Chapters Chapter 1: It came from the stars
It hovered over a planet. A giant metal box with three cones at each side, a giant red ‘M‘ at the front and four gun turrets on the surface. It hovered there, alone. But suddendly, two giant spaceships looking like a half of a horizontally oval four times the size of the box appered out of nowhere and opened fire on the box. It was damaged a lot before falling down onto the planet. Afterwards the two giant spaceships disappered as quickly as they arrived.
“Beautiful, isn’t it?“, Rarity asked.
She and her friends set on a hill watching the rain of shooting stars accuring every ten years. The others agreed with her. Many other ponys watched this event, too. Even the princesses and some of the royal guards. Suddendly Applejack pinched her eyes together and asked:
“Wait a second. What’s that?“
She pointed at an object falling down from the sky towards them with high speed.
“Everypony run!“, Twilight shouted out.
Not only the Mane Six and Spike but every other pony ran away, too. While running, Twilight turned her head around to see how close the object was. She was shocked to see that it was very close.
“Jump!“, she called out jumping aside.
And no second too late. The object hit the top of the hill and crashed into the ground skidding down the hill for some second until stopping.
“Everypony okay?“, Twilight asked.
Then she took a closer look: The object looked like a giant damaged metal box. It was at least two floors high. There were big and small holes all over the place with wires hanging out of some of the small holes. At the front there were the remains of a letter. But it was hard to determine which one.
“Everypnoy stand back! We will take a look inside!“, Twilight called out to the citizens.
“D-do we have to?“, Fluttershy asked.
“Yes. Maybe someone was in this thing. It’s defenetly not made naturally.“, Twilight responded while walking into the box through a giant hole, followed by her friend.
Inside everything was dark. There was some light now and then when some sparks came out of a wire. But it wasn‘t much. Twilight and Rarity had to use their light spells to see. There were metal bars laying around blocking doors or just laying on the floor with other smaller pieces of metal. Here and there they could see big coloured armors laying around, too. At the walls there were empty metal capsules with glass windows, some of them opened, some of them with holes, too. The Mane Six and Spike went down the floor looking around.
“Who ever build that had no sense of creativity-iiiiiiih!“, Rarity cried out.
Everypony looked at her. She look at her right back hoove. In the light of her horn a hand holding the hoove was visible. It was a massive grey hand. They followed the hand to a massive red-blue arm with holes in it. Further down there was half of a body. Only the upper half was there, the other half wasn’t around. Big wires hang out of the hind end of the half-body. It was also red-blue coloured. Like the down half the other arm was gone, too. At the top of this body there was a tiny red head with a grey face and a pair of red eyes starring at the ponys. Without moving its lips, the thing whispered weakened:
“Help…me.“
The light inside the eyes stopped glowing. The grasp became waekend until it let go of Rarity’s hoove and fell down.
“What was that thing?“, Rainbow Dash asked.
“Doesn’t matter. It can talk. So it must be alive. Or at least it was. Let us look for more of them. Maybe we can find someone still alive.“, Twilight said.
As they continuned their walk through the floor they saw more dead bodys laying around. Some of them looked like the last one just with a down half, red-blue legs and blue shoes. The rest looked like tall, thinn monkey-like creatures in green full body armor, helmets, a gas mask and round goggles. After some time they saw a round hole in the ceiling and a platform laying benath it. There was a console with a red button on the platform. The Mane Six and Spike stepped on it and pressed the button. The platform went up until it passed the hole in the ceiling. A voice said:
“Second floor.“
The Mane Six continued going down the floor until they reach a room at the end. The room wasn’t too big. Some steps and they crossed the entire room. There was a giant pane as well as consoles standing in front of them. Some bodys laid around, some of them on others.
“Doesn’t look like-“
Twilight stopped speaken when she saw something moving. Two bodys were still shaking.
“Quick! We’ll take them to Canterlot!“, Twilight called out for her friends who helped her grabbing the bodys, a full body armor and a red-blue one, and taking them outside where Royal Guards took them to Canterlot.
RS-344 aka Zylus could hear voices. But he couldn’t see anything. Then he suddendly found himself back in the boarding ship. The captain, another Robo-Soldier, asked him:
“Something found yet?“
He responded with:
“No, Sir. Nothing.“
His neighbour, a Manhunter with the ID MH-443 and the name Kong, said:
“Maybe we got the wrong coordinates. A highly damaged AMA-cruiser can’t just disappear.“
Before he could respond two AMA-cruiser came out of hyperspace right and left of them. They opened fire immediatly. The boarding ship had no time to raise the shields and fire back. It was already damaged too much. The last thing the captain said before they crashed on the planet beneath them was:
“It’s a trap! Everybody prepare yourself for impact!“
Then there was just darkness. Until now. His vision came back. He looked at a stone ceiling. He turned his head to the left. He saw his blaster rifle laying on a table. Then he turned his head to the left. If his eyes could, they would have wided themselfs now: There were two unicorns in clothes with tools to dismantle him! He jumped up and used the grabling hook in his arm to grab his rifle. With the rifle pointing at the unicorns he asked them:
“Where am I?!“
Shocked, one of the unicorns responded with:
“You are in Canterlot.“
“Is this an imperial planet?“
“N-no.“
“Crap! Then I’m on an AMA-planet! I’ve enough to take down 53 soldiers! That means I better change to ‘narcotizing‘. Then I can take out 106!“, Zylus thought.
He fired a shot at one of the unicorns which fell to the ground unconcious. The other one managed to escape.
“Damm it! My speed-chip seems to be a bit damanged. Normally, I should have been able to get both.“
He ran out of the room and took the hallway to the left. While running he activated his CommLink.
“This is RS-344 Zylus to every imperial Mecha-Unit on the planet! Can anyone read me?! We are on an AMA-world! I repeat: This is an AMA-world! All Mecha-Units immediatly to the Boarding Ship! We need to contact the Empire! Zylus over and out!“
“You there! Stop immediatly!“, someone called out for him.
Zylus turned around. Dozens of unicorn guards ran towards him. He fired some shots knocking the first and second row of guards unconcious. The other guards started firing at him with magical blasts. Since the corridor wasn’t big enough for him to dodge every blast, Zylus jumped into a room to his right. He closed the door and looked around. This room had some tables with tools on them as well as a big table in the middle. On the table there was something. A Manhunter! And not just any Manhunter: Zylus‘ automatic scanning-protokoll told him that it was his friend MH-443 Kong! For the first time since he reawoke Zylus felt relieved. He walk over to Kong and reactiveted him.
“We are the Manhunter and-“
“Glad to see you, too buddy. But we have no time for your usual intoduction. We’re in enemy‘s terretory! We need to get to the Boarding Ship! Immediatly! The Empire has to know about this planet!“, Zylus interrupted him.
Kong looked around. Then he stood up. A light-grey stick, the waepon of a Manhunter, came out of his right hand. He pointed it towards a wall and shot. There was an explosion and some smoke. Kong flew through the wall into the outside. Then he changed his position from vertical to horizontal. Zylus knew what he wanted: It’s a special attack and escape formation only Mecha-Units with magnetic sole and a Manhunter could do. Zylus stepped on Kong’s back with activated magnetic soles giving him stability. Kong flew away from the castle down to the streets fast. The civiliance were astonished seeing those two strange beings flying threw their town.
“Oh great! Air units!“, Zylus grumbled and turned around completly.
“Fight them off. I need to concentrate. We’ll go faster now.“, Kong responded.
Zylus looked at him confused. Granted they flew just two meters over the ground but he was still a robot. And not just any robot. An imperial. Only AMA-Bot’s, the forces of the AMA, could compare to imperial robots in reagards of mental capability. Kong should be able to fly with high speed, to fight, to avoid obstacles and to increase his speed simultaneously without any problem. Did those damm ponys do something to him?
“Are you alright?“, he asked.
“Yes. Everything is fine.“ , Kong responded.
Zylus was no expert in the mechanics of the Manhunter. If Kong wouldn‘t want to say anything he couldn‘t do anything either. And since Kong wanted to concentrate Zylus let him do it. He shot at the three pegaside. One got hit and felt to the ground unconcious. Zylus continued shooting but the other two managed to dodge every shot. They flew into a forest. Zylus looked around. He changed from ‘narcotizing‘ to ‘laser‘ and fired some shots at a tree until it fell down onto the two pegaside. For a moment it looked like they got rid of their followers. But then a pegaside flew out of the top of the tree continuing to chase them. Zylus shot down more trees but non showed any effect. They flew out of the forest into a small city. Zylus looked around. Suddendly he saw a big sign which was hold by three metal bars. While passing he shot at all three. It began falling down and when the pegaside passed it, it was buried beneath the sign.
“Finally! Now we can fly-“, Zylus started.
But suddendly six ponies, two earth ponies, two pegaside, a unicorn and an alicorn, began chasing them.
“Oh for the Emperors sake!“, Zylus shouted out, changed his rifle to ‘narcotizing‘ again and fired at the ponies.
But they managed to dodge every shot. This went on until they left the city and reached the hills where their ship crashed.
“That’s far enough.“, Zylus said.
He pointed his left arm towards the six ponies. A small and flat mini gun came out of his arm. In the middle of the mini gun there was a hole. Out of this hole he fired a small rocket. But instead of hitting the ponies, it hit the ground before them making them fall down. The two manged to reach the hill standing in front of the ship. Suddendly, Kong crashed on the ground. Zylus fell down but stood up quickly.
“Kong? What’s wrong, mate? And don’t you dare telling me, it’s nothing!“
“My life wires. They were cracked. Now they start breaking. Which means I’m gonna shut down soon if I continue moving.“
“You can’t be seroius! We survived a crash, broke out of the enemies base, defeated those flying unites, got rid of those six ponies and nearly reached the ship and you’re telling me, you can’t move?! How are we supposed to contact the Empire and escape this planet?!“
“Not WE. YOU will do it.“
Zylus was shocked to here this.
“And leaving you behind? Not if I have a word to say!“
“No discussions! I sense an entire army approaching our position. I’ll hold them off as long as I can. You’ll contact the Empire. They have to know what happened here. This could change EVERYTHING.“
“But-“, Zylus started but didn’t continue.
Although he was able to act and think like biological beings he was still a machine, too. It was hard for him to argue against undoubtable logic. And Kong’s logic was punch and stitch-resistant. If he had teeth he would have gnashed with them. Except his emotional programm, everything in his head told him to follow Kong’s plan. In the end he had to give in.
“Alright. But don’t you dare being captured or die by any enemy.“
“Don’t worry.“
“You know, some biological beings think there is a new world after death. Do you think there is something like this for us robots, too?“
“If there is, we will meet again.“
“And if there is not, I want to let you know that it was a true honor to serve with you, my friend.“
“Same with me. Now go! I can see them already!“
Zylus noddged and ran across the hill. On the top he briefly stopped and looked at his friend one more time before running to the ship and entering it.
Kong looked directly to the thousands of soldiers coming towards him. He stamped on the ground so hard, that both of his feet became stucked in it. He pulled a second stick out of his left hand. Now he helt one stick in each hand. When the enemy troops reached his fire range he said:
“I am the Manhunter. And you won’t pass!“
He fired out of both sticks bombarding and stopping the ground forces. But it didn’t took long for air units to come into his fire range, too. With half the fire power concentrated on the air, some ponies managed to come near enough to shoot him. The blasts hit his armor and shot holes in it. Some blasts managed to brake through the armor and destroy the part of his exo-sceleton tiding his arm to his body. With just one stick he didn’t stood much of a chance. Soon afterwards some blasts destroyed it. Disarmed he closed his eyes and said:
“Imperial overwrite 000. Initiate self-destruct sequenze.“
His chest opened up revealing a clock going back from 00:05. He looked over his shoulder at the ship. Then he shouted:
“EMPIRE FOREVER!“
The clock hit 0. His core exploded in a massive explosion, shaking the trees and causing the ponies to fall to the ground. When the smoke cleared itself there was just a crater left where he stood.
Zylus didn’t need to look outside. He immediatly knew that Kong had destroyed himself. Now only he was left. He took the lift to the second floor. While running towards the bridge he looked out of a window. The ponies were in fire range. But he hadn’t enough shots left to win this battle. There was just two things he could do now. He reached the bridge, made his way to the console and pressed a red button on the left side of the keybord. A sentence reading “Message recording“ appeared. Zylus began speaking:
“This is RS-344 Zylus with an emergency message, Code “Blood-Red“! General Khan! I have top priority news for you! Our boarding ship has been shot down by the AMA! We crashed on a planet inhabited by those ponies we discovered months ago! But those ponies: They are allies of the AMA! That means the AMA can disguise their ships and beaming ability from our sensors! You need to invade this world as soon as possible! Who knows how much technology those ponies have recieved from the AMA already! I propably won’t make it out of here alive. But I promise you: Those damm ponies won’t get any imperial technology. Empire forever.“
He pressed another button. Another sentence reading “Message send“ appeared. Then he grabbed his gun and turned around. But a magical blast destroyed it.
“Damm it! They are here already?!“
The unicorns were closing in. Zylus made his way to the middle of the half circle where the main consol stood. On the way one shot blasted his left leg off but he manged to reach the consol. He typed around on the keyboard quickly. Another blast ripped his right arm off. With just one arm he managed to end his typing. A tiny hatch opened itself. Another big red button came out of the gap. He raised his arm ready to press the button but another blast hit his arm and ripped it off, too. Seeing no other option he made a short jump and pressed the button with his head. Suddendly a siren started. A voice said:
“Aleart. Aleart. Self destruct sequence initiated. Overloading of the Red Matter Core has begun. Total destruction ready in 20 seconds. Have a nice death. Empire forever.“
The ponies were shocked hearing that. If he would have a mouth Zylus, who laid in front of the consol facing the ponys, would have smirged seeing this. He said:
“Muhahahaha! Yes. Be afraid. You should be. The Spidermonkeys, the Pirates, the Universal Councile, the Rebellion, the Ultimate Team Aqua, the Star Warriors, the Underworld Syndicate, the Chaos Lords and Necros! Everyone who ever tried to harm the Empire has been crushed! And soon, both you and your AMA friends will be crushed as well! Run! Run from the Empire! Your fate has been sealed! EMPIRE FOREVER!“
For a brief moment the ponies looked at him in shock. Then they run. As Zylus laid there his powers began vanishing. Suddendly he saw something: All the corpses of his fallen comrads stood up from the ground! They stood around him. Then suddendly Kong stepped towards him. He gave him his hand. With a smile he said:
“Come, old friend. We have been waiting for you.“
Zylus looked down at his arm. It was their again. With an inner-smile he grapped Kongs hand.
“I’m sorry for letting you wait. I just had a small thing to do. But now I’m ready.“
He closed his eyes and said with an inner-smile:
“Let us discover the new world behind the horizon.“
Then the ship exploded in a huge explosion.
General Khan said behind his desk and looked at the newest movements of the AMA. Like every human-sized Mecha-General he was the biggest among his troops, standing at 2 meters in height, with a long cape on his back. Suddendly his right hand man Commander Rogen entered the room. He had a holo-communicator in his left hand.
“We just received a message. From Zylus.“, he said.
Khan took it, listened and sighed. He stood up, took the communitcator and said to Rogen:
“Ready the portal. I’m going to the HQ. The emperor needs to see this.“
Rogen gulpped.
“The…the emperor? With all due respect, Sir, but don’t you overreact a bit?“
“No. The emperor needs to see this. It has top priority! Now get this portal on already!“
Rogen exid the room quickly. Khan looked up. Over his desk there was a giant flag with a big red “M“ on it. Then he looked on the communicator again and said:
“Those ponys have no idea what they got themselfs into. The emperor will be very angry after hearing this. Huh. I almost feel sorry for them. But if you mess with us you mess with death. That’s the rule.“
“General! The portal is ready!“, Rogen reported through Khan’s communicator.
Khan looked at the flag one more time before leaving the room. While leaving he said:
“All hail the Magmaempire.“
Chapter 2: Invasion
Princess Celestia looked around. Everything was dark. Well, at least were she stood. She could see sunlight some meters away. She could also see that she was in Ponyville. She looked up in order to see the cause of this darkness. She couldn’t see the sun. Be she could see something else: A hole in the sky! Suddendly there were lightnings assembling in the hole and a very dark voice said:
“All hail the Magmaempire.“
Then she suddendly awoke.
“What a beautiful day!“, Pinky said while bouncing through Ponyville.
“Hey! What’s that?!“, Rainbow asked looking at the sky.
Three things came out of the sky. They flew towards the place in the middle of the town. Suddendly they landed. The three things were metallic beings with big boddies, two long arms, two big hands, five sharp metal fingers on each hand, small hips, two big legs (which were smaller then the arms), two feet looking like boots and small heads. Each head had a pair of round eyes, a vesperator as mouth, one big metal eyebrow and two spikes coming out of their head right above the eyebrows.
“Look at their chests!“, Applejack whispered to the others.
On their chests their was a small “M“.
“That’s the same symbol we saw on the metal box and the metalic beings we faced off some months ago!“, Twilight whispered back.
The middle one took a step forward and shouted with a loud, dark voice:
“Listen up and listen close, ponys! We are the Eliminators and this city as well as the entire planet now belongs to the Magmaempire! All hail the Magmaempire!“
“But…but you can’t do that!“, Fluttershy shouted.
An Eliminator turned around to her.
“Excuse me.“, she said.
“Yeah! Fluttershy's right! You can’t do that!“, Applejack shouted at them.
“Really?“, an Eliminator asked.
His right hand pulled itself into his arm. A laser gun replaced it. With it he shot some shots at the ground in front of the hooves of the ponys.
“Do you still thing we can’t do that?“, he asked.
“You can bet on it.“, Applejack said.
Now the Eliminator became angry. His laser gun replaced itself with a small, grey speer with a grey ball at the top as well as two big, violet rings beneath it. With this, he created a bubble around Applejack.
“Is their someone else who wants to feel the power of my Bubble-creating-beam-Inator?“, he asked.
No one said anything.
“Good. It looks like you finally understood it: No one messes with the Eliminators!“
Suddendly one of the Eliminator shouted fearful:
“A d-d-dragon!“
He pointed at Spike who stood next to Twilight who immediatly knew what to do.
“Yes! That’s Spike, our friend! A feared dragon warrior you better not mess with!“
Most of the other ponies noddged in the affirmative. It took a moment for Spike until he got what was going on. Then he went towards the Eliminators very self-confident. The Eliminators took some steps back.
“They told us only something about ponys, not about dragons! Dragonfire is the only fire the spell of the Emperor doesn’t protect us from!“
“Maybe he can’t spit fire.“, an Eliminator suggested.
“Sure I can. You wanna see?“, Spike asked bravly.
“No. I think we should run away now. Uhm, I mean: We will do a tactical retreat now!“, one of the Eliminator suggested.
They began floating in the air. Their legs and arms pulled themself tiedly on their body. Then they flew towards the sky and disappeared into the clouds.
“Finally they are gone!“, Rarity called out.
Suddendly 4 metall boxes like the one that crashed on their planet came out of the sky. The sides facing towards them opened themself. 21 Eliminators flew out of them. 4 landed in front of the Mane Six and Spike, the others surrounded them. Three of the four landing in front of the Mane Six and Spike were the three Eliminators they met earlier on. The fourth Eliminator wore a black jacket and a pair of sunglases.
“And you jinxed it.“, Applejack said.
“So, where is the dragon?“, the one with the sunglasses asked.
“There, Commander Destro, Sir.“, one of the Eliminators said pointing at Spike.
Destro laughed out loud.
“Harharhar! That?! You are afraid of THAT?!“
“But Commander! The rule is: “The more diffrence a dragon has between his height and the normal height, the more dangerous it is.“!“
“Oh god, really?! First: This is only true for the BIG ones. And second: That’s a baby, you idiots!“
“Hey!“, Spike shouted at him but Destro ignored it.
“A baby? Ups.“
“Hmpf. Another waste of my time. Come on! Move it! Get them!“, Destro commanded.
But before any Eliminator could move, a familiar voice shouted:
“Hold on!“
“Who dares to command me, Destro, Commander of the Eliminators and second hand man of the all mighty Mecha-General Nero?!“
With a “poof“-sound a familiar being appeared.
“Well. I guess that’s me, Discord, the Spirit of Chaos and Disharmony.“
“Discord? Huh. You sure look like it. So tell me: What do you want, Discord?“, Destro asked.
“Well I just came by and I saw that something isn’t right here. Why does you give the commands although you are obviously too weak to do the dirty work yourself?“
“What?! How dare you! I am the most powerful Eliminator on this planet and the second most powerful in the entire universe!“
“Proof it!“
“I don’t have to proof anything to someone like YOU.“
“How about a deal then: If you can proof to me that you really ARE powerful, I will reveal to you EVERY secret of Equestria. But if you can’t then you and all imperials leave and won’t come back ever again.“
“Fine. Shouldn’t be too hard.“
“Discord, what are you doing?!“, Twilight asked.
“Having fun. And now, Destro, how about you show me your skills on those three?!“
Discord pointed at three Eliminators.
“Huh. That’s gonna be easy!“, Destro said.
Laser guns replaced his hands. With them he destroyed the three quickly.
“Enough proof?“
“Oh pleace! It’s easy to defeat unarmed beings!“
“If that’s what you need as a proof. You three! Attack me!“
The hands of the Eliminators he gave the command to replaced themself with laser guns. With them they attacked Destro who easaly dodged their attack. With his own laser gun he defeated the three in just one second.
“And now?“
“You look pretty helpless without your weapons.“
Destro took the heads of two Eliminators and crashed them into a third one destroying all three in the process. Then he looked at Discord.
“But they were unarmed.“, Discord said.
Destro rolled with his eyes and gave three other Eliminators a hand signal. They attacked him with their laser guns but Destro jumped over them and crashed their heads together.
“And if you have no hands, then what?“
It was obvious that Destro started to get annoyed. He kicked an Eliminator so hard that he flew into a wall taking another Eliminator with him. Both were destroyed.
“And-“, Discord started but Destro interrupted him:
“Don’t say it!“
He looked at three Eliminators who stood like a circle. They nodged and opened fire on Destro who jumped in the middle of their circle and kicked all of their heads off with just one kick by spinning around himself.
“AND NOW?!“, he asked Discord pretty annoyed.
“You fighting skills are truely impressive. But I highly doubt you could destroy something hevier with just one attack. Like your three metal boxes.“
“Uhm. Sir?“, the Eliminator in the middle asked.
“Not now, Cruster. I’m busy.“, Destro responded much calmer then before.
Then he flew up, grapped one of the boxes and threw it into the other three boxes. All three exploded. When he landed he proudly asked Discord:
“So. What do you say now?“
“I’m very impressed. You truely are powerful to destroy nearly all of your troops in just some minutes.“, Discord said smiling.
“That’s right! Only the second most powerful Eliminator could eliminate his own troops in…Wait what?!“, Destro asked.
He looked around himself. He really had destroyed all of his troops except the three who stood with him in the middle! Now he was surrounded by angry ponies who were ready to fight!
“I tried to tell you.“, Cruster said, while the ponies were slowly closing in.
Destro couldn’t believe it. He turned to Discord and said:
“You! You tricked me!“
“Of cource I did. I’m Discord, Spirit of Chaos and Disharmony.“, Discord said while freeing Applejack with a snap of his fingers.
Now Destro became really angry. He took out a holocommunitcator and activated it. A small figure appeared. He looked like an Eliminator, just with bigger legs, a bigger head without spikes or eyebrow but a crest, two big jet engine-like canons as shulders, a black cape and a big V on his chest with spikes in it as well as a green circle at the buttom of the V. Destro saluted to the figure.
“Exuce me for interrupting you but your presence is required! Someone tricked me into destroying nearly all of my troops! He needs to be punished!“, he said.
The figure nodged and the communication ended. Now with an evil smile the four Eliminators looked at the ponies.
“Now you have a big problem!“, Destro said.
He and the other three began laughing.
“Yeah right! I don’t think your little…Wait. Is it night already?“, Rainbow asked.
Around them everything was dark like it was night.
“No. Worst.“, Destro said still smiling.
The ponies and Discord turned their heads towards the sun to see what was going on. They couldn’t believe what they saw: In front of them stood a giant, black robot, at least 2 times the size of Twilight Sparkles castle! The ponies recegnoized him: It was the one Destro spoke with! Behind them, Destro said:
“Bow down, my little ponies! Bow down before the all mighty Mecha-General Nero, leader of the Eliminators!“
Nero looked down on the ponies. With a very dark voice he asked:
“Destro! Who was the one who dared tricking you?!“
All Eliminators pointed at Discord.
“You! In the name of the all mighty Emperor I, Mecha-General Nero, shall punish you to be frozen at place by my Freeze-Inator!“
The top of his forefinger on his right hand opened itself. A big green stick with three green circles as well as a green ball at the top came out of it. Before Discord could do anything he was hit by a beam and fell to the ground frozen in the same pose as he floated in the air. The ponies were shocked by this.
“And now: Take me to your leader!“, Nero demanded.
Suddendly a blast hit Nero at his head. But his only reaction was to turn his head towards the direction where the blast came from. The ponies and Eliminators did the same thing, too. They saw how Princess Celestia and Princess Luna flew towards them firing magical blasts at Nero who just stood their doing nothing until they flew over Ponyville. Suddendly the jet engine-like canons began circeling around themself. Celestia and Luna fired at them but the blasts were deflekted. And then, suddendly, there was a loud sound: Nero blasted sound waves out of his canons! The two princesses fell down.
“Your time has ended, your hignesses. The era of the Magmaempire on this world will finally begin today. It’s about time.“, Nero said.
He hold his hand above the ponies. A hole opened itself in his palm. In there, lighnings assembled themself. The ponys looked in shock. Some duck hoping it was all just a nightmare. Nero said with a smile:
“All hail the Magmaempire.“
Suddendly there were explosions. The ponies opened their eyes. Something had hit Nero’s back so hard that his hand was now facing a mountain as a bundled blast of lightnings was fired out of Nero’s palm. When it hit the monutain there was a big explosion leaving a hole in the mountain. The ponies looked around themself. The Eliminators, even Nero, stood there in shock facing the way Nero was just shot at from. The pegasite and alicorns flew into the air pinching their eyes together. There were three streched triangles with a cupola and a little pipe on every of the three edges facing Nero, his Eliminators and the ponies flying. On the side a hatch was visible. On the hatch there was a blue circle with two white lines laying paralell to each other, like an “=“, and four smaller white circles between them. The three streched triangles flew towards them firing red lights at Nero.
“No. No! NO! NOT NOW! NOT THEM! NOT THE AMA!“, Nero shouted.
Then he turned to his Eliminators.
“What are you standing there?! Attack already!“
Destro and the other three nodged and transformed into their flying mode. On the back of each of them a big gun appeared. The three flew towards the triangles and opened fire. For some reasons the triangles didn’t fire back. The Eliminators managed to destroy one before they passed the other two.
“Do I have to do everything myself?!“, Nero called out annoyed.
His eyes began glowing and he fired a powerful laser beam out of them destroying one ship. But the other manged to dodge his beam.
“If you want the Metal-Vanish-Inator, you can have it.“, Nero grumbled.
Out of his little finger a metallic ball with an aerial in it appeared. He fired a beam out of the aerial. When it hit the triangle it began vanishing until it was gone completly closly to Nero’s head. But suddendly there were three beings in the air. Unfortunatly the ponies couldn’t see how they looked like. They fell towards Nero with their arms and fists ready to punsh the Mecha-General. Which they actually did. It looked like they were very strong since Nero nearly lost his balance. Suddendly, two things creating a red and a blue line-like light behind them while flying at top Speed flew towards Nero. Each of them put her hands on one of Nero’s legs and pressed against it. This caused Nero to loose his balance completly. He fell down. On his back. While falling he shouted:
“NOOOOOOOO!“
When he hit the ground it unleashed a cloud of dust moving quickly across the ground. Suddendly there was a weird noise. Following this noise the ponies were surrounded by metal beings smaller and more propotioned then the Eliminators with fingers and feed looking like shoes. Each of them had a black rifle similar to the one of Zylus. Their faces closly resambled the face of an organic being. Like the one who stood now beside them. He was a tall man in blue clothes with a blue hat, blue goggles, muscular arms, blue bangles, a blue belt with a white “S“ on it, a dark beard shaped like a thinn triangle on each side of his lip above his mouth and an orange “10“ on his chest. Like the metal ones this one faced towards Nero. He put his hand at his left ear and said:
“This is Major Sportacus to Captain Rikson! The target is on the ground! Begin the orbital bombardment!“
For a short times nothing happened. Then suddendly there were laser blasts, each of them big enough to destroy a house coming from the sky hitting Nero while he was laying on the ground. To the suprise of everyone he still managed to get up with his left arm above his head. At his arm there was a big transparant red disk protecting him. Despite this there were no visisble injuries. Nero flew up into the air and shouted:
“Eliminators! Retreat!“
A secret hatch opened in his crest. Something very small became visible and released a yellow beam into the air which opened a tunnel-like portal. Nero and his Eliminator disappeared in it.
“Damm it! If it wasn’t for this BoomTube…“, Sportacus cursed.
Meanwhile the ones who caused the fall of the Mecha-General arrived. All five walked on two legs and had two arms. Three of them, the ones with the coloured line-like light following them and the only girls of the five and Sportacus, flew in the air. They were smaller then the rest with big round heads and big eyes, huge in comparison to their bodys. They also had no fingers, toes or noses. In front of them were two males: The one on the right was a young one with black hair, a black shirt with a strange looking red “S“ on it, a blue troser, black boots and a serious facial expression. The one on the left was a bigger one with black shorter hair, black sunglasses, a yellow and black shirt, black trousers and yellow boots. Sportacus turned around to the ponies, bow down for a moment and said:
“Good day, mares and stallions, I‘m Major Sportacus. The three floating girls are the Powerpuff Girls, Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup. The young man on the right is Superboy and the young man on the left is Power Man.“
“Good day, Major. I’m Princess Celestia and these are Princess Luna and Princess Twilight Sparkle. We are the leader of Equstria. And we thank you for saving us. May I asked who you are a part of?“, Celestia asked.
“Of cource, your highness. The five behind me are part of the Special Command of our organization, the AMA, the Anti-Magma-Army. I, on the other hand, am part of Command Supreme, the leaders of the AMA. We are in war with the Magmaempire to fight against the tyranny of them and their leader, the “Little Devil“, the one they call “the Emperor“. Normally, our great leader, Commander Ape Truly, would tell you all of this, but right now he is not here.“
“Obviously.“, a stallion said more to himself.
“No. I mean, he is not in this dimension. He sacrificed his own freedom and trapped himself and the Emperor in the realm between the dimension. Unfortunatly, due to the Mecha-Generals, the 5 “Death Generals“ as well as the “Vollstrecker“ and the “Burocrat“ the Magmaempire can still hold their own against our quest to free the universe and destroy the Magmaempire ones and for all!“
“Wait! “Mecha-GENERALS“?! There are more like him out there?!“, Twilight asked.
“There are. They are not “like him“ though. After our experience, due to his slow reaction time, his ego, his not-so-strategic thinking and his limited movability he is one of the weakest member of the, according to our information and experience, 12 Mecha-Generals. More of them and their Mecha-Armies are propably in work. In all honasty, if it would have been someone like Trajan, Khan, Kathrin, Ceaser, Scipio or, dear I say, Mecha-General Rommel, I don’t know whether we would have been able to free your planet so fastly. Or in the case of Rommel, at all. But let us focus on the present now: I hearby offer you an alliance against the Magmaempire. Don’t worry, you don’t have to fight against them, unless they invade your world. And even then, we will help you. What do you say, your hignesses?“
The three princesses thought about this a moment. Then Celestia said:
“We are honared by your offer but there is another princess not present here we have to speak to before making a decision.“
“That’s alright. Take this.“, Sportacus said giving them a little golden disc-like thing with a little buttom at its side.
“That’s a special holocommunicator. With this you will reach Command Supreme directly. Use it if you have any problem with the imperials or if you made your decision. Until then: Goodbye.“, Sportacus said before vanishing with his troops into nothingness.
Chapter 3: Hunt and Prey
Twilight and her friends walked through the Everfree Forest. Fluttershy had heard about strange beings sighted in the forest from the animals and the Mane Six went to investigate. The sun was already setting. They were looking for those beings for hours already but hadn’t find anything.
“Nothing! We have nearly searched the whole forest and found…“, Rainbow Dash said but Twilight interrupted her.
“Quiet! Do you here that?“, she asked.
Everypony listened. They heard something…voices! And they came closer! The Mane Six hid themself behind some bushes and waited. After a short amount of time two beings walking on two legs passed them. They wore a red armor protecting their entire body except the head. On their head, above their noses, they wore a red helmet with diagonally opposite black horns coming out of it. Their eyes weren’t visible. There was a black glass plate in front of them. They also had thick spears in their hands. But the weird thing about them: They looked exactly the same! They looked like anyone took the first one and copied him, creating the other! Only their voices were diffrent.
“…tenthousand AMA-Bots! Can you believe that? I mean one imperial can take on only one AMA-Bot at a time! But he destroyed an entire army on his own without getting hurt! Sometimes I think they don’t need us.“, the first one said.
“Don’t think like that! We are needed! Neither the Five Generals nor the Triumphirat can multiply themself! They can’t be everywhere! The Emperor said it himself: We are as important to the Magmaempire as every other member of the Team Magma! We protect the citizens from criminals and invasions and help them in their dayly lives! We extend the borders of the Magmaempire bringing peace and justice in the process! Without us their wouldn’t be a Magmaempire! We might not be as strong as higher members of the Magmaempire but we are brave and numerous! With teamwork we can take down even members of High Command and Prime Command!“, the other said.
While the other talked they had passed the ponies without noticing them and walked towards a clearing in the forest. Twilight and her friends followed them unnoticed. Suddendly they stopped. Then something happened: Out of nowhere a big red trapezium with a big dome at the top and 4 big arms with red boxing gloves holding guns with cuppolas at its side. In the middle there was a big red “M“, the Symbole of the Magmaempire! Beneath it there was a big flap leading into the trapezium. Around it there was a wall. On the wall there were some beings looking like the two they followed holding thick speers as well. The two they followed stood in front of a big gate which opened itself letting the two in.
“The Magmaempire is back?! Quick! We have to warn the Princesses and contact the AMA!“, Twilight whispered to her friends.
Unfortunatly in the same moment a guard looked at their direction and noticed them. In just a second a trigger lowered itself out of the speer, the guard changed the position of the speer like a sharpshootergun, the top of the speer folded up and the sites of the top folded themself reveiling a sights. Then he shot. A yellow flash hit the tree next to the Mane Six vaporizing it. Seeing this, the Mane Six were shocked. The guard shouted at them:
“Come out of the bushes and surrender or we will blast you to Oblivion!“
The Mane Six looked around. Every guard on the wall had their “speers-guns“ pointed at them.
“With those reflexes I doubt we wouldn’t see the place he mentions.“, Fluttershy whispered to the others.
“You’re right. I think it’s better we surrender. Maybe I can use my titel to find a diplomedic solution.“, Twilight whispered back.
The others agreed. They walked out of the bushes, passed the wall and walked into the space between wall and trapezium. The door closed itself behind them. Now they were trapped with countless beings looking all the same. Suddendly a person came. In contrast to the others he send out a feeling of authority meaning he was propably higher then the rest.
“Ponies? How did they find our secret base?“, he asked.
The two they followed stepped forwards and said:
“We think they might have seen and followed us. We are sorry, Sir, and we will take full responsibility.“
“It’s alright, Knorgus. It’s unfortunat but it can happen. Those ponies know their world better than we do. But I wish this would have happened on another day.“
“Why, Sir?“
“Because General Riko is coming today to inspect our base and take the information we have collected so far.“
Every imperial hearing that became worried. One soldier asked:
“THE General Riko? The hero of Obvum Prime, Talor IV and Raxium, who is also known as “the Dragon of Death?“?“
“Yes. THE General Riko.“, a voice said.
A young man came out of the trapezium. He looked nearly like the soldiers except that there was blue hair looking out of his helmet. He also had a spicy chinn unlike the soldiers who had a flat chinn. The last thing which differenciated him from the rest was his very short cape on his back not longer than the way from his neck to his armpits. Immediatly after seeing him the soldiers saluted by knocking with their left and right fists at their right and left shoulder once at the same time and then expanding the arms until they were straight diagonal upwards and diagonally opposite with the fists still closed.
“General Riko! I, uhm, I can explain that…“
“All hail the Magmaempire. What’s going on here? Why are there ponies in this base?“
“All hail the Emperor. They must have followed a patrol but luckily we discovered them before they could escape. What shall we do with them.“
“Hmpf. That’s bad. There is no offical order what to do in this case.“, Riko said.
Then he walked towards the ponies. Bravly Twilight said:
“I am Princess Twilight. And I demand to be realized immediatly! We are not at war! You have no right to hold me or my friends hostage!“
“Not at war?“, Riko asked.
He and the soldiers began laughing.
“Not at war she said! We are at war since you joined forces with the AMA and tried to kill our brothers from the Mecha-Armies!“
“Hey! First of Nero was the one attacking and second…“
“Nero? Who said anything about Nero?“, Riko asked confused.
“W-well you did. Didn’t you talk about Nero and his Eliminator who attacked us but were defeated by the AMA?“
“No. I was talking about the two who were shot down with their ship. The two who were captured by you and who would have been destroyed if your incompetant men didn’t reactivate them. Those two who escaped and gave their lifes to warn us about you and the new ability of the AMA. Zylus and Kong.“
The Mane Six looked at each other. Then Twilight took a step forwards and said:
“That’s a missunderstanding. We got them out of the ship in order to safe them. They seems to be damaged and we wanted to replace their broken parts as good as possible. Also, prior to Nero’s invasion we have never heard of any alien species. And even now all we want is peace. We don’t want to be caught in this war. That’s why we haven’t allied ourself with the AMA.“
Riko and the soldiers became less agressive. Then Riko thought about her words for a time.
“That would explain why the AMA never used their new “technology“ again. It would also explain why you took them and not a dead one. I think it’s worth it to consider your words as truth.“, he concluded but continued:
“But still, you have found our base on your planet. That means you have to be captured. But since it’s possible that all of this is just a missunderstanding, I’ll give you a chance: A game called “Hunter and Prey“. You as the prey have to run and hide from me, the hunter while I have to catch you. The game takes place in this forest but ONLY in this forest. As you can see, the moon is up. That means: If I can catch all of you and bring you to this place before the sunlight of the rising sun meets the imperial symbol, you will be our prisinors until the Emperor decided your fate. But if at least one of you manage to not be captured in time you all will get free. What do you say?“
“How do we know you are really letting us go if we win?“, Rainbow Dash asked distrustful.
“Your distrust is wise but unnessecary for once. You have my Word of Loyalty.“
The soldiers were shocked hearing that.
“By all due respect, Sir, but: ARE YOU SERIOUS?!“
“I wasn’t that serious since the last time I faced Nightwing.“, Riko replied.
The Mane Six discussed this offer for a short time. Then Twilight said:
“We accept it.“
“Good. You have one minute. Then the hunt will begin.“, Riko said.
The Mane Six ran off immediatly. After some time running they hid themself in some bushes.
“Okay girls. We don’t know what he can do or how he will catch us. So I think it’s the best when we split up and try to find each other in two hours again. Then we only have to survive 4 more hours.“, Twilight said
“But is it really better to scatter than to stay together? All challenges we’ve mastered up to now we’ve mastered together.“, Applejack asked.
“Normally, you’re right. But if you remember we had no chance against Nero. So apparently, imperial generals are pretty powerful. And since he is part of an organisation called “The 5 Death Generals“. I believe he is even more powerful.“
“But how can they beat our friendship? I mean, friendship is the most powerful magic after all.“, Fluttershy asked.
“Yes. On our world. But they aren’t from our world. They don’t complie to our rules. Who knows how the rules of their “Magmaempire“ are. The minuite is almost over, so more discussing could be dangerous. I’d say those of us who think we should split up, go alone while those who think we should stay together, well, stay together. Agreed?“
The rest of the Mane Six agree. Twilight and Rainbow Dash went off alone while Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie stayed together.
30 minutes since the game started.
Rainbow Dash flew through the forest. She stopped at a big tree in order two decide in which direction she should fly next. Suddendly a voice asked behind her:
“Rainbow Dash, isn’t it?“
She turned around and saw Riko leaning against the tree. She put her hooves up as if she want to punsh him and shouted:
“Come on! Give me your best shot!“
“Yes. Clearly Rainbow Dash. The discription matches perfectly.“, he said to himself before saying to her with a grinn:
“I would like to fight with you but it would be a waste of our time. You see, you are the last pony I haven’t captured yet. All of your friends are mine already.“
“Impossible!“
“It isn’t. Do you want to see?“, Riko asked.
He took out a little mirror and showed it to Rainbow Dash. In there her friends laid unconcious.
“No! That…that can’t be!“, Rainbow Dash said in shock.
“As you see, it is. And right now, they are trapped in my “Mirrorworld“, a world they can only exit from this one mirror and only if I let them. In other words: If you won’t surrender, I will destroy this mirror trapping your friend forever in the Mirrorworld where they will evantually die.“
“Or I will escape you until the night ends. They you’ll have to release them.“, Rainbow Dash said and prepeared to take off when suddendly Riko started laughing.
“Did you really think, I’d keep my promise! No. I just said that knowing you would fall for this. Although I couldn’t have done it with the hobby-actors of this planets imperial base. Even IF you could escape me, your friends would be doomed. Unless you let me catch you.“
“And what tells me you won’t destroy the mirror afterwards?“, she asked.
“Nothing. But this way you have a 50% chance of your friends not dying.“
Rainbow Dash thought about this. Then she stepped down and said:
“Alright. You’ve won.“
“Good.“, Riko said with a smile.
He lifted his arms holding the mirror and hit her with the mirror sucking her into the Mirrorworld. Once inside Rainbow rushed to her friends.
“Are you okay?“, she asked.
They got up. Suddendly they ran pass Rainbow and jumped through the portal out of the Mirrorworld.
“Hey?! What gives!“, Rainbow Dash yelled at them.
She tried to escape as well but she couldn’t pass the portal.
“That was a brillaint performence. I’ll tell the Emperor about it.“, Riko said.
“Thank you, Sir.“, Twilight said in a dark, manly voice.
Riko snapped with his fingers. Suddendly the Mane Six turned into five imperial soldiers!
“What the…How?“, Rainbow asked.
“That‘s because of one of my powers. My mirror-powers, to be precicly. You saw my ability to create a mirror world where I can trap every being I want as well as my ability to change the appearance of every being I want to a mirror version of everyone I’ve ever seen. And through the brillant performence of those soldiers I could lie to you two times: One: I haven’t trapped any of your friends. Yet. And two: I’ll never break a Word of Loyalty. That would be handled like high treason by the Imperial Justice.“
He gave the mirror to a soldier.
“You won’t get away with this! The others will not fall for this trick!“, Rainbow Dash shouted.
“Bad for them that I’ll use diffrent powers on each of the two remaining groups. I want my fun, too. That’s why I’ll take my time to capture you all.“, Riko said and moved on while the soldiers headed back to the imperial base.
Two hours after the game has started.
Appeljack, Pinkie Pie, Rarity and Fluttershy walked through the woods. Suddendly there some bushes were shaking.
“IEEEEEEKS!“, Fluttershy called out scared.
“Into the bushes!“, Applejack whispered. They hid themself behind some bushes and watched. An eagle jumped out of the bushes.
“An eagal? False alarm everypony.“, Applejack said and the 4 came out of their bushes.
“You really scared us their for a second, little birdy. What are you doing so far off of your natural habitat anyway?“, Fluttershy asked nicely.
“What do ya mean with „“off of your natural habitat“?“, Applejack asked.
“Normally, eagals live on mountains and not in the woods.“, Fluttershy explained.
Meanwhile the eagle looked at his wing and said something. But Fluttershy looked confused.
“That’s weird. I can’t understand him.“, she said.
“Wait. This eagle ain’t where it should be…And you can’t understand it…“
Applejacks eyes wided themself.
“Get away from him!“, she called out.
Fluttershy turned her head around and asked:
“Why?“, she asked.
Suddendly the eagle started laughing. Fluttershy turned around again and took some steps back when she saw the eagle transforming. The eagle became bigger. His wings became arms with hands. His claws became feet. His feathers became replaced by a red armor. His head became more round and his beak turned into a noise and a mouth. The eagle became General Riko!
“Hahaha! Very good, my little ponies, very good. You’ve never seen my Zoan-powers but you still could see through it. I’m impressed. But unfortunatly I still have to capture you.“, he said.
With this words a chain came out of his right hand wrapping around Pinkie Pie and then disconnecting from his hand. At the same time he threw a big ball of glue out of his left hand. It hit Rarity trapping her.
“Run!“, Applejack called out.
Both she and Fluttershy began running but Riko took a stone from the ground, ate it and threw a net out of his hand at Applejack. She tried to get out but the net was as hard as stone. Riko pointed his left hand at Fluttershy. But as he saw her running, he took it back stating:
“Nah. Too easy.“
Then he turned to Applejack.
“I really have to thank you. If you would have split up I might have lost.“
10 minutes before sunrise.
Twilight walked in the forest making sure no one was following her. She hasn’t met any pony since the start- Were the others captured already? Suddendly she heard something in the bushes in front of her. She egnited her horn shouting:
“Who ever you are: Come out! Now!“
It was Fluttershy who came out of the bushes.
“Fluttershy! Am I glad to see you! Have you seen the rest?“
“I’m glad to see you, too. Unfortunatly, Pinkie, Rarity and Applejack got captured. I have no idea why he didn’t capture me, too. It seems like he has some sort of magical powers.“
“Very concerning. And Rainbow Dash?“
“I haven’t seen her, too. I hope she is okay.“
“Maybe we’ll find her. Come on! Let us..“, Twilight said.
But when she turned around she stood in front of another Fluttershy!
“Oh please! Not that!“, she thought while taking enough steps aside to have an eye on both.
“No pony moves! Or I will blast it back!“, she said egniting her horn ones again.
“Please, Twilight! Don’t attack us! I don’t want anypony being hurt!“, both Fluttershy said at the same time.
Afterwards they looked at each other confused.
“I’m now going to ask you some questions. Answer one of the wrong and you will regret it. First Question: Who’s your favorite pet?“
“Angle Bunny.“, both answered.
“Second Question: How many carrots does Angle Bunny get per week.“
“21.“, the first Fluttershy said while the other asked:
“How can you know the answer? You have never asked.“
“Wrong answer.“, Twilight said firing a magical blast towards the Fluttershy who answered with a number.
But this Fluttershy managed to dodge. From one second to another she changed into General Riko with Fluttershys face. But after Riko touched his face with his palm it was back to normal.
“Not bad, Princess. You really are the smart one. I guess the real Fluttershy over there spoke the truth. You really don’t know the answer.“
“Fluttershy: Go. I’ll hold him off.“
Fluttershy wanted to say something but when she saw the seriousness in Twilights eyes she nodged and ran away.
“How selfless. And dumb. Facing a…how does the AMA call us again? Oh right: Facing a “Death General“ alone. Huh. You’re lucky I don’t want to kill you. Yet.“, he said snapping with his fingers.
Plants came out of the ground wrapping themself around Twilight.
“I would love to fight an alicorn but I want to end this game now. Maybe another time.“, he said walking pass Twilight.
“Keep telling that to yourself. Maybe someday, you’ll believe it.“, she said.
Riko stopped and turned around. Confused he asked:
“What do you mean?“
“Oh please. It’s obvious that you are afraid of facing me. Because you are too weak.“
It seems she hit a nerve there, because he snapped with his fingers again freeing her. Then he turned around. Angered he said:
“I am NOT WEAK! I’m as strong as every other General!“
A transparant ball of, as it looks like, glass appeared around his right fist. Then he ran towards her protecting himself from Twilights magical blasts with the ball around his fist yelling:
“I AM NOT THE WEAKEST MEMBER OF THE IMPERIAL SUPREME COUNCIL OF THE MAGMAEMPIRE! STOP SAYING THAT!“
He tried to punch Twilight with the ball. But Twilight manages to dodge the attack causing Riko to hit the tree destroying it. She fired more magical blasts at Riko. But the ball transformed into a sword. With it, Riko absorbed the magical blasts and swang at Twilight who flew into the air dodging his attack again. The sword hit another tree slicing it in half. Riko turned around holding his fingers like kids holding their fingers pretending them to be guns. Out of the top of his index finger he shot some things at Twilight who managed to dodge again. While some of those things flew into the forest, others hit the trees without destroying them. Suddendly Riko stopped. His hands were now in the air with his palms facing the ground and fingers being frozen stiff. Twilight saw thinn strings leading to the things he shot into the trees. With a smile he said:
“String-Granate.“
He quickly drew in his fingers to a fist. The things in the trees exploded into giant sharp cobwebs destroying the trees around them with such a force that Twilight was thrown towards Riko. Riko grapped her and pummeld her into the ground. Then he threw her with into a tree. Then he jumped after her landing in front of her. His arm became a spring. He punched her into the stomage. Suddendly the spring streched itself throwing Twilight through some trees until she crashed into one and fell to the ground. Plants wickled themself around her lifting her up. Riko stood in front of her. Less angry he said:
“Don’t ever call me weak.“
“G-got it. B-but th-there is one l-little th-thing I w-want to know, if you don’t mind.“, Twilight said very weakend.
Riko thought a bit. Then he shrugged with his shoulders and said:
“Since non of you will be able to tell anything: Go on.“
“Thanks. H-how do you kn-know so m-much about us?“
“There are many imperial agents throughout the universe. But one is better then even Secret Agent Ann, the best agent I’ve ever met in person. This agent is a complete mystery. Only we, the Imperial Supreme Council, as well as the Lead Scientist, Secret Agent Ann, the Division Admiral and some Division Commander know of his existence. Everyone else just theorizes about him. But even the ones knowing that he exists don’t know his identity. When we meet up to relax together, it is our favorite topic of discussion who he or she could be. But only the Emperor and his right hand man know his or her identity. But they don’t want to talk about it. Appearantly because of his safty…I digress, don’t I? Anyway, some months before you had the first contact with the Magmaempire, our agent, who we named “The All Seeing Eye“, since it seems like he could see everything, transmitted a full set of information about your planet to the Emperor. He had collected every little detail. Well, NEARLY every little detail. Regardless, it was still impressive. It would have taken us years to collect this amount of information with all of our espionage droids and drohnes. Analyzing those information we concluded that Nero would be enough to conquer your planet. But we didn’t thought it would be necessary to give him the information, too. Without the Emperor we are just not as functional as with him. But that’s how we could imitate you and your friends NEARLY perfectly. But now please excuse me: I have to catch your little friend.“, Riko explained turning around.
“Good luck with that.“, Twilight said.
“Thank you. I-“, Riko stopped and turned around.
“Wait a sec: Why would you whish me luck?“
Twilight didn’t answer. Instead she looked to the sky. Riko looked up. His eyes wided themself. It was sunrise already! He looked back to Twilight who smiled at him.
“You! You tricked me!“
“One minute.“, she whispered.
Riko let out a very loud “NO“ and ran into the direction Fluttershy took with Twilight floating after him still being trapped in the plants.
Fluttershy ran. She didn’t know how long she was running already. She also didn’t know where she was running to. She looked up. It was sunrise already. Suddendly she heard a loud „“NO“ from the direction she came from. But she kept running. Suddendly she found herself in front of the imperial base! Behind her there was a bright light. She turned around and saw an angry Riko standing in front of her. Over her head Twilight, who was trapped in some thick plants, flew into the imperial base. Since there was no other way, she ran towards the imperial base. By doing this she also saw that the light was nearly touching the imperial symbol. Behind her Riko jumped towards her and seperated his right hand which quickly flew towards Fluttershy. And then: The sunlight touched the imperial symbol. Fluttershy was caught in a ball of, as it looked like, glass. Both happened at the same time. Everyone present was suprised. Riko, with his hand now being back at his arms, walked towards the imperial base and postioned himself between the imperial symbol and the Mane Six with his back to the symbol.
“So, who won?“, Applejack asked.
“Honastly, I don’t know. I captured Fluttershy but at the same time the sunlight hit the symbol. So I guess both of us one. That makes it pretty complicated.“, Riko said.
“What is it, that is being made complicated?“, a voice said behind them.
An imperial came out of the base behind them. Like every other imperial he had red armor and a red helmet. He had a cape, too. But his cape reached him to his hough. He was at least 2 meters big. He also looked older than the rest, around 55. When the soldiers saw him they immediatly sank on their knees. Twilight looked up to Riko. He looked very suprised and a bit nervous. He swollowed and asked still a bit nervous:
“Sergeant? What is the right hand man of the Emperor doing her?“
With a calm tone of voice, Sergeant answered:
“Don’t worry. It has nothing to do with your…expanded inspection. I want to show you something.“
He took out an imperial holocommunicator and activated it. A series of numbers appeared for a brief moment. Riko looked at it, looked back up to Sergeant and asked with his usual tone of voice:
“Adjutant?“
“Back at HQ with the rest of the Imperial Supreme Council. And since I’m here…“
Riko began smiling. Then he called out to everyone in the base:
“Ready the holodisguise! We’re going home today, partiing! Our Emperor is back in buisness!“
Every soldier rejoyced. While they talked to each other about this news, Riko and Sergeant looked down on the ponies. Sergeant looked at Riko who explained:
“They discovered our base. So I played “Hunter and Prey“ with them but all of us won. Kinda.“
“And you didn’t thought about the obvious one?“
“Uhm…Oh. Right. Forgot that one.“, Riko said.
Sergeant turned to the ponies. He hold his palm in front of them and said:
“Good night.“
Some kind of gas came out of his palm making the ponies fall asleep.
Twilight opened her eyes. She stood up and looked around. Her friends came up, too. They all were lying in front of a big tree.
“What happened?“, Rainbow Dash asked holding her head.
“I don’t know. We where investigating the sightings of strange beings in this forest. And then…I don’t remember. But since it seems that we’ve fell asleep here I guess we didn’t found any strange beings.“, Twilight said.
“That’s an explanation. But we never fell asleep in this forest.“, Rarity said.
“Well. There’s a first time for everything.“, Appolejack said.
And since no one else had an explanation, they left it with this one and went back home.
Chapter 4: My little Liegix
Chapter 4: My little Liegix
A snake slided through Ponyville. Suddendly Pinkie appeared in front of it. The rest of the Mane Six were close behind.
“Hello you. Welcome to Ponyville. Are you new? Well you have to be new, because I don’t know you. What’s your name? Mine is Pinkie Pie.“
“Good day. I’m Liegixsssssssss from the Sssssssssnake Kingdom.“, the snake said with a charming voice.
“Snake Kingdom? I have never heard from a Snake Kingdom.“, Twilight said.
“It’sssssssss a ssssssssmall kingdom at the border of Equessssssstria. Sssssssssss.“
“Alright then. May I ask what you are doing so far away?“, Twilight asked.
“I’m exsssssssploring Equessssssstria. I’m collecting information about every town in thissssss beautiful land. Would you help me, pleasssssssse?“
“Of cource.“, Twilight said.
She began telling Liegix the history of Equestria up until the invasion of Nero and his Eliminator. Meanwhile many more ponies have gathered around to see this talking snake from outside of Equestria. When Twilight was finished Liegix asked:
“I have a question: You ssssssaid every pony, no matter the kind it belongessssss to, issss equal. But do you really believe that?“
“What do you mean?“, Twilight asked confused.
“Well, for ssssssstartersssssss let ussssss take a look at the location of the cssssssssitiesssssss. All cssssitiesssss of the Earth Poniessssss are on the ground. But both Cloudssssssssdale and Canterlot are above the ground. Ssssssince they are above your cssssitiesssss they have to look down on you to sssssssee you. Like before the foundation of Equessssssstria. If you all are equal asssss they sssssssay, then why haven’t they founded their csssssitiesssss on the ground asssss a ssssssigne of the “Equality“ they promisssssed? Sssssssssss.“
To the suprise of the Mane Six some earth ponies in the crowed agreed.
“And what’sssss with the unicornsssss in Canterlot? Thosssssse rich poniesssssss? They look down on everyone neither unicorn nor rich! I assssssssk you: Isssss thisssss true equality? Sssssss.“
Many earth ponies in the crowd now became angry. Some shouted:
“He’s right!“
“No, it’s not the promised equality!“
But Applejack said:
“Come on everypony. That’s all false.“
“Issssss that the cassssssssse, Applejack? Then why doesssssss your “friend“ Rainbow Dash alwaysssss fly in the air? Becaussssssse she wantssssss to show everyone how much better she asssss a represssssssssentetive of the pegasssssside issssss! Becaussssssse she feelssssss hersssssself too good to walk on the ssssssame ground assssss the earth poniessssss! Sssssssss!“
The voices agreeing with Liegix became louder and louder.
“Everypony, listen! That is not true! He is lying! And I think he should stop with it!“, Twilight said but Liegix asks:
“In other wordsssss you want to mute me, don’t you? Ssssssss?“
“Yeah. Don’t you, Twilight?“, Applejack asked.
“Applejack…“, Twilight said quietly in shock.
But Liegix continued:
“Sssssse everypony?! The princsssssessss herssssself doessssssn’t want me to sssssspeak! And why? Becaussssssse she knowssssss that it issssss the truth! Don’t forget that she’ssssss from Canterlot! She lookssss down on you like everypony elssssse! Ssssssss!“
Now every earth pony shouted out their agreement and their frustration. Even Applejack and Pinkie Pie.
“What shall we do against it?!“, an earth pony asked.
“I will tell you: gather all the earth poniessssss of Equesssssstria! We will make a march againssssssst Canterlot! We will show thosssssse filthy unicornsssss and the princsssssesssssessss that the earth poniesssss are not their sssssslavessss any more! Ssssss!“
Hundreds of earth ponies stood around a rock with Liegix on it.
“My dear earth poniesssssss! Hundredssssss of yearsssss ago, the unicornssssss and pegasssssside ssssssupressssssssed you! You were their ssssslavessss! Then, after the Windigossssssss left, they told you, you all would now be equal! But are you? I tell you: No, you aren’t! The pegasssside sssssssstill refussssse to walk the ssssssame wayssssss asssss you! They ssssstill build their citiesssss up in the air where you can’t reach them and they can look down on you! And the unicornsssss ssssstill look down on you! The onessss in Canterlot are the bessssst example! Ssssssss!“
The earth ponies shouted their agreement. One earth pony asked:
“And why are the princesses not doing anything?“
“Ssssssimple, my friend. It’sssss said that alicornssss unite the traitssss of all poniessss. But I only ssssssee the onessss of the unicornsssss and the pegassssside! They don’t do anything becausssssse they are lesssssss earth pony than unicorn or pegassssussssss! They don’t care about you asssss much asss they care about the onessss they actually share traitsssss with! They don’t even promote earth poniesssss to alicornsssss in order to keep you in line! With an exsssssss-earth ponie assssss ruler you actually would have a voicssssse! They couldn’t
The earth ponies became angrier. Some shouted:
“Yeah!“
“He is right!“
“We want equality!“
“What shall we do?“
“Ssssssimple: We go to Canterlot and demande a change of goverment! Right now, the rulersssss have unbound power. But we want an elected parlament of earth poniesssss running along ssssside them keeping them in check! Then they wouldn’t be able to control you any longer! Ssssss! Now, my friendssss: To Canterlot!“
The earth ponies rejoiced. Liegix jumped on the back of Applejack and all the earth ponies made their way to Canterlot.
“We have to warn the princesses!“, Twilight said.
“And how are we going to get there in time?“, Rarity asked.
Twilight concentrated and teleported all of them into Canterlot.
“Well done! Now let us get to-“, Rarity said but Twilight interrupted her heavily brieving:
“A moment please. Transporting three extra ponies over such a long distance isn’t easy.“, she said.
After she had her rest, the four entered the castle. When they entered the throne room there were suprised to see Celestia, Luna, Cadance and Discord! Discord stood before them saying:
“I’m telling you the truth! I haven’t changed the personality of any pony in a long time! I’m reformed now!“
“Don’t play dumb with us, Discord! Who else but you could have done this?!“, Celestia responded.
“We know who! A snake named Liegix!“, Twilight stated.
“Liegix?“, Cadance asked confused.
“He did something to the earth ponies. And now they are on their way to Canterlot to-“
She got interrupted by loud shouting in front of the castle.
“Here they are. What do we do know?“, Rainbow Dash asked.
“We talk to them. That’s the best we can do right now.“, Celestia decided.
The ponies and Discord headed outside. There they saw themself against an army of earth ponies. Liegix, still on the back of Applejack, asked:
“What do we want?!“
The ponies responded with:
“Equality!“
“And when do we want it?!“
“Now!“
“What’s going on here?“, Celestia asked.
Liegix jumped off Applejacks back. He moved towards the rulers and said:
“Princsssssssessssss Csssselesssstia! Asssss the embasssssodor of the United Earth Poniesssss I hearby announcsssssssse the end of earth pony sssssslavery and falsssssse equality! From now one there will be an earth pony parlament ruling along ssssside you in order to garantie the promissssssed equality!“
“Slavery? False Equality? What are you talking about?“, Celestia asked confused.
An earth pony shouted:
“Even now she tries to manipulate us!“
The others agreed.
“Don’t listen to this snake, everypony! He just tells you lies! He even has the word “lie“ in his name!“, Cadance called out.
“Sssssee, everypony? Even with them being cornered, the falssssse rulerssss try to gain back control over you! Ssssssss!“
“That’s nonsense! HE is the one manipulating you!“, Luna said.
“Enough! No more lies! No more slavery! No more manipulation! Get the princesses!“, an earth pony called out.
But before they could attack attack the rulers, Liegix of all stopped them:
“Lisssssten, everypony! I’ve got it now: Thossssse are NOT the princsssssessssesssss! Thossssse are impossssterssss! The true princsssssessssesssss would have agreed on your termssss! Ssssss!“
Everyone was shocked to hear this.
“Do you mean they are changelings?“, an earth pony asked.
“Worssssst! They are agentssssss of the Magmaempire!“
Everyone was even more shocked.
“It all fitssss together! The true princsssssessssesssss have been hold captive the entire time! That’ssss why they manipulated you. That’sssss why they allowed the Sssssspirit of Chaosssss and Disssssharmony to be free! Sssssss!“
The ponies looked at each other.
“All the princesses?“, Applejack asked.
“Not from the sssssstart. Your “friendssss“ only for ssssome daysssss now. Ssssince you disssscovered their sssssecret bassssse. That‘ssss alsssso why they didn’t sssssuport you. Now: Get them all! Ssssss!“
The earth ponies grew angrier. They were closing in on the princesses, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy and Discord. But suddendly,
“Which secret base? I can’t remember discovering any imperial base!“
The ponies stopped and looked at Liegix who was thrown off completly.
“Well, em, the-the on in the Everfree Foressst, of courcssssse.“
“But there is no base. I can’t remember there being on. Anyone of you?“, Applejack asked the rest.
“No.“, Pinkie said.
All of them looked at Liegix confused.
“But-but how? I thought Riko…Of cource! How could I forget that! Sergeant stole their memories!“
Liegix looked up. Everyone was starring at him in shock.
“….I said that one out loud, didn’t I.“, he asked.
“Even his hissing was a lie!“, one pony shouted.
Suddendly every earth pony hold their heads.
“Ma head. What…what happened? Why did I became angry and believed the crap he was talking about?“, Applejack asked.
“I don’t know. But I know someone who does.“, Twilight said looking at Liegix.
Liegix looked around. He was surrounded by angry ponies. Celestia stepped forwards.
“Your days of lying and manipulating are over, Liegix. Surrender now.“, she said.
At first Liegix looked a bit afraid. But suddendly he started laughing. He flew into the air. There, he became surrounded by light. And then it happened: His tail splitted into two part forming legs and feet. One arm came out of each side of his body. His head became more round and his face more flat. His body became bigger. Suddendly the light was gone. Instead of Liegix, there was a being in imperial armor and with an a bit decomposed cape making it clear that he had survived some battles with it. The cape reached him to his feet. He himself was just 1.20 meters big.
“Congratulations. Not everyone can escape Liegix‘ hypnotic hissing.“, he said.
“He-he is an imperial!“, Applejack shouted.
Like everyone else, she was in shock of this revelation.
The imperial laughd again.
“Yes. But I’m not just any imperial. I am the Magmaboss, the highest imperial. I am the one they call: “The Emperor“, the leader of the Magmaempire!“
“The-the Emperor?“, Twilight asked.
“That’s right. You know, this was really fun. I’m impressed. That’s why I dicided to-“
“Not so fast! Guards! Arrest him!“, Celestia ordered.
“Sigh. Always the same mistake.“, the Magmaboss sighed.
He raised his right hand. All of the guards flew into the air simultainisly. Then, he closed his hand to a fist. All of the guards got together. At last, he whiped with his hand to the right. All the guards flew to the right crashing at the castles wall so hard that they fell down unconcious. The Magmaboss began talking again:
“As I was saying, you impressed me. So I decided to-“
Suddendly Discord appeared in front of him.
“Now listen up! Thanks to you I had to get up early and go to the princesses. Do you really thing you will get away that easy?“
The Magmaboss began laughing.
“Oh please. I’ve been taken on far more powerful beings than you before. I have more in here“, he pointed at his head, “in here“, he pointed at his arms, “and in here.“, he pointed at his body, “than you have.“
Now Discord was the one laughing.
“Oh that’s adorable. You actually think you could take on me! I can rip the very fabric of reality with just one snap! What could YOU possibly do against ME?!“
“This.“, the Magmaboss said.
He took a step forwards, borrowed his weight at his front and took his arms back. A powerful mind wave hit Discord sending him fliing into a wall. Suddendly something fired by the Magmaboss hit him turning him to stone!
“Those natural spirits always think they are invincible. Pfff.“
He turned to the ponies again. A bit frustrated he said:
“As I was saying, I…“, but he was interrupted again by the princesses who shot a powerful magical blast at him.
“What’s so funny?“, he quietly asked.
He reflected the blast with the back of his hand as if he would have tried to scare away an annoying fly.
“Enough!“, he shouted letting out a massive wave of power. It was so powerful that some ponies fell down. No one dared to interrupt him anymore.
“The same goes for you three.“, he whispered before saying:
“As I was trying to say: Since you impressed me, I decided to acknowledge my defeat and retreat. For now.“
Suddendly, dark clouds assambled on their own. The Magmaboss raised his hands and let out some lightnings into the sky. The clouds formed themself into a wirlepool. A big lightning came down from the center of the wirlepool towards the ground. But shortly before it hit the ground it stopped and formed a portal.
“Huh. You ponies are more fun than I expected. Maybe…Anyway until next time.“, the Magmaboss said jumping backwards through the portal which closed itself after he disappeared in it.
“What was…“, Rainbow Dash wanted to say.
But suddendly they heard the sound they heard when they first met Sportacus and the AMA. From one moment to the other they were surrounded by thousends of soldiers of the AMA, as well as the Powerpuff Girls, Superboy, Power Man, Sportacus and dozends of other strange looking beings.
“Alright, Magmaboss, your time has…“, one of them, a humanoid not bigger than the Magmaboss with a yellow purple-brown kimono, a brown helmet with a white face with yellow eyes with white puplis on it, small white-black shoes, a tiny umbrella on the helmet and white hands called out before noticing that the Magmaboss was already gone.
He turned to Princess Celestia and said:
“Good day, your highness. I am Commander Ape Truely, the leader of the AMA. May I ask you where the Magmaboss went? Our sensores discovered this tyrannt a few minutes ago. I immediatly gathered everyone I could get in such a short time.“
“Good day, Commander. The Magmaboss was here and although he was more powerful than anyone we have ever seen he left because we managed to spoil his plan.“
Ape Truely and the rest of the AMA were stunned hearing this.
“He…just left? Without even reaching a stand down? That can’t be right…“
“Why?“, Twilight asked.
“It’s not his style. We only know of three times he retrieded. But this doesn’t fit in…I have to think about this. It was nice to finally meet you, your highness. Unfortunatly I can’t stay any longer. I have to free a universe. I hope you’ll have a nice imperial-free time until we meet
Afterwards he and his troops vanished like, again, Sportacus and his troops did when they first met.