War, Friendship, and Crisis: The Tale of a Torn World

Act I: The Beginning of Disaster

“Attention, you human wretches,” a cold and desolate voice began from a bright monitor, “and your ignorant general. Your most recently dispatched space station erected quite an amount of speculation from me and my children. To say the least, we know that you are fleeing from us. Even though I should enjoy this and be gleeful that you left my universe, I know that you will return with a force only the Ancients can muster and destroy everything I have created. I know that I cannot let this happen, no matter how costly for me it may be.

So, I will give you one warning, and one only, before I unleash a wrath you will regret: leave this mini-universe you plan on inhabiting, and never come back. As plentiful in resources as the world may be, as strategic the location is for a planetary and lunar base, or as innocent and possibly loveable the natives seem, this world is not and never will be for your kind. I also know that through your reckless heaving and abandon of scrap material—one heap crashing into a dense forest populated with sensitive wildlife—you will not treat this world with absolute love and care, only as much as you need to save your own lives. Leave this world be and let its civilizations live, or else I shall seize control of your actions and smite this world with a fire no bucket of water can snuff.

You have your warning, now take it and heed it before I have to kill an entire species of innocent livings just to keep you on my leash.” The monitor blipped to black, concealing the speaker and their environment.

•—————•

has been added to your party.

In the early morning of a new week, the sun already shone down from the fiery orange and red sky with its mystical golden glow throughout the lands. Some of the town of Ponyville still snored and hushed itself, and other parts, such as Twilight Sparkle’s library, slid their limbs out of the heaps of blankets and prepared for whatever this new day fixed just for them.

Twilight Sparkle, a unicorn librarian who danced with adventure and fate every passing season, planned the entire day from her time of waking up to the last beam of sunlight. She remembered and wrote down the task given directly from Princess Celestia. This task was to investigate a few unusual artifacts hidden in the nearby Everfree Forest. Why did she have to look for odd artifacts of unknown origin? The only reason Twilight could recall was that they crashed down from a new distant star in the sky, and ever since then, more bundles of these artifacts landed in various places located in either towns and cities or the sparsely populated wilderness. Because of this Celestia wanted to know what these artifacts were and why they would suddenly crash onto the surface. Even though Twilight would be venturing into the most dangerous forest imaginable, she grew accustomed to the safety of a special path she discovered in the forest. Apparently, some of the native creatures avoided a few less concentrated areas inside the web of trees, allowing her to study and collect these artifacts without a deadly confrontation.

Once Twilight listed about half the afternoon’s events, she accidentally ripped a streak through her scroll after hopping and yelping from a loud boom right outside her treehouse. After that devastating sound struck her ears, multiple more urged her to forget her list and prepare for danger. She hurried to Spike’s bedside and shook him almost violently. “Wake up! Something really bad’s happening to us!”

The lime and amethyst scaled dragon rolled around in his circular dog bed. “Ugh, what’re you so worked up abou–”

His eyes opened up to twice their size after another boom slapped his ears. “Uh, what was that?”

“I don’t know, but get ready!” Twilight peered out her window and saw only flames, smoke, and part of a cottage. Her heart beat faster as she raced down the stairs and to the front door. Spike followed her down the stairs and almost fell out the door.

“What is happening?” questioned both Twilight and Spike as the flames grew and blackened the walls of the houses. A towering figure glaring at one of the burning cottages answered their question with a splash of fire.

The figure stood twice as tall as a regular pony and used only two legs. Its two appendages that did not touch the ground held a metal machine shaped like a crossbow with no limbs and conical end above a cylindrical tank. The charcoal black figure unleashed bursts of fire from the machine’s end, strengthening the already devastating fire. It then turned its head toward Twilight and Spike, showing two white eyes without pupils. It lacked a mouth and nose, and two sharp horns protruded from the back of its head. It wore a shoddy suit of leather and metal, two steel gloves, a pair of steel greaves, and two boots of some black metal. It stomped towards them, firing bits of flame with every step.

Twilight and Spike screamed out their panic. “Spike,” Twilight started, hyperventilating, “go get a bucket of water from the kitchen, now!”

Spike sprinted to the kitchen, filled a bucket half his size with water, and returned three-quarters of its water to Twilight. “I don’t think this will work!”

Twilight grabbed the bucket with a shimmering glow from her horn and positioned it in front of her chest. “Let’s hope it does!”

She splashed the licking flames with the water, engulfing them and snuffing them out. However, with a small audible click, the flames crawled out the machine brighter than before. The creature gave an invisible smirk to her.

“I told you!” Spike hollered with some chattering.

“Stay back you, thing!” Twilight warned with tremors in her words. “I’m not afraid to use my magic as a weapon!”

“So, you’re gonna be like that, huh?” mused the metal clad creature. “If you think I’m running away ‘cause you threatened me, think again, little horsey. You know what, after I show you who’s in charge now, you’ll be Lord Zedin’s personal plushie. How’d you like that?”

The creature approached the unicorn with a wall of fire almost singing Twilight’s mane. A glow of purple light emitted from her horn and balled up into a wad of pure magic that slammed into the creature’s supposed chest.

“Gah!” the creature cried as he held a limb to his chest. “What was that crap?”

“It’s called magic,” Twilight boomed, “and I got a lot more for you if that thing starts burning my treehouse down!”

The creature shrugged and grabbed a metal box from his belt.

“Attention nearby demon forces!” the creature exclaimed into the box. “I got a rogue equine over here that needs to be captured! Come over here and help me keep it under control!”

Twilight lost a bit of her bravery as three more charcoal beings approached her. All of them held various weapons in their, hands. One held a sword almost as long as its own body. Another swung a large chain mace around the top of its head. The last one held another metal machine, but this one was skinnier and smaller than the fire blasting instrument. All three of them primed their unique weaponry, ready to attack when told to.

“Stand down,” ordered the mace creature. “We won’t kill you as long as you remain calm and let us bag you.”

Twilight panicked. She fired another magic blast into the mace creature, but it only made it flinch. Spike tried to intimidate the creatures with a scowl, but it only lifted a few chuckles from them.

“How cute,” the sword creature mocked with a few chortles. “That little guy really thinks he can take us on.”

“There’s nothing we can do, Spike.” Twilight shed a tear and embraced him in a hug. “They’re too strong for us.”

Twilight and Spike closed their eyes, ready to meet their fate. The sword creature took out a sack as big as him and pulled it open. The mace and fire machine creatures trudged towards the two and held out a hand each. Twilight broke into complete sobs and held Spike a little closer to her. Just don’t hurt Spike, please, Twilight thought. Please, at least leave him alone.

“Civilian over here!” shouted something from not so far away. “We need support to get them to safety!”

The four creatures responded to the voice by giving twilight’s dark purple mane a fine yank. She cried out through the smoke and flung her forelegs into any creature in front of her. Spike backed away from her flinging and watched the towering smoke behind him. In response to Twilights cries of help, four red beams of light flew out the smoke and into the creatures. The beams ripped two holes each in the fire and sword creatures. More beams flew into them and the other two creatures, opening even more holes in their bodies.

“Argh,” growled the mace creature, “Why now? Why not wait until we take this little thing?”

Another stream of red beams pelted the creatures. The sword creature fell to the ground with a dying cry. Twilight and Spike watched its body dissipate into a cloud of black smoke. Soon after the body dissipated, the smoke vanished. The other creatures backed away from them to avoid the next set of beams. To their misfortune, more rained down upon the creatures as they escaped the scene.

“Thank Celestia they left!” Twilight blew out a sigh of relief and hugged Spike again. “I thought we were goners for sure!”

Five more creatures entered the mess of fire and wood, but their design differed from the first four. Instead of the color of pure black covering their bodies, these ones wore light blue and gray metal instead. Their heads were encased in smooth, metallic helmets with transparent visors in the front, and they carried machines that similar to the skinnier one held by one of the other creatures. One of them, approached the two, showing a younger face with short, black hair and a pale, coat? No, it was bare skin. Twilight gave a happy but worried look when she noticed this detail. Spike held the same fear that the other creatures enforced upon him after examining the soldiers a little more.

“I’m sorry that we have to meet in these conditions,” the coatless thing stated in a calm voice. “I’m Jacob Reverins, corporal infantry of GEST Corp. We’re here to escort you to a safe location.”

Twilight stared at them with a tilt of the head and an eyebrow raise. “What do you mean somewhere safe?” she pressed with an aggressive tone. “Do you mean, ‘take you away from your home’? My house has a scorched tree limb and you expect me to forget it! I don’t even know what you are or whatever those thing back there were! I need to stay here and fix our home.”

“Okay, I get it,” Jacob acknowledged. “You’re upset about your current situation. Don’t worry, though. We already have architects ready to rebuild your home when the fires die down. We just need you to go with us to the designated safe point.”

“But, what about our home?”

“Like I said, we have architects on that. Plus, they know how your treehouse looked like before it gained a few singes. It’ll be fine.”

“I would still like to know where we’re going.”

“Oh, right. The general ordered that all citizens in Ponyville are required to be sent to the ED Space Station. He wants to keep all of you safe while his men work on rebuilding and cleansing this city.”

Twilight’s expression shifted to confusion and curiosity. “ED Space Station?” she asked puzzled.

“Equestrian Dimension Space Station,” Jacob answered calmly. “It’s a military base orbiting this planet. It’s also how we got here so quickly.”

Twilight put her left front hoof up to her head and dragged her words out her mouth. “I have so many questions about this.”

“And we have answers. Come on, we’ll tell you everything you need to know.”

The creatures guided Twilight and Spike through the smoke and fire to a futuristic aircraft. It contained two wings on the sides, a descending ramp door located on it’s back and right next to the thrusters, two strange machines with metal barrels in the front, and a giant glass window in the front. It was fairly big. To be specific, a little bigger than Twilight’s bedroom. All six of them entered the aircraft and ascended into the sky. Twilight, hyperventilating again from the fact that they were shooting through the sky and into space, calmed after she was ensnared in the trance of her planet’s beauty and its shining star. A giant metal spacecraft resembling a thick disc with two thick, gradually thinning towers on its top and bottom awaited them up ahead. Dozens of smaller spacecrafts circled and cruised around it. A few spacecrafts crept behind the one Twilight and Spike rode, preventing as much attention to them as possible.