... Capsule 33... Force port... And enter!" A screen moves down. It turns on. We see the inside of every capsule that is still online. I try to communicate. "Hello? Can you hear me?" Most of them respond and try to talk. "Your all connected to an local network. We are able to talk and see you. But that is as far as it goes. Wave if you hear me." They wave. Some are smart enough to write stuff down. "It works! Yes!" Said Fauna happy. I start the capsule again, ready for the next move. "You, white Pegasus. Are you able to hack the autopilots of the other capsules and make them follow us? Also, what's your name?" The white Pegasus whipped his glasses for a moment. "My name is Firewall. Nice to meet you Stella. And, yes. That might be possible. But I have to change their PCH, Pilot Control Host. But with that they wont be able to use their zappers." I turn to the screen again. "Any other pilots out there?" They all shake their heads or write no. Then back at Firewall. "Do it." He begins. "On it." Again, my attention went to the screen. "In a few moment we'll activate your autopilots. Please, remain in your seat." The responses are positive. "Your actually pulling this off, don't you?" Asked the female unicorn. I smiled a bit. "Yes, yes I do." I might just have gone trough allot. From witnessing the death of ponies to seeing decapitated body parts, which will haunt me in my dreams. But it really boost my spirit to finally experience something positive. This seems also the case with the others. Finally, joy. We might live after all! But the mare in the back still cries. I decide to talk to her. "Hey there, are you alright?" The mare looks at me. "No... My little sister died on the cruise! We where in sector C when there was an explosion. We flew trough the hall and ended close to the door... When we heard there was coming a lock-down, so I quickly jumped out. I tried to pull my sister with me... But... She only made it half the way when the gate closed, and... I killed her! I can still hear her scream!" Once again she starts to cry out loud. Almost everypony feels bad for her, all but that same harassing stallion. I have seen her sister, that young unicorn mare... It most have bin very traumatic for her to see how her sister got cut in half by that gate... I have her blood on me... I sit down. "I am truly sorry to hear that, but look. I don't want you to stop grieving, take all the time you need for that. But we most focus on our own survival. Just keep your head in the game, alright?" She nods. "Okay..." Firewall jumps up and cheers. "I did it!" All the other capsules start to follow ours. My plan begins to take off. I walk to the captain seat and sit down. I waited a short moment for all the capsules to catch up with us. And then the star explorer starts to turn away from us. "Hey look, their leaving us!" Said Flora happy. I took a close look, and my joy changes back to fear in one second. "No, their NOT leaving us, they are preparing to release their fighters! The docking gates are on the back side of an star explorer! Everypony, hold on tight!" I go at the maximum speed of the capsule. I want that the world would know what happened, so I started to record everything. Gates open on the Star Explorer, and around 20 of the 250 fighters are released. "I don't wanna die!" Yelled a Pegasus stallion. We are fast, but not fast enough... The fighters open fire, bit by bit I see more and more capsules disconnecting from the screen. The yak fires back, but our zapper dose no shit on them. Now there is wild panic. Screaming, crying from all sides. Now we are at a point that we are the only capsule left. I made an unexpected move, turning around, flying past them. 14 fighters fell for it and crashed into one another. The remaining 6 shoot aggressively at us. "I love you sis!" Yelled Fauna. Flora embraces her sister. " I love you two Fauna!" Then, it happened. We got shot in one of our main boosters. We became steer less. We enter the gravity field of an nearby planet. The fighters stop following us, knowing we will die anyway. I look into the camera of my LEC. It record the whole thing. I started to say my last words. "Mom, dad. If you ever see this... I love both of you! I never could have wished for better parents. I had a great life, and I'll always be there with you." The ship catches fire from the outside, everything starts to shake. "Everypony, get ready for impact!" Said Firewall. Fauna and Flora keep holding with closed eyes. They cry softly. I cry as I speak the words I never wanted to say to my parents. "Farewell..." I stop the recording. I pressed send. And thank Twilight. It did send somehow... At least my parents know my fate, and soon the hole galaxy. I close my eyes and wait. Just like everypony does, waiting for their death... then, it happens... BAM! Everything went black. Author's Note SPOILERS! Story may contain pony.
A Black Sacrifice"What's one life, compared to a hundred?" - Emperor Conquest of the Phoenix Empire. ***Chapter 3: A Black Sacrifice*** "Wake up Stella, wake up!" I get slapped in my face two times. "Wake up!" Slowly I start to wake up. Everything around me is blurry. I hear Firewall. Finally I get my vision back. The capsule is heavily damaged, its a big mess. I shake my head. "Ahh... My head..." "I'm glad your okay." Firewall helps me on my legs. I wipe my forehead, because I thought I felt sweat. Instead, I find blood. "Is that... Blood? Am I bleeding from my forehead?!" "When the ship crashed, you smacked your forehead on the control panel with heavy force. I am the only one who didn't black out... Or died." I looked around. "Died? Who died?!" I saw huge leaves covering up the... Bodies... Like I haven't seen those enough today... Firewall walked to an body. He looked at it. Judging by the size, Its the body of the yak. "From the 20 ponies, only 6 survived. You, me, the twins, that mare who lost her sister and that black coated Pegasus stallion with red hair named Black Trigger. Or the harasser as you call that guy. Yeah, Fauna and Flora told me all about him." "Where are they?" He walks back to me. "Outside. Your lucky you know. Other ponies would have had their heads bin smashed to goo." I check my LEC Device. It's damaged, but still functional. Then I realize something. "Wait a minute... If you knew I was alive, then why did you and the others left me with the bodies in here? Why not move me outside?" Firewall rubbed his neck. "Well... You have been out for over 3 hours, we thought you wouldn't wake up anymore, that the hit to your head would have damaged your brain and gave you like some sort of coma. But luckily, we where wrong. I'm glad we waited. Although, Black kept telling us why we should move on and leave you." I roll my eyes. "Why doesn't that surprise me?..." Firewall nodded. "I know. He's an asshole. I can tell by his attitude." "Lets join the others. I don't wanna be around corpses anymore... I've seen and heard some... Horrible things out there..." I walk to the broken door. Firewall follows. "We all did." I walk out. The light of two nearby stars blinds me for a second. The first thing I see is a jungle in the background with huge trees covering the hole area. I see the others, we're crashed on a beach. The others just sit there on a dead tree. Shocked, tired, wounded... Normally ponies would be happy if you woke up after three hours being knocked out, but they are just to deep in shock to think strait. Fauna's mascara is ruined. "We crashed on a jungle planet... We're gonna die..." Flora tries to calm her down. "Don't say that Fauna. We'll be fine. Ships will come any moment for us." "Heh, yeah. To blow our heads off. They will come looking for us soon to make sure we're all dead." Black stood up and tries to think. Fauna got only more stressed. "I didn't even think of that!" Flora looks pissed at Black Trigger. "Thanks for that, jerk." "Your welcome lady. Just so you know, I'm still interested in you. Yeah, that body is just fine... There will be a moment nopony else is around... Hahehe!" Flora is disgusted and afraid of the stallion. She remains silent. The other mare stood up and walked to him. "If you dare to do that I-" She gets interrupted by him. "You what? Gonna cry and say how sad you are?! Look at me, I just lost my young sister! Bo ho... WE DON'T GIVE A SHIT!" The mare burst into tears and was about to jump him out of rage. I stop her. "STOP! Calm down, please. And you, knock it off! What is wrong with you?! We're crashed, our cruise exploded, allot of ponies died in frond of our eyes and yet you try to make it even worse by insulting and bullying others?... I mean, what the fuck man!" The mare walks back and sits down. "I can't do this... It's to mush..." She covers her face and lets it all out. Firewall went to her and tries to comfort her. "You better shut your mouth. Mares who keeps flapping their lips like that attract the wrong types..." Black took an good look at me and licks his lips. "Your disgusting..." I said and I walk away from him. He laughs mean. "Don't go far." I walked to the mare. Firewall managed to calm her down. I started to talk to her. "Are you okay?" She nods sad. "What is your name?" I ask. She takes a beep breath. "Minty Sweets... My name is Minty Sweets." Now that I have more time, I take a good look at her. Shes an light blue unicorn with white mane, tail and green eyes. "Ow, I like that name. Its nice to meet you Minty." She nods. "Same here." Finally, a smile. Fauna starts complaining. "What that that Star Explorer did was a war crime... Attacking innocent ponies. And now where stuck in this planet..." "Now that you mention it. On what planet are we?" Adds Flora. "I don't know..." I respond. Black walks closer. "We're on Deltonax. A jungle planet with highly aggressive wild life. Everything on here wants us dead. To them, we're all are an walking hearts warming meal." He grinned mean. "That is, if they get you of course." I don't like to talk to him, but I had no choice. "Is there any city or town near?" He looks at me, surprised I respond to him. "I only know of one city. In fact, the only city on this planet. A Naturian city, Green Oak. The only bad news, it takes six hours to get there from here." Flora raises an eyebrow. "How do you know this?" Black looks at her. "I studied planets and the locations of them. Its needed for my education as royal trooper. Why would you care?" Firewall didn't seem to like this. "Great. Stuck on a wild planet and our only hope is a Naturian city who is six hours away from us through a dangerous, endless jungle with no food or what so ever. Can this get any worse?" I stood up. "Yes, we could have bin dead. We where very lucky to survive that crash. We most think of a plan." Black responds. "How do you mean? We've got one. We go to that city." I shake my head. "Have you gone mad? That right there is a wild alien jungle! Celestia knows what we'll find in there. I think we most stay here for a while and think of a better plan." Black laughs a bit. "Yeah, right. Your welcome to stay here, but I go to that city. Don't forget to send me a nice pink card once your head is blown off." He walks towards the jungle. URRGG! I hate that guy, but he's right... The jungle might be an living tartarus but staying here will guarantee our death. I look over at the others. "His right, we most head for the city if we wanna make a small chance of survival." It hurts when I said that. They stand up and follow Black Trigger. But they are not amused. "I hope he knows what he's doing..." Said Firewall as his ears flop down. Flora sighs. "I can't believe I'm doing this..." Fauna stops. "Hold up, aren't we supposed to bury the death? You know, give then a last honor?" She's right, actually we should. But we do not have time. "Fauna, there is no time for that. We most advance now or we might get fighters on our tails." She nods, but I could read from her face that she didn't liked it. We are in the jungle. There are strange noises all around us. From the animals to the gigantic plants, everything sounds somehow terrifying. I start to walk next to Minty Sweets. I needed some distraction and I wanna know if everything is alright with her. I have the feeling she's the most sensitive of us all. Well, she saw how her sister got slashed in half by an door, can't blame her for that. But the way she responds and acts says allot. I wait till we where a small bit away from the others, but their still in sight. "Hey Minty. You haven't talked in a while. Are you alright?" She nods slowly. "I think I'm alright I guess. I... Keep seeing my sister... I try to think of something else but I keep hearing her scream..." My ears slip down, I really felt bad for her. I know she tries to forget about that horrible moment. Maybe if I remember her of the good moments she'll feel better. "So, about your sister. What was her name?" Minty sighs. "Her name is-.... WAS Bubblegum Sweets..." I sign Firewall to stop for a moment, he nods and they stop. Even Black strangely enough, but he seems inpatient. I wrap my left hoof around her. "It seems you love your sister allot. Hey, you have similar names. How come?" She looks at me. "Our mom and dad own a candy shop named The Sweet Tooth. We make all sorts of traditional Equestrian candy like sugar bellies, sour sweets and of course, pinkies. We have allot of good memories there." Her face has a soft smile. It heads the right way. "Like what? Do you wanna share one with me?" She seems to enjoy to talk about this. "I still can remember when she decided to become candy maker. She was so small, I needed to levitate her up everytime when she wanted to reach something. On a day she found out what her special talent was. She turned out to be a natural bubblegum maker. I felt so proud as big sister, to see how my little sister got her cutie mark and was setting her first step into adult hood. I remember her hugging me, thanking me for helping her to find her talent." She gets silent. "But she'll never would have forgiven me for what I did to her today... Its my fault..." I start to rub her back. "Its not, trust me. You where not responsible for any of this. And after what I heard, I think she would have forgiven you for sure. Minty, you tried to do the right thing as a big sister, you tried to save her life. She may not have made it but in every view your a true hero. I bet she's watching you right now, and she has those wonderful memories with her, looking back on all the good times you had with her. You also have those memories, something nopony can take away from you. And as long you remember her she'll live fort, in here." I move in front of her and held my right hoof at her heart. "Death is not the ending. For memories will keep our loved ones alive, and somehow keeps them with us." I pull my hoof back. Mixed feelings jump in on Minty's face. Sadness, happiness. She smiles widely as a few tiers roll down her cheeks. "That was beautiful... Thank you." I smile back. "Your welcome. Now, do not blame your self aga-" Out of nowhere, she starts to hug me. I just went with it and hug back. She stops but still holds my right hoof. She looked me in the eyes. "Your such an nice pony. Even after all what happened... And that, really warms my heart. I wish I had something I could give to you but I got nothing..." She thinks. Then, blushed. She looked to the others, their not paying attention. Then she quickly moves up close and gives a small kiss on my cheek. "Again, Thank you." She whispers and quickly walked off to the others. I just stood there, frozen, red as a tomato. Why do I keep blushing with mares?... I feel, confused... Am I... What, no! Don't be silly Stella. You like stallions and always will. Mares ARE NOT your thing, you know that... It was unexpected, that's all. I sigh deep and the blushing stops. I walk back to the others and we start moving again. Black starts to jerk around... "That took long, was hoping something caught both of you." I had enough. "You know what, Black? Go dig a hole and wait in there!" He looks back surprised. "Fine." He got the massage. As we move on, it got hotter. The temperature is rising. Fauna starts to complain. "I HATE these suns... Why didn't we crash near a nice beach with booze, stallions and happy pills." Flora shakes her head. "We're getting cooked here by two suns and THAT is the only thing you can think about?" "Well, yeah, duhh? Of course I do." Said Fauna as she starts to wipe away her ruined mascara. Flora seemes annoyed by her sisters attitude. "Your impossible..." But helps her anyway. "Here, let me help you." She licks her own hoof clears everything. I saw the hole thing, I scratch my head. "One moment you enter a argument and the other you help each other out. Why is that a thing?" Fauma smiles. "We're sisters, its what we do. "No worries, you'll get used to it. You'll be seeing this allot more now." Adds Flora. Then Fauna spots some yellow colored berries, her eyes sparkle from excitement. "Food! Finally, I'm dying here!" She grabs three and was about to eat them. Flora her eyes open widely and slapped them out of her hooves. "DON'T!" "Ouch! He! You don't have to hit me..." Said Fauna as she kicked the berries away. I need to laugh a bit, but cover my mouth and hold it in. I know Fauna did something stupid judging by Flora's reaction but Fauna's randomness is really funny sometimes. Flora apologized. "Sorry... Those are quick choke. It has poison that attacks your longs. It makes your longs glue together from the inside. Without the right treatment you could die within three hours. And that is one berry. You where about to eat three, that makes it one hour. Just do not just randomly eat things you see, let me check them first. I didn't study plants for nothing you know... That counts for all of you. Also, Fauna is an expert in animals and alien wild life. So that might come in handy two." "If you say so..." Said Black. Firewall picks a fruit. "How about this?" He said as he shows it to Flora. Its some kind of blue round fruit. Flora nods. "That's bluefruit. Its eatable, but it might have an tripping effect on you. Do not eat more then two a day." Firewall nods. "Okay. Thanks, Flora." Fauna gasps and walked to the tree. Its full of those things. She grabs 6. The others look at her worried, even Black found it an bad idea. "You shouldn't do that..." He said. Fauna looks around. "What? Give me a break." She starts to eat one. Minty shakes her head. "Ow boy..." Flora slaps her face. "Just... Don't trip like shit, alright?..." Fauna rolls her eyes. "Fine... I'll save some for later...." Flora takes an whole bag of those fruits. She knows this is maybe one of the few eatable things around. So she doesn't take any chances. She is aware that Fauna might try to get more, so she guards them well. Thirty minutes later. It feels like forever! I got thirsty and a bit hungry. I got Flora's attention. "Hey, Flora. Could you give me one of the bluefruits please?" Flora took one out of her beg. "Sure. Here, catch!" She threw it towards me. I got it. I took a bite, and it was AMAZING! So juicy, and the sweet, sour taste. Its better then apples, that's for sure. I kept going. Every bite is delicious. Then, I hear something. A growl not far away from us. I drop the fruit and walk to Fauna. "Uhh, Fauna. I hear-" She interrupts me. "Everypony, quite!..." She already heard it. We hear the growl again. Its getting louder. Fauna signals to stay. "Do not make any sound!" She whispers very softly. Minty starts to hold my hoof. I didn't mind, somehow is works calming. Then, something walks out from a bush ahead from us. Its a horse sized pony/dragon like creature. It has small dragon wings, dragon skin, fangs, reptile eyes but the body of a horse. the head is not pony nor dragon like, it's just in between. Fauna made her self small. "Do as I do, make your self small and back off SLOWLY... That is a Dovahequus. They eat meat and can be VERY dangerous... Luckily, its a male. I can tell by the orange skin color. They are mainly harmless. But a female... They can breath fire and are highly aggressive. So, watch out for those with a red skin color." I start to shake a bit as we slowly back off. That thing follows us, like its playing with us... Black tried to scare it away. "Shoo, go! Ksssst!" He waves his hooves. Fauna stops him. "No don't!" She yells to him. It lets out this terrifying sound, some kind of growl. We hear more of it all around us as some kind of responds. Then he starts to run towards us. Fauna took Flora by her hoof and yelled: "RUN!" As she runs away with her sister. We are right behind them. Firewall in front of me and next to me are Minty and Black. I look back. That thing, its to fast! We jump and run as best as we can, but its no use. It keeps getting closer. I have to stop it somehow! I charge my horn and shoot an weak bean at it. The beam misses, but the dovahequus got scared and stopped following. It made strange noises again. I did it! I think... "Hey it gave up!" I said proudly. Fauna shakew her head. "It did not! Its calling for help!" We kept running, but suddenly one jumps in front of us, and so blocking out way. Two more from behind. We can't go left nor right for their are huge rocks blocking our way. Minty panics. "I don't wanna die, not like this! The three male dovahequuses slowly get closer, growling loud. I look around quick, trying to find an way to escape. Then, I saw a cave on the left. I don't know where it leads... Or ends... But we are out of options. "Everypony, there is a cave on our left! Let's go!" "Shit! Shit, shit!!!" Yells Fauna as we entered the cave. Its dark. But me and Minty light the whole place up with magic. Normally we could also have used our devices for that, but the running makes it hard to grab them. In here we could hear those monsters getting closer as the sound egos back to us. I look back, and saw how one of them misses my tail by an inch. With an slam the mouth of it closes. I scream it out. The next bite, will be in me... Minty saw it, she tried fire at the one that was targeting me. she charges her horn and aimed. Then Black did something unexpected. He gave Minty a push against the wall. She hits the wall and falls on the floor. I stopped and yell. "WHAT THE FUCK BLACK?!" The others stop. "Don't tell me he did that!" Firewall ran back. The twins both close their eyes and hold each other. They know what happens next. Minty tries to get up fast, but one of the Dovahequus jump her. He bites in her leg. She starts scream and begs for her life. "NOO! HELP ME! AHHH! WHY, BLACK, WHY?! AAAAAAAHHH! NO, PLEASE! SAFE ME!" The other two get around her and start to eat her alive. Minty could see how those monsters start ripping peaces of meat away from her body. She cries, screams, move, but they don't stop... The twins cry, trying to look away from the horrible sight. I see everything... I watch in horror how they feast on her body... Black did this... I turned to Black, and punched him in his face. Bulls eye! His muzzle starts to bleed. "You sick psychopath!" "Fucking bitch! I saved our asses!" He punched me to the ground. I got up again. I was about to jump Black but Firewall starts to hold me. "Calm down..." I cry. "Calm down?! THEY ARE EATING HER ALIVE!!!" One of the dovahequus attempts at finish off Minty. He starts to hold Minty's neck with his mouth. Minty tries to get away, but he already has his teeth on her neck. The other two keep eating from her. She cries, but knows its over... She looked at me sins her head was stuck in my direction, and said her last words. "I'm coming for you, Bubblegum... Tell our parents. Ahhh!... We... Loved them..." She closes her eyes. Finally the Dovahequus bites through her neck and with that brakes it. I could hear her final breath slip away from her longs as her body goes limp. Blood starts to flow from her neck and mouth. She's dead... I feel weak... I rage. "NO! YOU MURDERER! YOU COLD BLOODED MURDERER!" Firewall drags me away. He was getting a bit emotional himself. The twins follow. Black didn't come yet. He watches Minty Sweets, like he enjoys her death. The Dovahequuses didn't came after us and ignore Black. They have what they want. We found an exit. The twins sit down on a rock and embrace to find support. Firewall lets me go, I drop on the ground. "No... Its not fair... ITS NOT FAIR! Rrraahhbh!!!" I stood up shot a laser around with my magic from anger, destroying plans. Firewall lets me do my thing. The twins look at me, afraid. After I while I calm down. I cry again... Firewall holds his hoof on my shoulder. "Better?" He asks. I nod. I'm still weeping. The twins walk up to Firewall and me. We group hug quickly. Flora sighs. "Minty is with her sister now..." I feel still angry. "She didn't deserve this..." Firewall nods. "We know, we all know..." Then, Black Trigger walks out the cave. We stop hugging and gave him a dirty look. "How could you?!" I yell at him. He looks psychotic with a grin. "What? I saved our lives. The strongest survive, that's how nature goes. Besides, she was only holding us up, I saved us." Fauna walks up him. "Saved us? You killed her!" Black nods. "Yes, I did. So what? What do you wanna do about it, hu? Kill me? Come on, try! I'll make sure to drag your dead body to those dovah things." I charge my horn. "Shut up right fucking now!" He laughs and looks my in the eyes. "Come on, do it. I know your weak... I do not see a killer in your eyes, I only see a weakling." I was about to blow his head off, but I... I can't do it... I uncharge the spell. "See, like I said. Weak!" He laughs mean. You know, it did me good to see how Minty died. My favorite part was when you guys left and those dovah beasts started to rip her legs from her torso. I laughed my ass off. Here, I made some pictures." He projects some pictures he made with his LEC Device. Minty is open on all sides. Her organs lay across the cave floor. We can see her brain all little bit, stomach, hart... It was simply disgusting. I need to vomit again. Flora did the same. Firewall walked to him, took his LEC and throw in to peaces. "You sick fuck!" He smacks him in the face. Black grinned as he gets smacked in the face. His lips bleed. He literally picked up Firewall and threw in on a sharp rock. Firewall yells as he lands. "AHHH! FUCK!" The rock penetrates his torso a little. He bleeds lightly. Black laughs insanely. "Is that all?... IS THAT ALL?! Come on, kill me, KILL ME!" He picks up a rock and was about to crush Firewall his skull. I quickly ran to them and blocks his aim. But he was planning to use it anyway. But then, there sounds growling behind Black. Fauna signals us to take distance from Black. And so we did. I help Firewall up and got him safely to the others. Black drops the stone and turns around slowly. He saw a female dovahequus, as red as blood. By the looks, it wants him. Suddenly, he doesn't feel that bad ass anymore as he faces the beast. The beast stares at him, waiting to strike. Black simply said one thing: "Fuck..." Then, the beast claws with a roar at his belly. His organs fall out of him and after a few seconds he drops dead on the floor. The twins look away again, but me and Firewall watch. He deserved this... The female dovahequus roars loud and kicked his head off. His head flies away. She begins to eat his organs. My body shakes, I looked at Firewall and sigh. "Lets go..." He nodded. "Alright, we've seen enough here." I walked to the sisters and hug them both. "I'm so happy both of you are okay..." Flora smiles. "Same here." I stop hugging and turn back to Firewall. "Now that I think of it, Firewall, Are you okay? You had nasty fall." I added. Firewall shows the left side of his torso where he landed. "Its... Fine... Do not worry about me. We most head to that city... For Minty. For everypony who died on that ship." I nod. "For Minty." We walk off. Deeper into the jungle. I feel... Empty. I was starting to like Minty... At least she sees her sister now... By Celestia... I hope Black Trigger burns in tartarus...
Onward To Green Oak"I'll tell you what we've learned Discord. We've learned that friendship isn't always easy. But there's no doubt it's worth fighting for." - Princess Twilight Sparkle of Equestria. ***Chapter 4: Onward To Green Oak*** Three hours have past, the jungle has proven itself to be merciless. We didn't talk mush after the death of Minty, after how Black Trigger pushed her into doom. I'm happy, very happy he died himself shortly after that... Minty didn't deserve that horrible death. It was totally uncalled for. On the other hoof, if she didn't die there, who would have died?... Those beasts looked hungry and where not planning to stop. One was close of grabbing my tail with his mouth... So... I would have died?... You know what, I do not want to think about this now. I check out the other, they all look tired, just like me. This in kinda insane. From all the students on board, only four of us survived. I also realize, if we wont find help soon, there will be no survivor at all to tell the story. And without Black, finding the city will be a huge problem. I check my LEC, still no internet connection and GPS contact, so any kind of navigation is useless. Even now, while we're far away from that star explorer. I sigh. Firewall saw notices me sigh and started talking to me. "I know, our situation looks bad... very bad. But we can make it. I mean, heck. We survived that ship, a crash, beats. And with Black out of the way, their will be way less trouble." I nod. "But Minty... She should be with us right now..." "True... But we can't do anything do get her back. She's with Bubblegum now." Said Flora as she noticed that her sister took a Bluefruit from her bag. She took it back quickly. "Fauna! Why are you taking this? Where are the other six bluefruits?..." Fauna laughs. "He, why is your head purple? Its supposed to be yellow..." Flora sighs. "Great... You're high..." "Well... You're purple!" Respons Fauna. "Fauna, this wasn't the right moment to get a high... What where you thinking?!" I said as I hold her making sure she doesn't wander off. Fauna giggles. "Because I can... Screw you all, I love you guys!" Firewall looked annoyed. "This is gonna be a looong trip..." As we keep moving onward, Aside from the fact that everything wants to kill us, the planet looks very pretty. And all the plants are SO big. A simple flower is around the size of a teenage pony. And then the trees, by Twilight, their huge! When I look up its almost that there is no ending. And those leafs. Would it hurt if one of them drop on you? We arrive near a fast flowing river. We can't walk around it. Left from us is a cliff with waterfall that goes strait up, right from us is a deep drop. Luckily there is a thick dead tree laying over it that makes it possible to cross it... Hopefully... Dear Celestia, I HATE deep water... I don't like this... Firewall looks at it. "We have to cross it." Fauna responds... Still high... "You aspect us to risk our lives, on that... giant dance pole?..." Firewall nods. "Yep, indeed. As you can see, there is no other choice." Flora hesitates a bit. "How do we know for sure... Its safe?" Firewall shrugs. "I don't. But we'll know soon." He climbs on the stump and starts walking on it. "Here I go!" I I run to the tree. "Firewall, have you gone mad from the heat?! What if it breaks or something?" Firewall stops at turns to us. "No worries. If it breaks, then I..." He shows his wings. I smile awkwardly. "Heheh... Of course. I forgot about that for a sec." He nods an continues. Then he stops again and yells. " HOLY FUCKING LUNA!!!" I respond fast. "What, is something wrong?! Did it crack? Moved?!..." He turns around again with a serious face. "Yes..." It got silent. Flora responds. "Well?!" His face turns from serious to a wide grin. "Yeah, did you see that view from here?" He said as he points to right and starts laughing. I stomp left front hoof on the ground with force. "That's not funny, Firewall!" He keeps laughing. "Ah, come on. It was at least a bit funny." He said and starts walking again. Flora giggles. "I find it funny." I rolled my eyes with a smile. "Alright, you got me, it was a bit funny. I admit." Firewall reaches the other side. "See? Told ya it was save." He flew back to us. "Okay, who's first? No worries, I'll hold ya when you cross it." I think for a moment. Then I came up with a small idea. "I think its the best you take Flora first, then Fauna so Flora can take an hold of her on the other side and them me." "Pppfffffff! I'm not a baby! I can do this my self!" Fauna tries to climb on the log alone while being as high as shit. I grab her and tog her back. "How about you wait till Flora has passed? I mean, look at your sister how afraid she is. Maybe its better she gets it over with first. Am I right?" Fauna thinks and looks away. I wink to Flora. She nods and winks back. Fauna looks back at me. "Alright, for her." She sits down on the floor. Her eyes look so weird from those bluefruits. Their a bit red and her pupils are bigger. Flora climbs onto the dead tree and Firewall helped her up. Then he holds her as she moves to the other side. "Here I go..." She said. Firewall flew carefully next to her. "That's right. Calm and smooth." I watch as Flora crosses the river. I look at the water, I didn't feel well... What if I fall in and Firewall fails to catch me? I would fall in the water... And then fall down the waterfall. Okay, not helping... I looked up again, Flora got save to the other side. Firewall flew back again. "Next one." Fauna got up. "Finally!... Ow my Celestia, I'm so hungry! I wanna eat a pizza with extra cheese." "You will, first get to that city." I help her on the dead tree carefully. Firewall Holds a hoof while flying next to her. "Okay Fauna. We know your stoned but keep your head in the game here." Said Firewall as he keeps her balanced. He's nervous about this. Fauna laughs. "You look like a deformed bird while flying. So funny!" Firewall raises an eyebrow and looks at me "Tell me, why shouldn't I drop her?" I laugh a bit, I knew it was a joke. "Just take her to the other side." Flora heard the joke but didn't laugh. She's to worried about her sis at the moment. Fauna was speaking bullshit on there. She got giggly at the wrong moment. "Look at those wings, its just against nature! Big body, small wings. Its looks ridicules! Hahaa!" Firewall ignored it, he's to busy keeping her on the tree. "You know what they say about stallions with small wings~" Said Fauna giggling. Firewall blushes. "Hey, that's not true! Its avarice sized and I'm happy with the way it is!" She laughs from his responds. She takes a beep breath and whispers. "You have a small penis~" I just can't hold it up anymore and laugh. I tier from joy. Even Flora who's worried couldn't stay serious any longer. Firewall his face is tomato red. "We're done talking..." He said. They reach the other side. Flora helped her sister down. Flora is still laughing a bit. "I hope my sister here didn't offend you that bad." He shrugs. "Nahh, I can take it. Besides, I'm sure I can laugh about it once I look back later." He flies back to me. "Okay, you're next Stella. Hob op the tree." I start to freeze, I don't wanna do this, but I most. I climb on it and look to the water. I turned pale. I see the water rush by and I shake a bit. Firewall notices that I was nervous. "Stella, are you alright?" I looked at him right from me, I shake my head. "I... I can't..." He's surprised to hear that. "You can't? After all the things that happened, this is what scares you?" I nod embarrassed. Then I got close to his ear and said: "I... I have fear of water..." "Ow... That is a big problem..." He thinks for a bit and then jumped on the tree facing me. "Come on. Hold me with your front hooves. No worries, I know you can do this." I'm not sure about this... "What?... But you can't see where your going. You could fall!" Firewall shakes his head. "That won't happen, pinkie swear. You can do this, trust me." I took an deep breath and hold him. "I can't believe I'm doing this..." We start to move. I look down, in reaction Firewall stops. "No. Don't look down. It will only make it worse. Eyes up here, look at me." I Look at him. "W-what?... But how am I supposed see where I'm going then?..." He stays calm. "Just do it. I'll lead you thought this." I sigh and do as he said. Holding him and looking at him in the eyes. Slowly we walk over the dead tree. For every step I make, he follows. Fauna wants to say something but Flora signed her not to. Strangely, she listens. Finally we got to the other side. Firewall jumps off the tree "We're there. I knew you had it in ya." He holds a hoof out offering some help to get me off. I accept his hoof and jump off. "Thank you for guiding me through this... I couldn't have done it with out you." He nods. "Your welcome, that's where friends are for. "You did awesome right here. It takes allot of courage to face your fears like that." Said Flora. I smile at her. "Thanks. That's kind of you to say." Firewall turnes to the direction of the city. "Come on, lets move on. Only two and a half hour left." As we go on there was still no sign of life, and the jungle is endless. The good news is that Fauna her drug is starting to fait off. Ouch... My legs start to hurt from all the walking. But that's no problem. Only two more hours and we're safe! I look up again and saw an opening in there jungle. The two suns shine down upon spot. We may suffer from dehydration a bit, but that is a pretty view. And then the- "AAAAAHHH!" I fell into a hole. The others yell my name. "Stella!" I keep falling, deeper and deeper. Then the walls start to curve making me slide down this weird hole. Then, I finally hit the ground. I'm still alive?... Its cold in here, I most be in some sort of cave. I light my horn, the room gets lighten up. Shit! I'm bleeding... The sliding made nasty wounds. I hear the others yelling for me. I can't see them. First I hear Firewall. "Stella, are you there?!" Then Flora. "Please tell us you're okay, answer!" And then Fauna. "Don't you dare to fucking die on us! Not after where we went through!" I respond as loud as I can. "I'm okay! Just a few abrasions but I'll be fine!" Firewall responds back. "Thank Discord, you're unharmed... Do you see a way out?!" I look around and saw this strange stone plate... It looks like a gate. "I think I found a gate! Its made out of stone and has this weird painting on it!" The painting looks like six weird tiny stones, what are those? Then I notice a text on it. "Hold up, there's text on it! Its written in Equestrian!" Flora sounds exited. "A gate?! That means intelligent life! We're gonna live! What dose it say?!" I start to read the text. "Lets see..." "Before you may enter these halls, you have to answer our calls. For what's beyond this gate, may contain your fate. Only he or she, with an hart of gold, can answer this riddle, the legends of old. Moments came, and moments past. But there's one thing that ever lasts. In life we laugh, in life we cry. Together we stand, never we die. The magic will light our way, even through the darkest day. As long the magic shines in our harts, not even the death can drive us apart. For this magic stays by your side. As long as you follow, and stay in its light." Shit, all the yelling is really starting to mess with my voice. "Guys, its a riddle! Whatever is behind that gate, it most be important! I think if I solve it, the gate might open!" Fauna responds. "Do you think you have the answer?!" "Hold up! Now lets see..." I took a close look. Magic, their talking about magic, but what magic?... Together... Light in darkness... Moments came and pass... Death has no effect... Wait... Is it?... "Friendship?" I said curious. The gate starts to move and a hall gets visible. Torches go on by itself. "I did it! It opened! I see this hall! I'm going in and hope to find an exit! If I won't return in thirty minutes, then move on without me!" Flora doesn't like that. "NO, WE WON'T LEAVE YOU!" "Lets be realistic here! If I won't return, the chance is big I didn't make it! Promise not to wait to long!" "Alright, we promise! Now find an exit!" Yells Firewall. I turn to the gate, look at it. Okay Stella, here you go... I make my way through the hall. The deeper I go I start to notice that the walls are getting flat, this is curved out and this seems to be equestrian architecture. Then I see more paintings on the walls. I take a look at one. I see six ponies who seem to defeat an scary looking mare. Hold up... Those are The Six! And that's Nightmare... Uhh Nightmare Spoon? Nightmare... Screw it! Nightmare Bitch. But why is that painting here? Weird place for one. Who would even care to get here within the cruel jungle. I walk to another painting and look at it. Its The Six again, they seem to defeat some kind of demon. That's... Ummm... Lord Tirek? Yeah, that's him! I look ahead. All the paintings are about The Six. I look up and saw a beautiful decorated sealing full of what seems to be six different cutie marks. Those are their cutie marks I guess. This place. This most be some kind of temple. This all seems so old... There's dust everywhere. I keep going and make a left turn. There is a gigantic double wooden door. Each door has one big purple star like like that cutie mark on it. I walk to it and open the door. Its dark in there for a moment but then the torches light up. This is impressive! A gigantic ball shaped room full with books, scrolls, an others items that help with magic, and what are those? Wands?... Those aren't used anymore in like 1800 years after the invention of the magic amplifier. A little machine that is worn on your horn that makes your magic stronger. My focus goes to the center of the room. There I see a golden necklace on a stone altar. I walk to it, but then a magic force field appears around it. I stop, it startles me. I'm not sure if it's save... I pick up a rock throw it at the shield. It bounces off on the field and comes back at me with the same force. I dodge it just in time and the rock flies against a vase. Of course, it broke. Shit... That was antique equestrian art... I took a wand that was next to me on the floor and start to poke the field. It goes right through it. No burning, nothing. I guess its save... I place the wand back where it belongs and carefully I stick a hoof out into it. Nothing happens. Alright, it's harmless UNLESS you try to be aggressive towards it. I walk in, and there I see the necklace, from up close this time. The necklace itself has a small round purple gem on it, but it seems that five other gems are missing. That's a shame... Maybe if I take it and give it to the Old Earth Museum in Friendship City, they might wanna restore it. I look around and then to the necklace again. I hope it's not trapped... Carefully I pick it up with magic. Thank The Six, it's not trapped. I wonder where the other five gems are. I shove the necklace in my pockets and looked around. Here most be an exit around here. I saw a lever on the wall. I walk to it and pulled it down. A book shelve moves aside, and I see a stairs going up. Well, that most be it. I enter the stairs, going up. After a short while the stairs appears to have an dead end that leads to the sealing and I find myself another lever. I tried to pull it, but it's stuck. I gave it a buck and that works. The sealing opens, sliding to the right. Now I see it is a door disguised as a rock. Smart, but why hide this? I hear Firewall. "Okay, did that rock just move?..." "Ow, you saw that two? Good. I thought I was tripping again." Responds Fauna. I walked out. "Stella!" Yells Flora as she runs towards me. The others follow. The stone sides back to its place. Firewall inspects me. Holding up my left front leg and sees the stretches from my fall. Their all over my body. "Are you okay? Did something happen in there?" Fauna rips a bit away from her own suit and wraps it on my right lower hoof. I had a deep scratch there, I didn't even see it. Its bleeding allot. How didn't I feel that?... Ouch... Well, it hurts now. "Thank you Fauna, but your suit." Fauna smiles. "What, this? Its nothing. Besides, your wound would have gone infected." "But are you okay? What happened in there?" Asks Flora concerned. I nod. "I'm totally fine, no worries about that. Please. It was some kind of abandoned temple devoted to The Six. Did something happen while I was gone?" Firewall shakes his head and kicks away a rock. "Nope, nothing sadly... I guess we gotta move on again." "Great. Another two hours bait for meat eating monsters... What a joy!" Said Flora as she took a bluefruit and eats it. Fauna yawns. "Lets go. I hear a bed calling for me." I'm not sure if I should tell them about the necklace... I mean, it could be dangerous. It's bin locked away from a reason. Better to leave it in my pocket save of sound. "Okay, yeah. Lets g-" Before I can finish my sentence I start to hear jets. Allot of them. "Do you hear that?!" I said exited. Firewall hears it two. "Ow yes I do, the sweet sounds if modern life!" He tries to fly up to drag attention. But he's to weak to get that high and falls down. "Dam it! We need to get their attention!" Fauna yells in hope to drag their attention. "HEEEEEY! WHERE HERE!" Flora took her LEC and tries to send out an signal. The sounds gets closer. I think. Maybe I could... But It might be to much for me... Well, it's now or never! I charge my horn and prepare an big spell. I start to sweat from concentrating. "Fuck, my head..." My head hurts and my nose starts to bleed. "Rrrrrrraaaaaahhhhhh!" I shot a gigantic ball into the sky. It explodes and it was loud. The trees around us shake from it that powerful. Firewall, Fauna and Flora look at me amazed. Then I fell down, I feel so weak... Flora catches me up. "Holy... Stella. I didn't know you had that in you." I had trouble staying awake. She lays me down. Then a ship flew to the opening and a light shines on us. Its a naturian scout, we're saved! We all laugh from joy and cry of happiness. We hear a voice. "Do not move. This is the Naturian Army. Help is under way." "We did it! We made it!" Said Fauna as she hugs her sister tight. Firewall holds my hoof. "Hold on Stella, we're almost there." I smile at him. I'm to weak to show my joy at the moment. So tired... A second ship appears. That's a dropper. Used to drop goods and troops. It opens and troops in spacial fly suits jump out. Fauna looked with open mouth. "That's cool. I've seen it on holovision but to see it with my own eyes." Firewall grins. "I would like to have one of those." Flora drops the bluefruits. we don't need that any longer. The soldiers land and get an hold on us. One of them speaks. "No worries, you're all safe now." It's a mare and she took care of me. "Thank you." I said and they go up with us attached to them. They get us on the ship. The door closes and we fly fast to the city. The troops set us down and take a distance as medics take it over. One of them starts to help me with my wounds. I look out the window, and I see everything flashing by I experienced today. And I burst into tears. It doesn't take long before Fauna and Flora cry with me. Firewall wraps a wing around me. He cried to but not as mush. "We're gonna be fine." he said. The mare in the suit took of her helmet. Its a female naturian. "I'm... So sorry that you kids had to stand these horrors... I can assure you, these actions will not go unnoticed. The Alliance is already moving around their fleets. But that's not important now. You are being taken to Green Oak. The safest place on this planet. Once in the city our head-stallion wishes to speak with you all. He will give you more information." Firewall still his wing around me even though I'm not crying anymore. I look at him, he looked back and smiled. I can't believe we're still alive... But we're here, and I'm happy with that. I can't stay awake anymore, and fall asleep. Author's Note I admit, this chapter was a real challenge, but I did it. If you notice any typos please let me know. All help is welcome. Stay tuned for more. Thanks for reading.
No Turning Back"Every change sets down a road for you to walk upon. Some are good, some bad. But that's life, and you have to move on." - Silver Oak The wise. ***Chapter 5: No Turning Back*** I wake up in a warm soft bed. I looked around. They gave me a room to sleep in. How nice. Then I look out of a window. Its night. I slept through all day. I took of my blanked, and notice my suit was gone. Okay, that raises a few questions... One: Why did they take it off? Two: Where did they take my suit? I look left and saw a wooden nightstand. They left my LEC and on it. I took my LEC, hanged it around my neck with a rope that's attached to it. Hey, where is the necklace?! Dam, they most have taken it away from me... But why? I stand up. Where are the others? I notice that this rooms looks a bit primitive. Almost everything is made out of wood. Interesting choice. I go to the door and waited for it to open, nothing happens. I walk back and forward. Maybe it's a bug, but no. The door remains shut. Did they lock me in? I try to call the home computer. "Uhh, hello? Computer sir/ma'am?" It doesn't answer. This is nuts, am I captive?... Then I notice a heck on the door. No automatic doors, no computer helper, great... I landed in the stone age. But I saw those naturians fly in those fancy suits and spaceships. Then why would they have these primitive items? Its all very strange, and for the first in a long time I open the door with my hoof. Wait... Even the hall looks like this? Wood. Everywhere I look, wood. This seems kinda bad for the ecosystem... I walk further and saw an open door. I walk to it and peeked inside. There I see Firewall. I walk in and greet him. "Hey Firewall. Where's Fauna and Flora?" Firewall smiles as he sees me. "Their in the main hall, trying to reach our home I believe. But how are you? Are you feeling better?" I shrug softly. "I guess so. I still can't believe we made it out alive. We should have bin dead. Very dead. Its a miracle." Firewall nods and then replies. "I know, but we're alive. That's all that matters." He looked around. "Did you happen to walk past an holovision on your way here?" I shake my head. "No. Actually, I've seen not a single bit of technology in this wooden structure. I had to open the door by my self. I mean, can you believe it? First time I touched a door in ages." Firewall nods. "Yeah, noticed that. Lets see how Fauna and Flora are doing. Maybe they already got contact." I nod in agreement. "Your right, good plan. Lets see them. Also, where is my suit?" "They took it for some reason, same with mine. I don't know why." I follow him to the main hall. I see some guards in here, and there are Fauna and Flora. Fauna saw me and yelled. "Stella! Hai!" I looked at Fauna. "Well, good to hear your doing fine. How about you Flora?" Flora is messing with her LEC to get contact with our home. She looks at me. "I'm fine, still very scared, but yeah. I had a few hours sleep, so that's good. I'm trying everything I can but I can't get contact. I think the LEC is not strong enough to send the signal from satellites to space stations and stuff. Its like there isn't a single one near." Then she looks at her LEC again. I roll my eyes. "These naturians clearly don't like technology." Fauna agrees. "Great... Caveponies..." "And how are we getting home then?" Asks Firewall as he looks with Flora at her LEC. Flora points to a guard. "Maybe they know?" Fauna jumps up and blocks the way. "DON'T, before they give us a feather, ink and paper!" "Come on, Fauna. It can't be that bad." I said as a naturian with paper walks by. "Or is it?..." Fauna saw it. "Paper? Yep, we're fucked." "Is there just one holovision in this building?!" Said Firewall. There sounds a voice from behind us. "There is." We turn around. Its a naturian in a fancy suit. He speaks again. "I'm Pencil, the head-stallion's personal assistent. He wishes to speak with all of you. Would you be so kind to follow me to him?" "Sure. No problem, sir." Said Firewall. "Alright, this way." He leads us way to the head-stallion's office. We approach a big gate, made out of wood, of course... The assistent knocks and the door opens. We walk further. Fauna gasps and smiles. "You see that? Automatic doors! So they can be mode-..." Her smile turns to a big frown once she looks back. "There guards did open the doors..." We see the head-stallion, sitting at his desk. "Ah, there you all are. Please, take a seat. We have to discuss a few things." His assistent and guards leave the room. We took a seat in front of his desk. They already provided four chairs for us. There is a awkward silence. I can see that the head-stallion is thinking about to way to start this very unpleasant conversation. He signs and begins. "So... How is everypony? Still in chock about all the events yesterday?" Flora shakes her head. "Chock is not the right word, sir. But we are surely traumatized." He nods. "I can believe that, and we'll make sure all four of you get the right help you need to process this. But first, and I know this isn't fun at all, but you gotta tell me exactly what happened. From the start of the attack, to the moment of rescue." All four of us start to feel uncomfortable. Fauna rubs her neck. "Do we really have to, like now?" The head-stallion nods. "I'm sorry, but we need this information so we can tell all those parents and family members what happened to their loved ones. As you can imagine, they have the right to know how and why it happened." I look up, and saw a camera. Pointed at us. WOW, MACHINE. "Sir, sorry to interrupt, but are we getting recorded?" He nods again."That's correct. You have to understand, we have to do that for the investigators so they can re watch every little detail when needed." I sigh. "Okay then..." I take a deep breath. "I... Uhh... I was... Okay, this it harder then I had in mind..." "It's okay, take your time." Said the head-stallion as he lays a box of tissues on the desk. I try again. "Alright, this is what happened..." We told him the story, all four of us. Every single detail. From the explosions to every dead body we saw. And of course the incident with Black Trigger and Minty Sweets. I can tell by the head-stallion's face that he's horrified. So now and then he lets a few tiers him self, but he keeps him self strong. Then after like an hour or two, we finished. "And then we got saved by your troops. That's the hole story, sir." Said Firewall. Flora is crying about what happened. All the talking has awakened her trauma. Luckily is Fauna there is cheer her up. The head-stallion thinks again. "Are you sure that was all?" Fauna nods. "Very sure." He stood up. "Very well. I'll leave the four of you alone now. You may stay here to talk, feel free to leave when you want." He pressed a button and a gigantic holovision slides down from the sealing. "Its voice commanded. If you need food, a drink, call my assistent. he'll help you. I'm going to get professional help for all of you. No worries, soon you all will be back home." He was about to leave, but I quickly asks an important question. "Uhh, sir. Where are our collage suits?" "We did take those off and brought them to the waste incinerator. They where mostly ripped and covered in blood. It was way beyond repairing." I felt nervous. "Did they check my pockets?" The head-stallion was silent of a moment. "I don't know... Is there something missing?" I stand up, stressed. "Yes, it wasn't on my nightstand when I woke up. Don't tell me they burned it already..." "No, your in luck. The incinerator will not start its proces for the next 24 hours. It has some kind of error. Here, I'll send you the route to your LEC." He takes out his LEC and sends it. My LEC made a peep sound, i got it. "I have to go now, I would love to come with you and help you find it, but duty calls. keep your hopes up, ponies." The head-stallion walks away. Firewall looks at the holovision and smiled. "Show time... Holovision, activate!" It went on. Its an a naturian channel. I'm surprised, they actually have a channel. The view raring most suck... They most be happy with 3 viewers. When I look outside, all the buildings, WOOD. This only proofs more how they avoid technology. The fire department most LOVE this city... I look at the others. "I will be right back, okay? I need to get my item back." Flora, who wasn't crying anymore, stood up and walks to me. "I'll come with you, I need some distraction. I nods in agreement, but actually I don't like it at all! She'll find out about the necklace. Ow well, as long she doesn't know where it came from, right? "Alright, you can come with me. Later you two." "Yeah, bye." Said Fauna who seems to be hypnotized by the holovision. Flora and I move on to the waste incinerator by following the route on my LEC. We arrive at the main gate of the waste incinerator. Flora knocks on the door. On the door it says restricted acces. "Hello? May we come in?" She asks hoping for a respond. A mare responds with through an intercom. "Who's there?" "We're two of the survivors of the collage cruise. We came here because we suspect that one of my items is still in my collage suit." I said as a little floating robot with a camera shows up. It has the logo of the company that owns this waste incinerator. A company named the Solar Corporation. The mare responds. "Ah, I can see both of you now. Stella Sparks and Flora. Of course both of you may come in." Okay, that's strange. "How do you know our names?" I ask the mare as Flora and I walk in. Finally some familiar things. Machines and robots. Now that looks as pretty as the jungle, but its WAY less deadly. Also, trash. Trash everywhere. "The local covermunt looked in all of your LECs while you all where asleep. No worries, only information that was important. Everyone here know the four of you by now. It's all over the news. And not to forget the video massage you send out. That really dragged everyone's attention." I don't know if I'm happy with that... Now I can't walk around anymore without being seen as one of the four ponies who survived the crash and the jungle... A door opens and a earth pony mare walks out. She moves to Flora and me and shakes our hooves one by one. By the looks, she's around 35 years old. Her coat pink with purple mane and tail. She has blue eyes and a wrench as cutie mark. "My name is Pink Wrench, its a pleasure to meet you both." I shake hooves with her and respond. "Heh, thank you. Hey, do you happen to know where to find our blue with orange suits? It has FC Collage on them." Pink Wrench thinks. "Lets see... Did I see those... Yeah, I did. Just follow me, right this way." She leads us to the suits. "Eew, you smell that?" Asks Flora as she covers her muzzle. I did the same. "Yeah, that smell. Its like rotten egg." Pink Wrench laughs. "You girls never bin at a waste incinerator before? Just take it all in. The smell of industry." Flora rolls her eyes. "Or the smell of rotting food..." "That two." Said Pink Wrench as she happily gallops through the trash. I raise an eyebrow. "You seem quite happy. You like your job, do you?" She nods. "Yep! I do this for 20 years now and I'll do this for allot more. Ow, look. Here we are." We arrived at the location. Like she said, our suits are there. They lay on the floor. Eek, its good that they got rid of it. All the blood... Flora and I walked to them. I picked up my suit. Look at it, its ripped at all sides. I check the pockets. Then I found it, the necklace. I took it out and hold it. Flora sees it. "Wow, is that yours? Its beautiful. Why didn't you wear it before?" Pink Wrench saw the necklace, her smile went away from her face. "That's a pretty necklace you've got there. Where did you find it?" I hear that the change of tone in her voice changed. And her expression is also different. "I got it from my mother. It was a gift." Of course I didn't get it from my mother, but its better to tell a lie then that I start to yell around that I found it locked away in a temple. She nods. "I see... You gotta keep on eye on that. There are plenty of ponies who would try to steal it. Want a saddle bag to carry it around? Would attract way less attention that way." "Sure, it would come in handy." I have the feeling she knows more about that necklace... She takes her own saddle bag. "Here, keep it. I don't need it anymore." I accept the saddle bag and poot the necklace in it. I wore the bag. "Thanks, Pink Wrench." "Shall we go back? I wanna make contract with my mother and father." Asks Flora as she kicks away a empty can. I agree. "Yeah, your right. Thanks for your help, Ms. Pink Wrench." "No problem girls! Come back anytime if you need anything. And like I said, keep an eye on the necklace. I nod. "Will do. Bye." We head back to the others. That Pink Wrench sure acted strange about the necklace... She has to know more about it. However, she gave me a free saddle pack. That was very sweet of her. I can't wait to get home. After a while we arrive. Fauna and Firewall where sitting on the couch. They seem very quite. Flora went in first. "Hey there! We ba... ck... Ow no..." She looks at the screen. Then I walk in. "Did I miss something?" I ask. I didn't hear any greet. Fauna points at the screen. She sounds sad. "Look." I watch, and I felt like I was dying from inside out. We see Friendship City. Its getting attack by the Night March. Buildings burn and we can hear ponies scream. It shows LIVE at the top left corner of the hologram so its happening right now. I drop on my knees. "No... Mom, dad..." The other three try desperately to reach their family or friends back home, but no result. I took my LEC, and did the same. I fail every time as I try to connect. I start to cry as it seems hopeless. "No... WHY?!" I try one last time, but this time, I was in luck. I starts to connect to the intergalactic open network and begins calling... Now hope they pick up. I inform the others. "Its working! Its working!" Fauna looks at me happy. "REALLY?!" They get around me, waiting for a hologram to appear from my LEC. In the meantime, they try to connect to their families as well. Then my hologram activated and the audio started. I see my mom and dad, by the princesses, their fine. "Mom, dad! I'm so happy to see both of you! The cruise, all the ponies, their dead... I... I wanna go home!" My mom and dad seem very emotional. My father speaks. "Stella, by the six your still alive! Your mother and I where fearing the worst... We know what happened and we feel horrible. But sadly you can't come home. Its to dangerous out here." Then my mother speaks. "That also counts for your friends. I'm glad so see your not alone, at least you will have somepony to rely on." Firewall his ears flop down. He knows that means no good. The girls and I don't realize it yet. I finally feel relieved. Everything is gonna be just fine. "So you and dad are leaving the planet, right? On what planet do we meet?" My mother starts to cry. My father has to cry two, but holds it in. He speaks again. "My sweetheart, we're not going anywhere... They are bombing the city down. All the ponies will be shot on sight. Our military is overwhelmed by their numbers and weapons. We're stuck... And we might not..." He takes a short break in the middle of the line. It hurts him to say this. "We WILL not make it... Our government reports that they are doing all they can to take the city back before sunrise, but that is to long... More equestrian troops are moving in, but it will take time for they gain ground. On the bright side, the Night March has to flee our planet soon, they can't stay here for to long. But again, it will be to late for us..." I stomp my hoof on the ground, angry but also crying. "NO! This can't be! You and mom can't die, you're lying!" The twins went to a corner of the room. They need a moment alone to cry for their selves. Firewall tries to keep me calm. "I know... Just calm down." Strangely he didn't had to cry or anything. My mother speaks up. "Know that mom and dad love you, okay sweetie?" I could hear in her voice that she had to cry so badly. I didn't want to hear this, but its reality. "But... Mom!..." My father nods in agreement. "Your mom is right. We love you Stella. You will be always our little girl." tiers roll down my father cheeks. I burst into tears, as I do my farewell. "Farewell mom, dad... I'll miss you!..." I triy to keep most of my crying in. It would be even more painful of them if their daughter would snap in frond of their eyes. "Goodbye, Stella." Said my mother, as she walked closer to turn off the device. But right before she could press the button, enemy fighters start to bomb the neighborhood. Everything around them shakes. The expolotions are getting closer, and my father covers my mother. "HOLD ON HONEY!" And then, it happened. BOOM! with a flash, the call ends. I froze for a few seconds, and then I drop on the ground, I cried like a little filly. Firewall embraces me. "It's not fair... IT'S NOT FAIR! Do we have to lose everything?! Why I ask you, why all this violence." Firewall keeps embracing me. "I don't know, Stella. I don't know..." I embraced him back him back and let it all out. I never cried so hard before in my life. Then the doors open, and the head-stallion walked in. "Listen up, Friendship City has been..." He stopped in the middle of the line, he was to late. The next morning, I woke up. Everything changed... My hole life has bin blown of track. I lost my parents, my home city. Almost everypony I ever knew is gone... At this point, I wish I was dead... As I stood up, I picked up my LEC and start to look at some pictures. It are pictures of me, my mom and dad in Friendship City. Looking at them gives me a warm feeling, but it also makes me feel sad. I cry a bit, then somepony knocked at the door. I wipe my tears away. "Come in!" The door opens, it was Firewall. He walked in and closes the door behind him. He sits down next to me. "He, are you okay?" I shake my head. "No... My parents are dead..." I start to cry again and he hugs me. "I know... I feel horrible for you." After a minute or five of crying, I feel a bit better. And the crying stopped, for now... I looked at him again. "How is it that you aren't sad? You live in Friendship City right? Don't you have family there?" He sighs. "I... Never knew my parents. I was raised in the orphanage. When I was old enough, I moved out and went to live on my own. If I had family in that city, I would have never known them." I was silent for a moment. "Ow... I didn't mean to..." "Its fine, really." He stood up and looked out the window. I notice he wears a green suit. "Hey, where did you get that suit?" He points to the end of the bed. There is a suit there. The same type. "They gave us new suits. It looks nice." I take the suit and wear it. "Ow, its a bit tight." He shakes his head. "Nahh, it's perfect." "So... You know what the plan is? Where are we going?" I ask as I try to bend over to test the suit. Nope, it doesn't rip. He looks away. He doesn't want to see that. "Guiding Light told us that we will be transported to an other planet. He didn't gave any details about which one precisely. But he said that it will be an inhibited mostly by equestrians." I scratch my head. "Who's Guiding Light?" "That's the head-stallion. He's bin very kind to me. I couldn't sleep, so I help him with his work last night. He appreciated it." "So... Shall we get some breakfast?" I ask as I walk to the door. Firewall followed me. "Alright, count me in." We went to the dining table. The sisters where there. For once, Fauna saw me and greed me out loud. We sit down, its total silence. I try to speak with the sisters. "So... How's it going?..." Flora responds, she's clearly broken from inside. "Bad, very bad..." I nod. "Yeah... I also feel horrible..." Fauna doesn't eat or talk. It's better I'll let her alone for now. She looks very angry while at the same moment she cries. Firewall dose what I avoided. "Do you wanna talk, Fauna?" Fauna looks at him, her anger really shows now. "WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU WANT?!" Firewall his hears flop down. "Sorry... I'll leave you alone." She lets her head smack on the table, and cries. Flora pets her on her head. "Sis, please don't cry... It hurts me when I see you like this." Well... There goes my appetite... They did their best trying to make us eat... Look at all the food, there are a few things I didn't see before. Like that... Purple looking banana like thing... Normally I would have asked Flora that it could be, but at the moment its better not to bother her with those questions. The head-stallion walks into the room. He sat down. "Alright. As you all most likely know, your being transported to a safe planet controlled by Equestria. You'll be going to the city of Generosity on the planet Emropia. The mayor of the city will assign all of you to a house. And I have good news, you'll leave in one hour. Go prepare your zelfs. Meet at the main gate, a ship will be waiting there for the four of you. Good luck. All of you will need it." He left. Well, that was clear. Short but strait to the point. I stand up. "Come on guys. Let's go. The soon we're there, the sooner we can start to recover..." I head to my room, the others did the same. Within an hour we walk to the ship. Its pretty big. Its as big as three houses. We took place on board and the ship takes off. We are on our way. Things are different now... We can't go home anymore... There's no turning back...
A Legend Returns"Where one life ends, an other begins." - Discord, spirit of chaos and disharmony. ***Chapter 6: A Legend Returns*** It's bin eight hours as we finally enter Emropia's rather purple atmosphere. There hasn't bin mush of talking in that time. As I look out the window I see Generosity. Its a beautiful sight, the city looks so elegant. I love the color combination of the skyscrapers. White with purple and here and there a little bit of blue. Then after a minute we land. I sigh. "Alright guys, we're here." We all stand up. Fauna Looks angry at me and said sarcastic. "No, really?!" I decide to ignore her behavior. She needs some time, that's all. After we take our suitcases with barely anything in it we head to the gate of the ship. As it opens, the light of the nearby star shines on our faces. It blind me a bit. Then I notice something else. There is an whole crowd of ponies standing just outside our ship waiting for us. Some of them have a camera. Journalists? Great. Just what we needed... There is a line of guards holding them back from both sides. Making enough space for us to walk through. There is a unicorn mare with a funny hat and necklace. Its the mayor. Good thing town hall is just a minute away. She speaks. "Just ignore the journalists and follow me. Do not answer any questions if you don't want to answer them. Lets not waste any time, we have lots of things to take care of. My name is Scroll by the way. Welcome to Generosity." As we move forward to town hall, the journalists starte to record us and take photos. Here and there one tries desperately to force their questions onto us. "Stella, Is it true that you and your friends are the only survivors?!" "Firewall, what is the most traumatic thing you saw?!" "What do you all think about the current situation of your home planet?!" Fauna was about to snap, there is to mush pressure on her, I can read if from the body language. Flora tries to cover her sister from the paparazzi. One of the journalists tries his limits... "Fauna, are you worried about your parents?!" That was it. Fauna turns to the journalist and yells right in his face. "Of course I do you dip shit! There is a high chance that both died, now fuck off!" It was silent for a moment, then all the journalists went crazy and bombarded Fauna with questions. I grab Fauna and we all run into town hall and locked the door behind us. Fauna is over stressed. She takes beep breaths. "I can't take this anymore!" She yells. Flora hugs her stressed sister. Mayor Scroll checks all the windows of the current room first before returning back to us. "Sorry about that, but we couldn't force them to leave. That was a public area and they have the right to film there." Flora sits down on a chair. "How did they know we would arrive here anyway? Did somepony at Green Oak flap their lips?" "No, it somehow leaked out. Darn journalists, always lurking down like a group of vultures." Said mayor Scroll as she turns on some lights. Firewall walks to the mayor. "Don't tell me they'll be following us around everywhere we go." "We'll make sure that doesn't happen, now please follow me to my office." Said the mayor as she leads us to her office. This building looks very modern, with the latest teck provided. Here and there I see an employee and some robots walking and floating around. The city looked big, I hope I'll find my place here. Then we arrive at the mayor's office." "Please, take a seat." She said before taking place behind her desk. We sat down, and there we where again, sitting at a desk... I hope that this mayor only brings us good news, we're not waiting for more misery. Mayor Scroll first checks the window on eavesdropping journalists, nopony is there. "I hope the trip here wasn't to long, I bet that you youngsters want some rest, and a place to stay. Luckily, we've got everything covered. Shelter, transport, food, you name it. You will also get protection against the paparazzi. We found a house big enough for four ponies to stay. Is there anything else you kids need?" We shake our heads. "No, ma'am." I answer a bit depressed. The mayor sighs. "Look, everything is gone be better from now on. I promise." Fauna looks at the mayor. "We'll see about that..." Mayor Scroll smiles friendly. "It will. I'll send the code of your new home to your LECs. I'll also send my number if you ever need anything." Our LECs make the familiar peep noise, we received the code and phone number. "My personal driver is waiting outside in a hovercar, he'll bring you all to your new home save and sound. Are there any more questions?" Asks mayor Scroll before checking her window again. Still nothing. "Thank you for you're hospitality Ms. Scroll. We appreciate it." Said Firewall. Scroll nods. "Its fine. Take the back door, its right over there." She pointed to the back door. "And no worries. Journalists aren't allowed back there, its private property. If you need anything, give me a call and I'll see what I can do. See you all around." We stand up and make our way to the hovercar. One more time I turn around. "Thank you." I said to her very satisfied. Mayor Scroll nods. I turn to the door, open it, and we are out. Wow, this is a big garden. There is the driver with the hovercar, waiting. He seems to be asleep. Flora gasps as she sees a blue flower. "Ow my Celestia, they have poison joke here!" Fauna looks at it. "Uhh, its just a blue flower." Flora shakes her head. "Its not just any blue flower, its one of the few flowers they managed to save after Old Earth's fetal attack." I'm curious. "And why are they called poison joke?" Flora smiles. She forgot about everything for a moment. "Good question. They have poison on them that plays a practical joke on you if you touch them. For example: I'm not mush of a talker, so to poison would maybe force me to speak, ALLOT. More then needed. The only way to cure it is to take an herbal bath." "A herbal bath? That most smell horrible. I think I'll walk around that little flower." Said Firewall before continuing his way to the hovercar avoiding the poison joke. We also continued our way to it. As we got there, we try to open the doors. Locked... I knock on the driver's window, and he woke up. He sees us and unlocked the doors. We load our suitcases in the trunk and enter the hovercar. "Sorry for that, I fingered out that it would take some time before you would arrive, so I took an nap." Said the driver. Flora nods. "It's alright. Nice hovercar by the way." "Thank you." Said the driver before starting the engine. The hovercar start to hover, of course. Why wouldn't it? The driver checks everything and then talks again. "I'll take the shortest route I know, you'll be at your new home in no time." "That would be great." I respond. He begins to hover to our new home. This gives me the opportunity to view this city from up close. I notice they have tons of activities. And what are those?... Cloud houses? That's pretty cool. Classic Pegasi architecture between these modern buildings. I will take a look around soon, but first I have to get everything ready in our new home. By The Six, I wish I could go back to Friendship City, but it's to dangerous right now... And even when the enemy leaves again, the city has to be rebuild first. And mom, dad... I'll revenge them somehow, some day! For all the ponies who have died. On the cruise AND within the city. The driver stops. "Here it is, your now home. Go ahead and enter, its all yours." "Thank you for the lift, Sir." Said Firewall. We get out and take our suitcases from the trunk. "My pleasure. I'll head back now, Ms. Scroll probably has a new task for me. Later, kids." He hovers further. We walk to the house. "Well, here we are." I said as we arrive at the door. "Lets go in, I need some time to think." Said Flora sad. I take my LEC, that's still damaged, and used it to open the door. It works and we got access. We go in and then I heard a familiar voice. "Welcome to your new home, everypony. My name is ISA, your very own Intelligent Self-Controlled Assistent. You can ask me everything, there is almost nothing I can not do." They have to same computer assistent system as the one I had in Friendship City. She sounds the same, but its not her. She reminds me a bit of home... She starts to give us tips right away. "To improve the security, I advice that all of you scan your eye into the system. That way you don't have to take out your LEC every time if you need to proceed with something important. Like entering the house." "Good idea." I said and start to scan in my eye right away. FLASH. "Ouch! That's bright!" "Scan complete. Any others who want their eye to be scanned in?" Asks ISA as she holds her scanner ready. "I'll pass for now. Remind me tomorrow." Said Firewall as he starts looking for a room to claim. Flora agrees with him. "Yeah, same here. Me and Fauna are going to look for rooms. I should do the same if I where you, Stella." I nod. "Yeah, your right." I head upstairs and started looking. I see that Firewall already claimed a room, it has a small holovision. That was fast. I guess he's not that picky. I open a random door and the lights went on. I see two separated beds. This is perfect for Fauna and Flora. It also has a holovision with a nice view on the city. "Hey, Fauna, Flora! I found the perfect room for both of you." Both walk in. Fauna looks around. "Yeah, I can live with this. You Flora?" Flora agreed. "Fine by me. Just do not take a coltfriend to SLEEP with to our room when I'm home..." Fauna rolls her eyes. "Okay, will do." "Ow, and Stella. You might wanna see the room next to this one. I bet you'll like it." Said Flora as she starts to unpack her stuff. I nod. "Okay, thanks for the tip." I walk out and went to the room next to that one. I enter and couldn't believe what I see. "Ow... My... Luna... Is that a Equestrian light lazer canon against the wall?!" Fauna responds from the other room. "Yep. Its probably disabled, but we knew you would like it." "This canon used to belong to an Equestrian stealth scout of the X40 series. A small space ship, smaller then a fighter, meant for quick exploring before battle or patrols. I recognize the shape and everything. This is so awesome." I start to fan girl. "Somepony is nerding out." Said Firewall with a teasing tune in his voice. I giggle a bit. "Such you." Then I close my door and started to unpack my stuff. Or, what's left of it... After a while when everything is set, I look at the saddle pack which Pink Wrench gave me. Kind lady. I open it and took the necklace I left in there to keep safe. I lay down on the bed levitating the necklace above me and inspecting it. Why was this down there? It doesn't make any sense... I was planning to bring it to the Old Earth museum in Friendship City, but I guess with the attack I'll stick to it a bit longer. Then I look left, and saw a mirror. I wonder, would it fit me?... I stood up and walk to the mirror. I hanged it around my neck. Not bad actually. It looks pretty good. Then, something strange happened... The purple gem starts to glow. I get scared and take it off. What was that?... Magic? I hang it around my neck once more, and it glows again. Okay, this is strange... This never happened before in my life. Is this necklace cursed or something? I try to use my magic on it, to see what would happen. Nothing. So, this necklace glows, without any reason?... Yes, its pretty, but what is the use to it? Ow well. I inspect the necklace a bit more. Then I hear a mare's voice coming from behind me. "Okay, please do not freak out." I freeze, I didn't hear that voice ever before. It can't be Fauna pulling pranks on me, she's with Flora in the room next of here. Slowly I turn around. I saw nothing. "W-what?... Where are you?! Show your self! You know that breaking into someponies property without permission is illegal, right?! are you one of the bloody journalists!" The voice of the mare sounds very close, yet I can't see her. "No, I'm not. Please calm down, I mean no harm." "We'll see about that... Come out and stop hiding. Or I'll call the watchbots!" The mare sighs. "Lets make a deal. I'll reveal myself and you stay calm, okay?" I'm getting annoyed by this idiot. Who the actual fudge dose the think she is?! "Fine, I'll stay calm. Now come out." A ball of purple light appears in front of me. I freak out and walk backwards. The ball makes a flash, and there she is... The mare. She's a purple unicorn with classic golden Equestrian armor. Why is she transparent? "Okay, what kind of magic is this?... Do you think I would fall for it?" The mare walks closer. "What do you think? Its the magic of friendship." I laugh. "Your so fake. This necklace is to funny. Who cursed this thing?" The mare looks annoyed. "I'm more real them you think, Stella Sparks..." She unfolds her... wings? Hold up... She's an alicorn?.... Wait... No, can't be... Is she? No! That's impassible. "Who are you?" I asked suspicious. She smiles. "My name is Twilight Sparkle. Princess of friendship and the element of magic." I shake my head. "Your lying. How do I even know your real, and if you're speaking the truth..." She uses her magic and my LEC goes crazy. Making allot of strange noises, and showing weird texts. I look at it, it is creeping me out. "OKAY OKAY... So you're real... But ARE you the princess? I don't believe you, proof it." The mare who claims to be the princess of friendship her self thinks for a moment. Then she has a plan. "Here is something only you and I would know.' She repeats the riddle that was written on that stone door in the temple. "Before you may enter these halls, you have to answer our calls. For what's beyond this gate, may contain your fate. Only he or she, with an hart of gold, can answer this riddle, the legends of old. Moments came, and moments past. But there's one thing that ever lasts. In life we laugh, in life we cry. Together we stand, never we die. The magic will light our way, even through the darkest day. As long the magic shines in our harts, not even the death can drive us apart. For this magic stays by your side. As long as you follow,-" I finish it. "And stay in its light..." I'm amazed. How in the entire universe dose she know?! Wait... "So... you're... You are Twilight Sparkle..." She nods. "Holy shit! I mean, uhh... Chips. Pardon me princess." I bow immediately. "Ow, there is no need for that. Please, call me Twilight." She said modest. Its her, its truly her! This is awesome! An alicorn princess is here, and she's talking... TO ME! "I can't believe you're truly here. Where have you bin all that time? Everypony thinks you died over two thousand years ago." Twilight rubs her neck and then looks at me. "Uhh, heheh... About that... Let's just that's somehow completely true..." I raise a eyebrow. "What? Do you mean you're... Dead?" Twilight laughs a bit nervous and uneasy. "I died in the year 2088 at an age of 108." I took a good look at her and think for a moment. "So you like, what... A ghost?..." Twilight nods again. "A spirit to be exactly." I turn pile as I realize I've bin talking to a ghost or... Spirit in this case. Before I knew I fall to my side and became unconscious. After a while I woke up. I see Fauna, Flora and Firewall standing around me. "Stella! What happened?" Asked Flora concerned. Firewall helps me on my hooves. "We heard a loud bonk so we came to check it out. Then we found you unconscious. How did that happen?" I look around. Twilight is gone? Then I see that the necklace on the floor, it most have fallen off when I went unconscious. They most be connected somehow. I look at the others. "I... Didn't feel well. But everything is fine now I guess." Firewall scratches his head. "Are you sure? Not feeling dizzy or anything?" I smile. "No, really. I'm okay." Flora seems relieved. "Good. Don't scare us like that, okay?" Firewall and Flora left the room. Fauna doesn't leave yet. She looks at me. "With who where you talking?" Shit, she heard us... "What? How do you mean?" She rolls her eyes. "Come on, I heard you talk when I walked past your door. Who was here?" Ow no... I can't tell her, at least not yet. Not until I find out what this all means. "I... Was talking to myself. Yes, to my self! I do that sometimes." I give her a fake smile, hoping she would fall for it. Fauna looks at me for a moment, hesitatingly. "Okay then." She also left. As soon as she is out of sight I quickly grab the necklace. This is getting interesting. I have to talk to her again, but not here. The others might get on to me. Especially Fauna. I have so many questions, and I want answers. I start to think. Where can I talk to her and not be interrupted? I know! A basement. But do we have one? "ISA, do we happen to have a basement?" "We do, Ms. Stella. The entrance can be found underneath the staircase on the first floor." "Thank you, ISA." I said and I head to the entrance and enter it. I make sure the door is locked. Its dark in here... I try to turn on a light, but its broken. Great... I take my LEC and try to use that as licht, but the flashlight on it seems to be dead. I really gotta let this be repaired. With all the other options out of the way, I use my magic to light up the basement. That's better. This basement is dirty, not a big surprise. I hang the necklace around me yet again. The gem starts to glow and Twilight appears again. She looks guilty. "I'm sorry. It was to mush to take in, was it? You have to understand, I had no other way to bring it, otherwise you wouldn't have believed me." I got exited. "Its fine, I understand. I just have so many questions. I don't know where to start... How are you linked to this necklace?" "Have you ever heard of the elements of harmony?" She asks. I nod. "Of course I did, they told me everything at school. There once where six ponies, each one of them representing an element. Loyalty, honesty, kindness, laughter, generosity and magic. These ponies where the ancient protectors of Equestria, including you. I guess I don't have to tell what they did exactly. I mean, you where there." Twilight looks at me, wondering. "That seems to be right so far. But do you know HOW we became elements?" I nod again. "You, and the other five, received their powers while fighting off Nightmare.... Nightmare......" Twilight helps me out. "Nightmare Moon?" "Exactly! You, Twilight Sparkle found the true value of friendship. At that moment the inner elements got unlocked and Nightmare Moon was defeated." Twilight shakes her head. "Not completely true. You see. That necklace your wearing. What if I told you that the gem on it actually is the element of magic. Same thing with the other elements." I'm amazed yet again. "No way!... So this necklace, is the ACTUAL element of magic? No way! But that doesn't explain why I'm able to see you." Twilight sits down on a rusty old chair. "That's because from the moment me and the others wore the necklaces for the first time, it bounded to us. It magically attached itself to our souls. So when we died, our souls went to the afterlife, but yet still kept existing here, within the elements." I get inpatient. "Again, what has this to do with me seeing you?" Twilight raises her hoof, signing me to hold up. "I'm not done talking yet." She continues. "From the moment we died, everypony thought that we where gone forever. So they kept our elements save in Canterlot Castle on what you call Old Earth. The elements changed form that day. Instead of six necklaces, it tuned into one. With the gems as some kind of puzzle. One day an old night pony psychic visited Canterlot Castle named Nightfall the Mysterious. She told about a vision she had about the elements. A prophecy. That one day he or she, with an heart of gold would rise and serve as the bridge for the six to return to the world of the living and so stop the evil that's growing within the darkness. Many have tried to serve as this bridge, but all of them failed. But you, Stella Sparks. You are the one." I sit down on a old broken couch. "Hold up... What you're trying to tell me is that I'm that pony the prophecy told about and that its MY FATE to bring you and the other five back to live and stop the Night March from taking over the entire universe?..." Twilight sighs. "We're not coming back to life, Stella. That's why we need somepony to be our bridge. Without you, the Wielder, there won't be any return anytime soon. We will remain spirits. Even in the world of the living." I... I don't know what to think anymore... Is this all real? Am I dreaming this? Did the recent event mess up my mind? Maybe I'm just seeing things... " Won't be anytime soon, but you're here right? Your literary sitting here with me in this basement at this very moment." "Not exactly." She said as she takes off her head piece of the armor she's wearing. "Right now, I'm only able to speak and be seen by the Wielder of the elements, that's you. I'm also able to manipulate some electronic devices a little bit, like I did to your LEC earlier. But that takes allot of energy. When the element is not worn, I'm able to hear any conversations that are happening around it. That's how I know most of the things I'm telling you now, and I found stuff out myself. I'm kinda stuck between the afterlife and the world of the living everytime we talk. Kinda like I'm halfway through." I'm staring to understand it now. "What's has to be done to get you fully back into this world? Your spirit that is." She stands up. "We most find the other elements in order to make me, AND my friends to return." That raises a few questions. "Hey, where are your friends anyway? Aren't they supposed to be with you? Why aren't their gems on this thing?" Twilight looks at her element, then back at me. "As long you do not wield their elements you won't be able to speak or see them. When the Night March attacked, and the ponies fled Old Earth they took the elements with them. But with no Wielder they where afraid the Night March would find out about the prophecy and might try to destroy the elements. So they took the elements apart, and hidden it throughout the hole galaxy. All six at an other location. Hidden in secret places. so secret, I don't even know the locations of them." This seems impossible, but I want to know more before judging. "Can't you just go back to the afterlife and ask your friends where their elements are?" Twilight sighs again. "I wish they could. But like me, they have no idea to what planet their element was send. And finding them is another problem. The ponies back them did their best to keep unwanted ponies away from it, so be careful." Now everything makes sense. But WHAT dose she expect from me?... "So, long story short... I'm the so called Wielder. I have to bring back The Six from the afterlife, and stop the Night March from take over everything. BUT in order to do that I have to find all elements. go through all corners or the galaxy. probably run into tons of danger, and having a high risk of getting killed almost everywhere I go by ponies who want this power for them selfs OR destroy it. Correct?" Twilight doesn't like the tune in my voice. "Uhh, yes... You've making it sound very bad." "Well, I'm sorry for not picking this up the positive way princess. But this doesn't sound like an job that just an everyday pony can accomplish. What do you expect me to do out there? Smack that Night March scum on the head with my bare hooves? I never held a gun before in my life. How am I supposed to defend my self against an evil so great that its actually getting close of total domination of the entire galaxy and maybe even beyond!" Twilight's ears flop down. "Listen, Stella. I know, and I'm sorry. I ask allot of you, and it may seem impossible now but I have fait in you. There are some ponies I know who might be still alive who can help you out but you have to trust me. Without you all hope is lost and there won't be ANYTHING left that stands in their way of total domination. I beg you with all the good of my heart. Please do the right thing." She starts to bow down to me. The princess of freaking friendship just bowed down... TO ME!... Now I feel guilty... I think for a moment and sigh. "Alright, I'll consider it alright? Give me one intergalactic day to decide, I have to think about this." Twilight seems to have respect for that. "Okay, I see the logic in that. But not more then one day, alright? Everyday that passes is a step closer to victory for the Night March. Till that time, bye Stella. When you made your discussion, wear the necklace again. And I'll accept whatever you may decide. No hard feelings what so ever. Good luck." "Bye." I said as I take off the necklace. I can't believe what just happened... The Wielder, afterlife, elements... I... I have to think. ALLOT. From all the ponies out there... Why me? I'm not that special. I'm just me. I make my way up again to my room. I lay on my bed thinking what I should do next. If I won't help Twilight the galaxy is as good as lost. If I accept her task I might die in thousands of horrible ways... The more I think about it the more pressure I get. Stress is building up, and I start to feel like shit again. Great... I just wish this all was over. Like an dream that ends. Waking up in my warm bed at home. But sadly that's not the case... Celestia, why me?...