Chapters The last human war
“We come together
To unite as one
Against those that are damned
We show no mercy
For we have none”
DMC 4, Shall Never Surrender
New York City, present day
Honey Bun smiled, looking at the approaching city. She was flying at her average speed, alongside with the group of ten ponies. The rest of them waited for her command.
Her group was playing the role of scouts. Their objective was clear: annihilate the population, suppress possible resistance and demolish every single human construction, whether it’s a building, bridge, road, or anything else.
She looked back, watching her mates. Three unicorns, five pegasi, the rest are earth ponies. Not that it mattered too much, nowadays. Flight was a mundane task for each tribe, regardless of circumstances.
“Alright, we’re getting close! Stay behind me and land at the same area. Then, we’ll start our mission.” Honey Bun shouted loudly, heading to the nearest landing zone: Battery Park, right next to open water.
After a few more seconds of flying, the earth pony could already see a lot of humans resting there. There were also lots of kids: a school trip of some sort, or so it seemed.
She grinned brightly and focused all her energy. And then Honey Bun dived down sharply at extreme hypersonic speed of 30 M.
Within a fraction of a second, a huge shockwave from her landing literally swept away everything in the 300-feet radius. The crater she now stood in was filled with blood and gory mess: crushed heads, fingerless arms, bleeding bones and twisted bodies, straight from the anatomical freak show.
“Welcome to New York City, everypony!” Honey Bun exclaimed.
“They call this… place a city? Seriously? It looks like a pile of dirt with humans.” One of the ponies shivered, trying not to look at her surroundings.
“Heh, you wouldn’t believe what they call a city. This place isn’t the worst, for your information. There are much more horrible places with the same title. Humans there live like some sort of insects. Like ants in a hive, actually. Just ants don’t make that kind of a mess in their home. Humans on the other hoof...”
“Yeah yeah, we get it. Please, don’t continue, I don’t want to lose my breakfast”
Honey Bun shrugged and switched to another topic.
“Anyway, our main objective is to clean this place from humans and their traces. I don’t think it’d be too hard, once we’re ready.”
She nodded to the others and they spreaded out, walking north to commit purification.
Honey Bun encountered some resistance at first. Some cops were aiming at her and shouting, then started to shoot. She just chuckled, observing how bullets were hitting her body and ricocheting all other the place, unable to pierce skin.
“For how long exactly do you plan to shoot? Your weapon is just as useless, meaningless and grotesque as your lives. ”
Not waiting for a response, Honey Bun leaped forward, ready to attack.
She landed near them and immediately ripped one cop apart, with the speed that wasn’t recognizable by human eye. Just a second ago, a healthy, 180-pound male was standing on the street. And now, the only things that’s left of him were bloody bits, scattered around the place.
The other police officer fell down, desperately shooting at her.
Honey Bun grabbed him by the throat, laughing at his weak attempts to lose her grip.
“Our bodies are the pinnacle of perfection. Yours… are so, so many leagues behind... No power, no magic, nothing. Only brute, primal physical strength that wasn’t even enhanced! Do you really think you can with a battle against us?”
With those words she relentlessly squeezed life out of him.
“Look at yourself; can’t even hold your wastes inside. So disgusting.”
Honey Bun threw out the cadaver and trotted down the street to the heart of NYC.
Canterlot, a week ago
Honey Bun was pacing back and forth nervously as she waited for an audience with the Princess. She arrived several hours ago, but even now she couldn’t make a clear plan of how to talk with Celestia. There were only segmental monologues and several dozens of random words here and there. She wasn’t the best orator. Truth to be told, she hated that, preferring actions over words. But not today. Today this won’t work.
“Honey Bun! Why did you request an audience with me?”
The earth pony nearly jumped from surprise. She was so deep in her thoughts that didn’t even hear Celestia.
“Your Highness...” She muttered and bowed to her ruler.
Honey Bun was ready to explain the purpose of her visit, but under the direct gaze of the
“I’m here to offer my services, Your Majesty. Many ponies have heard about the… humans, and the resentment they bring. We already so their homeworld, if it could be called like that.
I don’t think that anyone would be able to stand it. Humans have corrupted themselves so much, that there’s no good in them left, at all. The darkness they bring with them is almost visible.
I understand that you don’t want to use purification mean, because it’s the last option available, but… I think the time has come. After everything we saw, after everything they told us… It’s time to purify that planet once and for all.”
Princess Celestia was silent, listening this speech. She already knew Honey Bun’s proposition, because it was known by practically anyone who pays attention to news.
Honey Bun was the first pony to call humans incorrigible and proposing purification of them. At first, she was in minority, but with time ponies started to join her. And now, it was a huge organization with hundreds of thousands ponies.
“As you know… as everypony knows… I rarely use the drastic measures. I prefer diplomatic solution. But in case with humans… I’m afraid that you’re right. After all they did to themselves and to their planet, no longer can they be considered intelligent.”
She raised her voice and looked at the secretary who immediately started to write down a new law.
“From here on out, I declare that humans from planet Earth should be eliminated. Vanish every single trace of them, leave no clue that they even existed. Ponies are free to take any action possible. I, Princess Celestia, declare it, and my word is a law!”
She nodded to the secretary and turned to Honey Bun.
“There is a human delegation in my castle. You know what to do.”
The earth pony smiled and bowed.
“It’d be my pleasure, Princess.”
A few days later, humans who lived near the portal saw something extremely gruesome and horrible. There were several corpses, turned inside out and wrapped up in their own skin, as if it was a paper bag.
Only several hours after that, pathologists were able to identify bodies. They belonged to diplomats from several countries, who went with a mission to Equestria.
What do you know about A-10 Thunderbolt II, a.k.a “warthog”?
An engineer would’ve said that It’s a ground attack aircraft with a build-in GAU-8 Avenger cannon.
But no matter what anyone says, surprising durability, acceptable speed and weapon that could rip to shreds anything but a tank were still there.
The pilot was going on the cruising speed towards Manhattan. Core island of NYC was in quarantine, locked by military personnel. Just an hour ago, it was fully surrounded, and evacuation has begun.
Army also set up anti-air and anti-missile protection and launched several UAVs for scouting. All in all, it was nigh-impossible to get in or get out the island, if you’re not authorized.
“Eagle’s nest, this is Lone Eagle, approaching New York Stock Exchange, ETA’s 1 minute.”
“Copy that, Lone Eagle. Any signs of aliens?”
“Negative. There’s no… wait a second. Eagle’s nest, I detected one of the aliens. Orders?”
“Fry that bastard.”
“Roger that, preparing to engage.”
==============
Honey Bun grinned as she saw a plane approaching. She was sure that sooner or later humans will fight back. Will use their military power. Those low-life scum of the world, even by human standards.
How low can a race fall down? They glorify and train murderers and consider it as a good thing? And who’s crazy now?
Besides, they couldn’t do anything. Ponies were vastly superior in every sense and aspect. Human weapon couldn’t even pierce a pony’s skin. What could they do…
Honey Bun was pinned down to the ground by the sudden barrage of lead, coming from above. It was nothing like any weapons she encountered before. These metal projectiles were larger, heavier and much more powerful in kinetic energy sense. Celestia merciful, the pain they caused…
If Honey Bun were a human, she’d have screamed. But she’d have also died within a second.
Her skin was stripped down immediately, as if it never existed. Projectiles were ripping her less durable muscles apart and leaving deep wounds in more durable ones.
“I’m going to die… I’m going to die...” She muttered.
The thought about her ruler was like an adrenaline shot for the earth pony. She gathered all the energy, all the power she’s got left and jumped so high, that she ended up flying on the plane, holding tight so she won’t fall down.
The pilot looked up just to see a bloody figure of something that only distantly reminded him of an alien he attacked. Streams of blood were running down the cockpit, falling on the distant ground.
Honey Bun barely held herself together, almost losing consciousness from blood loss and pain.
The earth pony started to smash the glass which separated her from the pilot. Her foreleg leaved bloody stains on the glass, that became more shattered with every punch.
Finally, Honey Bun was able to get to the pilot. She grabbed him by his throat, pulled out of cockpit and… fainted.
All three objects started to fall down: the aircraft without a pilot, the unconsciousness pony and said pilot. He had a parachute, though, so he used it. But not for long.
Other ponies finally arrived. They caught both Honey Bun and the pilot, killing the latter instantly.
“Honey Bun!”
“Oh, Celestia, just look at her...”
“How was that even possible?”
“We need to help her!”
Some time later, the earth pony woke up. She was laying in one of the bed in an abandoned apartment. Her friend were standing next to her.
“How are you feeling, dear? You were pretty messed up when we brought you here.”
Honey Bun looked at herself. Her muscles regenerated fully, and her skin was regenerating too, although at slower rate.
“Looks like… we underestimated humans’ abilities...” She said, cringing from pain.
“How do you mean? Are you saying...”
“It was a flying machine. Fast… very fast. And it had...”
The other ponies looked at their leader in disbelief, as she was breathing deeply, trying to calm herself down.
“It had a gun I’ve never seen before… All those gun we’ve encountered so far… are nothing, compared to this. It was ripping me apart like a wet tissue paper. Pain was… unimaginable...”
One of the ponies walked closer to her and put a hoof on her shoulder.
“And then… At some moment, I was able to gather everything I had and finally destroy that machine. I threw the pilot out of its core and then I passed out. You know the rest.”
Honey Bun sighed convulsively, then looked at the others. They were shocked when they saw her eyes, filled with tears.
“I was scared… for the first time in my life I was scared.”
Her friends immediately gave her a group hug, trying to comfort their crying leader.
“Shh… it’s okay, dear. You did good today. You were able to destroy it and now you’re around friend, getting better. No need to cry. We’re all here for you...”
Honey Bun calmed down somewhat and said quietly:
“How many things like this one do humans have? What if they have more than just one machine?”
“More? I really doubt that. It was probably just a single project that costed so much time, efforts and resources to finish, so humans didn’t produce any other things like this. All they’ve got left now their handguns that won’t do any harm to us.”
Honey Bun smiled gratefully.
“I hope you’re right, my friend. I hope you’re right...”
==============
Corporal James Phillips was a good example of self-made man, military version. Raised in a poor family by his divorced mother, he learned a lot about poverty. His childhood was filled with constant fights with the other kids, pickpocketing and other petty criminal activity.
He spent teenage years with his friend, who was a member of one of many gangs that flourished in his neighborhood. But no matter how tempting a life of a gang member seemed to him, he never tried to join. As if there was some sort of a line, that will make you lose yourself once you cross it.
Instead, James strived for the only opportunity in life he had left. The U.S Army.
Later the day when he received the papers, some of his acquaintance told him that his friend was found shot dead in the park. While James grieved for him, this event made his decision even more adamant. He didn’t want to end up like this.
He enlisted in army as soon as he turned 17.
James showed himself as a talented and determined soldier and was recommended to the 75th Ranger Regiment.
After demanding physical and psychological trainings, after failing and repeating the cycle, he has finally earned the right to call himself a Ranger.
Now, his squad was ordered to patrol Manhattan and also investigate, why did the A-10 Thunderbolt stop responding.
When they reached the crossroad between Broadway and Wall Street, they witnessed something that was too much even for Rangers.
Street lights with people on them, hanged with their own intestines that were pulled out of their bellies, cut open.
Some of the newbies threw up right there, the others had stronger stomachs, but it was difficult to hold their dinners inside.
==============
Honey Bun and her friends attacked fast and without warning. They jumped off the buildings right to the squad of soldiers.
The latter, to their credit, didn’t panic and tried to shoot their enemies, but 5,56 rounds didn’t have enough kinetic energy to do any damage.
One by one, soldiers were killed, either being ripped apart, smashed to the ground, or hanged with their own guts as those cadavers on the street lights.
All, but James. He was captured alive, once Honey Bun made him faint.
“Why did you insist that we take him, Honey?” Daisy asked, carrying the tied up soldier on her back.
Her friend didn’t respond for a while, as if she didn’t know what to say. But it wasn’t the case.
All ponies stopped and looked at Honey Bun as if they’ve never seen her.
She sighed.
“Honey Bun, I don’t think it’s-” Daisy was silenced by the earth pony’s hoof.
“If you were me, when I was writhing in unspeakable pain under the metal barrage, you’d have done the same thing.”
Honey Bun looked at the others, waiting for them to say anything. But nopony dared to break the silence.
With a nod, the earth pony led them to one of the abandoned hospital, justifiable thinking that there will be a lot of instruments to make a human talk if he’s too stubborn.
“Wake up, human!”
James slowly opened his eyes, squinting from the light that filled the room. He wanted to stand up, but couldn’t, because he was tied to a chair. That made his sleepiness vanish in a second. He looked around and saw a group of aliens, staring at him with open hostility and hatred.
“Finally. You humans are so fragile, and yet you still want to fight us? Probably because your brains aren’t functioning the way they should.”
The other alien, who was a leader, judging by behavior, raised a foreleg and the talking alien silenced immediately, as if losing an ability to talk.
“I’m a busy mare, so I’ll cut to the chase. Here’s the deal: you’ll answer our questions, and in return we will give you a warrior’s death during one-on-one combat. If you refuse, not only your death will be slow and painful, but also you will day as an insect that needs to be crushed. Make your choice.”
James looked at her for a couple of seconds, then grinned and said with contempt writed all around it:
“And what if I told you that you are ugly, genocidal freaks of nature that’ll soon be destroyed by humanity?”
“I suppose my answer would be simple: you are wrong. Ponies are much stronger and have a wide amount of capabilities. You have no chance.”
=====================
Before he was able to answer, Honey Bun continued:
“You think you’re doing a good job, fighting against us? I’ll tell you that you’re wrong and you’d never be more wrong no matter what.
You, military personnel are much worse than ordinary humans. They are scum, but you’re the lowest type of scum. And especially those branches like your own -- Rangers, Marines, Delta or SEAL. You’re even more horrible than regular murderers -- those, who are called soldiers by hypocritical humanity. Apparently, if you change a title, it will make things different.
I’d rather deal with a child molester, than a ranger or marine. Heck, even if said molester raped the whole kindergarten, then set it on fire and burned all children alive, he’d still be much better than any ranger or marine. You are worst of the worst, you are the very definition of evil. And we’ll make sure that none of you survives.”
She suddenly realised that she put her hoof into the human’s mouth so he won’t interrupt her. Honey Bun pulled it out immediately, then started to wipe it with a towel.
“But I’m getting off track. The first question is -- how many war machines do you have? Like that we destroyed recently, for example.”
“Go fuck yourself. I won’t tell you anything.” He answered.
Honey Bun expected this. She wasn’t fooling herself with a hope that human will spill everything out right this instant.
“How about now?”
The human spat some bloody saliva and asked mockingly:
Honey Bum shrugged.
“And you’re just wasting time. I won’t betray humanity and won’t tell you anything.”
The earth pony turned to her friends and said loudly:
“Just look at this example of loyalty and hypocrisy! That’s the mix you won’t see everyday. Now he’s all for humanity, but before this war he wanted all people with the skin color different than his deported from the country. Just a few months ago he didn’t want to live in one neighborhood with people who had eye shape more narrow than his.
He was the loudest among those, who thought that sending Humanitarian aid to Africa was just wasting of taxpayers’ money and called African citizens… how was that… oh, right -- ‘lazy monkey that can steal and rape, but can’t work.’ And now look at him -- he’s the protector of humanity. A humanist. How pitiful.”
She took a rusty scalpel from the surgical table and moved closer to the human.
“It was your choice, human. Hope you don’t mind-”
Before she could finish, she heard some strange noise that rapidly became louder.
The pegasus Honey Bun was referring to nodded and walked to the window. But as soon as she looked at the street, she gasped and bolted out of it.
“What is it? Why did you run away?”
“There's a… I don’t know what… A… a thing...”
“What thing? Stop mumbling already!”
“You’d… better look yourself, Honey. I-I… can’t describe it.”
Honey Bun sighed and placed a scalpel on its place.
She walked to the window herself and took a look.
And then she saw it.
A huge, metal machine with a rectangular and smaller second… floor? And there was also a long, thick metal pipe. It didn’t have wheels. Well, technically it did, but they were small and there were many of them. Some kind of metal tape was stretched up and down, connecting those small wheels.
There also were several smaller machines of that sort, but the first one seemed like the bigger threat. Also some humans walked next to the metal armada.
Honey Bun was so focused on this machine that didn’t notice how one of the humans looked up at the window she was in and shouted something.
The earth pony understood that something bad will happen and prepared to run away from the window. But before she was at a safe distance, the wall with the window suddenly exploded with a loud noise and a huge flash.
The shockwave was so strong that it’d have wounded every single pony in the room and killed their captive. But fortunately they were too far away from it. Unlike Honey Bun.
She crashed in the opposite wall when she was sent flying by the blast.
“Honey Bun! Hang on, we’ll help you!”
Honey Bun was shell-shocked from the blast, but quickly came down to her senses. Luckily, the wall somehow protected her, so her wounds weren’t too bad. Shoulder dislocation, bruises and scars and stripped down skin from her back.
“What should we do now?” Arum asked, helping her leader to stand up.
“Retreat. There’s an extensive network of underground tunnels in this city. We need to hide and think of a plan.” Honey Bun answered while putting a bone into joint again.
Then she walked to a human that was gagged as soon as the machine attacked so he won’t scream and tied him to Daisy’s back so he won’t slip.
“Everypony’s ready? Move out!”
And they ran away as fast as they could.
A pony’s maximum speed on land and in the air is 60 and 120 mph respectively. But they rarely run or fly at this speed because it’s really exhausting and requires a lot of water in saddle bags to prevent dehydration. They reached max speed only in critical cases, when the life depended on it.
Honey Bun didn’t choose this hospital randomly. She expected that they’d probably need to run and hide under ground and that’s why she decided to interrogate human not far from a subway station. And now it became their safe haven.
“Never… ran like… this… ugh...” Daisy said, trying to catch her breath. She untied James from her back and let him fall down.
“It’s fine. We’re safe and that’s the most important thing.” Honey Bun replied.
She pinned to the ground the tied captive and ungagged him.
“More than enough to send all of your genocidal fuckers to the place you crawled out.”
Honey Bun was about to punch him again, but suddenly changed her mind. She looked at one of her friends and smiled.
“Fluttershy, you were always good with animals. Can you tame this beast and learn his weak spots, so we won’t waste time anymore?”
The yellow pegasus grinned evilly.
She them grabbed the human’s head and made him look at her.
Before he could finish the sentence, Fluttershy punched him in the gut.
She wasn’t threatening or scaring him. She just informed him in a calm voice what she’ll do if her misbehave. She also was capable to do this. Several males learned it the hard way.
After several seconds of staring, Fluttershy turned to Honey Bun and said:
All ponies, except Honey Bun, shrugged at the same time. They knew that it’s impossible to fight such power with only eleven ponies.
“For now we’ll stick to hit and run tactics. We’ll be stealthful. Our strikes will be sudden and quiet. And then we’ll leave before they understand what’s going on here.”
She turned to the others and was about to command them to follow her, when Fluttershy said:
“Perhaps, I’ve got something that would lift your spirit.”
The earth pony looked at her and saw the familiar expression of fun anticipation.
“His wife and daughter are still here, in this city. They will leave this area in an hours by a train, but it’s more than enough time for us...”
=====================
Sarah Phillips opened her eyes slowly, cringing from pain. She didn’t remember much how all of this happened to her. It felt like they were in the train, going to safety a minute ago… and the next minute she finds herself tied, in a strange place that looked like… subway tunnels?
“Where am I..? Where’s my daughter?”
“With me.”
She looked to the side where the voice was coming from and nearly screamed from terror. There was that… alien, standing next to her tied husband with their daughter in its… foreleg?
“No, get away from her you bastard! Give me my daughter back!”
But what could a human do against a durable metallic cable? The answer is simple: not a single thing.
Honey Bun walked to the struggling woman and turned to her gagged husband.
“Allow me to demonstrate the art of purification.”
She then took a knife and stabbed the woman in her chest, enjoying her screams of pain.
When she was about to finish, skinning the last part of already dead woman’s body, Honey Bug threw the skinless cadaver on the floor and started crushing it with her hooves.
“And for the grand finale...”
Honey Bun walked to a large cauldron with boiling water, that her friends brought here beforehoof, along with some firewood, made from human furniture.
She threw the skin bag there, enjoying the expression of horror, disgust and anger the human had.
“How do you think, would you like the soup made of your family? Let’s find out. But first...”
She grinned as she took the infant from Daisy and started to walk to the cauldron…
...Only to be stopped by Arum on the halfway.
“Why do you want to do this?”
Honey looked at her friend with surprise.
“What do you mean by that?”
Arum hesitated a little, but when she spoke out, her voice was firm.
“She’s just a baby. A newborn. Why do you need to purify her along with the others? She didn’t have the time to corrupt herself, to begin with.”
“And what do you suggest? Let her go?” The earth pony asked mockingly.
“No… I was thinking that… maybe we can take her with us? In Equestria. We’d raise her as one of us and she won’t corrupt herself at all...”
Honey Bun laughed in Arum’s face.
“You’re an idiot, Arum. Do you really want to take a human to Equestria? Do you realise what would it do to our home? I think not.”
“If we take her to save from corruption I don’t think-”
She was interrupted by a punch from Honey Bun.
Arum fell on the ground, but jumped back on her hooves the second after.
“YOU IMBECILE! How could you even think about it?! Did you forget about our sisters out there?! What’d happen to them if we bring a human to our home?! ”
Honey Bun took a deep breath then lent the infant to Arum.
“If you want to purify yourself from this… idiotic behavior, you will drop this human maggot in the water yourself.”
Arum took the baby with shaking hooves. She looked at her leader unsurely, then to the infant that was screaming from hunger, apparently.
“Well, what are you waiting for? Hearth’s Warming Eve? Destroy that human.”
The pegasus suddenly looked right into Honey’s eyes.
“No. I won’t kill her.”
Honey Bun’s face had an expression of anger and disbelief.
“...What. Did. You. Just. Say?..”
“I thought that we’re doing what’s right, that’s why I volunteered. I thought that we are heroes and eliminating the evil race by the right of the good race.
Those people on the streets… they weren’t bad. Or good. They were just people. Innocent people. And you killed them in cold blood. And I did nothing to stop you because I believed you. Believed Princess Celestia.
But now I realise everything. We’re not heroes. We are monsters.”
Arum knew what will follow immediately after her speech and wasn’t wrong.
Honey Bun forcefully took the infant from her and threw into the cauldron.
While the girl screamed from horrible pain of being boiled alive, ten ponies were beating and stomping on the eleventh that couldn’t even resist.
Finally they left her unconscious in the pool of her own blood.
“We’ll took the traitor to Princess Celestia so she could punish her. But first...”
Honey Bun untied James and pushed him so hard that he flew to the opposite wall.
“Unlike humans, we, ponies, always do what we promised. Since you told us what we needed to know… involuntarily but still… Anyways, you’ve earned a chance to die in one-on-one combat. Give him a knife!”
James took the knife that one of the aliens threw at him. He looked at Honey Bun with so much hatred, that it surprised even him.
There wasn’t a tunnel, cauldron or any other aliens. There was only that monster that took away his wife and child. And he will make her pay for that.
Honey Bun indifferently watched as he charged at her. He probably forgot that no knife could hurt her, even if 5.56 bullets can’t pierce her skin. But she also understood that he was so angry and desperate that would've fought her with bare hands, if he had to.
The earth pony just stepped back when he was close, thus making James miss her.
Honey Bun easily dodged his every punch, every kick and every stab. She didn’t even break a sweat, while human started to pant and show other signs of tiredness.
She soon decided that enough is enough and when the human tried to stab her for who knows what time, she punched him in his shoulder. After that she watched as his severed arms with a knife was flying deeper in the tunnel.
Honey Bun grabbed his head and easily tore it off from the torso.
“You knew you have already lost even before our fight began...”
She threw the head into the cauldron and said loudly, to her friends:
She noticed that Arum was gone. There was only a pool of blood, but no bloody traces. She probably regenerated herself while Honey Bun was fighting and ran away.
Honey Bun clenched her teeth in anger. She will find the betrayer and will make her suffer more than she thought was possible!
It didn’t take them too long to understand one simple thing: they cannot win on their own.
Ponies were stronger, faster, more durable than humans, but they couldn’t match war machines, that now moved towards their hideout, to destroy the pony squad.
Honey Bun knew that she has to retreat with her friends back to Equestria. To inform the Princess about humans and ask help.
They did exactly that.
“...so we need your assistance, Princess. We can’t handle it on our own” Honey Bun finished her speech and now was waiting for Celestia’s verdict.
The alicorn seemed to be deep in thought. But it took only a minute or two for her to come up with a possible solution.
“To defeat such force, we have to use all our potential together. Every single pony, capable to fight should join the war.
"Even when we win, it won’t be the victory to celebrate. It’d be the victory, builded upon our sufferings and our deaths.”
Celestia sighed, looking at Honey Bun, who became pale after hearing the Princess’ speech.
“But there is also another solution. All of ponies can redirect their magic energy to one pony for some time. Normally, I would expect it to last for several hours. But… there’s also a downside."
"Not only that pony will cease to exist after time’s up. Her soul will become restless for the rest of the eternity. It will wander around the death world it created, consumed with never-ending hatred and rage.”
Honey Bun didn’t hesitate.
“Then, I’m going to be that pony.”
“No, you won’t. I’m the one who’ll fit that role just fine.”
All the ponies turned around to see Arum, who entered the castle just recently.
“Arum? What are you doing here? I thought-” Honey Bun was interrupted by the pegasus.
“I was wrong. After I left, back in the tunnels, I want to go to humans. To warn them… but only then I understood how big was a mistake I’ve made...”
She came closer and now everypony was able to see horrible scars all over her body.
“They wanted to burn me alive. They tied me to… something, then poured lots of some liquid on me and…”
She didn’t finish, instead looking Honey Bun in her eyes.
“I was able to escape, but couldn’t go too far, without a large part of my muscles. So I was hiding, until I regenerated and then I returned here.
Honey Bun went to Arum and suddenly hugged her.
“You are forgiven already, my friend. Don’t forget -- we are ponies. We forgive each other, when we see the true remorse. But it’d be right if I will go. I started this war, I will finish it.”
She let the pegasus go and looked to Celestia.
“I’m ready, Princess.”
=============
And then… everything was over. Everything just… vanished. Leaving nothing, but charred surface.
Had any human survived there, he’d told about their feelings. About wild, primal fear they felt. About unimaginable events. About screams of pain, about agony of millions.
Humans didn’t know what is going to happen to them. They pulled many war machines and troops to the portal, and tried to destroy it by firepower.
It didn’t work.
But what happened next… it made them curse the day when they were born, curse their parents for giving them lives.
Because she appeared.
How to describe her? Nobody knew. Because it goes beyond any words anyone can possibly say.
Honey Bun, once loyal subject, good friend and trustworthy pony now was gone. Her consciousness was hibernated deep down. Her body was controlled by something else.
It was controlled by pure hatred and wrath.
Humans didn’t have a chance to shoot her. She made them all burn in a second. They burned and melted alive, yells of pain echoed the area.
In several hours humans realised, that she’s not just causing death and committing genocide. She was death and she was genocide herself. Or, to be correct, omnicide, because she didn’t discriminate in her killing spree. All living creatures, from bacterias to elephants and whales were destroyed along with humans.
It took twenty hours. Only twenty hours to turn a habitable planet into charred wasteland.
She knew what was coming after that. The price she must pay for destroying humans. But something wasn’t right. She didn’t turn into a ghost of hatred. She just… passed out. And it felt… so right.
=============
“Honey Bun!”
“You’re alive!”
“I can’t believe it! Oh, I’m so happy for you!”
Honey Bun opened her eyes. She was in the castle, with her friend surrounding her.
“W-what happened? Did we… destroy them?”
“We did. Or, more specifically, you did it.” Princess Celestia spoked.
“But… why I’m here? I should’ve turned into… you know?”
“Equestria itself changed your fate, Honey Bun. ” Princess continued.
“Your labour was so monumental, that you were given the second life. You earned it by your actions, your determination, by your desire to set things right. From here on out, you will be the Champion of Equestria, and you will be known as one of the greatest heroes.”
Honey Bun bowed to Celestia.
“It’s the greatest honor for me, Your Majesty.”
The earth pony smiled. She earned this title.
