For the Smiles of Tomorrow.
The hour was early as they led her up the endless flight of steps to the highest tower of Canterlot. The walk from her cell to the tower at dawn and dusk doubled as her daily exercise. The rest of the time they kept her locked in a much too cramped cell in the lowest portion of the dungeons. Twilight’s eyes were glassy and cold as she made her way up those steps. Flanked on either side by burly looking Boars, dragging the chains that linked to the shock collar around her neck. Her body bore the scars of their ministrations. Whip marks crisscrossed her back and flanks. Her coat would never grow back sufficiently to fully cover them up. The feathers of her wings were a mess. Her cell was too cramped for her to preen them properly. She had stopped resisting her captors long ago, but every so often they still struck her, if only as a reminder that she was at their mercy.
Things had changed so much in only six years. Part of her still couldn’t believe it. Everything had happened so fast. The enemy had attacked out of nowhere and without any provocation. They called themselves the Svinehart Union. Brutish boars who lacked magic in any way shape or form. But they made up for it with a level of technology unprecedented in Equestria. Their weapons were especially horrendous. Somehow mimicking the effect of some of the most destructive spells known to ponykind. Twilight still didn’t know how they had done it exactly, but the Svinehart had launched some sort of self propelled projectile at Canterlot. It left the city unscathed, but it crippled the spellcasting ability of any pony caught in its effect. Worse still was what it had done to Celestia and Luna. Both princesses had been turned to stone, and no amount of magic could release them from their prison. Not even the Elements of Harmony. Both princesses now decorated the balcony they were approaching. A further reminder to her of how utterly helpless she was.
The once majestic city of Canterlot was a gloomy place. No joy flowed through these streets anymore. Only fear. The mountain on which Canterlot rested had fared little better. Half the mountaintop was gone. Stripmined by slave labor, and replaced by docking platforms for the Svinehart Air Armada. The rest of the mountain was riddled with mining tunnels like a worm infested apple. All to mine as much resonite ore as possible. Resonite, a powerful element the Union utilised in the construction of their war machinery. Capable of replicating the effects of magic through mechanical means. Canterlot mountain was apparently very rich with the ore.
Finally they reached the balcony, and they pushed her forward.
“You know what to do.” one of her guards grunted in his thickly accented Equestrian.
Twilight raised her head and stared at the moon, little more than a tiny crescent. Try as she might, she never managed to make the moon come out in full. As if the celestial body itself was mourning the loss of its beloved mistress. “Luna” she thought sadly as her horn slowly ignited and her eyes briefly darted to the petrified form of the night princess who stood on display to her left. She grasped hold of the moon and began to guide it below the horizon. Once it was out of sight it was time for the second part of her daily chore.
“Celestia” she whimpered silently as she grasped hold of the sun and began its ascend. A single tear escaping her eyes as she felt the remnants of her mentors magic that still lingered in the sun. It was almost like being in her presence once again. What she wouldn’t give for one more moment by her side. Her guilt riddled gaze glanced at her mentors petrified form to her right, and she swallowed hard to force back a sob that threatened to escape. She missed her more than she missed her own mother.
As the sun rose and the dark skies brightened, her eyes went wide at the image unfolding before her. The skies ahead where filled with airships. Dozens upon dozens of them. Small nimble destroyers circling around large capital ships. Carriers and cruisers bristling with guns, floating there like ponderous marine life. And they all flew the Equestrian flag.
************
Air Colonel Rainbow Dash stood on the bridge of her destroyer, and watched as the sun rose behind them. The plan was simple. One final, all out assault on the Svinehart forces to draw as many of them away from the city and give their friends in the resistance the chance to infiltrate the city and complete their mission. A mission that was the key to undoing everything. All the horrors of the last six years. But it all hinged on their success today. This day would see an end to the nightmare, one way or another.
A shiver of anticipation shot down her spine, the stumps of her wings twitched involuntarily. She briefly rubbed at them with a hoof. Feeling a twinge of phantom pain in muscles she no longer possessed. The Svine forces had seen to that when she and her fellow Wonderbolts led the first counter attack after the initial invasion. That was the day they lost Soarin, and she lost her wings. She stared out of the armored front window at the spires of Canterlot. She longed to be out there in the sky with the rest of her brother and sister pegasi. But she would make do from the bridge of the Daring Do. Originally the destroyer she commanded was called the Storm Lance, but when Dash was given command of the ship she had changed the name. A daring name for a ship with a daring captain.
They had planned this attack well. The bulk of the Svine ships were away from Canterlot at the moment, patrolling the Equestrian border with the Crystal Empire, who had launched a diversionary attack two days ago. Even so the remaining forces were formidable. She could see the dark iron hulls of the ships, hanging in the air around the city like worker bees around a hive. Their hated, blood red banners flapping in the wind.
As the sun came to a stop in the sky, Dash ordered her communications officer to open a channel to the rest of the fleet.
“It is time.” She said with determination. “Transmit the signal. We commence operation Destiny.”
As one, the Equestrian ships surged forward. Hundreds of armored pegasi swarmed around the ponderous skyships like fighter craft. Magitech cannons roared with defiance as they hurled their lightning payload towards the Svine forces. The air rippled with the staccato boom of thunder.
Blasts of lightning impacted the Svine battleships and arced off their hulls, striking the spires of canterlot. Several towers exploded as the lightning tore through the ancient brickwork. Some utterly collapsed, taking the defensive emplacements with them. One Svine ship exploded in a brilliant fireball as its lift-gas tanks ignited. The sound of the explosion echoed around the valley. Air raid sirens began to wail all over the city. Adding to the cacophony of sound.
The Svine forces began to retaliate. Several cruisers surging ahead to meet the Equestrians above the fields in front of the city. Lightning fast destroyers flew ahead of the formation. Their turrets spitting fire. The air ignited with explosions of flak fire. Dozens of pegasi lost their lives as the explosive shells tore away limbs and shredded their bodies. But they kept going. They slammed into the hulls of the enemy ships, unstrapping packs of explosives and sticking them to the hull before dropping down and veering away from the explosions that followed.
The hogs launched their own fighters to counter the nimble ponies. Single pilot craft that looked like bat winged arrowheads shot out of launch bays all over the capital ships, like swarms of angry hornets, leaving trails of blackish smoke from their engines. Their weapons spitting hot death.
“All battleships concentrate fire on those carriers. Try to cover our troops as best you can.” Dash bellowed in her command voice. “Cloud group, focus fire on their destroyers. Keep them away from our flanks. Thunder group, Target their left flank and keep up the pressure.”
Gunfire bounced off the armored glass in the front of the bridge. A burning hog fighter slammed into the hull, rammed one of their turrets and then fell over the side.
“Damage report?”
“Were still good ma’am!”
“Bolt group, rally on the Daring Do. We’re going straight down their throat. All batteries fire at will!”
****************
As the battle in the air unfolded, so too did a battle unfold in the very streets of Canterlot. All over the city, ponies rose up and ambushed hog patrols. Taking their weapons and attacking outposts and checkpoints. Firefights erupted in the streets as spells and gunfire tore the city apart.
“For Equestria!” Screamed Flash Sentry as he led a charge at a Union checkpoint. The minotaur made firearm he carried spat hot death at a Svine trooper. The unfortunate trooper fell to the ground, half his chest blown out. The other Svine troopers turned some kind of tripod mounted weapon at them.
“TAKE COVER!” Flash yelled as crimson beams of light hurled their way. Whatever the beams struck burst into flame. Flash had come to know these weapons very well. They used special lenses that turned ordinary beams of light into spells. Most commonly fire and ice beams. As his small band of rebels took cover as best they could, Flash lept into the air to draw the enemy's fire.
He somersaulted and barrel rolled through the air, fire beams licking at his heels. He threw himself into a tight corkscrew, the G forces nearly causing him to blackout, but he pushed on. He had to buy his troops time. The gunfire suddenly ceased as the checkpoint exploded in an orange fireball. One of his unicorns had managed to land a solid hit with a spell that overloaded the Union weapon.
Flash landed hard, panting for breath. “Good work everypony.” He said as his small warband gathered round him.
“Lets push on and..” The ground suddenly trembled, a mechanical rumbling growing closer. His pupils shrunk to pinpricks. “Warhog! Warhog incoming. Get off the street!”
Ponies began to scramble like mad to get out of the way when a monstrous machine of black iron rounded the corner. It was massive, with spiked tracks that tore the ground asunder in passing. Its front resembled a massive boars head. Its mouth open to swallow its enemies. In back of its cavernous maw was a set of massive, bladed grinding wheels. Spinning at high speed. Anything caught in those would be pulped and torn asunder. Weapons mounted in the eyes spat beams of ice, turning the street into a slippery slope, preventing its victims from running. Smokestacks on top of the machine spat fire and black smoke as the machine rumbled forward.
Flash frantically beat his wings as he took to the air. Grabbing as many ponies as he could carry and deposited them on the rooftops in relative safety. The other pegasi in the his group did the same, but they couldn’t carry everypony at once. He averted his eyes as Blossom Delight lost her footing on the ice covered street and was sucked into the machine. Her death screams mercifully brief. Several unicorns fired spells at the iron monstrosity to little effect. Protective runes etched into the machines armoured hull glowed red hot as they absorbed the magic, and the machine ground on relentlessly.
Amidst the chaos a small team of ponies darted through the back alleys. Cloaks wound tightly around them. As the city erupted into anarchy they managed to sneak into the palace, under an invisibility spell.
“Are you sure she’ll be there?” Starlight whispered nervously.
“Ah trust Pinkie Pie with mah life. If she says she'll be there, she’ll be there.” Said AJ as they waited in the shadow of a parapet. Above them the battle in the sky raged on.
Little Elstar felt incredibly nervous as the minutes ticked away. Sticking close to her mother and her mentor. She knew that everypony depended on her. The feeling was almost overwhelming for the young filly, but she held on with typical apple family determination. She briefly recalled the conversation she’d had with her mother the night before.
“But why me mama? Why do I have to be the one to go? I don’t think I’m good enough to do this”
“Oh baby girl,” AJ said as she hugged her daughter tightly, “Yer the first unicorn to be born into the apple family, and Starlight has taught you everything she knows. Yer smart and focused, and more than capable of doin’ this. But most importantly,” AJ swallowed. “If this works, none of this will ever have happened. And that would mean you would disappear. Ah can’t stand that idea. That’s why ah want you to go sugarcube. So that no matter what happens, you’ll be safe.”
A few minutes later a door opened and a familiar pink head emerged.
“Pssst, this way.” pinkie stage whispered.
“Good to see ya pinkie.” AJ said as she gave the former party pony a tight hug.
“No time for talk, were on the clock.” Starlight hissed urgently. “If things go according to plan we only have a few minutes before HE appears. Lets go.”
“Ah hear ya star.” Said AJ as they began to move quick and quietly towards their goal.
*************
Helmut Squealer, Grand Admiral of the Svinehart Union Armada stood on the bridge of his command ship, The Subjugator, a grand assault carrier. A calculative look on his tusked face. His tiny eyes burned like embers underneath the brim of his cap as he stared at the tactical display before him. His black uniform barely able to retain his rotund frame.
“Dese Equestrianz fight like zey are possessed.” He snorted.
The communication panel sprang into life, and a holographic image appeared before him.
“Squealer! Vhat are you doing up zere! My ground forzes need more air zupport.”
“Und here I thought you had everythink under control, Stukker.”
“Zhats BARON Stukker to you! And do not question me, just deliver vhat I asked for!”
The channel cut off.
“Bah! Idioot! Incompezent mud crawler. I have no time for your ego. I have a Battle zu win.”
He turned to face his bridge crew, who all shrunk and looked away from his burning gaze.
“Launch bomber wavez three to zix. Target ze lead Equestrian carrier. Bring it down in flamez!”
A flash of crimson caught his attention and he looked out the side window.
“Belay zat last order. Lookz like reinforcementz are here. Zend out more fighterz to zupport our other shipz, und intensify our forward batteriez”
**************
The hull of the Daring Do shook and vibrated as hundreds of rounds slammed into the tough little destroyer. The deadly little ship gave as good as she got though. Her turrets spitting electrical death in all directions. They were flying straight at one of the enemy carriers. It kept spitting out what seemed like an endless stream of enemy fighters.
“Hold together baby.” Dash said as she patted the arm of her command chair. ”Just a little further. Is the main cannon ready yet?”
“Almost there Colonel.”
The enemy ship was dead ahead.
“FIRE!”
The front of the destroyed unfolded like the petals of a flower to reveal a magical array, glowing red hot with energy. They had salvaged it from a downed enemy battlecruiser after the destruction of manehattan and retrofitted it into the Daring Do. They had to sacrifice nearly a third of the ship's internal space to fit the massive cannon, but as a result the little destroyer now sported the firepower of a capital battleship.
A golden beam of pure power thundered forth from its glowing orifice, tearing a gigantic rend into the enemy hull. Something exploded from within the ship. Flames blowing out of every port and launch bay. A series of explosions rippled across the ship from the back to the front, and an enormous fireball swallowed the ship whole.
“YEAH!” the crew shouted as one as the burning wreckage of the carrier dropped from the sky, seemingly in slow motion and crashed into the fields below. Secondary detonations further tearing it apart, spraying debris over a wide area.
Their victory was short lived as something emerged from the spires of the castle and shot forth light a bolt of lightning towards their lines.
“Its him! All ships, concentrate your fire. Anon has arrived.”
A thunderous impact rocked the ship, throwing everypony to the floor. As Dash regained her footing she looked out the window, straight into anons blazing red eyes. He stood on the bow of the ship, his arms crossed, just below the gleaming form of the alicorn amulet that rested on the top of his broad chest. His hair whipped in the wind, and crimson arcs of lightning danced across his skin. The moment their eyes met she knew her part in this battle was over.
He was like them, but not like them. He stood on two hooves, but they weren't hooves. Twilight once said he was a huemin, but even then she had never seen one of them do the things he did. Dash had seen him take the full brunt of a battalion of unicorns most scathing spells and come out looking almost revitalized. She had seen him get struck by lightning over and over again only to get up with a crazed look about him, like he enjoyed it.
If there was a soul in there it was black as the coal his masters filled the sky with.
“Everypony brace for impact!” she cried, but it was too late.
Anon slowly raised a fist. Blood red lightning sparking across his knuckles. Then he brought it down on the hull. The shock wave that passed through the ship nearly tore it in half. Armor plates buckling and warping under the incredible force of the impact. Giving her one final smirk, Anon lept into the air towards the next ship.
“All systems critical colonel.” shouted a crewman.
“The main gun is gone! We’re barely maintaining altitude, we need to retreat.” yelled another.
“Wrong! Everypony abandon ship. Helms-mare move over, I’m taking control.”
“But colonel.”
“THATS AN ORDER SOLDIER!” Dash screamed as she yanked the pony out of her seat and pushed her towards the door. “Get the buck out of here!”
Startled, the mare gave her one final salute before she ran out the door with the rest of the crew.
“Engine room, give me all she’s got left and then get the buck outta dodge.” Dash yelled into the radio.
“Yes ma’am” came the stoic reply of her chief engineer. “The sisters watch over you.”
The line went dead. The craft shuddered as dash fought the controls to make her turn.
“C’mon baby, move that fat flank of yours.” She growled at the controls.
She wobbled over to the munition control panel and flipped every safety switch to the off position, arming every last bit of ammo they had left. She then got back to the helm and tried to guide the broken destroyer as best she could towards the heart of the enemy armada. All over the ship emergency ports opened up as ponies tumbled out. Pegasi carrying unicorns and earth ponies to safety. Others using parachutes to abandon the crippled destroyer.
The enemy flagship was dead ahead. Spitting streams of molten death at the Equestrian lines as it vomited forth another wave of fighter craft. The Daring Do slowly trailed across the sky, losing more and more pieces of hull and other parts of the ship as she picked up a final burst of speed. Fighters attempted to divert her course, but she rammed straight through them, bouncing them off the broken hull like hailstones. The radio crackled to life, heavy with static.
“Dash this is Spitfire, get out! We can still catch you.”
“NO! We do not retreat from this battle. You tell the rest of the fleet to take a good look. Tell them we stand and fight, no matter what happens.”
“Dash! Dash, NO! Think of Scootaloo! What am I supposed to tell her if you do this?”
“You tell her….” A panel on her left exploded in smoke and sparks. A piece of metal struck her forehead, cutting deep. Blood ran across her face. Dash coughed, her lungs burned as smoke filled the bridge. She wiped her forehead to keep the blood from running into her eyes.
“Dash! Dash are you there?”
“You tell her,” she coughed again. ”Rainbow Dash knew... how to die like, a FREE pony!”
She cut the connection and gunned the engines to their maximum. Half of them exploded as they overloaded, but the Daring Do picked up one last burst of speed.
Dash closed her eyes. She pictured Scootaloo’s smiling face from the day she finally earned her cutie mark. “Goodbye squirt.”
With an earsplitting shriek of tortured metal the Daring Do rammed into The Subjugator. The hull of the destroyer buckled like an accordion before the enemy armor finally collapsed under the stresses and the Daring Do carved into it like a steel wedge. The impact proved to much for the ships arcane power-plant. It detonated with a blindingly white explosion that cooked off every last piece of munition. It vaporised over half the of the Svine flagship. Explosions tearing through it as its own munitions and power systems went critical.
Spitfire looked away from the explosion with tears in her eyes that had nothing to do with the blindingly bright blast.
“Dash, you brave stubborn fool.” She mumbled in a choked voice before she grit her teeth and ordered her own crew to double their efforts. She would make sure that Rainbow’s sacrifice would not be in vain.
**************
Flash Sentry felt the flames of hope flicker and wane. The fleet was getting decimated up there. The appearance of Anon had thrown the battle in favor of the boars. He cursed them to the depths of Tartarus. A blinding flash lit up the sky. For a moment he couldn’t see. And when his vision returned he saw the enemy flagship going down in flames. Half its structure missing. Excited chatter filled his earbud as word spread through the ranks. Rainbow Dash had made the ultimate sacrifice and taken it down.
Flash steeled himself. The battle in the sky might be lost, but that had always been the likely outcome. So long as the mission succeeded it didn’t matter. If this was to be his last day on Equis, he would take a page out of Dash’ book and take as many of the celestia damned pigs with him.
Below him the Warhog ground on. Spitting foul smoke as it carved a path through the city, and his friends. Nothing they did seemed to have an effect on the mechanical monster. Neither their weapons nor their spells could damage its iron hull. The only vulnerable spot it had was…
Flash took a breath and jumped into the air. He soared across the rooftops until he found what he was looking for. A battalion of defeated Svine Troopers. He touched down and began to search the bodies. Finally finding what he was looking for. His fellow freedom fighters had looted most of the Svine gear to use against them. But somepony had gotten sloppy and left behind a bandoleer of alchemical grenades.
Flash shot back into the air and followed the trail of black smoke. The Warhog was rumbling towards park square, where the freedom fighters had dug in. If it reached them they would be massacred. He threw himself into a steep dive and pulled up just in front of the machine. Pulling a grenade from the bandoleer he yanked the pin out and threw it into the maw of death. The grenade detonated with a crump, but the machine kept on going. He tried again, but the grenade bounced off the spinning blades and exploded harmlessly in the open.
The Warhog reached the edge of the park. It was now or never. If he couldnt throw the grenades passed the spinning wheels of death and into the vulnerable machinery beyond it, there was only one option left.
The rebels saw the machine approach. They began to panic and scramble, to avoid certain death. But gunfire from the Union line gave them nowhere to go. Flash threw himself into motion and yanked the pins on the remaining grenades all at once as he flew straight into the machines maw.
“FOR EQUESTRIA!” he screamed at the top of his lungs as he jammed the bandoleer between the bloodsoaked death wheels. And then he felt nothing anymore.
The grenades detonated, causing a massive chain reaction. The bladed wheels shattered, their engines tore themselves apart. The feedback fed into the machine's power plant which overheated. Flames blew out of every opening in the machine as those inside were incinerated. The machine lost all control and veered off, straight into the Union forces, where it finally ground to a halt.
The surviving rebels let up a great cheer.
***************
Starlight carved a Svine trooper in half with a slicing spell. The bisected pig fell to the floor in two neatly separated chunks. Resistance so far had been minimal. Most of the troops were out in the city, trying to stop the rebellion. They fought their way through the winding corridors of Canterlot Castle, taking down any opposition they came across the hard way.
“Are you sure it’s there Pinkie?”
“Yep, I checked this morning, just before Twilight raised the sun.”
“And it’s intact?”
“As far as I could tell. Now come on, it's in the Starswirl archives.”
They ran as fast as they could. Their goal was not far now. They rounded the corner and there it was. The Door to the Starswirl archives. Just as Pinkie Remembered it from all those years ago. Steel gate and all. Said gate was torn off its hinges seconds later by Starlight and Elstars combined telekinetic might. It hit the opposite wall with a resounding clang.
“Let’s hurry, somepony will have heard that.” Said AJ.
Starlight turned to her pupil. “You remember the spell right?”
“Yes aunty Starlight. I remember it perfectly.”
Just as they entered the archive, the wall behind them was blasted apart, and through the gaping hole floated Anon. Scorched and dirty, but otherwise unharmed.
“GO!” Starlight shouted to AJ and Elstar. “You know what to do! I’ll buy you as much time as I can.”
“No, auntie. Auntieeeee.” Elstar cried as AJ dragged her away into the archive. Pinkie took up position in the doorframe, blocking the path. Her new party cannon loaded and ready.
Starlight stared at Anon. His glowing red eyes showed only hatred.
“Anon, you don’t have to do this. You were a good stallion once. I don’t know what those pigs did to you to turn you against us, and I’m sure that the Alicorn amulet doesn’t help matters, but please, let's just end all this suffering.”
“Yes, I can end your suffering, Starlight Glimmer.” Anon’s voice was cold as a glacier. “I will end it by sending you and the rest of your rebels to the grave.”
He jumped forward in an instant. His fist colliding with starlights hastily erected barrier spell. The point of impact seemed to shimmer, then the magic tore away, absorbed into his fist.
“Thank you for that pick me up.” he said as he cracked his neck.
“Buck you. They should have left you buried under that mountain they found you under you monster.” Starlight said as she conjured up a dozen swords and launched them at Anon.
He batted them away with his hands, grabbing the last one right out of the air. He jumped forward, Starlight raised a shield spell. His free hand tore it open like a bag of wet paper. Starlights eyes widened, the blade flashed. Pain exploded in her head, her severed horn hit the wall with a bony thunk. A scream echoed across the hallway. It took her a moment to realise it's her that’s doing the screaming.
A flash of pink sped past her. Pinkie charged at Anon. Her curly hair had gone dead straight and what little joy remained had gone from her face. Even her eyes were devoid of emotion. If anything she looked more like her sister Maud. She threw a punch at his face, but he deflected the blow before tossing her bodily over his shoulder and down the hallway. Starlight let out a battle cry of her own and ran straight at him. He lazily turned towards her and kicked her away.
“Pathetic.” he scoffed.
Starlight landed in a heap, but looked up at him with a savage smirk. “Made you look.”
Just as he realised she was nothing but a distraction, Pinkie once more popped up behind him. The barrel of her party cannon inches away from his face.
“SURPRISE!” she shouted in a glacial voice as she fired it.
*******************
AJ and Elstar entered the last room of the Starswirl archive. AJ swiftly slammed the door shut, bucking over a cabinet to block it. It won’t last long and she knows it.
“Mama, look.” The voice of little Elstar grabbed her attention and she turned.
“Ah never thought I’d ever lay mah eyes on this again.” She said quietly.
Before them stood the cutie map. The only piece that remained of Twilights castle after the Svinehart troops bombed it to smithereens.
“Is this it mama?” Elstar asked, her voice full of uncertainty.
“Yes little sugarcube. You best hurry up and cast the spell.”
Elstars ears drooped and all confidence left her body. “Mama, I don’t wanna go. I don’t wanna leave you.”
“Ah know little heart of mine. But you have to be strong. Everything’s gonna be alright. Ah promise.” AJ said as she hugged her daughter tightly before stepping back and pulling two letters from under her hat.
“Once you make it through, you come find me and give me this letter. It will explain things to me.”
She nodded.
“This second one,” she said as she hoofed them over, “Is for Twilight and the princesses.”
Elstar put the letters in her tiny saddlebags. Her lip trembled as she looked at her mother. “I’ll miss you.”
“It’s gonna be alright. And who knows, you might actually get to meet yer papa.”
Elstar hugged her mother desperately. “I’ll never forget you.” she croaked as tears leaked from her eyes.
“Nor will I. Now hurry little heart.”
Elstar wiped her eyes and turned to the cutie map. Her tiny horn starting to glow as she cast the spell Starlight taught her.
*******************
Slowly the smoke cleared from the corridor. Starlight coughed as she tried to push herself back to her hooves. But her body felt heavy. Then she spotted him. Anon was still alive. He stood with his hands clutched to his face, blood dripping through his fingers. As he pulled his hands away, chunks of flesh fell off his face. His lips and cheeks had been torn to pieces. Carved into a permanent rictus grin. A mad, crazy smile. He let out a pained bellow, punching the wall. The cracks spider-webbing out from the point of impact. Pinkies body lay further down the hall. Broken and lifeless. And yet a tiny smile was frozen on her lips. She had the last laugh.
A sudden surge of magic drew both their attention. A faint glow coming from the archive. Anon lept into a run. Starlight not far behind him. With a single punch he shattered the door blocking his way.
Applejack blocked his path. “Too late!” she shouted as behind her, little Elstar completed the spell.
A beam from her tiny horn shot towards the cutie map. The whole table lit up as the magic amplified, then a vortex began to open in the air above it. The sound of ticking clocks filled the air. Ghostly images of watches and hourglasses floated around the swirling green portal.
Anon roared in fury and took a step forward. Applejack turned and bucked him right in the cest. The force of the impact making him take a step back as the air was blasted out of his lungs. His eyes focused on her with an intense hatred and before she could jump out of the way he kicked her square across the room. She impacted the far wall with the sickening sound of shattering bones. Landing in a heap.
“MAMA!” little Elstar cried out, running over to AJ’s broken form.
“Go… little… heart.” she groaned out, blood leaking from her lips.
“Mama, mama.” Elstar mumbled as she nuzzled her gently. But AJ could no longer reply. The life had slipped from her eyes.
“You murdering BASTARD!”
Anon turned to come face to face with a furious Starlight Glimmer. She charged straight at him.
“Foolish.” he said, voice dripping with contempt.
She jumped up, ready to strike. He arrogantly stood, waiting for whatever feeble attack she could muster. At the last second he saw something in her hooves. He tried to block but she was already inside his defenses. A jolt of pain shot through his chest. He looked down only to find that she had shanked him with her own severed horn.
“I’ll make it right mama, I promise.” little Elstar said through her tears as she stood up. “I'll make everything the way it was.”
With slow, determined steps she walked towards the portal. Soon gravity lost its hold on her and she floated up. She looked at Starlight and Anon. Starlight gave her a tiny smile.
“I’m proud of you.”
The vortex swallowed her.
Starlight, using her own horn pushed deeper into his chest gritting her teeth. She was determined to end this once and for all. Anon gripped her in a bear hug and crushed her to his chest. She felt her spine crunch. Her hind legs lost all sensation. The pain lancing through her back made her grit her teeth. She vaguely recalled the diagrams Anon once drew for Twilight, back in the distant past. Before all this horror and madness. They Crudely outlined his inner anatomy. She Twisted the horn around in his wound, searching.
"T-T the right...a little...to the right" a pained and hollow voice whispered.
She looked up into the human hurricane's face. Gone were the bloodred, hate filled eyes. Instead a pair of haunted, hollow green orbs stared back at her. The same eyes she saw all those years ago, when they were still filled with happiness.
"Do it...p-please." He stutters before the green in his eyes fades, and the red glow returns.
She leaned against the horn with all her remaining strength, shifting it to the right and pushing it home. Anon froze. A gurgle sounded in his throat as blood welled up from his mouth. The red glow faded from his eyes once more as they both began to topple over. They both impact the floor with a bone jarring thud. She looked at him, barely able to move. The last thing she saw in his eyes before he died, was gratitude.
She could hear the thudding of hooves getting closer. But she couldn’t tell if they were pony or pig hooves. In the end it didn’t matter. They had succeeded. She could finally rest.
Sleep sounded good. Her eyelids felt heavy. She briefly wondered if she would dream, before the darkness swallowed her.
*************
The midday sun shone brightly over sweet apple acres as the gang helped Applejack with the last of the apple bucking.
“How about y'all take a little break? I got some fine apple juice waitin' for ya!” Applejack called to her friends as they gathered round the picnic table outside the barn.
“Girls, I can't thank you enough for this help. I was acting a bit stubborn.”
“A bit?” Twilight asked with a smirk. Eliciting a laugh from the other girls.
“Okay. A mite stubborn, and I'm awful sorry. Now, I know the town gave me the Prized Pony award, but the real award is having you five as my friends.”
“Aww stop AJ, you’re making us blush.” Giggled Pinkie Pie.
“Hey, who’s that?” Said Rainbow Dash as she pointed in the direction of the orchard.
A tiny filly who was the spitting image of Applejack was galloping towards them. The only difference was that the filly in question was a unicorn.
“Mama, Mamaaa!” The little filly cried as she glomped Applejack. Clinging onto her for dear life with a desperate hug. The young farm pony just stood there, completely stunned.
“Uhm, Applejack, is there something you wanna tell us?” Twilight asked.
**************
In a distant part of Equestria, a tunneling crew was busy making a new railway tunnel through the Vigil mountains. They were a diverse lot, with Ponies, Diamond Dogs and Minotaurs all working together. One of the digging crew, a young colt, came running out the freshly dug hole, yelling for the foreman, who was a burly diamond dog with a thick mustache and wild looking beard.
“Boss, Boss!” the young pony yelled, half out of breath. “We found something, something incredible.”
“Calm down. What ya find?”
“We’re… not sure. It’s a... creature.”
“Creature? What kind?”
“I dunno. It kinda looks like you diamond dogs, but, not really. It stands upright, more like a minotaur.”
“Bring me to creature. Hurry hurry.”
They swiftly moved down the freshly dug tunnel, until they came to the natural cavern they had unearthed. Sitting there was the creature. It was naked, had no coat, save for its head, and even that was just a slight cover of bristly hair. It looked closer to a bald minotaur, but lacked their hooved hindlegs. It looked like a young adult, but that was just guesswork.
The foreman moved up to the creature, who looked at him with confused green eyes.
"Well we definitely need to report this." one of the crew said behind them.
"Think there could be money in this, Boss?" Asked another.
"Hay yeah, there could be a nice bonus in this for us." Said the previous pony.
"Maybe... I'm sure a museum or university would be intested in studying it."
"I don't know if I would like that." Said the creature.
"That's not really up to....WAAAHHH!"
"Hi! I'm.....I'm...hmmm....don't really know how to answer that."
"Y-You don't know your name?" Asked the foreman.
"Nope, I can’t remember anything."
"Do you know what you are??"
"Not a clue."
"Where do you come from?"
"Where are we now?" the creature asked.
"This is getting us nowhere." said one of the crew as he facehoofed.
"None of this bothers you?" the boss asked the creature.
"I suppose it should. But... not really."
“Hmm, no sense of identity. Completely anonymous.” Said one of the crew.
“Hey, that's what we should call him, at least until he either remembers his name or picks a new one.” Said another.
The creature seemed to think it over. “Anonymous? Anonymous, Anon. I like it.” He said with a smile.
The End~ Or is it the Beginning?
