Author's Note

Hey, just real quick...

This chapter is cringe-worthy as fuck. I vomited all over my monitor 6 1/2 times, only able to hold back half of the vomit on the 7th time by quickly closing the tab and turning on funny videos of dogs dancing to the macarena.

That being said, just hold onto your brains if you wanna keep reading the Original version.

Also, the C̸̞̙̭̽̌̀̈́̽̕̕ȗ̵̧̨̢̻̩̞̘͙̉̋̊͂͘ŕ̷͖̦̍͝s̵̫̪̋̍͂̆̆͆̄é̶̡̧̺͖d̸͎͒̒̿̈̀ version will be taking up the next 3 chapters, because the new author (me) is so much better than the old author (younger me).

...

Okay, carry on

A New World

We ran quickly to Celestia's castle. Both Trixie and me had remembered the way to the gate, but we weren't going to abandon Celestia and Luna. There were plenty of threats along the way, but they seemed to be the only way out.

We had gunned down a few more boys along the way, as well as a few zombie ponies we couldn't manage to avoid.

"There it is!" shouted Dash.

After we turned the corner, we had a view of the main castle soaring high. It was so close. We sped up. We hoped Celestia and Luna would be there.

There were a few more zombie ponies we were able to maneuver around. We had adapted to not harming them unless they were unavoidable. They were at least twenty feet back, so they weren't that much of an issue.

Hesitant but quick, we sprinted through the open gates to the castle. We ran through the empty main room and hustled up the stairs. It was surprising that we weren't interrupted with locked doors or more humans.

Now the large wooden doors stood tall in front of us. Celestia's throne would be the first thing we'd see down the hall. But we had become increasingly discouraged at the absence of gates, locks, and royal guards.

"I guess we just go in ..." Twi said.

I exchanged a glance with her before pushing the doors open. We hadn't expected to see this.

At the end of the hall, Celestia laid on the floor in front of her throne. Luna was seated next to her. Her neck was hooked by a human who held a pistol to her head. Around them was at least six other boys and girls. They stood straight with rifles pointed to them. It was too late to go back through the doors without getting shot.

"Luna!" I yelled. Celestia slowly pushed herself up to see us before dropping again. Both of their crowns were missing.

"Hello, Devan."

I turned around to see Jen. She had a pistol in her hands and a shiny red necklace around her neck. I looked at the others. "You guys didn't hit her?"

Dash looked to me and said, "I'm sorry ... my aim is horrible."

"It is," Jen remarked, "You guys know the drill. Just walk forwards to your princesses."

"We really need to stop meeting like this," I said.

"No jokes. Keep it moving."

We obeyed, but kept our weapons. They never told us to drop them. Once we were just meters away, we stopped.

"Get your hands off her!" I exclaimed.

"Shh ... shh. Let's resolve this in a much calmer way," said the boy holding her. He was an inch or so shorter than me with tan skin, blue eyes, and wavy blond hair. He looked like he came right off the surfboard.

"Yes. Calmly." Jen whacked the back of my head with her pistol.

"Don't antagonize them, Jen."

"Yeah. Whatever."

The boy sighed and rolled his eyes. "So. Can we settle for an exchange?"

We looked at each other.

"Exchange?" asked Twi.

"Yes." He gestured Twi out of the group, and motioned us to back up. "Sweetheart. We're offering you and these ponies the ability to live beside us humans as a new generation, if you let us imprison the rest of your friends for possible testing."

This struck us all off-guard. I pulled the safety pin off my Beretta.

"Oh, and also, it's not a question. We're making you do it. If you don't obey, we'll have you all imprisoned. Got it?"

We kept exchanging glances with each other.

"We're going to have ... a bit of a problem with this," Twi said.

"That's a shame." He pushed the pistol more against Luna's head, causing her to quiver.

"Wait. We're splitting them up? When was I going to be told this?" Jen asked, seemingly surprised.

"When you become a somebody in this society," he replied.

This turned the room to dead silence. We looked back to see shock on Jen's face. One of the girls beside Celestia lowered her rifle and turned to him. "Wait. What?"

"Excuse me?" asked Jen.

"Yeah. I said it. You've been no help to us."

"You got Pete killed!" she proclaimed.

The boy unexpectedly dropped Luna and stepped past us, meeting Jen face to face. "You think I'd get my only brother killed?"

Jen stepped back. "He was your brother?"

"My only brother. Do you really think I'd try to get him killed?"

"Really? Sending him out into imminent danger isn't getting him killed?!"

He reacted by pulling his pistol on her. She reacted just as quick, pulling hers up.

"Guys! Stop this!" one of the boys hollered.

"You're really going to shoot me?" he asked, ignoring the other boy.

Twi nudged me. I looked at her. She gestured to the door. I shook my head.

"Let her go!" the other girl shouted. She ran up, causing him to turn his gun to her. She stopped. The other boys walked closer. Twi and I pulled the others back towards Celestia.

Now there were guns aimed at everybody.

"If I have to die, I will. I can be with my brother."

"Stop it! You're letting Pete's death get to you guys."

The doors flung open. Another boy with armor came in. Everybody turned their attention to him. "Devin ... we have ..." He caught on to the gun situation. "What the hell are you guys doing?"

Devin looked at Jen before lowering his pistol and looking back at the boy. "Just a little conflict."

"Well, hold that stupidity for a few minutes. There's a huge mob of zombie ponies coming. There's gotta be hundreds."

"Is anybody guarding, or did these stupid ponies and their human kill all of them?" He pointed to us.

"Hey! We could end this if you weren't getting in our way." I stepped forwards.

"No you couldn't," Devin sneered.

"We could!"

"Shut up!" he yelled and aimed the pistol at me.

I pulled up Beretta, but didn't fire. Some of the other boys turned their rifles on me. Jen and the other girl didn't.

"It's not cool when you do it. Drop it or we'll turn you into cheddar cheese."

There were moans outside of the door. The boy in armor said, "Stop. We need to work as a team to get through these ponies. There's way too many of them for us to just kill each other."

I hesitantly lowered Beretta. Devin did the same. "Fine," he said.

It was a long hallway, so it'd take them a while to get here. Still, a zombie herd was a zombie herd. I looked through my pack while everybody turned their attention and weapons to the front doors. The rock was still there. This was perfect. I nudged Twi and showed her the rock. She caught on quickly.

It was as the zombie pony herd broke through the door when the fun started. I flung the rock at a window to the right side of the hall. It shattered as the boys began firing.

I motioned to the others to keep their guns down and got in their way as I started firing at not the zombie ponies, but the boys. I was able to shoot the one turned to me first. Most of them weren't smart enough to suspect it, and I mowed down the ones that were. Before we could count to five, I'd shot down all of them except Jen and the girl. They had ducked down, tried to surrender, then just play dead. But I wasn't aiming for them.

I turned to Twi. "Hurry. Get everybody out through that window. Take Jen and the other girl with you."

"No way! They're part of -"

"Twi! There's no time. Just go!"

It took her a few seconds before reluctantly accepting. I kneeled down next to Jen when Dash set herself up with a rifle and began ripping through the oncoming herd with a hail of bullets.

"Please don't," wailed Jen.

"Are you hit?" I asked quickly.

She looked up. "What?"

"Are you hit?" I asked again over the sound of Dash's rifle.

"No ... why?"

"Good. Get up and come with us." I reached out my hand. They looked at each other for a second before Jen grabbed my hand and pulled herself up.

“You’re really not going to kill us?” she asked, surprised.

“No.”

She was about the same height as Devin. There was a moment when she just stared at me deeply before shaking her head and running for Twi. I helped the other girl up. She was just as tall.

"Thanks for this ... I guess." She looked down at the bloody boys before turning and smiling timidly at me. She ran to catch up with Jen and the others. I rejoined Dash to help keep back the swarm.

After only a few shots, somebody tapped on my shoulder. I turned around to see Trixie.

"What?"

"There's too many of them. I know a simple force field spell. I can distract them and we can meet at the gate. Deal?"

"Really?" I asked.

She nodded. "I'll send the swarm in the prison and lock most of them in."

I debated whether or not she'd be safe.

"Devan. There's no time. I gotta go." She warmed up the force field spell, causing her horn to glow a very bright blue. The swarm was halfway down the long hall now.

"Good luck," I said, and quickly hugged her before she ran into the swarm. I watched as she met them. They went for her instantly, but I watched as her transparent blue force field burst. This knocked back several of her attackers. Then the force field crackled, attracting the rest of them.

She turned back and yelled, "The crackle is me!" before turning and getting lost in the mix of zombie ponies. She slowed to a walk as the zombie ponies swung at her force field. All of them were distracted by her.

"Devan?" Dash asked moments later. She shook me. "Come on. We have to get going."

"Fine ... but ... I could ... no ..."

"Don't worry about her. She'll be fine. She's the Great and Powerful Trixie, afterall. Come on."

The girls and Twi were waiting for us at the window. They had gotten Celestia and Luna out, but I looked through to see that they had collapsed from exhaustion on the grass outside. Twi looked too before jumping to aid Celestia.

"What did you guys do to them?" I asked.

"Uhm ... well ..." the other girl started, "The boys tortured them a bit."

They looked at each other before staring down at their red necklaces. "Devin tried to take away their magic with these." She pulled hers off, and Jen copied. "We can destroy them if you want."

"Whoa whoa whoa ... what about your necklaces?"

"What about them?"

"They took away their magic?"

"Almost did. He asked the sun pony to put enough power in one to transfer almost all the magic in this world to him. She only gave him a minuscule amount, so he demanded more necklaces. She gave us all one, but their power faded. He asked for more, but she said it wasn’t possible. He raged and made us beat her."

"So ... they didn't take away any magic?"

"No."

"Then what did?"

"We have no idea."

Jen added moments later, "We're sorry. We really are. We never wanted to hurt any of your pony friends. We just wanted to be in a ... well, you know ... more ... peaceful world. But Devin and his boys forced us to be more violent. He told us that you guys were out to kill us, and made you sound vicious. He got mad when we refused to throw a few swings at the sun pony. We hope you can forgive us ..."

"Oh wow ..." was all I could say. I could relate to Jen, a little.

"Yeah ... I don't know about Twi, but I can forgive you."

"Thank you!" Jen came forwards and unexpectedly threw her arms around me. It felt weird since this was the same girl who whacked my head earlier. Also the same girl that held me when I experienced losing an eye.

I looked past the other girl to see Twi frown and look away.

"No problem ... you guys go."

They jumped out the window. I followed last behind Dash. The others had knocked away the glass edges the rock hadn't destroyed. It was an easy few feet to lob down.

"Are they okay?" I asked. Twi and Snow were helping them and giving them water.

"We're fine, Devan," Luna replied.

The sun was starting to set over the horizon. Celestia looked like she wouldn't be raising it herself for a while. This was the only time since Chrysalis that we'd seen her so weak. She had cloth bandages wrapped around her torso, neck, and looping around her back. She also had a bandage around her right hind leg.

"Alright, guys. We have to meet Trixie at the gate."

"When?" asked Dash.

"As quickly as we can."

"Let's do it."