Lonely Among Us

The sound of static was slowly fading away, then stopped entirely for a moment, only to be replaced by the sound of the howling wind.

“I think we made it… but something doesn’t-”

I was interrupted by Twilight’s scream, “Yaaaahhh! I don’t feel my hooves!”

A second later I was finally able to regain my vision - there was good and bad news:

Good news: we did it, we were definitely on the planet, and Twilight did have her legs were they supposed to be.

Bad news: we were nowhere near the Tree of Harmony, in fact... We were few hundred meters in the air - falling FAST. “Twilight! Flap your wings, NOW!” I shouted.

“Wha…?”

“Your legs are fine - transporter put as in the air! FLY!”

In the meantime Twilight finally opened her eyes, and realized our situation - by then we were just meters from the ground. “Arghhh!!” she put her wings into overdrive, but it was too late, at this rate, we would never have slowed down in time.

“OK, plan B!” I yelled as I grabbed and pulled her close to my chest. I could feel Twilight's heart pounding like crazy, then the sound of branches breaking on my back started.

SNAP! … CRACK! … BAM! … … THUD!!

We finally landed - I was lying on my back with Twilight on top of me - fortunately, my body managed to absorb most of the impact energy. “Ugh… you OK?” Twilight asked, stepping off my chest.

“Yeah… more or less…” I responded calmly - my back hurt like hell, and few ribs were probably broken, but it would regenerate in a matter of minutes. “I guess that’s what you get for skipping beta testing… where are we anyway - APE?”

Twilight had responded, before APE managed to analyze the situation, “I think this is Everfree forest…”

“The Princess is correct - apparently coordination system still lacks precision, I will make a note on the TODO checklist,” APE responded - calm as always. “According to the guidance system, we are 2 kilometers southeast from Ponyville and 3 kilometers from our original destination.”

“OK, let’s go see the Tree then, it’s not far,” I said, and Twilight nodded in agreement.

***

We walked slowly, Twilight was in front guiding me. This forest was not like the rest of Equestria, it was pretty much like the tropical jungle in South America - tall trees obscuring the view of the sky, branches of plants so thick, that you could not see more than 10 meters in front of you and sounds of wild animals all around us… After being stuck on that silent pile of gray rock, for the last three months - I actually enjoyed the vivid experience, but I could tell Twilight was pretty nervous - watching every step she took, and scanning her surrounding constantly.

Finally, after about two hours - we arrived at the tall staircase that led down to the Tree of Harmony. “This is it? Hmm, I thought it would be bigger...” I said, trying to lighten up the mood a little.

Twilight glanced at the tree for a moment. “Looks pretty normal at this distance...” she responded more to herself than to me.

After a moment, we continued towards our destination, the Princess was still cautious, so I managed to be a few meters in front of her. About 20 meters from the target, I felt a tearing pain.

ZAP!

“Argh… what the…” I was struck by a force-field that just revealed itself around the tree. It was a powerful thing - it ripped some flesh of my left arm in the process.

“Are you OK?!” Twilight asked with a concerned voice.

“Yeah… no… problem…” I responded, trying to hide the pain - fortunately the wound started to regenerate already - emitting a light glow, “however, this force field might be problematic to bypass - any hints APE?”

“Negative at this time, sir, this is the strongest force-field, we encountered so far - the magnitude is of the scale, unknown energy source-”

As luck would have it, APE was interrupted as some energy beam struck the shield - powering it up... And sending all of us 10 meters back in the process. “... Correction - energy source is probably external - energy beam came from the vicinity of Canterlot,” APE finished as if nothing happened.

I got myself up slowly. “Ugh... Something tells me this - Shadowdancer is powering that thing with his own magic,” Twilight nodded in agreement. “All right, APE engage the adaptation program anyway - perhaps there is a way around it. In the meantime, however, there is nothing we can do here,” I said with irritation.

For a moment, we were lost in our thoughts, to be honest - as a strong believer in Murphy's law I wasn't surprised that our original plan failed, but I could see Twilight was more distressed. “I guess we are going with plan 'B'” I said calmly breaking the silence. “We should check out Ponyville before going to Canterlot.”

Twilight responded with indifferent voice while poking at the ground with her hoof, “I guess so…”

“What’s wrong?”

“I thought we could somehow fix the Tree of Harmony, and get this over with," she said - still staring at the ground, "but now… I am just - worried I guess.”

I gently lifted her chin, so we were looking eye to eye. “Don’t be - we will have this mess cleaned up in no time, that’s a James Gastovski guarantee!” I responded with a smile - my speech improved her mood a little, and she put a weak smile on her face as well.

Then we went to our new destination - Ponyville.

***

Some time later, we emerged near the road leading to Ponyville town hall and were slowly walking towards the center. The village looked deserted - on most buildings, the lights were out, but signs of recent fighting were present: some homes had broken windows and doors, others had them wide open, here and there blood stains covered the ground. The smile Twilight had on her face earlier, was gone now - replaced by confusion and horror. I tried not to show my emotions, but the fact is - I was scared as well... Scared that my new friends were dead, that I was too late - that I failed again.

Suddenly, we heard someone shouting in the distance, from the general direction of the train station, “I said move it!”

Slowly, we made our approach, going into full stealth mode (surprisingly Twilight was pretty good at it, for some reason). Soon, we saw what the noise was all about - residents of Ponyville were being marched to the train station, they were all connected by a huge chain. With a magical aura gone, they were all weak, and thus walking very slowly - even at a distance, we could see that many were struggling under the weight of their restrains.

Ten big unicorns wearing black robes were guarding the captives. Apparently, some of the ‘overseers’ were not satisfied with the speed and were constantly shouting at the slower prisoners, as well as occasionally using their magic to inflict some pain.

My blood was boiling in my veins again - the view brought back memories from the war - bad memories. “Bastards…” I said, clenching my fist.

“Oh no… what should we do?” Twilight inquired with a worried voice.

"Hmm, I think I will try talking first..." I said as I put a grin on my face. “Please wait here and observe - intervene only if the situation gets out of control, OK?” Twilight nodded in agreement.

I slowly approached the rearmost guard - he was a good distance from the rest, looking strong - with a menacing face. When we approached some bushes, the expression on his face suddenly changed to surprise, as he felt a stabbing pain in the back and saw a bloodied piece of metal exiting through his rib cage.

A few seconds later, a second guard went down, the same way - but to get the next bastards, I had to reveal myself to the prisoners in the column, and hope they won’t blow my cover. I approached the rear of the cavalcade and passed near the first few captives. When they saw me, their eyes went wide - I don’t know if it was from horror, excitement, fear or confusion but what’s important - they didn’t make any noise.

Finally, I arrived near the third and fourth guard. Those two, were on the same side of pony column, near each other - chatting. “Excellent,” I said to myself when I saw we were approaching some buildings - perfect place to quickly hide the bodies.

Their chat was cut short, as I assaulted them from above. Stallion on the left was first. My knife went directly through his head, ending his life before he knew what hit him. His buddy tried to react, but before he could say anything, his head made 270 degrees turn with audible 'SNAP' sound. “Sweet dreams,” were the last words he heard before closing his eyes forever.

As I was hiding the bodies behind the building - I could see the prisoners were shocked, some were fighting themselves not to vomit at the sight they saw. Fortunately, they were able to control their urges.

Suddenly I heard a voice in front of the column. “You!” and for a moment I thought I was discovered - but fortunately, the guard was yelling at someone else...

“Walk faster, you stupid mare! You are slowing everypony down!” the guard shouted and then shoot his magic at somebody.

“Leave her alone, you brute! Don’t you see, she can’t walk any faster?!” somebody else was arguing with the guard fiercely. The voice sounded familiar…

“Fine! Then she dies here! She is useless anyway!” the guard shouted again as he unlocked the chain on someone, preparing the pony for execution. I was observing the situation from about 60 meters away, planning my next move at the same time - when the guard lifted the prisoner with his magic, I was paralyzed momentarily. It was none other than Fluttershy. Her body was beaten and bruised, bloody lacerations and burn marks, covered her fur - at a distance, it looked like she was in bad shape.

"MAXIMUM SPEED!" was the message that restored my senses, I was running as fast as possible, and time seemed to slow down - at the moment I had one single goal - nothing else mattered.

“Hold on Fluttershy! Just hold on!” I shouted to myself inside my head.

As magic around her was getting brighter and brighter - she began to close her cyan eyes - when they were about to close completely...

CRACK!

The sound of breaking bones filled the air, as I impacted the guard - his shattered body was sent 15 meters away. For a moment, his companions just stood there, stunned. Since the plan I worked on moments ago, had fallen apart like a house of cards - it was the maximum damage mode from now on. “ENOUGH SUBTLETIES! Fluttershy hide! Everybody else - GET DOWN!” I shouted as I began to discharge my weapons.

BAM! BAM!

Two bastards hit the ground before they could say ‘kaboom,’ however the remaining three quickly hid behind the prisoners and using them as live shields - started to discharge their horns at me.

“Fucking cowards, that’s how you wanna play it? FINE!” I shouted as I jumped ten meters into the air, landing between two surprised guards. Before they could react, I swung my blade, slicing off the head of the first attacker, and the horn of the second one - causing him to wail on the ground in pain.

“Stop whining! You only lost a horn. Your buddy lost his whole head, and you don’t see him crying that much!” I said half-seriously, with a smile.

Suddenly I hear a voice of the remaining guard, “Hey you! Move, and I break her neck!” when I turned I realized he was holding one of Ponyville residents by his magic. There was no clear shot, and he was too far away for a ‘run and kill’ tactic.

Looking into his eyes, I rubbed my nose and responded calmly, “Let her go now, and I won't kill you.”

“Ha! Sure… I tell you what we're gonna do - I’m gonna board the train, and you are gonna back off - or else that whore-”

POOF!

Suddenly, a purple aura of magic teleported the captive out of guards grasp. “Took you long enough…” I said with a smile, as I saw Twilight hovering above us. “Now… where were we-”

BAM!

"DIE! DIE!" I was interrupted by a powerful blast of magic - the guard was discharging his horn like there was no tomorrow... Well actually he was right - at least in his case.

Twilight quickly landed between the prisoners and me and established a shield, protecting the captives from any collateral damage. Thanks to her intervention I was able to take my time. I began to walk towards the guard, slowly - looking into his eyes.

BAM! BAM! BAM!

His energy was hitting me continuously, but I ignored it, ignored the pain, ignored the damage - the target was acquired, and I was in no hurry. With every step I took, I could see his confidence fading away - replaced by panic.

"ARG! What the hell are you!" he shouted discharging his horn one last time. Before I grabbed his head.

Looking into his eyes - I responded with a smile, “My squad-mates back on Earth nicknamed me 'BASTARD MAN' - unfortunately, since others are watching all I could show you is this,” with that I twisted his neck, with the loud CRACK! It was finally over.

***

A few moments later Twilight landed next to me - shocked… but not as much as I would expect her to be. "You said you will talk to them!" she shouted with irritation.

"I did, with my blade,” I responded with a grin. “The boys said they're very sorry and that they'll never do it again."

Twilight gave me her ‘annoyed’ look again and shook her head, but let it go quickly - we both knew that in reality, there was no way diplomacy would have worked here.

I turned to the prisoners. “Everybody, all right? Let’s remove this. Twilight, help me out here,” I added, while I started to break the chains - one pony at the time. It took a few minutes, but we freed everybody - they were weak, but happy nevertheless.

Soon all the Elements of Harmony gathered around Twilight and me. That is - all but one. “Where is Fluttershy?” I asked, concerned, before I noticed her standing alone, behind a nearby tree, weeping heavily.

“I hope you are not crying because of what I did…?” I asked to embarrassed voice. I could remember how she reacted when I threatened that bully Hoops, and now, she witnessed how I killed a few ponies, right before her eyes. “I’m sorry, but I there was no other-”

"No… I couldn't... Couldn't save them... They came for me and..." she interrupted me, with a cracking voice. "I... They... Killed some of them! It's my fault… my fault..." It was then, I realized most of the blood on Fluttershy's fur, wasn't hers. “I'm so weak... First I endangered my animal friends... And now everypony else… I’m useless.”

I sat next to her and put my arm over her shoulder. "I'm so sorry... If I only got here sooner..." I said with a sad voice, trying to hold off tears. "I know this won't make you feel any better, but it wasn't your fault - sometimes bad things happen, and there is nothing you can do about it - trust me... I know.”

"No! I should have done something! They were counting on me, and I failed them... Just like I failed you..."

I put a weak smile and shook my head in disagreement. “Fluttershy… you have no idea what you are talking about - if it weren’t for your letter I wouldn’t be here,” she looked at me with a hint of confusion in her wet eyes. “When I read what you wrote, I knew you were suffering yourself - perhaps even more than me. You cared - like only, a true friend does. You gave me strength - and I... *sniff* I almost let them kill you today... I'm sorry, so sorry *sniff* ... I *sniff* damn it, I can't...” I snapped and hugged her tight as tears of joy began flowing out of my eyes, onto her shoulder.

“Fluttershy, never think of yourself as useless or weak, you didn’t fail me - you helped me, and thus - you helped everybody we saved here today. I'm sorry, I just wasn't there when you needed me...” I said with a breaking voice.

She was still confused, but she didn’t resist my hug, on the contrary - she embraced me as well. No words were exchanged, but we both forgave each other.

While we were crying on each other shoulders, I could see the rest of the ‘gang’ in the corner of my eye - they were watching us - with smiles on their faces. This really was embarrassing - but I didn’t care, it felt so good…

***

After a few minutes, I finally spoke with a calm voice, “Feeling better?” Fluttershy nodded, and when we walked back towards the rest of the ponies, I could see a small smile back on her face.

“Well, you two, ‘lovebirds’ are finally finished?” Rainbow Dash asked with a giggling voice. Fluttershy blushed a little, while I gave a menacing look to the blue pegasus. “Ahem... So as I was saying - we can’t get any reinforcements, no pegasi are able to fly since the Clans of Shadows took over-"

“That’s why we brought these,” I interrupted, showing a hypo gun to everyone, "with this, I was able to fix Twilight’s magic - it should also be able to restore other pony's abilities.”

“You mean… I would be able to fly again?! Gimme!” Rainbow shouted with excitement - I injected her right away.

“This may take a few minutes - I should do the same to the rest of you, it won’t hurt.”

Soon all the elements were injected, and after a few minutes, their abilities started returning to normal. Everybody who was injured also got a dose of healing nano-probes.

“OH YEAH!” Rainbow Dash shouted as she shot up to the sky. Others were also happy - even if they didn't show it so ‘vividly.’

“Watch it Dash! That technology may be unstable!” Twilight said, but Rainbow just shrugged it off and continued to do barrel-rolls in the sky. “Ugh! Typical Rainbow Dash… Fluttershy, do you know of Discord’s whereabouts? We could really use his help right now.”

Fluttershy shook her head, as her face turned from smiling to sad. “I don’t think that’s going to happen. Some of the guards… they…”

“We overheard them gloating on how they captured Discord, with the help of a ‘repellent stone’ or ‘crystal’ or… something,” Rarity said.

Twilight’s eyes widened. “If this is true, then it is bad… Very, very bad!“

“What is this… repellent stone?” I said.

“It is a mineral, with a potential to completely block certain types of magic in its proximity, no matter how strong,” Twilight sighed. “Without his magic, Discord would be an easy target.”

“You know, we could use something like that against Shadowdancer.”

“Except, it is one of the rarest minerals in Equestria,” Twilight said. “I have no idea how they got their hooves on enough of it to trap Discord, nor do I know where to get any.”

“Well, that shadow asshole said, he was planning this little coup for a thousand years, right? Perhaps, they were stockpiling it all this time.”

“Maybe,” Twilight said. “In any case, I doubt we can get our hooves on any.”

“Bummer… Well, anyway, we need to redistribute the nano-tech ‘serum,’ to as many ponies as possible - we need all the help we can get,” I said firmly.

Twilight shook her head. “First, we need to find out if similar guard convoys were sent to the other cities in Equestria.”

It was then, I realized that one of the guards was only injured - I cut off his horn, but didn’t finish the job. “APE find me that hornless bastard before he gets away too far,” I ordered. “Please wait here, I better do this alone.”

***

It took a few minutes to track him down, he was close to the Everfree forest when I saw him. “Ahem… ahem… leaving the party so soon?” I said with a grin. “OK, enough of this - tell me what I want to know and you will be free.”

“NEVER! Long live the Emperor!”

“Oh come on! Your friends were just DYING for a conversation - besides the alternative is not very pleasant I’m afraid, well... Not for you anyway,” my grin got even larger - but he still refused to talk.

“As you wish…” I grabbed him and extended my blade - ready to slice some of his flesh when suddenly Twilight appeared.

“NO! Stop!” she shouted with an angry voice.

“What…? We need information, and he doesn’t wanna talk.”

“That doesn’t make it right to torture him!”

This time, I gave her an annoyed look. “You got a better idea?”

After a moment Twilight responded calmly. “No, I don’t - we will simply have to continue without that knowledge.”

Now I was confused, she wanted to put the future of Equestria in possible jeopardy to save the life of that bastard? “I can’t believe my ears!” I shouted angrily. “You want to risk the lives of your friends for HIM?! Did you forget what they did?! One of them almost killed Fluttershy a few minutes ago!”

“I know! But the end doesn't justify the means,” Twilight responded firmly, “and revenge is not justice!”

She did have a point - to some extent, I did understand what she wanted to tell me - on the other hand, she was risking a lot of lives for her ideals... “Fine, get the hell out of here you bum!” I shouted to the confused guard. “Send my regards to Shadowdancer, and tell him I’m coming for his sorry ass.”

He quickly departed into the forest. And we returned to the train station - without exchanging a single word, on the way.

“So, did you catch him?” Rainbow Dash inquired.

“Um-” Twilight began to talk, but I quickly interrupted her. “I’m afraid he got away.”

Rainbow shouted with irritation, “WHAT? You said you will handle this!”

I was tempted to just spill the beans and tell her exactly what happened, but after glancing at the agitated Twilight - I bit my tongue. “Look - he got away, case closed,” I answered firmly. “Right now we need to focus on the plan. We will split into three teams:

“Rainbow and Fluttershy - since you two can fly, you will take the serum to Cloudsdale. Hopefully, they didn’t send their guards there yet.

“Pinkie and Applejack - you will go to Appleloosa, and other cities were strong earth ponies live, try to inject as many as possible.

“Rarity, Twilight and me, will go to Canterlot.

“Any questions?”

There were no more questions, but we discussed the plan in more detail for the next hour, or so, then we departed - hoping for the best.