Salvation

The dark night of Canterlot City was known to consume it in a cool aura, and this one was no exception. My girlfriend-- Flutterfly, or as she’s known this time of night, Mare Do Well-- and I were observing the city above a rooftop, using the new technology Filthy Rich developed for us-- Cameras set inside Rich buildings-- which were all over the city, bullet-proof armor that can protect us from a few 50 caliber rounds, and communication systems allowing us to chat to HQ-- the comms man being known as Shining Armor-- captain of CCPD.

“Gotta say, bebé, we should do this more.” I said to Mare Do Well.

“The city’s been getting clear in the past weeks. I’m starting to get worried.”

“About settling down?” I asked her.

“Yeah, settling down.” She said.

“Well, what if it was with me?” I asked, grabbing her hand.

“I wouldn’t complain, then.” Flutterfly scooted closer to me, breaking the space between us, and--

“Guys, you know we can see and hear you, right?” Shining asked through our commset.

I don’t know about her, but I was ticked.

“Can this wait, Shining?”

“Not really-- you guys get a bank robbery east from your position-- sending coordinates now.” Shining sent a set of letters to us through our “masks”, which had been given a massive upgrade thanks to Filthy Rich.

“Wanna catch some robbers?” I asked Mare Do Well.

“Obviously.” She answered as she grappled to a nearby building and I joined her.

The two of us reached the robbed bank, and sure enough, the robbers were still grabbing sacks of cash-- not seeing us.

“I can’t believe they kept so much in here, it’s like they weren’t planning to use it all.” One robber commented.

“That’s ‘cause they weren’t, you moron! It’s all for Storm King and Tempest, that’s why the alarm didn’t go off.” Another robber responded.

“What?! We’re stealing from Tempest?!”

“Take a chill pill brother-- she’s just a myth.”

“What makes you so sure? What if we’re being watched right now?!”

“I said take a chill pill, if she thinks of coming in our city-- we get those vigilantes to keep us “safe”.”

“What, like the Savior?”

Savior, the name I was given by the police. I’m not complaining, but it makes me sound like some kind of hero.

I’m not sure if what we’re doing is considered heroism.

“That wack job? Hell no, I mean those magic ones-- the ones from Everfree?”

“When did this happen?”

“You never heard? Apparently, we’re not alone out there after all-- a whole ‘nother world, and it’s screwing with ours.”

“Define screwing.”

I decided we heard enough and I hopped to the scene. The two saw me and dropped the bags immediately.

“Oh, crud… uh… hi?”

“Hola.” I responded, blasting the first with the taser weapon I have-- I’m not a fan of guns.

The other ran at me, but Mare Do Well grappled his legs and pulled him upwards, dangling him upside down.

“Why were you stealing from Tempest?” I asked him.

“What can I say, I was feeling brave!” He said, starting to sound congested.

We didn’t believe him. Mare Do Well grabbed him by the hair and gently pulled on him. She finally let go, which sent him flying a few feet into the air, before coming back down again.

“Okay! Okay-- I’m a spy! I work for the government, alright? My name’s Agent Samson, I’ve been in deep cover for 3 years. Tempest doesn’t want her money in the city anymore.”

“Why?” I asked.

“She… she’s coming.”

We both didn’t say a word, we just let a moment pass.

“What do you mean she’s coming?” I asked.

“She… she’s gathered an army-- her most heavily armed. She’s coming to claim the city for Storm King.”

“How’s that possible? What about the police? What about the military?” Mare Do Well asked.

“They’re sabotaging the police as we’re talking. I think they have men in the military-- generals, people who call the shots...”

We couldn’t respond, all we could do was call H.Q to verify his story.

“Yep, he’s one of us.” Shining said over the headpiece.

“Hey, is that Shining? What’s up, dude?” Agent Samson asked.

“He can’t hear you.” Mare Do Well told him.

After the case went nowhere and the ominous warning from the agent, we made it home and… “slept” for the night. It was at least 5 in the morning and I couldn’t fall asleep, but Flutterfly was sleeping like a rock. I just stayed awake, trying desperately not to wake her-- I just laid there, feeling her breath breeze onto my shoulder, soothing me until my eyes started feeling heavy. As I finally started falling asleep…

BOOM!

We both shot out of bed and looked out our window to see a big fire coming from somewhere in the city. We turned on the news and started getting dressed.

“...what appears to be an explosion in Canterlot Stadium has the entire city in a panic. As far as we can tell, it seems to be some sort of terrorist attack, which organization remains to be unknown.”

As we started reaching our uniforms, the television entered static. We turned around and saw an all-black airship fly into the city.

“Babe, I’m not the only one seeing this, right?”

“No… still trying to believe it.”

The news station was now focused on the stadium where the airship docked and the doors opened, revealing a short, fat man holding a microphone.

“Test, test. Hello, Canterlot City. We are representatives from the one and only Storm King!”

Some chuckles were heard from the crowd. The man turned his attention to a sniper who took the shot at one of the chucklers, killing them. We both tensed and grabbed our uniforms, blocking out the screams of the crowd.

“Now that that’s over-- everyone, put your hands together for… Commander Tempest!”

Tempest. That name sent chills down my spine and I’m sure it was the same for Flutterfly. When the man finished speaking, a silhouette of a woman with a tall, slender build, wearing some form of body armor. She walked into the light and revealed--

“Is that… she was my nurse!” Flutterfly said.

I remembered-- when Flutterfly received her voice box surgery, her nurse’s name was Berrytwist.

“Hello, citizens-- my name is Tempest Shadow.” Tempest said to the city.

“What do you want?” Mayor Mare asked from the upper stands.

“I think I’ll start with your total surrender.” Tempest replied.

“Over our dead bodies.” I said, now suited up and ready to go.

Flutterfly grabbed the radio and contacted Shining.

“I saw, report to HQ, we’ll come up with a plan from there.” Shining said.

“You can have the city if you pry it from my cold, dead hands.” Mayor Mare said.

“Such bravery… admirable. But useless, all the same.” Tempest as she held out a strange orb from her belt and tossed it at the Mayor-- casting her into what appeared to be stone.

“What the hell was that?” I asked.

"That... that was Equestrian magic!" Flutterfly panicked as we both ran out the front door, slamming it shut behind us.

We ran out into the city, just to see two armed soldiers opening fire on other fleeing citizens.

"Go back, get the flares!" I called as I grabbed the handgun form my holster and slid into cover.

The soldiers took a shot at me with what seemed to be a 3-Burst AR. I waited for them to stop firing and I opened fire, killing the two soldiers in just two shots.

Flutterfly ran out with the flares and she set one off, throwing it onto the ground.

The microphone in my headset burst with static, causing me to cringe.

"We see you, hold your position." Shining said.

We heard the helicopter in the distance and we put our guards up, expecting push-back. Sure enough, over the hill, I saw a legion of armed soldiers ready to take their fire.

Only to be stopped by what seemed to be explosions.

We turned around and saw Pinkie Pie launching... some form of explosive from her hands while Rarity formed a shield of a diamond-like substance around us and a rainbow blur flew past us and around the soldiers, causing them to fall onto their backs. We then saw Sci-Twi holding out her hands and wrapping the soldiers' guns with a purple aura, causing them to levitate before pushing them away.

One of the soldiers charged at us, only for Applejack to grab him by his back and throw him into a building a few hundred feet away.

"Whoops... was that too much?" She sheepishly asked.

"DId you see the news? I think that was justified." Sunset said, panting from jogging.

My jaw was wide open-- when did my friends get superpowers?

The chopper hovering behind me caused me to shift my focus. We all hopped into the large helicopter and Shining helped me on.

"I take it I missed something?" He asked me.

As I made it into the chopper, the large door behind me slid shut, and we were back into the air.

"Yeah... I guess so." I said, turning to the others.

I noticed that their matching necklaces each glew a specific color-- matching their clothing in a way.

"We... have a lot to talk about." Sunset said, scratching the back of her head.

"You guys can talk about it once we're out of the city. It's kinda hard to talk when we're getting shot at." Shining remarked.

"What was that?" Applejack asked.

"I said... it's hard to talk when you're getting shot at!" Shining said again.

"One more time?" Rainbow asked.

"It's hard to talk when-- Oh, never mind! Just hold on and stay away from the windows!" Shining said.