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

The journey back to Ponyville mirrored the calm and eye opening departure. The only difference was an aerial bandit assault composed of eight infantry units and three fighter-class aircraft. The attack allowed the past memories of morality and human nature to resurface, but the trio suppressed them and continued admiring the world's beauty.

"You know, those natives really like talking about their lives," Pinkie Pie started, catching the attention of everyone.

"What did they tell you?" Twilight Sparkle asked.

"They said that they don't like it when random strangers take their land, like these humans apparently, but they don't care about us three."

"Then why did those skeletons attack us?"

"Those were the few natives that feel insulted by us, but there were only about four of them like that. The rest of them liked watching us go through their crypt."

"That doesn't make sense. We fought dozens of skeletons, not four."

"Most of them could've been the same spirit," Travis proposed. "Stronger spirits can manipulate multiple corpses at once. It's why liches have armies in the thousands if they're allowed to absorb that many souls. Maybe those few spirits absorbed enough of them to do that."

Twilight turned her focus to Travis and raised an eyebrow. "Wait, absorb souls?"

"Yes. That could also explain why the humans down there died. Their souls were devoured by those few angry spirits."

"So, if we died down there, they would've eaten our souls?"

"Yep. I know, it's pretty disturbing."

Twilight dissolved her next question into something that had less of a chance of causing nightmares. "Do these creatures have an actual name I can call them?"

"Haabilis," the co-pilot answered with aged gruff. "They're the same species we fought about seventy years ago. Compared to the Human-Demon War and the Human-Kavarian War, their war, the Human-Haabilis War, was pretty much a blip in our history."

"You guys don't have creative names for wars," Rainbow noted. "At least give them something other than those snore fests."

"I think we have more important things to do than name a war. Second, that's the most straightforward name we could make. Do you know what the Hundred Years' War is?"

"Uh, some war that lasted a hundred years?"

"It lasted more than a hundred. Specifically, one hundred and sixteen years. Do you know who fought in it?"

"Um, I'm not a human, so no."

"Two old countries from Earth called England and France. Now, imagine having eight different wars happening at the same time with names as vague or inaccurate as that. Would you really want to memorize them all?" Rainbow shook a response back. "Exactly. Naming wars after the two species part of it make them much easier to tell apart and manage strategies for each separate war. Anyway, if you have any questions on the Haabilis, ask away."

"I'm curious why you had a war with them," Twilight suggested.

"Ever since Earth was destroyed, we needed to find a new planet to call home. A planet we called Andromeda became our Earth-Two because it was habitable and familiar enough for us. Apparently, the Haabilis owned the planet, but they were dormant at the time. When they woke up and saw out towns, they declared war and attacked us. Only two years later, they went extinct."

Twilight's pupils shrunk and pointed at the co-pilot. "You made an entire species extinct? Why, and how?"

"Killing them was easy. They only had a population of thirty million, and one laser blast to the head was enough to kill them. As with why, it's because they attacked first, rejected our terms for peace, and enslaved human civilians and POWs."

"Why didn't you just leave the planet or compromise?"

"The Haabilis didn't want compromise, and we had no choice but to stay. If we didn't, the kavarians would've made us extinct."

"Twily, it's called survival of the fittest," Pinkie added. "To keep Equestria, we had to fight. It's not that much different with these humans."

"But, you committed genocide towards another species!" Twilight blurted, ignoring Pinkie. "Couldn't you have done anything else not being extinction?"

The co-pilot shook his head. "Life is weird that way. Some species have the easy life and don't have to suffer from choices and wars like that, but some like us do. We had to do that if we wanted to live. Hell, I doubt your species would be alive if we went extinct."

"They did save Ponyville," Rainbow included. "You could thank those Hablit things for letting that happen."

Pinkie turned to Twilight again and nudged her. "The Haabilis aren't bothered by their extinction. They know that their lives had to end."

"Please explain why," Twilight pleaded. She threw every thought and idea in her mind through windows and on trampolines.

"They had to hide from an ice age that killed nearly all of them. They told me about how they had to build underground cities to escape the cold. Sadly, only a few thousand survived the ice age. It's amazing how they recovered to millions, even if it was for nothing."

"Okay, that's a brand new piece of history we didn't expect at all!" Travis giddily shouted as he added a few notes to a file. "Pinkie, next time you have time to talk, tell me everything the Haabilis shared with you."

When they were about to touch solid land, Twilight noticed the swirling mass of storm clouds around the Crystal Empire. "Hey, uh, does anypony know what that storm mass is?"

"Oh, that?" The co-pilot pointed to the mass. "That's a new disturbance we found on this planet. The readings from the science guys in the ED Space Station told us how that this storm complex is pretty serious."

"Is there any explanation it's there?" asked Rainbow Dash in worry. "I know that storm clouds are never supposed to do that. In fact, they never do that." She looked at the swirling mass again in an even stronger magnitude of fear. "It even looks like it's shooting into the sky! Storms never do that!"

The pilot was highly confused about her climbing anxiety. He took the hint that she was in fear of the odd storm activity and proceeded to aid her. "Woah there, don't get too scared now. Solk stated that that complex is your next mission. Just calm down and wait for us to drop you off near the site. If you're one of the many pegasi in this land, then you can interfere with that storm. Just do what you do best."

Rainbow Dash got ahold of herself and took a few deep breaths. Twilight Sparkle was beginning to worry about her. Rainbow Dash wasn't scared easily by odd weather, and she didn't really care about hurting others that much. Rainbow Dash usually took situations head on, no matter how deadly or insane they looked. If she's panicking from a rotating mass, then what will happen if she experiences another invasion? I'll have to schedule a checkup for her, Twilight concluded to herself. Her actions and thoughts are getting out of hoof.

The ponies continued to examine the surroundings outside. The first thing they saw was a group of crystal ponies screaming as seven odd machines rolled up to them in pursuit. One of the ponies tripped and were captured by the machines. As the screaming pony kicked and squirmed, one of the machines slammed a metal claw on its head. The pony was knocked out, allowing the machines to continue their assault.

"What are those things?" Twilight asked in curiosity. She heard Travis sigh in a disappointed manner.

"They're called R-Bots," he groaned as if he dreaded their presence. "If I remember correctly, they love to invade other planets and steal the inhabitants' brains."

"Wait, what?" Twilight responded in horror. "They steal brains? Why?"

"They use the brain cells to create more machines. Their leader believes that microchips and other processors can be easily hacked to another's bidding. In order to combat this, they use real brain cells to create machines with personalities and a working central processor. It actually works due to the feelings the machines possess for their leader. They either fear or worship him."

"Eww, brains?" Pinkie questioned in disgust. "That's just nasty!"

"At least they're not torturing them or something," Rainbow Dash expected in a comfortable mood.

The trio exited the dropship in caution, checking if any of the strange machines were still around. Twilight pointed the way to the Crystal Empire. A huge storm cloud in a circular shape shrouded the city in darkness. The complex was more of a ring, as the inside of the storm represented a starry night sky with a huge planet in the vicinity. A large beam of electricity shot out of the castle in the distance. The trio proceeded to the castle, noticing that some of the houses were boarded up and blockades were built out of metal on some streets. All three of them didn't really know if the machines or the crystal ponies did that, so they moved on. They soon discovered four machines that looked identical to the earlier ones. They moved around on only on wheel, but the wheel looked more like a sphere than a circle. A long piece of metal connected the wheel to a body shaped as if a sphere was cut in half. Two arms protruded from the sides of the machine and ended in metal claws with two pieces of metal. A singular eye stalk extended out of the flat top of the body, allowing the machine to see its surroundings.

"Hey, what are you three supposed to be?" one of them asked in a robotic and not so threatening voice. "I'm guessing all of these horses aren't crystal after all. Anyway, we need more material for our control here, so fork over your brain cells or I'll unleash my super skills on you!"

Pinkie hopped over to the robot and sat on the ground She looked up at the robot with a wide grin. The robot immediately felt guilt over doing this mission. He didn't want to hurt something so precious, but what will the master do to him if he ignores his orders? He looked away, begging for her to leave him alone. She only continued to guilt trip the robot.

"Please mister," she said in a gentle and innocent voice, "please don't hurt us. We only want to look around and have fun."

"I can't take it anymore!" the robot exclaimed as he rolled off in guilt and disloyalty. He flailed his arms as he rolled away until a slightly bigger and more intimidating robot stopped him.

"What do you think you're doing, newbie?" the newer robot ordered in a deep and threatening voice. "Dr. Scraps hates it when bots like you run off and panic. You better go back there and fight those three now!"

"Yes, sir! Don't hurt me!"

The two bots approached the ponies. Specifically, they approached Pinkie. The commander looked at her with a displeased expression, but he lacked a face to do so. "This is the thing that freaked you out, newbie?" he asked in anger and confusion.

"Yes, sir!" the bot replied in fear.

The commander backhanded Pinkie in the face, causing her to stumble to the ground. She lost a tooth and started bleeding out of a cut on her left cheek from the force of the metal. She cried quietly, questioning in her mind why such a creature would hurt her. Twilight gasped in shock, and Rainbow Dash was pissed from this machine and prepared to ram the machine. Twilight put a hoof over Rainbow's chest, signaling not to attack when in that much fury.

"Twilight," Rainbow Dash grumbled in rage and frustration, "these metal jerks just slammed one of their claws into Pinkie. They deserve to be punished." Her gritted teeth blocked some of her sounds as she finished the last part of her sentence.

Twilight shaked her head in disagreement. "No, Rainbow. Calm yourself. If you fight these these creatures in your current mood, you'll end up like her. Let me deal with them for a minute."

Twilight changed her position to face the machines. "Oh, look, the horned one's angry now," the commander bitterly said. "I guess I'm gonna have to show you why you shouldn't fight me right now." He slammed his metal claw onto pinkie's left foreleg, almost shattering her bones. She wailed in pain as the metal struck her body. More blood trickled from the wound on her leg, worsening her condition.

"Twily, please help me." she said weakly through her tears. The commander just laughed as he looked at the 'newbie' from earlier. That robot didn't seem pleased with Pinkie being beaten to death right in front of him, and he didn't even want to cause harm to this pony.

Rainbow Dash couldn't take it anymore and flew right into the commander. She slammed her front hooves into the body of the machine, pushing it into a nearby house. The commander shouted in annoyance as he repositioned himself onto the ground.

"Well, I should've expected something like that," he said in an apathetic tone towards Rainbow Dash. "Cadets, kill that pink fluff! It's not needed for our army if it's going to cry over two simple injuries."

The three other R-Bots rolled over to Pinkie's beaten body to finish her off. Twilight fired a wave of magic to drive the three back and damage their machinery. Rainbow Dash pinned down the commander and pummeled him into a mess of circuitry and metal. Twilight continued to fire magic blasts at the robots until they fell to the ground while falling apart. After all four of the machine's were disassembled, Twilight walked over to Pinkie Pie and took one of her healing treats.

"You said that these can heal nearly anything," Twilight remembered while holding up a yellow and orange blend of frosting and cake fluff, "so you better eat up. I don't think that leg should stay like that."

She handed the cupcake to Pinkie's bloodstained face gently. Pinkie bit out of the treat and slowly chewed it while coping with her pain. After a few bites, her wounds mended themselves together and stopped hurting. She felt happier after every bite, joyous of the horrible and unbearable pain that has washed away. After finishing the treat, she stood back up and hugged Twilight.

"Thank you," she thanked happily. "I didn't know that these things can be so cruel."

"I didn't know either, but we're still together and healthy," Twilight responded in a calm voice. "Let's continue this investigation with a bit more caution, okay?"

Pinkie nodded a yes. "Okay."

Rainbow Dash already hated these machines to the core. "Who goes up to a mare and violently attacks them without guilt?" she said in disgust and anger. "These things need to learn a lesson about not hitting ponies like that."

Travis remained speechless through that event. He never saw an encounter like this happen. Never before did he see a C-Bot look at a wounded pony in amusement while ordering a death sentence to it. The trio pressed on into the deeper sections of the city, hoping to find out what is causing this storm.

•—————•

The three ponies eventually reached a huge blockade with a door. Two robots on the top of the metal were peering at them in annoyance. Twilight thought of a way through the gate, but there wasn't a switch or any other device placed on the blockade. There was a keyhole though, but it was slightly different than what Equestria uses. The keyhole needed a card, not a physical key. The three ponies searched the area for a card, but they could not find one. However, Pinkie discovered a pathway that led to a small fortification.

"Maybe it's this way," Pinkie thought to herself. "I doubt that it'll be left alone though."

The trio trotted down Pinkie's supposed direction to the card, and they soon encountered five small robots. They walked around with four legs with blades at their ends, and their singular eyestalk emitted a blue glow. They were quite small, about one foot tall at least. They didn't say anything, but they made odd mechanical sounds as they crawled towards the ponies. Twilight blasted a wave of magic and destroyed all of them. The small machines fell apart and stopped moving.

"Huh," Rainbow Dash mused over the fragile bots, "I guess those ones don't pose too much of a threat."

Rainbow's sentence ended in booming thunder. The sky opened up even more, showing the cosmos in all of its beauty. The storm clouds extended further than the city, almost engulfing Mount Everhoof in its cyclone of lightning and angry clouds. Twilight gulped in worry as the planet in the sky seemed to move a little closer to the Crystal Empire.

"We should hurry," Twilight said in haste. "I don't know what that storm will do if it gets any bigger, but it definitely looks catastrophic."

Travis noticed a few details in the storm. If he could remember correctly, a storm like this appeared in the Golden Age Dimension, a dimension in which the World Wars never happened. The storm almost swallowed an entire galaxy, but it was eventually reversed. Then, it hit him immediately. "Twilight," he began in a calm but urgent tone, "that is a dimensional storm. If that thing gets any bigger, it might swallow the entire planet. From what I'm getting from its readings, it's a portal to our world. All of your dimension will collapse and become one with ours if we don't hurry." He pondered how the storm could be fueled in this location. He then noticed an antenna on top of the castle. "That might be fueling this storm. If you can get up there and destroy it, we might reverse this storm."

After that quick notification, the trio reached a small fort. Several robots patrolled the area, armed with metal claws and laser cannons. One of the C-Bots noticed the trio and ordered an attack. Three R-Bots and two of the smaller robots, called swarmers, approached Rainbow Dash first. She retaliated by using a spin kick in midair, knocking the R-Bots back. The swarmers continued to approach her and attempted to jump on Rainbow Dash. She flew up a bit higher to avoid the sharp blades begging to cut her apart. The C-Bot in the distance shouted in anger as his troops acted so clumsy. Why did Dr. Scraps even make these models if they only ruin everything? he thought bitterly to himself. The angry commander fired three laser blasts at Rainbow Dash, attempting to shoot one of her wings. He almost hit one of them, but he hit her right hind leg. She grunted in pain as the blast burned through her flesh. Surprisingly, the wound felt cauterized, but it still stung like hungry flames. She altered her aim and glared at the commander.

"You'll pay!" she yelled in rage. What happened next was pure mayhem. She slammed the C-Bot through the fortress, literally smashing him into scrap metal. Parts of the makeshift fort collapsed as robots rolled and scuttled out in fear. One of the robots, which looked as tall as the giant demon from days ago, destroyed the wall of the fortress that faced the trio. He roared a war cry as he blasted nine laser blasts at them. Pinkie dodged to the left and right while Twilight activated a barrier spell. Pinkie hopped onto the gargantuan machine and ripped out its eyestalk.

"My eye!" It bellowed in a deep and spiteful voice. "Come here so I can rip you into bloody shreds, vermin!"

The machine swung its arms, attempting to slam one of the ponies with them. He was easily dodged when Twilight backed away from the machine, and Pinkie just held on to the top of him. She then smashed the top of the robot over and over, creating broken metal and crackling circuitry as she broke the machine. It soon fell down to the ground with a dying grunt, leaking a strange liquid that was clear and cold. a pinkish and wet mass then slithered out of him. It slowly slid on the ground. Pinkie looked at it in obvious disgust, but she knew what exactly to do. She destroyed the wet mass and shook her hooves afterwards.

"Well, I think that was the brain," she said in assurance and slight disgust. "If I'm correct, that'll finish them off completely."

Twilight's face shifted to confusion and interest while she fired a wave of magic at three swarmers. "What do you mean, completely?"

Pinkie Pie looked at her with a blend of happiness and serious responsibility. "Well, we have brains too, and I've seen ponies with missing legs, ears, and eyes before. I don't think a robot would be an exception, especially if it contains a brain. It's best to squash them than their armor."

Twilight lost focus in her words as two robots floated into the scene. She fired two magical blasts, destroying them in midair. Rainbow Dash shot out of the rubble with a card in her teeth. She dropped the card to Twilight and began to speak. "This was dropped by one of the robot things that hurt Pinkie. I think it's the key we need."

Twilight picked up the card with her magic. She put it in a pocket in her body armor for when they reach the gate again. Pinkie hopped back to the two and scanned the metal rubble once more. No robots were moving, but wires definitely sparked and whipped around the scenery. The three walked back to the gate, ready to face their next challenge. Twilight looked down at Rainbow Dash's leg and saw the cooked flesh. She also noticed Rainbow's wincing every time she moved that same leg.

"Rainbow," she said in a dead serious tone, "you need one of Pinkie's treats for that injury. I'm afraid that you'll get an infection or something.

Pinkie handed one of her healing cupcakes to twilight in agreement. Twilight then handed Rainbow Dash the cupcake, signaling to eat it. Rainbow ate the cupcake and felt her body rejuvenate. Her wings lost their soreness from the constant flying, her leg felt much better, and even her feelings changed. She felt happier and more active than before. As all of the anguish drained from her body, she stopped limping and started walking normally. Travis was wondering when the robots would gain the upper hand.

The key card fit perfectly. It opened the gate and allowed anything to access the castle in the distance. Before the trio could enter, two robots with big hammers for claws entered the scene. Pinkie dodged immediately to avoid becoming a pile of flesh from a metal hammer.

"Argh!" growled the robot in frustration. "You're not going to escape me easily." The robot rolled towards her while raising his hammers. "I'd love to see your anatomy in perfect detail, you spawn of hell."

Pinkie pulled out her party cannon and fired at the last second. The robot felt shards of sharp items shred through his curcuitry and brain. He immediately pulled back and grew his rage. Twilight looked at her opponent in bafflement. When did Pinkie get those? she thought to herself in interest. She then realized a simple fact. Well, she's Pinkie. She could've got those things from anywhere.

The other hammer bot started spinning while holding out his hammers. Twilight yelped and leaped out of the way, but the robot changed his direction to her. She activated her magical barrier and blocked his path. Rainbow then slammed her front hooves into the top of the spinning hammer bot. The bot was squashed like a bug as its own machinery destroyed its brain. The other hammer bot tried to get back up onto its wheel, but Pinkie fired another blast from her now deadly party cannon. The robot was ripped into shreds from the attack and fell to the ground with a whir. The trio regrouped and galloped onward to the castle.

•—————•

After battling a few more R-Bots, C-Bots, swarmers, and one of the mega bots from earlier, the trio reached the castle. They noticed that the robots built barricades on the castle entrances.

"Great," Rainbow Dash stated in frustration, "how are we going to enter the castle now?"

Twilight studied the area and noticed a few robot drop ships in the distance. "I have an idea," she started in hope, "but you might think it's crazy."

Rainbow Dash was curious on what Twilight's plan was. "Well, what is it?"

"Those ships over there might bring us to the castle. There is a chance that I could possibly fly it over to the balcony."

Rainbow Dash didn't get the complexity of her plan. "But why don't you just use your magic to teleport us castle?"

"I need all the magic I can contain. If I teleport all three of us in the castle, I'll be drained for a while. Also, I don't know if we'll teleport into their line of fire or not, and I'm not taking that chance. The drop ship might be easy to navigate if I use my magic, but teleportation is risky."

Travis noticed how absurd the idea was too. "I don't think a pony like you can navigate that type of machinery. It was built for humanoid creatures, not ponies."

"I can just check how to fly one quickly if they have some book in the ship that involves flying aircrafts," Twilight responded. "It can't be too difficult, right?"

As Travis understood the claim, Rainbow Dash flew over to a nearby helipad area. The drop ships looked like helicopters with only one door located on the right side. They had a cannon and two gatling guns located on their front ends. The drop ships were being guarded by a few mega bots. She created a storm cloud and hurled it towards one of them. The mega bot short-circuited from the abundance of electricity, and he fell to the ground like a rock. The other two mega bots fired at Rainbow Dash in an attempt to annihilate the nuisance. Twilight and Pinkie soon entered the fray and were greeted with laser blasts. Twilight decided to use a reflective spell this time, shooting back a few of the blasts back at the mega bots. Their circuitry was damaged from the blasts, but the bots still fought back. Pinkie rolled behind one of them to remove their wheel. When she smashed the spherical wheel, the mega bot fell to the ground in anger. Pinkie then ripped apart the metal on the robot to find the brain.

The mega bot shouted at Pinkie in suspicion and rage. "Hey, what are you doin-"

The robot's voice was cut off as Pinkie ripped the brain out of the machine. A low whir emitted from the bot as it powered down. Pinkie smashed the brain on the ground and hopped onto the other bot. Twilight fired magic blasts at it while Rainbow Dash dealt hoof punch after hoof punch against the machine's metal. Pinkie ripped off one of the arms, Twilight fired a blast that shot through the brain, and Rainbow Dash smashed the metal into scrap. The mega bot had no chance against the trio.

"I think we should use this one," Twilight said as she pointed a hoof at a rather unharmed drop ship. The others were filled with laser holes from the mega bots' reflected fire. The trio entered the drop ship and examined the controls. Twilight quickly skimmed through a manual inside one of the pilot's compartments. She then activated the ship and used her magic to keep it under control.

Rainbow Dash was looking outside the ship to notice how uncoordinated Twilight's piloting was. "Twilight, are you sure that this is safer? It looks like you'll crash at any second!"

"Don't worry, Rainbow Dash, I know what I'm doing," Twilight responded with uncertainty littering her face.

Luckily, she found out how to make a helicopter stay in one area for a while. She kept a magical aura around the ship just in case it decided to fall when they get out. The trio hopped out of the ship and onto a balcony. Twilight deactivated her magical grip and let go of the helicopter. It crashed into the road below, creating a mess of fire and metal. Even though they made it to the castle, their mission was far from over.