Chapters The USS Ravager is the newest ship in the US Navy. With an impressive length of 713 meters it is the biggest dreadnaught ever built. The advanced weaponry on board stretches from heavy railguns to anti-air cannons and torpedoes. The cloaking system, which is still a military secret, let the Ravager slip through enemy radar-, sonar- and heat detecting devices. Even though it is officially a ship of the US Navy, every member of the U.N. can assume control of it. Of course, the security council has a veto right. Its current location is always a secret for most of the population.
Shit, I’m so tired. The soldier rubs his hands over his face. He has short brown hair and brown eyes. He’s not old, probably in his early thirties. The chair in which he sits is maybe comfortable but after five hours of flying sitting is a torture. The free newspaper he got doesn’t make it any better. He looks outside the window of the plane. Pitch black. He would sleep, of course but the guy besides him, a big siberian man snores so loud that he can’t.
I wonder how it’ll look like…like in Star Wars?
“Excuse me, Sir?"
The soldier snaps out of his doze and notices that the stewardess in the corridor and his chair neighbour are looking at him. He quickly sits up properly. “Yes?”
“I just want to inform you that we will reach our destination in 15 minutes, so please check your luggage.”
“Okay, thank you.”
The stewardess proceeds to the other passengers while the young soldier looks out of the window again. The sun is already visible on the horizon. Damn it! Have I really zoned out for this long?
The plane begins to descend and the military base is now visible. There is a tower, probably to coordinate planes and jets, hangars for both tanks and aircraft and many other buildings. But the most impressive thing is the portal. A giant blue rift filled with stars. It looks almost like a piece of space on earth.
The plane now sets down on the airfield and the passengers applause to the captain, who had to fly for over five hours. The passengers begin to stand up and go towards the hatchway of the plane. The soldier is no exception. As he walks outside the plane and is immediately greeted by cold air. He hates it when the sun shines in your face but it isn’t even warm. The group of people begins to fall apart.
Apparently everyone knows where to except me. Well, for starters away from the airfield.
The soldier makes his way to one of the guards stationed on the entrances. He salutes and so does the guard. He wears US uniform. “How can I help you, soldier?”, the guard asks.
“I just arrived here. Any idea where I have to go?”
“Yeah, go to that guy over there.”
He points at a soldier who is standing in front of a platoon. The young soldier joggs towards the group of people and is quickly noticed by them. The Sargeant goes with wide steps to the soldier. “Hey, you’re the guy from Germany, right? The uh…medic?”, the sargeant asks.
“Yes, Sir! Jonathan Sturm, reporting for duty.”, the soldier says as he salutes.
“Okay, first of all my name is Sargeant Hendricks. And you are exactly what we need now. My platoon will be one of the first to go through this portal thing. I assume you are already briefed on the current situation?”
“Yes, Sarge! I know what to expect.”
Hendricks gives a weak smile and rests his hand on Johns right shoulder.“Son, only god knows what is behind that portal. And maybe not even he. Hey! Sergey! Frank! Lucy! That’s our medic! He’s in your fireteam, so take care of him! If he dies before you three then I will personally rip your arse off!”
Lucy and Frank, both from America are making a happy expression. Obviously because they now have a medic in their team, who improves their chance of survival greatly. Sergey, a russian has a pokerface.
“Hi, my name’s Lucy and that’s Frank. The quiet guy over there is Sergey. He doesn’t talk much but he’s a good guy.”
All of them shake hands and even Sergey has a weak smile on his face. John smiles back.
“It’s settled then! Gear up, Soldiers!"
"Sir, yes, Sir!", the entire platoon shouts.
"And someone bring this medic his stuff!", the sargeant adds.
"Okay, John...I can call you John, right?", Frank asks.
"Sure."
"Alright, we're gonna go to the armory and get you some of the good stuff."
"Sounds great."
The platoon is heading towards one of the hangars. In the meantime several medium and heavy tanks are forming a spearhead, ready to charge into the portal. The armory is in the same hangar in which the tanks are kept. On the walls are nearly infinite amounts of rifles, launchers, shotguns, grenades and magazines. John's weapons of choice are semiautomatic rifles with a nice mini-grenade launcher module. He takes a SCAR. Semi-and fullautomatic, red dot sight and a M203 grenade launcher for which he takes four grenades with him. As sidearm he takes a M12 Nova with a laserpointer and a flashlight. As he looks at his primary weapon, he has to grin.
The best thing in the army are always the guns.
"Sturm, Sir! Your medical equipment.", another soldier says while she is holding a bag with a red cross on it. John takes it and salutes.
"Thank's soldier."
He looks inside and checks if everything what he needs is there: A small bottle with morphine and other substances, disposable syringes, a military defibrillator, bandages, extendable splints and latex gloves. Look's good
"Do you have to carry all that?", Frank asks.
"Looks a lot more heavy then it is."
After they armed themselves the platoon takes cover behind the tanks. Sargeant Hendricks stands on the back of the first tank. "Alright, Soldiers! Listen up! Our mission is simple: Go through the portal and establish a beachhead for the reinforcements! Everything is considered hostile! Is that clear?!"
"SIR, YES, SIR!"
"OORAH SOLDIERS!"
"OORAH!"
After the motivation of the sargeant the tanks and infantry, which has taken cover behind them move towards the portal. The closer they come the brighter it gets. At least the soldiers are protected from the shine by the tanks. The first tank enters the portal and is somehow transformed into light. Tank after tank slips through the rift until it is finally John's time. He is nervous. As he touches the portal a warmth fills his body. He just sees white but after some seconds he is already at the other side. His vision clears slowly and he begins to notice his surroundings.
Where the hell are we?
It's another sunny day in Equestria. Birds are singing, children play and laugh and everyone enjoys the wonderful weather provided by the pegasy. Even Soliton Wave does, and that's difficult after all she had seen. She is part of a project called 'Conversion of Hope', or was until it backfired. She still tried to forget the horrible images of her dead colleagues. That is quite hard, considering that the Golden Way facility is in her view range. It is a palace-like building, similar to the castle of the two sisters back in Canterlot, just bigger. The city, in which it stands is the prideful symbol of the ponies' golden age. Skyscrapers, made out of marble and gold, gigantic, beautiful aqueducts, colorful gardens, statues of their rulers...
The white unicorn looks from her balcony on one of the skyscrapers down to the ponies walking happily in the streets. If they would know what we've unleashed...We are lucky that the humans fear everything they don't understand, that gives us time to find a way to close the portal and the royal guards to prepare themselves for a war. Even though, a war with humanity wouldn't be very long.
She walks into her apartment, a wealthy furnished floor in one of the skyscrapers and quietly opens a door. Inside, a grey unicorn filly with a grey-white mane plays with a radio set that Soliton stole from a police car during her time in the project. The radio is not able to receive messages through the portal and it needs electricity to work, so it's a perfect toy for her daughter and she can try energy spells on it. When the radio soughs than she made it right.
"Hey, Brighty. Are you already home from school?", Soliton says, while she nuzzles her daughter.
"Yep. Our physics teacher is sick, so the last lesson was canceled."
"Again? I need to talk with the principal about this. This is impossible."
"Mom! Why don't you grant me just a little bit less boredom in the week?"
"Because, young mare, you have the oppertunity to attend one of the best schools in Equestria. And I don't want that this 'teacher' ruins your education."
There is a short silence until Bright Dawn speaks up again.
"Dad would be happy that I'm home erlier."
Soliton Wave's expression darkens.
"Your father is a selfish...ah...nevermind. Wanna eat something?"
"Sure. Do you have hayburgers?"
"No, but I can make a salad. Delicious and healthy."
Bright looks dissapointed on the ground.
"Okay, I guess."
Soliton Wave trots out of Bright Dawn's room and gatheres the ingredients she needs. Lattuce, tomatoes, carrots and many other crops, most of them would give a human strong stomach pain. Oh, Potent Potion you stupid, stupid stallion. How could you have thought that they would accept what we did to them? They already hate each other just for having different skin. How could you have thought that they would accept a completely different form?
She levitates a knife with her magic from its holder and slices the crops apart. While she does that, her gaze wanders to a picture in the corner of the room. It was her, Bright Dawn, who was still a baby, and an orange earth pony. All of them look happy. Her eyes narrow and she turns away. Why do I even keep it? It's enough when I see him at work. Little cheat. Maybe it's time to tell Bright Dawn the true story...No, she's still too young. She wouldn't understand. The unicorn throws the sliced crops into a bowl of glass with some controlled anger.
"Honey! Food is ready!"
There is no response.
Oh Celestia, please tell me she didn't teleport away again.
Soliton Wave waits a minute and then goes into her daughters room. Bright Dawn sits in her chair and looks with an arrogant smile at her mother, who can just frown back. "Mom, do you remember when you said that this thing doesn't work?"
"Yes, why?"
"Well, I fixed it.", the filly says full of pride.
Soliton frowns even more at that statement. She goes to the human device and turns it on. Just statics.
"You have to-"
"I know that I have to adjust the frequency, Bright. Thank you.", the unicorn interrupts.
"The what? How does that radio-thing even work?"
"This device receives radio waves and translates them into sounds that we can perceive. Quite tricky to build something like it. Even in our golden age."
But for those hairless monkeys it's so easy. How could they make such technological advances in a world of constant war?
"ZZZZZZDelta teamZZZZZZareaZZZZZZsecureZZZZZZMoZZZZZZnextZZZZZsectorZZZZZ"
"What was that?"
"Ha! I told you I repaired it."
"But that's impossible! Radio waves can't get so far, they just can't! The only logical explanation is either a spell or-"
Soliton Wave's eyes widen, her pupils get smaller and her ears drop backwards. The realization is showing. She holds Bright Dawn's head with her forehooves and makes a very serious face. "Brighty, listen to me very carefully. I'm going to...uh...work. Close the door to the tele-room when I'm through and don't open it if you're not a hundred percent sure it's me. The same goes for the front door. Understood?"
Soliton's daughter is confused about the sudden seriousness of her mother. Did she made something wrong? "O-okay, mom...", the filly stutteres guilty.
"Don't worry, it won't take long.", Soliton assures, while she forces herself to smile.
Both of them are walking towards the tele-room. It is a round, egg-like room and contains a, very nicely ornamented, teleportation platform. The three mosaic-windows on the opposite side of the door are illustrating princess Twilight Sparkle, as a symbol of the scientific effort of Soliton Wave. They showed princess Cadence not too long ago but Soliton had them replaced. The white mare steps on the platform and it lights up. Under her a portal, similar to the one that leads to the human world appears. Of course, it's not as big as the portal to earth.
Earth...what a dumb name for a planet but hey, it fits to the inhabitants. What stood in this god-book of theirs again? That humans were made out of mud or dirt or somthing like that?
Soliton stops her thinking as she noticed that the rift started to suck her in.
"Mom...I love you."
"I lo-"
It's too late. The portal devoured the unicorn, leaving a teared up filly behind. Maybe she knows what's happening.
The blinding light subsides and Soliton's vision clears. 'Golden Way Research Facility, Main Entrance' She is here, and no signs of humans so far. No dead ponies, no bullet holes on the walls and no bullet shells on the ground. Everything is fine except the fact that nobody is here.
Please Celestia, let me be wrong for just this time. Soliton doesn't dare to speak something out loud. When a human would hear her, she'd be done for. The unicorn walks towards one of the gigantic hallways. The light, which is coming in from the several windows makes this place to a bigger version of the Canterlot castle. The structure of the hallway let Solitons hoofsteps echo through the building.
Shit! I'm way too loud. Where in Tartarus is everypony!? She continues to walk in the portals direction until a familiar smell fills her nostrils. Sweet, metallic, muddy. All her senses say: "Stop! Turn around! Think about your child!" But her logical and rationally mind pushed those feelings aside.
After a while she finds the source of the disgusting, fruity smell. The hallway is covered in blood and dead royal guards and scientists. Soliton puts a hoof over her mouth in shock. She knows this ponies. Those are her colleagues, her friends. Over there lies Candy Dream and Happy Wind. The horror is still visible in their faces. Their eyes are red, just like their coat. Soliton can tell that they suffered long. The humans shot them in the stomach. That would also explain the huge amount of blood on the floor.
Oh Celestia, please no...no,no,no! This can't be! The Golden Way chamber is protected with the strongest magical shield there is! They couldn't have broken through it!
She advances slowly in the pool of blood. It sounds like a walk in the park after a rainy autumn day. As the torture was finally over Soliton sees something that comfirmes her theory. A dead human soldier. She comes slowly closer. It's a male. Its eyes are closed, the hands folded together, still holding a small weapon.
It couldn't have died like that...its...his companions must have payed him the last respects. There is a relatively small wound on its torso. Probably caused by a spear or an arrow. Did it pierce through its heart? As the white pony passes the human she can't help to look with anger back at it. How many have you killed? The unicorn pushes deeper into the complex.
"Help! Please!"
What the-
The scream is followed by several shots. Solitons memories come back. The screams, the howling of bullets. She pushes them back. The mare sees how a dark grey unicorn runs towards her, followed by a royal guard and a human.
"Get back here and fight, you little fucks!", it shouts.
The orange coated royal guard throws his sword at the human and hits the biped in the thigh. It screams in agony and pulls it out. That gives the two enough time reach Soliton Wave. "Potent Potion?!", Soliton asks unbelievingly.
"Soliton Flare?!", the stallion asks back with a Canterlot accent.
"Hey! You can talk later whan we're outta here.", the royal guard says.
"Oh, great! From all ponies you are the one who survives, huh?!", Soliton shouts at the guard.
"Says the one who-Ahh!"
He is interrupted by shot in his right hindleg. The human sits now, but still fires at them. Behind it three other human soldiers come to their companions aid. Soliton puts up a magical shield. "Potent Potion! Teleport us out of here!"
"W-what?! Teleporting without a platform?!"
"Just do it, you nerd!", the guard adds.
"Fire!", one of the humans yells.
The bulletrain begins to crack the shield. Soliton tries to maintain the field, but she is already bleeding from one of her nostrils.
"Just a little bit longer...", Potent says concentrated.
"I don't think we a little bit have longer!" The guard points at a big metal thing that, surprisingly fast, advances on their position. It has a big horn in front of it and is covered in a camouflage.
"What in Tartarus is that?!", he asks.
Soliton looks at it in shock. She bleeds already from both nostrils. "They brought tanks with them?!"
"What is a tank?!"
The machine brings its weapon into position.
"Potent! Help! Please! I...I can't anymore!"
Soliton Wave can't stand the shelling any longer. Her eyes slowly close. There is a dull sound. A small dark thing flies towards them and explodes. The shield cracks and the group flies a few meters back. Soliton Wave is unconscious or dead. The guard stands up in a defensive position and tries to protect Soliton Wave. Potent Potion cowers behind him aswell. The humans don't come near. They seem to wait for something. The soldier who got a sword in his thigh is holded by his companions.
The metal monstrosity brings its weapon once again in position and fires. A giant explosion follows that destroyes one of the marble pillars in the process, which causes the production of some smoke. As the smoke subsides, the grin on the humans faces does aswell.
A golden shield stands protective over the ponies. A creature, who looks like an angel flies over them and fires a powerful magical charge at the machine which annihilates it completely. The infantry manages to get out of the blast radius. The humans fall back, terrified. And the angel disappears with the ponies just as fast as it came.
Who shakes the Devils Hand...
Flora trots through the, with ponies filled, steets of the golden city. She sees a couple sitting on the terrace of a coffee shop. She stops for a minute and looks at them but quickly shakes her head and continues her march towards the palace-like building in the distance. She has no time to eat, even though her stomach already hurts. She has a mission, which must be successful or else...
Stay focused, damn it! You can eat later, when you're back home. You...We need to rescue her. If you don't succeed then we will...
The black coated pegasy squeezes through the crowds of ponies, until she accidentally collides with a royal guard. Flora steps a a little bit back.
"I'm sorry, Sir. I didn't see you."
"It's fine, Ma'am, but why are you going towards the quarantine zone? You know that the inner city is being evacuated, right?
Flora makes a concerned face.
"No I didn't, but why? Did something happen at the Golden Way?"
The guards looks at the building behind him and bites his bottom lip.
"Kind of...But don't worry. The main six will arrive soon a-and princess Celestia is already here. She will explain the situation at the moonshine plaza."
"Then I will go there, I guess."
Flora turns around and heads towards the plaza.
What have the ponies done now again? Eternal night plan B?
Suddenly some of the ponies gasp and start talking. She looks behind her. The Golden Way facility is locked under a golden, magical pyramide.
That was Celestia, for sure! What in Tartarus is going on?!
The way to the moonshine plaza is stressful. So many ponies and so little space. At least it's not far away. The plaza itself is normally not very crowded, even though it's very famous for the beauty it radiates when it's night. A perfect place to eat since many stallions make their marriage proposal there.
But today it looks like a funfair. Hundreds of ponies came to hear their princess speak. A tall podest stands on the opposite side to the ponies. Two equestrian flags are hanging from both sides. The ponies themselves are worried. Some mumble about a virus, others about a creature. But all of them are sure that something's wrong.
However, their talking is interrupted by the sound of fanfares. Three ponies step up. It's princess Celestia in the front, the mayor of the golden city, and princess Cadence, who is on a visit for two days now. Celestia steps forward.
"My little ponies, I have come to your city of peace and progress to inform you about a horrible mistake we, your rulers, made."
Cadence goes to Celestia and whispers something in her ear, but the elder alicorn just shakes her head.
"It is time that you hear the truth. We tried to hide it as long as possible but now we can't anymore. The shield, which surrounds the Golden Way is not there to prevent somepony from going in, it is there to prevent something else from coming out."
The ponies talk with each other again but they fall silent quickly to listen once more.
"This something is called humanity. A destructive species of bipeds, which have fought more wars against each other than all creatures we know of toghether. Their technology is so advanced that you would belief it's magic and their weapons are more horrifying than King Sombra could ever be. But I am sure that we will master this threat just like we mastered every other, by working together."
Celestia steps back and mayor, Good Will steps in her place.
"Everypony, please proceed to the train stations. If somepony needs help, don't hesitate to ask. And if you see anything odd, immediately inform a royal guard."
Then princess Cadence speaks up.
"I'm willing to help too, of course. And so do the main six."
Flora snobs.
Arrogant, little bitch...
The crowd of ponies begins to fall apart and most of them are trotting in smaller groups to the streets. But Flora has other plans.
A species with enough power to impress even the oh-so-powerful-ponies, huh? If I could win them as allies...
A grin is forming in her face. She once again makes her way to the Golden Way facility. As she reaches the more dark street corners, she can finally drop her disguise. Green flames engulfed the black pegasy and instead of her there stands a insect-like pony with blue compound eyes, blue transcendent wings, black chitin plating, legs with holes and a curved horn.
Finally! How long has it been?
She is much more agile in her true form and since all ponies are being evacuated from the golden city it causes no problems on the way to the Golden Way facility. The buildings around the facility are completely empty. Flora can't help to feel a little bit pity for the ponies. The streets, once filled with laughter and joy have fallen silent. The only ponies, who are here now are royal guards. They search for other ponies and keep them from coming near the shield. No problem for Flora, of course. She lived for a while here now and knows how to avoid the guards. And she is the best infiltrator in the entire swarm. Well, she is the best infiltrator in the entire swarm after the catastrophe at the wedding...The real problem is how to get passed the shield.
Come on, Bug! Think!
"Sweet Celestia! Alert! Alert!"
Flora looks in the direction from where the scream came. A royal guard, who lies on his back tries to get away from the shield. On the other side stands a big biped, who is completely shrouded in clothing. It holds a weapon, which appears to be some sort of projectile launcher, like a crossbow for example. But it still looks very weird for a weapon. Two other ponies in armor came to aid the guard.
"Relax, it's inside the shield. It can't hurt us."
However, the guard who said that quickly regrets his statement after the human shot a few times at the shield. It didn't penetrate it, though. The human then holds a finger on the right side of its head and seems to talk with somenone.
Perhaps...they have a hivemind and it's communing with the others?
The biped goes back into the facility and leaves three terrified guards behind. And a changeling, who still tries to figure out how to get inside the shield.
If I cast the same spell as the princess did...both shields should connect with each other. Yes! That's it! But what spell did the princess cast?
It takes Flora some time to figure the spell out, but she finds the right one after some minutes. A green pyramide devoured the changeling and she slowly advances on the shield. Almost like water the two shields connect and Flora is on the other side. The green spot on the golden shield eventually subsides to the overwhelming golden colour of Celestia's shield.
Okay, I am through the shield. Now I need to get in the building. The main entrance is probably not the best idea...
She looks around. It doesn't seem like there is any of this bipeds around and the royal guard can't or don't want to get in so it's safe to fly. For now, at least. Her wings begin to move very fast, as you would expect from an insect and she ascends to the upper levels of the building. Luckily she finds a ventilation opening.
Oh man, today's my lucky day. Well, I starve to death but still...
Flora crawls through the narrow shaft. There is no light, but changelings live underground so their eyes are used to dark environments. But she doesn't know where she is or how she gets out of there. She hears voices in the distance and crawls towards them. After maybe ten meters she is directly under the voices.
"...the energy field that surrounds this building, Sir."
"Did you use the tanks?"
"Yes, Sir. Even the heavy railguns were useless."
"C4?"
"That too, Sir."
"Damn it! Someone inform High Command! We need something heavier!"
"Sir, by all respect, why should we even want to break out?"
"How do you mean that, Stu-"
The shaft can't hold Flora's weight anymore and breaks. She falls in the middle of five humans. One of them is Hendricks and John is there too.
Oh, crap...
All of them are pionting their guns at her head.
"What the-?! Where did that thing come from?!"
"Who cares! Let's get rid of it!"
"No, no, no! Wait a minute! I'm not a pony! I hate them too! I can help you to get outta here!"
"Well, too bad. We don't wanna get outta here, right Sturm?"
"Yes, Sir!"
Flora takes a deep breath.
"Look, if you want to kill me then go for it. There's no way I can avoid this. But before you do that, there's one thing left I have to do."
"And whatever would that be?"
"Under this building is a unbreakable shell. It holds someone very important and that someone can help you out way better than I can. I was sent to rescue that person."
"And why should we trust you?", Hendricks said, while he lowered his rifle. So did the others.
"You don't have to. Just see for yourself."
"Fine. But you will go wit us and when you lied..."
"Don't worry. For one time in my life I didn't lie."
"Sturm and I will go. The rest of you stays here and establish a perimeter around the building. I want the tanks on defensive lines in the main hallways, snipers and stingers on the roof and automated turrets on the entrance. And the technicians should finally start to bring that radar system up and running!"
Flora leads the two bipeds to a spiral staircase, which leads down into a dark area. The sargeant looks at John, who nods in response. He puts his rifle away and takes his sidearm. The pistol has a flashlight. As they descend into the darkness, the humans get nervous.
"How far is it still?"
"Not much. Just down here at the end of the corridor."
At the end of the staircase is a sign on a door. It says 'Prison Cells. Warning: Extremely dangerous beings'.
"Well, that's not very convincing. Are you sure we're right?"
"Yes, we are. I thought you'd be better than believing signs written by ponies."
"It has a point there, Sarge."
They proceed through the corridor and at the end was a massive door, similar to a safe.
"They code is: 204836."
"Alright. Sturm, cover me."
Hendrick begins to unlock the door while John holds his pistol at Flora. The door opens and reveals a single white room with a big black mass in it. It seems to be dead or at least very weak.
"Queen Chrysalis!", Flora shouts, before she feels something hard hit the back of her head.
"Sorry, buddy. But as long as we don't need you or your friend we'll lock you in there."
Her sight gets blacker. She tries to crawl to her queen but falls unconcious before she reaches her.
The hall, in which the Golden Way stands is now flooded with vehicles. Tanks, jeeps and even some dismantled ospreys and apaches. Old eighty music can be heard. They have a CD player. Some of the soldiers work on the vehicles and others play card games. The technicians work hard on a helipad on the rooftop of the building. John, who sits on the bonnet of a jeep looks at them, while they carry some of the parts.
These guys work really hard...First the radar tower, then the generators and now an entire helipad...What comes next? Artillery?
"Hey! John!"
He looks down and sees a hand from under the jeep.
"Can you give me allen key?"
"Yeah."
He takes the item from the toolbox besides him and hands it over.
"Thanks."
"You're pretty good at this, Lucy. Say, had you another job before you signed up?"
"Yep, I worked as a mechanic in Detroit. And you?"
"I studied medicine in Munich, but I stopped after the eleventh semester."
"Huh? You stopped so short before your university degree? Why that?"
"I...My family needed me back home, in Wald."
"Oh...Did someone of your family get..."
Oh, no. God, no. My father he...he died."
Lucy gets up from under the jeep and cleans her hands on a dirty piece of cloth. She is covered in black spots. Oil probably. Her brunette hair is bound together in a pony tail.
"Sorry, John. I didn't want to open old wounds..."
"It's fine. I made peace with it a long time ago. Plus, I still have a sister."
"Really? How is she?"
"She's the best big sis you can have. And you? Do you have family back home?"
"Yeah, my dad worked in Detroit too, but the company got bankrupt. And my mom's a whore.
"Don't say something like that, Lucy."
"No, I mean it literally. She's a striper. That doesn't change the fact that she's a good mom though. Hope I can see her soon."
"Well, just another reason to end this here quickly."
They assume their normal duties again but Johns radio speaks up.
"Hi, Human! How are you?! I hope you have a super duper day! My name's Pi-"
"Pinkie, give me that!"
The radio gives some pieces of sentences and static from it. John frowns. He turns his transmitter off and on again.
That always works.
"Here is delta four, there were some...interferences. What's your status? Over."
"Um...here is...tango...two. I need some help with that...thing. You better come and see it for yourself."
The voice is different now. It isn't high pitched, but rusty.
Did that guy ever learned communication rules?
"Copy that."
John follows the radio transmitters location, what is quite difficult without GPS but he manages to get around in the building. The bodies of the dead ponies have already been burned so no diseases can spread, but the blood puddles are still there. He stops in the middle of around room with a weird platform in it. A helmet with the transmitter lies there, but no sign of the soldier.
That's odd. Better report to the sarge...
"Here is de-"
Something fell on Johns head and back. He tries to throw it off but it holds itself on him very hard.
"What the fuck?!"
"Now Applejack!"
Something from behind punches him in his right knee throat. He staggeres and collapses on the ground. At least he manages to throw the thing on his head off. It's Pinkie Pie.
"You little piece of shit! I'll kill you!"
"No, you won't!"
The vioce comes from behind him. He looks at it. It's a purple...well, he can't say what she is since he never saw an alicorn before. However, it charges its horn and engulfes John in an also purple energy field. He can't move an inch. The only thing that he can is breathing. The purple pony lands nearby the pink one and helps it stand up.
"Are you alright, Pinkie?"
"Yes, but...he has a good throwing arm."
"Well, not anymore."
A third pony with a cowby hat trots to the others. While she passes John she kicks him with one of her hindlegs against his ribcage. He would scream if he could. The three now look at him. The purple pony steps to him, with anger and sadness in her eyes.
"Do you have any idea what you are doing? What your kind always did and will do until the end of time? You holded so much hope for us...So many of your inventions could have made our lives a little bit brighter. We wanted to help you, to laugh with you, to share our golden age with you..."
Her eyes begin to water and she turns away, her horn nearly touching the ground.
"But you just...just punched our hoof of friendship away, said what we did to you is evil and despicable."
God, I swear when I get of of here I'll rip hear tongue out!
"But it doesn't matter anymore, does it? You are here and now we need to protect our kind from you. And I think Luna can get some information out of you."
"I wouldn't be so sure about that, princess."
The voice who said that is female and has an echo in it. John can't move so he can't see what's going on. The voice speaks again.
"You have already claimed my people. You will not take them aswell!"
The pony before him was shocked, but that soon changes in anger.
"We defended us from you, Chrysalis! Just like we need to defend us from them! You don't know what they are capable of! You haven't seen their true self!"
"Your kind is a bunch of spoiled brats, who fear anything that looks different from them! We said that we're sorry! We tried to reason with you...But you let us starve to death!"
What the hell is going on?! Chrysalis?! Who the fuck is that?!
"You're lying! Like you changelings always do!"
"That's enough!"
A green bolt of energy hits John's prison and destroys it, but leaving himself unharmed. He immediately graps the pony in front of him at the neck and strangels her. Another two green bolts hit the other two ponies, leaving them injured an unable to fight. The purple pony begins to grow weaker and her eyes turn upwards. But then her eyes fill with a green shine and black crystals grow from the ground. She begins to laugh quietly.
"Step back!", the echoing voice shouts.
And he does that. Just in the right time. Before him a black crystal grows extremely fast out of the ground. It would've impaled him. The green shine in the ponies eyes subsides and she shakes her head. As she looks at the black crystals around her, she begins to cry.
"I...You made me do it again..."
Another green bolt is launched but the pony can evade it, through teleporting away. She spawns near the other ponies and teleports herself and them out of the room.
John finally got a chance to looks at his savior. As he turns around he is so shocked that he graps his rifle and points it at the thing. It is a equine insectoid with a distorted horn, blue transcendent wings, blue hair and green reptile-like eyes. It slowly advances to him, its head on his eye level.
"Stay where you are! I'll shoot, I swear!"
A gentle smile is forming on the beasts face, revealing a pair of fangs.
Fuck! A predator!
"No need to be afraid, human. We stand on the same side."
"What are you?! Some kind of genetic experiment?!"
"I am Queen Chrysalis. The thing you found in the unbreakable shell. Well, it seems it is not so unbreakable after all."
"Wait, you're that black...mass?! And what about the other thing?!"
"She is still unconcious from your hit."
"You know?"
"Yes, I was awake the whole time."
"And now? Are you going to eat me or put eggs in my stomach like a fucking facehugger?!"
"I don't know what a 'facehugger' is, but no. How I said, we are on the same side."
"And I should just believe you?"
"No, not now. Words are worthless, but actions are not. Come with me and tell your leaders they should prepare their troops."
"Fine. I guess if you want to kill me you would've done it by now."
The two head to the roof of the building. They walk past some other soldiers and John ensures them that he has the situation under control. As they stand on the half constructed helipad the most important human majors and sargeants are present. Even general Carter himself stepped through the portal to see the creature. He speaks up.
"So, creature. How do want to help us?"
The changeling steps forward.
"Mighty humanity, I, Queen Chrysalis, are offering an alliance between the Changeling Kingdom and your nations against Equestria and their allies."
"So, you want to join the United Nations?"
Chrysalis bows down.
"I and my people would be honored."
"Well then, show us what you're capable of. I want that this city falls in twenty four hours and maybe then I will send your request to my superiors."
"Y-yes, of course."
The general walks back into the building, while Chrysalis launches another bolt of green energy in the air. It passes through the shield and explodes like a firework.
"And now?", one of the sargeants ask.
"Now we wait for my people to come and destroy the shield. Then we will attack the golden city."
"So we're making a joint operation?", another one ask.
She looks to John, who nods slighlty.
"Yes, a joint operation."
The Fall of the Golden City
"Princess, please! Listen to me! We must evacuate our troops immediately! They will not stand a chance against the humans!"
Potent Potion runs behind Celestia, trying to consult her. She, however doesn't look at him and continues to walk to the big tent in front of her.
"I have great trust in our soldiers, Potent Potion. They will prevail, as they always do."
An area of the wide grassfields around the Golden City, known as the Great Plains is currently used as a stronghold for the royal guard but the griffins have already began to build up their massive weapons. Giant ballistas, catapults and even an airship, filled with cannons and legionaries from Gryphos. It is already late and dark but the moon shines bright at them. And there are torches everwhere.
Both of them step inside the tent. A griffin with a golden armor stands before a wooden table. On it is a map of this region. He looks at the two ponies and bows quickly.
"I am Sir Arthur, your highness. I command the griffin troops that are stationed here. At your service."
"Thank you, Sir Arthur. With the griffins on our side this fight will be over quickly."
"Ha! You don't really believe that swords and shields will defeat the humans, do you? Not even the main six could defeat one of them for crying out loud!", Potent Potion interrupts.
Celestia looks at him in anger.
"He had help. They released queen Chrysalis from her unbreakable shell."
"But still-"
"Enough now, Potent Potion! Let me and Sir Arthur discuss the battle strategy. Go and see how Soliton Wave is."
"But...Yes, your majesty."
The unicorn leaves the tent, whispering something under his breath.
"Now then, Princess. May I know what a 'human' is? My superiors gave me little to no intel."
The princess sighs.
"Humans are a race of tall, very intelligent bipeds from another world. They came to Equestria to destroy it."
Arthur frowns.
"Excuse me, princess but...'from another world'?"
"You heared correctly, Sir Arthur. They come from a planet called Earth. I'm sorry but...that's all you have to know for now. I wish I could tell you more."
There is a short silence until another pony enters the tent. It's Soliton Wave.
"My daughter. Where is she?"
"She has been evacuated, like everypony else. To Manehattan."
"And she is?", Arthur asks.
"Dr. Soliton Wave. She will be one of our advisors, along with Potent Potion."
"And do you have any suggestions how we should deal with these 'humans', doctor?"
"Yes. If you get into a battle with one, try to be faster then sound. Then you might actually have a chance to survive."
"Maybe with a little bit less...sarcasm?"
"Sir! Incoming!", a voice yelled from outside.
All of them run out of the tent. Another griffin flies towards them.
"What is it, soldier?", the griffin knight asks.
"The changelings, Sir! They are coming! The whole swarm!"
"The parasites?! What do they want here?"
The insectoids advance with terrefying speed but, for some reason, completely ignoring the emplacements of both ponies and griffins. They just fly over them.
"What the- Why didn't they attack?!", Arthur asks.
"Because they don't want us, right your highness?"
"What are you talking, Soliton Wave? The only thing here is- Oh, no...But the humans would've never freed her."
"Maybe they did by accident."
"Sir Arthur! We must attack now and stop the changeling army before they can destroy they shield!"
"At once, princess!"
The griffins and ponies march in the city. Even the airship begins to rotate itself into a better firing position.
Meanwhile at the Golden Way facility:
"How long are we supposed to wait, ladybug? Damn, even the apache was faster ready then you.", one of the soldiers says impatient.
"Patience. My army will be here shortly, and then we will conquer this city."
John, who still stands next to Chrysalis points at something in the distance.
"Sir, we have movement in sector one. A lot of movement."
Chrysalis grins at the officers in front of her.
"Ready your weapons, humans. This will not take long."
The changeling army, which is laughably small after the years of starvation attacks the royal guards at the shield. They fight well, but eventually lose against the overwhelming force. Now the shapeshifters attack the shield. They ram their bodies against it with no sign of strategy or sense. The humans under the shield are forming groups of four or five and aiming at the strange creatures. John is no exception.
"Hold your weapons! They are on your side! They free you!", Chrysalis shouts.
"Tell that your grandma, queeny!", one of the soldiers replies.
The shield cracks and begins to collapse like a glass bottle but there are no fragments. It just disapears in thin air. The changelings land besides their queen...and John who is very nervous now. Some of the creatures look at him and hiss.
"Stay away from me, you ugly motherfuckers!"
"At ease, John. They won't hurt you unless I command it."
"Then tell them already!"
The queen makes a large veriety of hissing, chirping and clicking noises. Probably the native language of her people. The insectoids look around and make calm chirping sounds. They make a path free for John, so he can go to his companions. Some of them even chirp happily at him when he passes. He stops at one in particular.
Do I know you? Nah, these things all look the same.
"Well, can we start now?", Chrysalis asks teasingly.
"Of course not! We still have to assemble our ospreys and make battle strategies! We aren't nearly in the condition to-"
The major is interrupted by the radio.
"Sir, we have something on our radar."
"I know that lieutenant! It stands right in front of me!"
"No sir, something else. Multiple signatures coming in from sector one."
"How many?"
"At least two hundreds, sir. All of them are closing in on our position."
"Ah, fuck...Alright people, set up a perimeter around this building, hold the line at any cost! I want that apache in the air and snipers on the roof! And you better put up a good fight, bug queen!"
"Oh, don't worry. We will."
Arthur's group, ten minutes later:
The darkness in the city is unsettling. The big buildings were empity and no light can be seen from the widows. Arthur just hears his own steps and the ones from his companions. The army of two hundret and fifty soldiers had been divided in smaller groups, so that they aren't such an easy target. The main group is about a hundred soldiers strong.
No light, no sight...guess my old superior was right about one thing. But at least the humans can't see us. The changelings, though...damn, maybe this wasn't such a great idea after all.
They are getting closer to the Golden Way facility. Some dead royal guards are lying on the ground. Arthur examines one of them.
Bite wounds on the neck, hole in the right side of his chest...Changelings, for sure.
"I have a bad feeling about this. I think we're being wa-"
There is sound. Like a arrow, just not. As Arthur turns around he sees his companion lying dead on the street. He was bleeding from his head. Whatever it was, it pierced straight through his iron helmet.
"What was tha-"
Another griffin falls. And another, until just Arthur remains. He breaks the window of one of the apartments and jumps in, avoiding the deadly shot.
What in all tartarus was that thing?! I must warn the others!
He makes his way through the building until he finds a group of four changelings, waiting in the darkness of the skyscraper. He draws his sword and sneaks up to one of them. The griffin stabs the shapeshifter in the neck and it staggers a little bit before it hits the ground. The other two hiss and jump at him, but they just hit the sword. The last one is sliced open at the chest.
After that he hears and explosion. Fire can be seen outside of a window.
Did one of our cannons fire?
As he looks outside, the griffin sees something he has never seen before. An entire legion of his kind gets annihilated. They are overrolled by dark machines, which have gigantic and long cannons in front of them. They shoot much faster than the cannons he knows. At least 1 shot per minute. He is not sure but, it seems like they have a cross of some sort on their sides. It's too dark to say it for sure.
Behind the machines a line of strange creatures march. They are completely wrapped up in armor and walk on two feet. They hold mysterious devices in their hands. It doesn't take Arthur a long time to figure out what these things are, since the creatures use them nearly constantly. Weapons. Weapons of immense range and power. They pierce through nearly everything. Shields, armor, even magic can't stand long against them.
So that are the humans...No wonder why even alicorns fear them.
From the darkness of the skyscrapers, changelings fall into the retreating army. They fight with hatred and ferocity against the people, who let their friends, children and parents starve to death. The humans don't seem to care much about them, though. They keep shooting their cannons at the equestrian forces, even when the changelings are fighting at close range with them.
Gods, let me wake up. This horror can just be a dream.
His thoughts are shattered by a thunderous noice. As he looks up, he sees a flying thing with rotating blades that heads straight for their stronghold. He flies after the machine but he can't catch up. And the armor doesn't make it easier. After some time he can see how a giant fireball falls to the ground. The machine just destroyed an entire airship alone. A hundred cannons, over five hundred crew members and soldiers dead. And that wasn't the end. The burning wreck of the airship falls directly over their barrack tents and siege weaponry. They just lost over three quarters of their army in fifteen minutes.
"No! You monsters!"
In rage Arthur flies towards the machine, which already heading back to the ongoing 'battle' and confronts it. It shoots a big spear at him that is driven by fire at the back of it. He can evade the attack and lands on the glass window in front of the machine. He can see two humans sitting in it. They probably command the vessel. He rams his sword through the glass, trying to kill at least one of them. But something graps the griffin at the back and throws him off.
He lands on the ground and is challenged by a changling, who hisses at him. He growls back.
"You parasite! I will do the world a favor and kill you!"
The beast just hisses back.
The changeling wants to end him quickly with a magical blast but Arthurs armor blocks it. Then he gets in close range and attacks with his sword, which the changeling blocks with a shield spell. This goes on for a while but eventually Arthur can land a hit with his sword at the chest of the shapeshifter, who collapses. He is about to give the monster the final blow but a royal guard rans limping towards him.
"Sir, the battle is lost! The humans teared us apart like paper! We must retreat to our stronghold!"
"There is no stronghold anymore. The humans destroyed it."
"Then to Manehattan but we can't stay here!"
"Fine! Then we go north!"
Arthur looks at the changling and back at the soldiers, who are running towards him and the royal guard.
"Your lucky day, parasite."
Then he rans to the other soldiers and tells them the next step instead of killing the changeling.
John's fireteam, two minutes later:
John is far away from the battle. He just chased down a group of weird, hybrid, bird things and wanted to head back, but he noticed a noise.
What was that?
He follows the sound and finds a wounded changeling. He runs to it and kneels down.
"Hey, uh, can you talk?"
"Ah-yes."
"Good. That's good. Don't worry. You'll be fine.", Johns says while he packs out his medical equipment. True, he has no idea how he can help the changeling, but disinfecting the wound and badage it up is never wrong.
"Okay, this is gonna sting a little."
He cleaned the wound of the shapeshifter as careful as he can. But it still hisses as response. John isn't sure if it holds back the screams or the desire to kill him.
"What's your name?"
"I-ah-I'm F-flora."
"Flora? That's a nice name. I'm John."
C'mon Johnny boy, you got this. Just tell it what they told to you when you broke your leg and the ambulance came.
"And we're done. Just need to bandage it in."
He graps the a tourniquet and a roll of bandages and resumes his work.
And again the changeling screams in agony.
"Sorry, it has to be that tight or else you lose too much...blood?"
"Will I die? I will die, right? Please help!"
"No, you won't. Wait, I'll give you something for the pain."
He takes a syringe and the bottle with morphine and fills the syringe with it. Then he has another problem.
Where the hell am I supposed to inject this?! It's covered in a god damn exoskeleton!
John touches with his hands over its body to find a soft spot. And he finds it! The stomach is just as soft as the one of a human. He injects the painkiller and looks Flora in the eyes.
"Better?"
"Y-yes but...I feel a little bit...sleepy..."
"Good. Just sleep for a while. I'll make the rest."
"Please don't..."
Its eyes slowly close.
"Don't what?"
"Don't go..."
"Don't worry, I won't."
Takes the changeling up and throws it over his shoulder.
Just like in the training.
On the way back to his fireteam he sees seven green signal flares in the sky. The city is theirs.
The sun shines over a small town. Little foals and fillies play, a couple trots happily through the streets...
Celestia sits in a small, cake shop and chats with her little sister. Everything is perfect, everypony enjoys the life they have. But then a shot. Everything falls silent. A single black biped creature stands before the town. It holds a small weapon in its right hand up in the air. Smoke comes out from the tip of it. Behind it, flying machines of immense size advance towards the town. They drag a wall of fire and destruction after them. Everypony tries to flee from the inevitable, except Celestia. She looks at the warships in terror even as the wall reaches her. She closes her eyes, but...doesn't feel any harm.
As she opens her eyes again, the town buildings burn and a river of blood runs through the streets. It is so high that just Celestia's head can be seen. The sun is concealed by red, brown clouds.
"Luna!", she screams, but no answer.
As she tries to fly away, something graps one of her hindlegs and drags her into the red river. She straggles but ultimately failes. For a moment, there is just red and distorted voices. The blood river seems to grow deeper and deeper by the second.
After the alicorn finally manages to get out of the red river, which is now a sea, nothing remains from the town. There are no houses, no noises. Nothing but an ocean of blood. Not even on the horizon is something else. A perfect, flat, calm red. The sun is there, yes, but it looks so orange and...wild.
"She is heartless.", a familiar voice judges.
Celestia turns aruond. From the blood rises a creature of pure darkness. A shadow, long buried and forgotten. A pair of blue dragon eyes looks at her. The princess wants to say something, but another voice is faster than her.
"She knows no mercy.", another voice adds. Again, it sounds familiar. Something or someone from the past.
Another shadow ascends from the red ocean. This thing, unlike the other, has green dragon eyes.
"She will pay.", the next voice says.
The creature that rises from this call has a form. A black biped with red eyes and a sword in one hand.
"She will pay the highest prize.", all the monsters say in sync.
The blood flows away and reveals countless bodies of every creature in this world. But one catches Celestia's eyes in particular. Her sister lies there. Completely dry from blood, just like Celestia. The biped steps towards her, its sword prepaired to finish the unconscious alicorn.
"No! Don't you dare harm her!", Celestia screams.
She tries to attack the monster, but two chains with blue and green flames forced her to stay where she is.
"Your past sins will be her end.", the green and blue eyed shadow say together as if they were one.
The biped shadow raised its sword and-
"No!"
Celestia sits upright in a bed, wet from her sweat. She wants to stand up, but a stabbing pain in her chest and wings keeps her in it. She moans shortly and then sinks back into the pillow under her head. The opened window showes the night sky. The room itself seems to be completely normal for a hospital. The opened window showes the night sky. On the bedside table lies a card and a letter.
The alicorn levitates the card with her golden magic and looks at it. The front shows a picture of her, Luna, Cadence and the main six. She opens it: Get well soon, Tia! All of them signed the card. That forces the princess to smile.
Next the letter. It was written by Shining Armor.
To her Highness Princess Celestia,
I am sorry for addressing you like this in your current state, but there are matters, which need to be discussed as soon as possible. The high council of Equestria has declared war on the humans and their changeling allies (If this is true, then the humans have a network of spies and assassines on their side). They have already begun to fortify their defenses at the Golden City. We don't know much (since every knowlegde about humanity was lost along with the Golden Way facility), but this is what we do know:
1. Humans are extremely well organized and trained.
2. Humans prefer long range combat rather then direct confrontation.
3. Humans can adjust and react very fast on new threats (Do they have a hivemind?).
4. Humans use machines rather then warbeasts (what makes them more reliable).
If you read this then please, provide us with any information that you have.
PS: My wife Cadence informed Luna about your injuries. She is very busy at the moment but I am sure she will visit you.
Your loyal captain and friend,
Prince Shining Armor
The door to Celestia's room opens and four ponies come in. A nurse, princess Luna, Soliton Wave and Potent Potion.
"Sister, how do you feel?", the younger alicorn asks.
Celestia gives her a weak smile.
"I'm fine Luna, I just had a...rough night."
"A rough night? You're lucky to survive. An entire airship fell on you", Soliton says.
"What happened? I just remember this odd sound..."
"Airstrike. The humans call it airstrike. It means an attack with their flying machines like a helicopter or a jet.", Potent Potion explains.
Potent Potion was the leader of the project 'Conversion of Hope' and studied human technology. Soliton Wave studied their society and history. They are the only members left from the science team. Everypony else died either on earth or in the Golden Way facility.
"Potent Potion, you studied the capabilities of the humans. What will they do next?", Luna asks.
Potent Potion scratches his neck.
"Well, they won a lot of ground so...they will begin to establish a base. A shelter and command center."
"How long until they attack again?"
"Very long. Humans fear everything that they don't understand and they just met a species just as cruel and heartless as they are. They won't do anything unless they understand the changelings in every way possible", Soliton answers.
"And they don't know anything about our world. They will progress very cautiously", Potent adds.
"I don't understand...Why did the humans team up with the changelings? I thought humans hate every other creature", Celestia asks.
"We can't answer that but we know that the humans will turn on the changelings, ones they are done with us", Soliton says.
"The greater evil always destroys the lesser evil. It has always been like this", Luna replies.
"Hm...I think I might just have found a way to stop the humans!", Soliton shouts.
"How?!", Potent asks.
"We stop evil with greater evil. Discord, the lord of chaos."
Everypony looks at Soliton Wave in shock.
"You can't be serious! The last time Discord 'helped' us nearly destroyed all of Equestria!", Potent shouts.
"Have you a better idea?! He is the only one capable of dealing with the humans and even if he is defeated, the humans would do us a favor. Look, I don't like this either, but it's the only option that we have."
"Did I somepony just say help?"
The door opened again and Discord comes in, wearing a doctor's outfit.
"Don't you worry princess! Dr. Prof. Dr. Discord is now here. So, were can I cut something off?"
"Discord...How nice to see you.", Celestia says with a forced smile.
"Oh, Tia. Polite as ever, even with a hole in your chest. Tell me, who has done this horrible, horrible thing to you?"
"You don't know already?"
"Of course I do. But I want to hear it from you, just because."
"The humans attacked and conquered the Golden City. We wanted to liberate it again but failed miserably."
"I wouldn't say 'miserably'. You did pretty well. For creatures who are stuck in the middleages."
"Enough of this! Will you help us now or not?!", Luna shouted angrily.
"So rude! I just wanted to ask if you need my help but now...", Discord says as he opened a door in the middle of the room.
"Okay, I'm sorry!"
"Sorry Luna, but my ears are not what they were anymore. What did you say again?"
"I said I am sorry.", the aliocorn said annoyed.
"Well, then I would love to help! Oh, humans! Guess who's coming!", he sings as he fades into one of his random doors.
"How is she?"
"Why do you ask me? You probably know better than I do."
"Fair enough."
"You know why I'm here, right?"
"Yes, your scientists are too lazy to do their work."
"No. The eggheads-She's waking up."
Flora opens her eyes and immediately feels a burning pain along her chest. She moans but is happy to see her queen well. And her savior.
"Wecome in the world of the living, bug. How do you feel?", John asks.
"I'm-I'm fine. But my wounds still hurt."
"Is there nothing you can do?", Chrysalis asks.
"Sure, I could five her stronger painkillers but that would knock her out again. And right now I need her to be awake."
"Where am I?"
"You're in the medical section of Portal Base Omega. Don't worry. Everything will make sence in time.", John says.
Chrysalis turned to Flora and smiles at her.
"Flora, Mr. Sturm will ask you some question about our people and the world in which we live. I expect you to answer every one of them with honesty."
"Okay."
"Well, then. Let's star with...uh...ah, here. Personal data. Your name?"
"Flora."
"Okay, how old are you?"
"I'm twenty five years old."
"Twenty five...Good. Are you in any way in a partnership with another creature of any sort?"
"Uh..Excuse me?"
"He asks if you are married.", Chrysalis explains.
"Um, no. No I'm not.", Flora says while she blushes faintly.
"Okay, are you male, female or neutral?"
"Female by nature."
"Good. That's it then. At least for the first part. We still have society, biology and geology."
"But it's enough for now.", Chrysalis adds.
"Yeah, I will go to the canteen now and leave you two alone."
"John? Thank's for saving me."
"No problem. It's my job."
John goes out of the big room, in which several wounded soldiers lie. Flora looks at Chrysalis. For the first time in years she can relax, even if the pain is really bad.
"How long have I been gone?"
"A week or so. Much has changed here. The humans converted the city into a fortress. You should see their artillery. It's very impressive."
"I guess everything from humans is impressive."
"Yes, indeed. For example their biology. They can survive weeks without food or water and their bones are extremely hard."
"Sounds like a good ally."
"Or a mighty foe...I don't trust them fully now. The way they completely annihilated the equestrian forces was more terrifying than glory."
"I understand. But they hate the ponies more than us, so we have some time to prepare."
"Yes, yes we have. I have a meeting with the human leaders now. Rest Flora, you deserve it."
Chrysalis trots to the door and passes the two guards stationed there, while Flora looks at the blank white ceiling trying to sleep. She succeeds in that after some minutes.
And she was there again. In the realm of dreams. She sees many doors before her some of them can be opened, others don't. She walks through the ethereal hallway. So many doors.
Too bad that John doesn't sleep now. He would be interesting to look at...
To be a dream stalker is a great gift, but also a huge responsibility. The power to invade someones dreams can be exciting but it can also be your undoing. The invaded mind will do anything to keep you from interfering with it's consciousness. If it succeeds in that, then your mind will be erased, forever. And you can't just manipulate the dreams of others. Only one has achieved this power.
I can at least try...
Flora continues to go through the unmapped void of dreams. It is said, that not far from this realm is a place in which ponies can ascend to alicorns. A place only known as 'the Conjunction'.
She eventually finds John's door. It is locked, of course. He is awake, after all.
Just a small glimpse...
She opens the the door with force. A mistake, as she knows but the changeling doesn't want to stay for long anyway. Flora enters the mind of John. A perfect calm void at first, but she soon finds some thoughts, bubbles who show the topic of the thought. She must be careful. Every intervention with a mind that isn't asleep can cause severe confusion for the subject and she doesn't want to hurt John. One of them shows a steak and lemonade.
This thoughts are very high up in John's mind. Well duh, he said he goes to the canteen...
In another bubble are different words and faces of other humans.
His friends or the persons he talks to right now...But where am I?
She continues to search and finds countless bubbles on the way but can't find herself in one of them, what saddens her. She trots back to the exit and kicks the food bubble, which causes it to burst.
Oh no! I have to get out of here before John's mind-
The void gets black and a giant red ball floats over her.
Meanwhile in the canteen:
John sits with the rest of his fireteam and looks with confusion at his steak.
"John, are you alright?", Frank asks.
"Yeah, I'm good but the steak...tastes weird."
"What? You ate already two of these and they were fine."
"I know. It's weird."
Flora runs as fast as she can to the exit while the red ball is chasing her, while it makes distorted sounds.
Sorry for that, John!
She shoots a bolt of green magic at the guardian and it makes an agonizing sound.
John feels a stinging pain in his head.
Ouch! What is that?
"Hey guys, I go outside and take some fresh air, alright?"
"Yeah, make that.", Lucy says, while she cuts her steak in smaller pieces.
Flora is finally at the exit door and jumps through. The door slams close behind her and she takes a deep breath. She was so close from being forever erased from this world.
Never again. Never again...
She closes her eyes once more and wakes up. She lies in her bed and is covered in sweat. And there it is again, the pain on her chest. But now it's more of a reminder that she's still alive then something uncomfortable.
John stands on a big terrace and looks at the sunset. A beautiful golden horizon, just like back home. Maybe someday others will look at this sunset and say: 'Here started it'. But not today. Today he has to fight for that.
Soliton Wave sits in a room with the most important military leaders of equestria. Captain Shining Armor, Sir Arthur and princess Luna are there too. She is here to advice the commanders, to tell them to what the humans are able to. But sometimes she thinks that every time she explains something it just throws up more questions.
"Again, humans don't need magic to power their weapons. They don't need magic to fly and they don't need magic to be strong. They just are ."
"That's ridiculous! Every creature in equestria-"
"Exactly. Every creature in equestria. Humans are not from equestria."
"Why don't we just use on the Elements of Harmony. They defeated much greater threats before."
"I'm afraid that wouldn't work. The Elements can destroy or cleans evil but the humans are not evil per se. They are...something in between", princess Luna replies.
"That makes the crystal heart useless too. How do we fight something like that?", Shining Armor asks.
"Simple. We fight the same way they are: heartless and unyielding", Soliton Wave says.
"No. If we do that, then we would be just like them. We would lose our way of life", Luna says.
"Well, at least we would be alive at all", Arthur adds.
"I have to agree with Sir Arthur in this point. Our first priority should be the survival of our people", Soliton Wave says.
That earned most of the leader's approval, but not from Luna and Shinig Armor.
"You can't be serious! Are we using dark magic all of a sudden?! Or do you want to attack the human civil population?!", Shining Armor shouts.
"I would be fine with the last one", Soliton Wave replies.
The leaders begin to argue over what is the best course of action. The conversations soon turn into fights and anarchy breaks out. Until Luna gets the leaders under control again.
"Everypony except Sir Arthur and Shining Armor leaves the room. You too, Soliton Wave", she says, now rather calm than before.
Well, that's fine with me.
The white unicorn trots out of the room and walks down a long hallway. The town hall of Manehattan is not as big and important built as the one in the Golden City but it's still beautiful. So is the skyline of the city. It's already night so the lights of the buildings and streets illuminate the city. There aren't many ponies out at this hour so Soliton Wave has much room on the streets. She goes to one of the apartment buildings and opens the front door with a key she got from a royal guard.
After the evacuation and fall of the Golden City many ponies are without a home, so the princesses decided to split them up and give them a home somewhere in equestria. Even though, some ponies don't like the refugees very much.
The door opens and Soliton Wave enters the stairwell. The apartment house is not what she's used to but it's more than nothing.
Kinda reminds me on my student days...
She trots up the starway to floor five. There she walks to the apartment number fifteen and opens the door. Inside is a small but decent living area. A kitchen, two bedrooms, a living room and a bath room.
The white unicorn opens the the door to one of the bed rooms and sees her daughter sleeping. She closes the door quietly and trots in the living room. There is a couch on which lies a orange earth pony. Soliton Wave immediately graps the stallion with her magic and throws him off the couch. He shouts in response.
"Wa-what?!"
"What are you doing here?!"
"Trying to sleep and give my leg a chance to heal, Ms. magic abuser!"
"Oh, no! Not in my apartment! Get out! Go to your little bat!"
"First of all, she's not a bat. She's a bat-pony. Second of all, I live here too. The guards gave me a key for this apartment."
"Great! Because the day isn't bad enough already! Our leaders argue with each other instead of concentrating on the humans and now you have to live in my aparment, with my daughter."
"Oh, yeah! Your daughter! I completely forgot! It's not my daughter! But thanks for remembering me why I don't have to pay aliment! And you call me cheater! Ha!"
"Asshole! We could've been so happy together but no! You just had to ruin it with your damn paternity test!"
"I ruined it?! I ?! You couldn't stand a day without getting fucked! And as I was abroad you just fucked with that-that excuse of a stallion!"
"You were off for five months! And you know exactly that it didn't worked with you !"
"You tried to foist me a bastard!"
"She's no bastard! She loves you!"
Soliton Wave gets quiet. Tears are running down her face. She setps closer to the guard and strokes his face.
"And you love her, I know it."
The guard looks her in the eyes with a face made out of stone, then pushes her hoof away.
"Don't", he says and limps to the door.
"Where are you going?"
"You wanted me to go, and now I go"
The stallion disappears behind the door and leaves a crying Soliton Wave behind him. In the same time a small filly comes in.
"Mom, why are you crying? Did you and Dad argued again?"
Soliton Wave wipes her tears away.
"No, honey. It's fine. Dad and I just need a moment for ourselves."
"Last time you said that Dad left us."
"Don't worry, Brighty. He won't this time."
He has no choice.
