Finding peaceby Valuable AshesChaptersProlougeChapter 1Chapter 2Chapter 3Chapter 5Chapter 6Chapter 7Chapter 4ProlougeAuthor's Note I'm no writer, I just looked up while I was drawing an alley way filled with grafiti and trash and a possible murder scene that happened and realized that my drawing skills couldn't improve anymore. And that struck me a lot because that would mean that I have been drawing the same things for almost decade. So here I am, I've also wanted to come here the first time I found this site. But I had to wait for a month or two because damned Yahoo doesn't remember my account anymore. Prolouge Four weeks ago at the top balcony of Canterlot... "Sister, are you sure you are ready to make contact with another living creature?" Luna asks "Yes" Celestia replied with a face full of confidence "But isn't equestria enough? We have everything we need here" "We do. It's just that there might be other living beings like us that need help" "What makes you say that my sister?" "I can feel it and I believe it will be worth sending a few ponies out there" The night sky was interupted by a yellow streak of light that came from Celestia's horn. It shot out past the moon and into the stars. Once it finally left their line of sight, Celestia goes back wishing good night to Luna. Present day My name is Thunder Wind, for my entire life I've been looking forward to become one of the best fliers in all of equestria. For the record, I've won a good amount of gold medals against my competitors but if I compete with the fastest flyer in all of equestria. I'd always come in second or third or fourth. Looking out into the vast landscapes and the beautiful sun, I turn my gaze away to the poster taking up half of my wall. "Wonderbolts". I pushed myself away from the windowsill and started to trot down the front door. When I opened it, I saw a grey mare with a yellow mane. Her eyes were weird, they were always weird but no one seems to care about them. "Hi, Ditsy!" I waved my hoof at her She had a letter in her mouth. "Is that for me?" I pointed my hoof at my chest She nodded. I took the letter into my wing and said my thanks before closing the door. I went to my bed and opened it. It was a letter from the princess. Finally, she accepted me as a volunteer as one of the few ponies to enter this new world. I flew through my window in pure excitement. I knocked on the door of Tulip Blossom. I remember the first time we saw each other was at the Everfree Forest when we were just fillies. We learned a lot about each other during those few hours. Of course, when our parents found us we got a long lesson about not getting off the roads. The door swings open with a gleeful pony on the other side. "You got the letter too?" She asks "I did" I smiled "Yippee!" She pranced at the door She danced around in the same spot while I laughed. The portal's location was in front of the town hall. I count forty volunteers including me and Tulip. We are all getting ready. Some are saying goodbye, others are packing. Over packing. Princess Twilight gave us the signal to enter. Few ponies have galloped into the portal while others were still saying goodbye. Beside me, I can see Tulip trembling. I went up to her and reassured her that everything will be okay. She smiled, nodding at me as I turned to the portal, most of the ponies have entered already. I trot up to the purple and black hole and jumped in. On the other side was a forest full of greenery. I could see earth ponies and pegasi bringing down trees and unicorns setting up camp. In moments, Rose appeared on my left. "So, this is what the other side is like. Peaceful, Clean and full of adventure" "As much as I like to explore, the princess told us to set up camp here first before setting off for a scout trip" "Come on just for a few minutes" She nudged. I sighed "Alright, but we get back as soon as we find something" We were only half a kilometer away before we found something. It was a large wall. Probably twenty ponies high. Before we stepped out of the forest, we heard a loud rumbling to our left. A large moving object with tracks as wheels and a long pipe sticking out on it's top rotatable part. I've never seen anything like this. The loudness came to a stop and so did the large vehicle. It's pipe rotated around until it was aiming at us. I didn't realize that Rose has been tugging me away slowly with her magic. Before I could complain and wriggle out of her, a very loud explosion came from where we were. The sound was absolutely deafening. We retreated back to camp frightened. When we came back, nopony realized that we were gone. Except princess Twilight. Night fell upon our camp. Most ponies didn't even notice it. "How does the sun and moon move without the princesses?" Rose looks up whilst trying to get my attention "I don't know" Just then, there were lights in the sky, then pointing at our camp. We can hear shouts. Soon, everypony is looking at the lights. "Everypony stay back!" Princess Twilight shouts as she brings up a shield to cover the camp. The shouts stop and the lights were doused. There was silence. Until... Woosh... BOOM! The shield implodes as a fast moving object explodes on the shield. A chorus of shouting approached and figures appear from the forest. I can hear what they are saying "Get them!" "Take all of them! "Leave nothing behind!" "Immobolize the ones giving a fight!" From what I can tell, they're not friendly. "Run!" The lavender princess picks herself up and charges her horn releasing a powerful spell to the unknown. Pew! Pew! Pew! Brat-tat-tat, Brat-tat-tat I stood on my fore hooves looking around for Rose. She was lying down. I could see her crying. I galloped towards her and picked her up with my wing and put her on my back. The loud noises were confusing me, it was everywhere. I ran in an unknown direction in the night. Just before I left our campsite I looked back and saw the princess being taken away along with some of the others. She had blood dripping down from her shoulders. With the corner of my eye I could see somepony be stabbed repeatedly. With all this commotion I just want to get out of here. Be safe. After galloping for a long time, I started to become weary. Carrying Rose, I come to a trot. Before I can look around to see if I can find a place to hide, I collapsed. Chapter 1Meanwhile in the white house... "Mister president I wonder why you have all these creatures in your newly built prison?" "Because we don't know what these things are they seem to be related to a popular fandom before in the internet. Yet I can't be so sure" "Interesting, what can you say about these things mister president?" "Some of them are peaceful, some of them are quite hostile but merciful. They refuse to eat some of the food what we usually give to inmates" "Where did you see these 'ponies'?" "In the forest, I saw them building a small campsite just not far away from here" "One more question president" "Yes?" "Everyone still wants answers. Why did you ban the internet in America and well, everwhere? I'm dying to find out what happened to Markiplier!" The news on the tv went on and on about how they have captured most of us even the princess of friendship and other things that were unrelated to it. I can't believe that happened. I last saw her being dragged all bloody. I just can't believe it. "Hey, chin up. Thinking about that moment again?" Tulip Blossom look to me I looked at her with a long sigh. She understood and continued to watch. The wood creaks behind me. "Oh man, what a party last night. Oh hey Thunder. How's your wing?" I turned towards who spoke and saw our savior. Her name is Jennifer. Rose said it was a weird name but I think it's unique. We've been here for three days. In those days, Rose and I learned from Jennifer about the Human world and all its beauty until chaos ensued from the choices of this president. She even said something about him being worser than another president who tried to build a wall around a specific place. Last night I remember about setting off a firecracker in one of the nearby lakes here. "It's fine Jennifer" I called back Jennifer jumped over the couch and came back to sit on it. I don't know how they sit like that. I remember I have made friends with a pony who sits like that I just don't remember who. "I haven't thought about it but I'd like to know where you came from. Or how you got here?" "We came from a magical land named equestria where friendship is magic. There were no wars in our world. So seeing the war down by camp left us confused and scared." Tulip answered "I see. Oh and Thunder, last night at the party you said that a guard had seen you running in the forest?" "Yes, he didn't chase us. I don't know why. I was exhausted yet he didn't take us. I bet they are looking for us right now. I think-" I felt a sudden surge of panic "I think we need to leave this place. Do you know anywhere we can hide?" I said trying to not sound panicked. "Well, I know places where you can hide but they're most likely haunted" "Hiding won't help. We need to get back to the portal. Last time I saw it, it was crawling with humans but if we do come back to our world we will go straight for help. If the humans haven't figured to enter the portal yet" Tulip entered the conversation "I can arrange a distraction for a few minutes. Should give you enough time to get in" We went for a plan. I flew up the sky until I was hiding behind a cloud. When I touched the cloud my hooves went straight through. Strange, because we pegasi can walk on clouds. As far as we know now, there are a total of eight guarding the portal. Four are next to the portal, there are two next to the front gate and the other two are guarding the flanks. I can carry her with my hooves while I'm flying silently. Jennifer will claim that we were at her house hiding. By noon the plan was set. Jennifer lured four guards out. We flew over the wall. By then we entered the base. I looked all around. The walls were painted in camo from the inside. One side of the base had five green tents. All of them were open. The tents were filled with crates and sleeping bags. The boxes were gray and has a logo of three yellow bullets at the front of it. On top of every crate was what looks like a gun. It's scary looking, even from this distance. When we entered the portal I saw ponies around the portal with Princess Celestia next to portal. Followed by five other important ponies. I knew who these ponies were and I asked the princess what she was going to do. I'm at disbelief "You were going to do what?!" I shouted "You're going to close the portal?!" Tulip shouted with me "You are going to leave princess Twilight alone with the mercy of who knows what we're facing?" I shouted once more "It's much more safer that way, besides princess Twilight should know what to do. She has never failed before" "What will she do? Will she show them kindness and friendship again? It didn't work at all for us" She stayed silent for a while then said "We will find a solution but in that time I suggest you go back to your homes and leave this one to us" I did not want to argue further more to her, instead I looked at her in the eyes. She stayed silent then her eyes went wide. I looked behind me and realized that Tulip went back in the portal. I turned around "No, Thunder!" The princess said Too late. I entered in the portal and four guards were seemingly waiting for me at the other side. I saw Tulip on the floor not moving but twitching. Her chest was bloody, I can see two bullet holes at her side. "Another one!" a grizzly voice boomed behind the mask "Ah shit!" I said Without a moment of thought I took flight. The four of them looked up and took no hesitation to aim their guns towards me. "We got a flyer!" "Get 'im. Get 'im" Tat-tat-tat! Bam! Bam! A bullet grazes through my left flank and another hit me in the chest. My vision started to blacken. Another hit me this time in my rear left. I fell down to the ground with a hard thud. Chapter 2I woke up trying to get my bearings after I got knocked out from the sky. My vision was blurry but I can make out that I was in a small confined room and laying on concrete with a thin blanket only covering half of me. I tried to find comfort in my pillow but when I lift up my head to fluff it it felt soft and familiar to me. I tried to pick myself up but before I could I see a huge bandaged part in my chest. Guessing they were kind enough to patch me up. I looked to my left and saw a concrete wall and a shattered mirror dangerously beside me. I looked to the right and saw a blanket that looks identical like mine. Behind me I could make out a familiar pony. Peach skin, rose hair, brown eyes. This was definitely Tulip Blossom. "Morning, sleepy head" Tulip smiled at me "Sleepy head? They shot me from the sky" "That was a joke silly" Tulip continued to smile at me but weaker "Not a funny joke that is. Ugh, where are we?" "I don't know but this looks like a prison" "You think that we are in the same prison that president in the news has built?" "I think so" I tried to rise but instead I screamed in agony. What was stinging me on my back? I looked around and saw a few glass shards sticking out from my left shoulder and down to my foreleg. I tried to pull them out with both of my hooves. "Aaaaaaaagh!" I screamed "Stop it. I'll do it" She wrapped her hooves around my right fore leg Her horn glows and magic wraps my hooves and puts it away. Then one glass shard was enveloped in magic and started to slowly move out my body. I bit my lip and tried to not scream. When the first shard was safely removed, Tulip moved onto the second one. This one's a bit shorter than the other one. Before she pulls it she looks to her bed and takes a rag from from her pillow and motions me to put this in my mouth. I shook my head but she opens my mouth with her magic and puts the rag in. I tried to fight it but I was way too weak to even move an inch. The rag is now in my mouth and Tulip started to pull the second glass shard. I screamed but becasue of the rag it sounded muffled. She finally took the shard out. Now for the final one. It was bigger than the other two and it promised me pain. Lots of it. It was half embedded into my skin. When Tulip started to pull it out, blood really started to bleed out of me and when the glass shard has finally been removed I feel pale. It was a miracle that I didn't faint from so much blood loss but I was very weak. Tulip ripped a part of my bed sheet and started wrapping it around my wounded area. It wasn't as clean as it should be but it should do. "Thank you" Tulip looked to me then faced away to the cells across ours "Wha- What happened? Did I say something wrong?" She sat on her haunches. She raises her left fore leg to her eyes. From her posture, she's about to cry. "Hey are you crying?" I tried to sit up but I couldn't. I lay flat on the bed "I shouldn't have come back into the portal. You got worried about me. I'm so sorry" Tulip starts sobbing "Hey hey now" No use. For about the next five minutes she cries. I wanted to just pick myself up and wrap her around my wings. After those full five minutes we both hear a soft voice coming from all around us. "Good afternoon. We will be giving you food shortly. Please be patient" The voice repeated three more times before falling silent. It was a recorded message. A speaker maybe? "What do you think the food's gonna be?" I asked changing the subject "Probably grass... and such" She said in between sobs We were wrong. A human with a blue uniform and black pants came into view and reached out for his backpack. They gave us mashed greens. It looked disgusting at first but it seems not so bad after I tasted it. However, Tulip did not agree. "What is in this stuff?" She examined that green mush "Vegetables and water all in a single paper plate. The food given to me is only enough for the rest of you so don't be begging to ask for more" He turned around to treat the ponies across our cell. "Its as if I'd be asking for more" Tulip glanced at the human before she started eating the mush The hours went by and dinner was coming up it was the same green, disgusting looking clump of food I have ever seen. As night draws in I fell asleep on my bed. For my first few hours here, I need to get out of here. We need to get out of here and maybe when we escape we can come back and free every pony here. *Ding ding ding ding* A loud ringing of a bell woke me up. It's as if a bell was placed next to multiple megaphones and someone hits it like there was no tomorrow. Breaking the bell in the process. "WAKEY WAKEY!! RISE AND SHINE" a happy cheerful voice voiced through the speaker "GET UP AND GET OUT OF YOUR CELLS YOU WILL BE ESCORTED TO THE PARK FOR A ROLECALL" "Oh, what time is it?" Tulip yawned "I think it's very early in the morning" I looked if there were any windows in our cells but there were none. A guard rolls up to our cell and starts opening it. He gestures his hand to move to the door of to the right. We were out of that cell and outside. But there was something off about outside. The sun seems to be dim, The clouds are not moving and the grass doesn't smell or look like grass. A sign next to a flowing 'river' says: "Do not piss in the fresh water" Whatever this place is, it's definitely not outside. "What is this place?" I looked around trying to understand where we are. The 'outside' is just a large room with a dim light to be the sun. The only source of light is surrounded with bright yellow paint. The clouds are just white paint pasted onto the walls and ceilings. The grass is fake and the 'fresh water' that's running through a small river between the fake grass is murky. Probably a few rats have taken a dump in there. All of us were told to sit in the middle of the 'field'. Three prison guards stood next to each other facing us all. One guard took a step forward. "Alright, shit heads. As you all may know I am Nicholas Steen. Call me Nick" A prison guard yelled out "We're going to inspect your cells this morning, so every single contraband item will be confiscated and you will be sent to Hell's door for your punishment. If you attempt to fight us we will shoot you down until the last drop of your own blood falls from your body into the grass. Or whatever the fuck the green fake shit is." "Prisoner #23, #38 and #17. Your belongings have been confiscated. Please directly head to the Job listings. Do not try to resist you already know what happens" In the middle of the crowd a young mare stood up and started yelling. She then rushed up to Nick but was soon stopped by the bullets that went right into her, piercing and hitting a few more ponies sitting behind her. The mare tried to crawl up to Nick with eyes filled with anger. Nick just smirked and put a bullet through her eye. "Sweet Celestia!" I shivered Most ponies have shouted in fear too. Some cried. One even pleaded to join her dead sister. She got what she wanted. "Anymore? All right, #38 and #17 follow me. The rest of you, go back to your cells and when that's over, expect even less rations. Remember, field day's tomorrow. Better get those legs working if you don't want to get shot" Nick leaves with the other prison guards followed by two other ponies. I stood in shock and horror. My body was clearly not responding to me. I've dealt with Tulip's Job in being a medical pony but this amount of blood was too much. I shook my head furiously trying to snap out of it. I looked to my side, Tulip has fainted during the execution. I took Tulip by my wing and started walking her towards our cell. I lay her on her bed giving her my blanket giving her the warmth she needs and looked out to the other cell. The other cell was not as similar to ours. It was longer, it had two ponies inside but it had five blankets. One was looking up to the ceiling while one was not moving. It looked like it's flesh was decaying and a flew flies have been buzzing around it. 'That pony is dead' I thought. The dead pony was a pegasus. I could tell by it's tiny bones sticking out from it's sides. Few bits of flesh have been hanging from the bones. The pony looking up finally noticed me looking at his cellmate. "Oh, hi there. You're new here ain't ya?" The stallion asked. He was an orange colored earth pony with a leather jacket. His cutie mark is a revolver with a jail cell. Before answering he said "Ah know ah way out of here. Ya interested?" "Yeah, Does it have a catch though?" "A catch? No, ah just want to make sure every pony safely escape this wretched place. Food rations are going to be extremely strict when ponies refuse to do their daily tasks. Then when the prison cells become fed up of us ponies then they will stop giving us food. We will starve until the population slightly lessens then the food will come back. Poor Cotton had sacrificed herself to feed all four of us. I don't want that to happen to anypony else" He looks to the skeleton with a frown in his face "Ah'm sorry Cotton. Anyways, there are no catches but it's risky getting outta of here" "How did you get here? Were you a volunteer too? I didn't see you in Ponyville" "Ya didn't know? Not one portal was released but three. One in ponyville, another in appleloosa and the last one in cloudsdale. Ah was in the Everfree forest that time when ah heard Princess Luna ride up with Flutters beside her. Ah volunteered along with the rest of my friends and we stepped through the portal. We couldn't bring any weapons so getting captured was inevitable. We tried kicking them but their armor was tough. We couldn't fight back" The earth pony stops and puts his fore hooves on his face "Cotton broke her leg and couldn't walk anymore. We were surrounded and we had no choice but to comply or die. When ah first tried to escape with Haze Glow ah couldn't reach the nearby vent somewhere 'outside'. Ah tried to make everyone escape at the same time. We did the same plan again and tried to enter the same vent but it has been boarded shut with metal bars and nails. Ah tried to kick the metal bars down but it was too strong. The only escape plan was to make it to the entrance of the prison. When the entrance was in sight we were ambushed and were sentenced to maximum security. Luckily there were no max security cells in this prison yet. But if any of us were caught in escaping we were to be punished by pulling a large shipment of whatever the hell was in there. Hell, I don't even know if I'll survive the next punishment. The load gets heavier each time it feels like Ah'm carrying the souls of the damned. Are ya in or not?" "I sure am. But, a few questions, I know that there were three portals that have been released just not four. I'm also worried about Tulip here. Will you keep us safe?" "First, maybe ya didn't get the message properly and second, ah can assure you that both of you will escape. Ah will provide a distraction for the both of you. When you hear the sirens run. Get away from this place as far as you can. Ah will only provide a few minutes before finally getting caught" "You've got a deal. What's the plan?" "We'll talk tomorrow when field day is out. Ah know ah place where we can safely talk out there" Meanwhile... "You think anymore will pop up?" A heavily armored guard stood next to the portal pointing his gun at the portal "It's night time and I want to have my well deserved sleep for fuck's sakes" "If I read the general's orders again and leave the portal unattended without extra firepower then we can end up having a gaggle of them right here, right now" Another heavily armored guard points his finger at the first guard "What did the orders say again?" The second guard sighed "It said-" *Fwoosh* The portal lights up and a white alicorn stepped into the human world. "Oh shit another one" the second guard shouts Before the guards can fire at the alicorn. The white alicorn built up a shield protecting her from the incoming bullets. The bullets come into contact with the shield but they bounce off it. Some bullets even reflecting towards the guards. "Enough!" Boomed the alicorn "You have been given a chance and yet you still think violence is the answer?" Her horn glows into this large orb of yellow and aims her horn to the guards. Magical sparks spread around the guards making them fall flat of their faces and backs. One guard looks up to the white princess... "What are you?" ...before going unconcious. "My princess, is everything alright out there?" A voice came through the portal Celestia moved the unconcious bodies away from the portal into one of the green tents. She then closed the tent and threw their guns in a unknown direction. "Yes, everything is alright out here. I just told the landowners here that we'll be borrowing this place for a while" "Okay, we'll be coming out right now. Tell them that there are a lot of us here" "Oh don't worry, I got that covered" Celestia smirks. By day time, the ponies have completely taken the base and started making temporarily homes in the base. Meanwhile back at the prison... "Where is he?" I looked around the field full of trotting ponies yet I couldn't see the orange colored pony. "Psst, Ah'm over here!" he whispers I looked over my shoulder to see a very familiar pony under a wooden cart. "Hey! Over here" he starts to louden his voice to get my attention "How did they not even know your here? Your voice sounds shady and you're not even whispering" I whispered "That's because they don't care what we're talkin' about. They think we're just talking about our families and friends back in equestria" I look to the field where ponies should have been trotting. Instead, they've stopped in there tracks and started talking to each other. I see one, two, six crying. One is stomping on the ground angrily and four others started talking to the prison guards standing next to the door back into the prison. That didn't end up well when one of the guards shoved a mare with the end of his gun. The four trotted back to the field stopping nearby to talk to each other. "I see" "Anyways, the plan is this. The way out is to the front door but ah did manage to see a vent somewhere 'round here" He looks around and I follow suit "Down there, that's where the vent is" He points his hoof to the vent beside the river. The vent looks half open and it could probably fit one and a half ponies inside. The vent seems to be ignored by everyone in the field. "When night comes you'll need to cut the steel bars with this file" He picks up a file with his mouth and drops it to my hooves. I've usually seen in movies when the good guy or gal gets in jail he or she uses a file to get out. "Ah'm coming with you tonight" *Ding ding ding* The bell rings and the cheerful voice echoes throughout the entire prison. I looked away to the speaker just above the entrance door. Heads turn towards the speaker. "LUNCH TIME. IT'S LUNCH TIME!! GO BACK TO YOUR CELLS TO GET YOUR FOOD. IF YOU DON'T MANAGE TO GET TO YOUR RESPECTIVE CELLS YOU WILL NOT GET YOUR SHARE OF FOOD!! AHAHAHAHAHA! HEEHEEHEEHEEHEEEeeee!" I look back at him "We better get moving then" I said Chapter 3The food rations are getting smaller than ever. Tulip insisted on giving me some of her mush because of my cuts but I refuse. Three little cuts won't stop me would it? And also I think this is her trying to give most of her mush to me. While we were waiting for night time to come up. We tried to entertain ourselves by playing a game of hide and seek. Although you might have guessed it that there wasn't anything to hide their except for Rose's invisibility spell. Somehow, this led Tulip to talk about what happened when I was still knocked out. "They threw me into the cell first then you. But they threw you into a mirror and shut the gate" "Why didn't you remove the shards when I was still out cold?" I could see her trembling and trying to not cry "I can't focus at that time. I was so busy hating myself for going back to the portal and worrying both you and the princesses-" With this tears start to treckle down on her muzzle "Hey now" I say as I put a wing around her "Everything is gonna be fine. I've found a ticket out of here" "I'm just so sorry. I should've just never entered that portal-" "Shh, shh alright? Everything's gonna be fine" I reassured her Night fell, as soon as dinner was done I took the file that I kept under my wing and started cutting the cell bars. Then, a soft yellow glow enveloped the file and started to cut on its own. Just before the cell bar clanked to the ground, Tulip stopped it before it fell. We were both out and now, to help our helper. She started sawing the steel bar until it had become loose. The earth pony stood out of the cell and turned towards Tulip. "Name's Shining Oak. M'lady" "Glad to meet you" They both shook hooves. With our new acquaintance by our side. We enter the field. The room was pitch black. There is no other source of light other than the prison's inside lights. Then, Tulip's horn glowed creating a glow of yellow giving out a faint light we need to see better. "There, the vent" I said whispering "Everypony get in. Move it" Shinning Oak barked As Tulip entered the vent she turned to look at Oak "You have no sense in being stealthy. No wonder you haven't even escaped yet" She stared at Oak Yet, Shinning Oak stood completely still bringing up one eyebrow staring back at her. Tulip deeply sighs and turned towards the vent. *Clunk* *Scratch* *Scree* The vents squealed. We were making too much noise. Well Oak, he was making too much noise. "Hey, you're gonna give out our position" I whispered loudly "Sorry" Oak said not whispering at all "I just don't like to be sneaky" We came across an intersection. Oak said to take a turn to the left so we headed there. He also needed to check on something. Something important he said. I wonder what that is. We went to a T-Junction next and Oak said that he'll need to go to the left and do whatever he's doing while we continue going to the right. Wishing us good luck we crawl the opposite direction that he went. We are outside. The sky was dark and the moonlight only provided a small amount of light. The outside looks like the same back inside but without the ceiling. We could easily fly out of here if it wasn't for those spotlights. Then, there were footsteps. Coming closer to us. We headed back to the vent and quickly shut the trapdoor. They were no doubt the security guards of this prison. By the time they've walked into view an alarm went off at the other side of the building. The security guards took off to that direction. This was our chance to escape. I opened the trapdoor and helped Rose climb out. "Agh!" Intense pain came from my bandaged shoulder suddenly. How unfortunate of me Tulip looked at me worried again "Don't worry about me. Let's hurry, that distraction is our only chance to escape" The wall was at least more than twenty ponies high. Higher than the last wall we saw back near camp. We couldn't climb up that far. I flapped my wings. My cut made me wince but I can fly, I'm just don't know if I'll be able to carry Tulip "Thunder, are you sure you are able carry me when you fly us over the wall? I can float myself up there if I have to" "Yeah, I'll be fine" I reassured her I took flight and wrapped Rose by her body. The alarms abruptly stopped. Oak didn't last very long. By the time I was halfway up the wall a spotlight saw us. Alarms started blaring again. "Oh shit!" I flapped my wings harder but that only led me hurting myself. Bullets shot right to us. "Ahhhhh!" I hear Tulip shouting as a bullet pierces through her right flank and two hitting her right side. "Shit!" *Bang* "Ackkk!" A bullet hits my back and another barely hits me in the head. I saw the bullet flew past next to me and hit the prison wall. When we got over the wall, I can hear multiple voices shouting in the darkness. I coudn't handle it any longer, I made a hard landing outside. The ground outside was sand. I can't see any nearby trees or any mountains to take shelter with. I tried to get myself back up but I couldn't. I moaned, it hurts so much. Yellow magic wrapped around me and floated me closer to Tulip. We both stayed there for a while. Even with the sirens whiring and alarms ringing we stayed there motionless, helpless maybe even dead. Was I dead? I moved a muscle. Nope, I was not dead but I refused to be alive right now. I started to try and get up. My body didn't want to. Because of that, I crawled a little bit closer to Tulip and lay beside her. Her entire right side was bloody. "Hey, you awake still?" Nothing. She's still be breathing just slowly. "Well we did it. We made it out of here" "Just not alive" I heard her murmur "You don't know that" *Click* A small beam of light shown our location in the dark. My vision became blurry and I started to lose focus. Darkness filled my eyes as I drift off into unconsciousness. Chapter 5Flying over the destroyed buildings I finally reach the top of the tower. The scene is as same as before only the ponies were missing this time. The bonfire was five logs leaning close to each other forming a star shape from above. I swoop down and landed on my four hooves. There was a really big stain between the bonfire and the makeshift kitchen that is made out of scrapped wood and metal. In the middle of the blood stain there lay a single revolver. I had a difficult time opening its chamber but managed to get a quick look. The gun was empty, all it had was a small beeping red light. I quickly galloped and dove behind the bonfire but nothing happened. I came back with caution holding up the revolver with a hoof and a wing. I brought it over to the side of the tower and tossed it. After a while of looking at the falling gun I looked at staircase behind the kitchen. Once I took one step to the staircase. Bullets fired past me from behind. I take a look behind me and saw a helicopter just hovering above the tower its side open and one figure holding one huge gun aimed to me. My muscles tense at the sight of it. "Stay where you are. Don't move a muscle or else you might end up loosing your muscles" My wings twitched. I wanted to fly away so bad but I don't think I'd want to get shot again. Without thinking, I fled down the stairs. Bullets fired past me as I ran. A bullet grazes me on my left cheek and my neck but I was in a panic I didn't have time to whine and cry. Thrashing around furniture that was in my way. I escaped the helicopter. With a clear sense of thought and a feeling that everything's gonna be okay. The first thing I looked at was the staircase. Then up the staircase. I must've went down five or six floors in such a hurry that I barely even noticed. I looked around the corridor and I can tell that this building is a hotel. Before whatever hell this place came through. I entered the nearest door from the staircase. Room #356. As I entered the room was large, paintings covered the left wall as if I was in an exhibit. To my right was a huge bed maybe possible to have most of my friends fit there and there was a huge window at the opposite side of the room. I gasped in awe as the orange sun came into view of the window. It was almost night time. Looking around, I lay on the huge bed. The bed was slightly dirty as I begin to jump on it. At one foot of the bed there were closed luggage next to the king-sized bed. I tried to open the lock but I couldn't. Instead, I started bashing the lock open with the only tool I have. It worked miraculously and inside the briefcase was a set a black hoodies. I tried putting them on me and one of them that is just too large, another one too small and this hoodie that is just the right size for me. I liked it so I decided to keep it on me. The warmth of the hoodie was comforting. Like I was just in a sauna but not that hot. Damn it, now I want to go back to ponyville and get a sauna but the prices is just a little bit over my budget. As I looked out the window once more, something blocked my view. The helicopter again. It's motor blades blew wind through my face. The bullets started to sweep the room flinging paintings and rip through the bed. I ducked just in time when that happened. I fled back to the staircase but mid-way it was stopped short when an explosion caught me off guard and rang my eardrums. As I regain my sense of hearing. I was looking at the helicopter. The gun aimed at me once again. I looked to my right. There was another room with the room name #366. I quickly picked myself up and barged in the room before the gun started firing at my direction. With the bullets ripping through the room like butter I galloped towards the window quickly turning to my side and smashed the glass. I opened my eyes and felt the wind blow against my mane and my brain finally understood that I was plummeting down. I tried to stabilize myself but only ended up getting dizzy. I tried again and this time I flew. I was just inches above the ground. My heart started pounding heavily until it calmed. I hid at a shop near my location to seek for shelter. The sign on top of the shop was "7-11" with the number 7 underlapping the words 'ELEVEN'. To my surprise, Sean was there too searching for goodies. "Thunder? What happened to you?" Sean asked shockingly looking at all my cuts He inspects the cuts first then he sizes me up and takes a good look at my hoodie "Where'd you get that hoodie?" He points the hoodie then puts his hands on his sides "In an old suitcase I found in the building. There was one that almost looked like it could fit you" "You'd want to remove it though people might mistakenly call you a loner" "Does it matter anymore?" "No" Accompanying Sean we both scavenge both useful and useless. Sean was searching behind the counter then let out a triumph yelling: "We're rich" He is looking at the cash register with a big smile on his face. Boom Thunder roared outside. The rain trickled down one intact window of the shop. It's gonna be one hell of a night. As I bunker down I hear gunshots. I hid behind the counter. The sound scared me still to this day. I never heard what a gun sounded like before, the way a bullet can pierce through skin, where innocent ponies or humans get shot down. Now I know now. I cried on the floor for probably less than 2 minutes until Sean picked me up and cradled me. I did not like the way others treated me as a child or gave me one too many cautions. But this, I needed this. The horror was too much. Meanwhile in the location of the first portal... "There are humans coming princess. What shall we do?" "Guard the main entrance. Once they start firing, attack. Do not attempt to reason" the white coated princess replied "Yes your highness" The royal guard left the briefing room or what was once a briefing room before it got raided. Princess Celestia pondered on the table until her younger sister came in. "Sister! My base at appleloosa has been overrun. I had to close the portal before more humans came" "What happened to Applejack?" Princess Luna lowered her voice in sadness. "She saved me from a bullet. I saw her get taken and all the others that's the last thing I saw before leaving" Princess Celestia sighed then looked at one of the glass pane windows. The rain outside was heavy and thunder erupted the silence "How was the report on searching for Twilight today before you got overrun?" "We are certain that they have kept Twilight in a large building. Preferably a prison. It is approximately 73 miles away from here though" "Is there a portal that is nearer?" "There is, the one in cloudsdale. But as you said, the clouds are not the same here" The older princess stands up and walks toward Princess Luna. "Send the best fliers out there. I will be with them" She walks past Princess Luna "Take good care of my people okay?" she added before walking out the room *** "Where are we going now?" I asked after jumping over a puddle "To a trading area. That's where I get my things. I usually bargain and plead for the things I need but this?" He holds up the bag of bills with faces printed on them "That won't be a problem. I'm gonna need to get there so I can fix the holes in the safe room then re-reinforce the door then probably if I get more wood in one of my later scavengings I might just make a landing platform in my apartment. If you didn't know already then a hammer and nails are one of the most essential things in protecting yourself, your most valuable professions and others" "But you can't fix the holes in your heart" Sean stops then continues anyway "That's true. I couldn't save them. Hey Thunder... wait... No, nevermind" "What's wrong?" I picked up my pace "Nothing" The noise we only hear are from our footsteps stepping onto rocks and wires. I stopped when I noticed a large banner stapled to a building nearby. 'The Red Dragons'. There were two trucks right next to the entrance. "What's that?" I pointed a hoof at it "The red dragons?! Shit they moved? We need to go" "Why?" "They're dirty bastards that's why" I crouched. We weaved through broken down cars and fallen down lamp posts. Scouting from debris I looked at one of the trucks. One human dressed in red and black came from the building to the back of the truck and opened its contents. From what I hear after that was a lot of muffled voices and crying. The human came inside and took two ponies from the truck. They were both whimpering and crying. The human then closed the door. He walked back to the building. When he came back out again he saw me. He shouted and pointed at me. I hid behind the car even though it won't help me as much. I looked over to Sean who is quietly scavenging one of the cars with a huge hole at the side of it. I trotted beside him and motioned him to move. He nodded and we started moving away from our old location. Fwoosh! Boom! Behind us chunks of cars and concrete fly. Some of the chunks were heading in our direction and we can't dodge it if we're moving this slow. So we ran and ran. Until we were way ahead of range from them. From minutes of walking we come upon a T-Junction with a large building catching my eyes. It had large holes on it's right. It looked like it was sliced multiple times exposing more of it. On the very top was large printed letters that I can't make out on. There were logs scattered almost everywhere. I assumed this place had trees but because of the chaos, not a single tree is unharmed. "Ah, this place really brings back memories" Sean takes his backpack off and sits down on a wooden stump admiring the half exposed building "What is this place?" I pointed a hoof towards the building "It's a convention center. The place where I used to go to before all of this happened" He raises his arms then flops it back down. Chapter 6On the clouds the portal sits in the middle of Cloudsdale. Every pegasus is warming up for the mission Princess Celestia made and on top of that she is going to be with them today. Everypony is excited and they wait until the princess gives her signal. Princess Celestia however, was not in a good mood. "Are you alright your majesty?" One of the volunteers ask "Yes, I am" Princess Celestia sighed deeply "Still worried about Twilight?" "Much more than that. I'm worried about my ponies, Ripper" Ripper looked away from her and looked into the purple and black portal below them. Ripper stood up and flew away to meet up with the others. Celestia looked at the sky for a brief moment before standing up and telling everypony that the scouting is about to begin. Some pegasi have started to become nervous and others have been trying to keep confidence high. But there was only one who didn't have a single one of those. Rainbow Dash was soaring through the sky with a big grin on his face. "Oh yeah! When I get in there I will kick those foalnapper's butts" The crowd was lively once again. Most ponies have shaken off their fears. Then Rainbow noticed somepony in the crowd. She flew down to see Scootaloo looking up at her "You will come back right?" Scootaloo asks as she tries to not cry "I'll be fine. Besides, how would they catch me?" She raises her wings for everypony to see. "Promise?" Scootaloo asks before whimpering "I promise" Rainbow comforted her Then Celestia moved to the front of the portal. She called out to the volunteers "On the count of three!" All the pegasi have turned to the princess "One" They ready their wings "Two" "Three" All of the volunteers including Celestia have gone through the portal. Minutes past until Sean and Thunder Wing has finally entered Bronycon Thunder Wing looked around him. Broken shops and stands have been fixed with pieces of scrap metal and poles. The lights above them are shattered and there were humans and ponies walking alongside each other everywhere. Sean stops at a stand with nuts, screws, bolts and nails alongside with an open toolbox overflowing with tools. He fumbles in his backpack and hands out canned beans and a few paper bills. The shop keeper, wearing a green jacket and camo-pants, took the can and money in exchange for two small boxes of nails. Sean thanks the shop keeper and went in a direction further into the half exposed structure. He motions me to follow him and so I did. Around me, were ponies either half-covered in bandages or recovering. On one corner of the room, Sean is talking to a man with a full grown beard and wearing a poncho. "Are you bringing in another pony?" The man pointed at me "A pegasus ay? That's rare to see" "No, I'm asking if you've seen a female unicorn with peach skin and rosy hair" The man scratches his beard for a second before answering "I did see one. But she is long gone. She was being taken by the yellow tigers a few hours ago" "The yellow tigers... How far is it from here?" Sean asks "About 2 miles at least" "Two?" "Sorry pardner, it's a long walk from here to them" I sat down and hung my head. How are we going to walk two miles when I can't even finish my exercise quota back in ponyville? I really didn't think my lack of exercise would bite me back. "How about if we fly?" I chipped in "Thunder, you know I can't fly" Sean stretches his hands out and pretending to flap wings. "Don't worry. I've got a mode of transportation right here" The man uncovers a small pile of debris behind him. There were two scooters both colored in bright blue. They each had a small basket made of bright oak to their front. "These girls are very maneuverable in the harsh debris. For you Sean, this time it's for free" "Uh, Thanks for the offer but we-" "I'll take one" I interrupted him "Wonderful choice. Although I don't see why you would need a scooter when you have wings" He handed me the scooter. I made a spin around the room. Avoiding all the wounded ponies. The wind blowing through my mane made a feeling when I was back in equestria controlling the weather. "Woowee! This is amazing" I stopped right at Sean's feet Sean's arms were cross but the grin on his face made me feel happy. To our left a pony cried out of pain and the man in the poncho came to him or her. I can hear silent whispers from them. Out of curiosity I trotted next to him. Sean did to. "Is it okay now?" The man asked the pink pony She only whimpered but nodded eventually. I examined her thoroughly. Three large bandage covered in red stains were enough to gag me already. Her hooves were sore and bleeding. Her sides were I assume cuts. Luckily, the bleeding has stopped but she's still weak. On her left side was the same print that was on the mare we found dead in the safehouse. "Red... What does that mean?" I asked pointing the stamped fur and another to my chin "Means that the red dragons have disposed of her. Fortunately, a few scouts have found her before she died" "Ah. But what's the use of the stamp?" "So that when they scout for more ponies they aren't gonna get the same one" We left Bronycon with a new goal: to find the Yellow Tigers and rescue Tulip Blossom. At the T-junction, Sean told me that he'll come back to the safe house to reinforce the hole in the floor and the door. I agreed but before we could part ways. A fast gust of air left us landed on our backs and followed by wisps of wind. Looking up, I saw a rainbow slowly fading. Sean looks at the rainbow with me "Was that Rainbow Dash?" "Looks like it" I flew up until I was high above the city. The rainbow trail seems to be going to the opposite direction we were heading. I tried to call out for them but they didn't hear it. They were too far already. I flew back down next to Sean. "Did you manage to get their attention?" "No. They seem to be distracted by someone or somepony" Sean ponders for a second before talking back "Well, I'll be going now. You take care now" Sean puts his backpack on him before walking away "Yeah, you too" Tulip is only two miles away. Approximately four hours between here and there. As the few minutes pass, I became quite bored of the scooter. I looked around me to find something that would help me make some fun out of. Fun comes first before mission after all. My eyes catch a pharmacy just across the street. Through the broken slide doors, it's lights are busted and the shelves are thrashed. In the middle of the store lay a wooden chest. It barely fits in the aisle. The lock was rusted with a green note sticking at its front. "If you want the goods, then you need to earn the goods -Green Eagles" I searched around trying to find something that will break the lock. On the counter I found a screwdriver and some pins, seeing that I grabbed them both only to realize I don't know how to pick a lock. I frowned and put them back on the counter. Looking back, I take the screwdriver because it's the only weapon I can find here. I enter the storage room. It's rather small for a large store like this. Eyeing at the taped cardboard boxes I pull the screwdriver under my wing and start to cut it. It didn't take long until the cardboard box opened and I took a look inside. The contents of the box were painkillers lots of them, some snacks and cereal bars and a few bottles of water. I took a cereal bar and started ripping the wrapper off. I ate the crunchy cereal bar in three bites. I looked back down at the cardboard box more closely. There were bundles of cereal bars and a hidden cigarette pack under them. I took a bottle of water and opened it with my teeth. After sipping, I figured I'd put the scavenged snacks and water when I leave. Taking snacks and placing them on the basket is quite tiring even though it's just a small distance. As I make my final trip, I looked back at the aisle where the wooden chest lay. Examining the chest I trot behind it and saw a hole. There goes my curiosity of whatever was in there. But when I approached the chest it started to emit this glowing purple light. I crouched down to look for the light source and I saw a purple diamond-like gem sitting in a glass box container. I reached out for the gem. The gem was glowing brighter and brighter when I pulled it closer to me. When the glass box was finally outside the chest. I looked into it. The gem was on top of a wooden foundation the size of the glass box. The foundation had an engraving on it that says: "Subject #01 interrogation please handle with care" Outside, I can hear screams and gunfire just a short distance from here. I kept the parcel under my wing. There was no way I'd be staying here for long. Satisfied with my choice to keep the cereal bars and water bottles I move on. In the next intersection I cross was a slaughter. I counted at least seven bodies, all of them in a camo uniform with a vest with the word 'Police', in the middle and long trails of blood leading from the middle to their respective owners. I gagged but not enough to make me vomit. The dead humans were armed judging by the huge guns that they were holding. One was full to the brim with explosives. Between all the blood and bullets scattered around the intersection. There was one trail of blood that caught my interest. It was leading to a bar with cracked glass windows and a glass door with multiple cracks and an obvious struggle happened with the lock seeing as the knob of the door has been hacked straight off from the door. The blood trail goes behind a counter. When I approached the floor below me squeaked and a voice came behind the counter. "Alright! You got me. You got me. I'm coming out now" I expected a human criminal or one of the gangs out living in those buildings but what came out was a pony. A unicorn stallion with a yellow coat and a bright green and green patterned mane. He is stained in blood both his and not his. He looks at me wide eyed. "Oh thank fuck. I thought I'd never see another fellow pony. You are not going to kill me are you?" "No, I'm not" I said "Finally, somepony who I can trust after a week" he says wearily I inspect him. He was limping the time when he faced me. He had bandages strapped around his entire chest. The bandage was tattered. He also had multiple slices in his chest region. One of the cuts were huge. Probably made by a sharp object. Maybe a machete. His knees were trembling in fact, his entire body is trembling by the amount of blood he is losing. "You okay there?" I asked him, he just slowly shook his head "Here, let me treat your wounds. I'm an amatuer" He didn't say anything. He fell onto his knees before slowly laying on his side. I didn't think twice but look for medical supplies somewhere in the bar. Lucky for me, I found a first aid kit just across me and my patient. I unraveled the adhesive bandage and luckily there were no open wounds under it. The chest area was the one I'm worried about. I opened the first aid kit and started to work. I worked on it immediately. I sat there then looked around looking for a bathroom. Behind us were two restrooms. One had a symbol of a stick figure and the other had an extra triangle in its body. It didn't matter to me at all. I helped him as we slowly trot up to one of the restrooms. Once there, I laid him back on his side and trot upon one of the sinks. I bit the faucet and turned the handle. Water was splashing around me. I wet my hooves and laid them onto the injured unicorn. He groaned but didn't move. I massaged the cut and added pressure to stop the bleeding, The unicorn winced but ignored it. Looking into the kit I grabbed the antibacterial bottle in my teeth and put it between my hooves then opening it with my teeth. I opened the bottle and started to put the oily liquid next to the wound then to the wound itself. The unicorn wriggled around then stopped. I took a clean bandage from the kit into my mouth and started to wrap him up. I kept the bandage in place then tied it. As my first time doing this to somepony else it felt good. Doing these kinds practices over and over again in a training area for years in the best hospital of all of equestria is just insanely boring. "You should be good to go now" I gently tapped my fore hoof to his chest "Thank you for that" He waved his hoof at me I breathed a sigh of relief. I looked for supplies in the bar. All I could find was a stock full of beer and wine in the back rooms and a strange long box with a golden lock I found in a room just beside the restrooms. "Let me see that" The unicorn slowly walked to me and lifted it up with telekinesis. His tired red eyes looked at the lock and looked at me. "Do you happen to have a screwdriver on you and a pin?" I lifted up my left wing and grabbed the screwdriver with my teeth. "I have a screwdriver just no pins" "Eh, this'll do" He wraps his light green magic on the screwdriver and starts to work on the lock. I looked away going back to search for supplies. For minutes, I thought he'd just given up on the lock and started to search around like me but then I heard a loud click reverberating the bar. Inside the large box was a long gun. I've never seen a single gun this large. I only knew the pistols or the revolvers. But not this kind. "Ooh! Me likey!" The unicorn wraps the long gun with his magic. "What's it called?" "It's called a shotgun. One pull from this trigger at point blank and your victim would just be a clump of blood lying on the floor" He raises the gun at eye level and points it to the wine bottles. Bang! The bottles explode from the blast. The recoil was extremely powerful even the unicorn stumbled back. "Has it really been that long since I first held a gun?" He checks himself then the gun dangerously pointing at him to him. He sees this and points it somewhere else safe. Again, he doesn't look like one of the volunteers I saw back at camp so I asked him. "Where did you come from?" "I came from one of the portals like you silly" "Then where was the portal located?" "Erhm..." He looked around probably thinking for an answer There we go. I didn't need anything after that "You're not one of the volunteers aren't you?" I finally broke the silence "Okay, you got me. I am not one of the volunteers of the princesses" The unicorn sighs "I was not a pony before" I raised an eyebrow "I lived one peaceful life, training myself to become one of the best marksman in the world but this happens and that dream is forever lost to the sea. Because I don't think I will get hired in this" He looks at himself "If you were not a pony before, then what were you?" "A human" Chapter 7Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.Chapter 4I wake up in a scorched apartment filled with foggy atmosphere. I stretched out my wings forgetting that I had been shot multiple times in the air. I yawned. I looked around while I lay in bed. Beside me was Tulip. She's snoring. I see a clear white cloth wrapped around her right flank with a large spot of blood in the middle of the wrapped cloth. Looking at this, I quickly looked at my left shoulder. It was mummified with a white clean cloth. So is half of me. Whoever who took care of us really wanted us alive, I wanted to stand up to look at my surrounding better but the warmth of where I'm laying on is so good. I don't want to leave at all. I haven't slept in good beds for the last two days. I look farther to my left. There was a door frame but no sight of where the actual door went. Everything else in the room was junk. The only two windows in this room are boarded up. *Clank* A noise followed by a voice came from the left of us. I quickly stood up and headed for the noise quietly. In the other room was a tad bit lighter with two monitors at the back of the room. A wide open hole at the side of the apartment to the left and a boarded up stair and door to the right. I see a human figure next to the monitors picking up something from the ground. It seems to be watching a video from the monitors. The wooden floor squeaked and that made the figure turn its head around. I quickly hid behind the wall. The footsteps came closer then stopped at the doorway. It grunted and shrugged and continued picking up what was at the ground. I looked back to Rose. She's still fast asleep. She's so cute when she sleeps. I quietly snuck past the door frame and headed towards the figure. As I opened my wings for take off just to knock him out, the figure said. "Don't even try, If you attack me all of my turrents will incapcitate you. If you flee I will shoot you myself" A low voice came from him. He pushed a button on his keyboard and lasers start to point at me. About four turrents are trained at me. I tried to shrug off my fear and asked him how did he find us. "You're scared aren't you? I can hear the tremble in your voice. You know, these monitors are not here for entertainment" He pushes three keys and the two monitors change screens "All six of these monitors were all functioning and scanning for anyone to tell that my safehouse is completely danger-proof. I saw you on the outskirts of the holding prison. It's lucky I found you on time. The other four monitors were down because of those bastard curfews that just roam around the streets 24/7. The amount of damage that these curfews caused a lot. Just look outside for example" I trot to look out the huge hole where a corner should have been. I looked outside the huge hole and saw destruction everywhere. Burning buildings, fallen trees and bodies and blood just scattered everywhere. "The streets were filled with guards everyday slaughtering us and your species" Then I saw a few rotting corpses all around the building. A few were ponies while most of them are humans. The streets just outside the apartment were painted with blood. The sight was very horrific. I just stood there my jaw dropping in horror. I sat down on my haunches thinking about the lives these people had until. I don't know how much time was passed when the human talked again "Hey, it's been three minutes. Thinking about something?" I looked behind me. He has brown hair with white skin. He has a torn gray T-shirt with the words 'Just Do It' and pants that seems to be sliced multiple times. He also wears sneakers with stained blood on every inch of his shoes. "Nothing" I said "I know that expression. You're hiding something in there" I sighed "Just knowing that most of the ponies are my friends make it..." I trailed off into my thoughts and lay down and looked out into the horizon He sat next to me. His feet dangling off the edge. I will never know how we could sit like him. "Ahhhh, I see. I had friends too" He points down the street to what looks like a pharmacy. "Sadly, they've died in that building over there. I took shelter in this wreckage" He says in a straight face He looks up and down and finally stared at me with a frown "When I first encountered the military. What's weird to me is that when they saw me they didn't try to shoot me. When they stepped closer, I panicked and ran. They didn't run after me either. Until I realized that..." He puts his right hand to his pocket and showed me an ID. It read 'Bronycon 2023'. "I forgot that it was on my neck and I think that this is the reason they didn't want to shoot me. Maybe because, Ah! I get it now" He stands up and raised his arms "I've fooled them!" I looked at him "How could a single ID fool them?" "Because they think I know your species so much that they think that I'm important. It makes so much sense now." I look back outside "I don't get you" I said with a cross face "You see, Bronycon is a place where people can share their feelings to one another with the help of technicolored cartoon horses. The word 'Brony' is a combination of 'bro' and 'pony'. If you're wondering what the word 'Brony' is. What I mean is that Bronycon is a place dedicated to your world" "An entire place dedicated to... my world?" "Yep pretty much. Do you have something similar to this?" "Well there is one-" "You mean Lyra?" He cut me off "How did you know that?" I look in confusion at him "Just one lucky, lucky guess" He trails off again and looks out. In the distance I can make out a crate with a parachute strapped on it. "Would you look at that. We've got a supple crate" He continues A box strapped with the parachute slowly fell from the sky. I turned my head to him. The human rushes back to his monitor and grabs a backpack. Then rushes to a metal door reinforced with nails and streets signs. He turns back to look at me. "I'll be back soon. Watch yourself and your partner. And do NOT go anywhere" He closes the door silently I look back outside. The crate is slowly making it's way down. I again look outside but focus on one of the largest buildings. That building is huge. Probably just able to reach the skies. At the very top of the tower I see a large bonfire and shadows dancing. Hmm, I wonder... I flapped my wings. Should I go? Should I investigate the fire? It only takes one choice to change my future. I've made my decision, I'm going. Before I leave, I made another decision to go back to Tulip. After I greeted her and stepped out of the door frame. I heard a slight wimper but I shrugged and took off. The air was full of smoke. Fires have spread all around and I couldn't stop coughing until I was high above the clouds. The sky is beautiful at this time of the day. By the looks of the where the sun is, it's approximately 5 pm. I saw the faint light of the bonfire. Looking closer and saw eight ponies dancing around the fire shouting a familiar name and I saw two cooking from a pan that what seems to be food and two others laying down next to the ponies cooking. Behind the main attraction and the cooking, was what seems to be a blocked up staircase leading downstairs. I flew a bit closer and closer until one saw me and gestured the others. "Finally a savior! Can you please help us down here?" One stallion said "All 10 of us are dying from hunger here!" Another stallion said 10? I thought I saw 12. They must be slowly dying up here. I've got to help them. I need to. I dove down and stopped mid-way so I could land safely. "It's a pegasus! Please save us from the monsters down below!" He tries to imitate a human being by standing up on her hind legs but falls back down to her four hooves. "What do I do?" I ask "A sacrifice!" A black coated mare with a purple mane shouted followed by agreement by the others. Oh shit. Have ponies already gone insane in just less than a week? Purple magic enveloped me and floated me above the bonfire. I could feel the heat as the unicorn mare slowly lowered me down. Suddenly, a loud gunfire erupted from below. The unicorn floated me off to the side of the fire and beat me up with a stick. Whatever this trouble is, they really seem keen on making me a sacrifice. I hear someone or something banging somewhere below shouting and trying to get up here. In moments, I can hear voices walking up the stairs and soon they started breaking down the barricade. Everypony took a battle stance looking straight at the door. I steadied myself up and slowly crawled backwards until I was at the edge. The banging became louder and then the barricade exploded into splinters and chunks of wood. Once that happened, I jumped off the building and started heading back to the safe house. I flew back to the safehouse just before our keeper entered through the safe house door. "Hey uh, what's your name?" the human asked me "Thunder Wind?" I replied "Thunder, were you the pony that flew outside just a few minutes ago?" "Umm..." I tried to not look guilty "Didn't I tell you to not leave the apartment? You could have gotten hurt" His expression became cross. He then inspects me. I shrugged him off. "Sorry. I just got curious by the big bonfire at the top of that tower" I hung my head and pointed a hoof at the tall tower where the bonfire was lit. Instead, the bonfire seems to be gone and the roof was now just filled with whizzing magic and bullets. The human sighed. He walked close to me, knelt down and pats me on the head. "You're a curious one eh?" He pats me on the head again "Whenever you want to explore someplace. Please, tell me. I don't want to search high and wide when you're just playing the dirt" "You worried about me?" "I'm hella worried. You know, you're not the only pony I've tried to save" "They've all died haven't they?" "Yep, some by natural causes, some by bleeding out... and some that disappeared... the second I leave... the safe house. For fuck's sakes" I looked up and saw him covered in his hands. "Hey cheer up. You have another chance. You have me and my Rose" I pat him on the back with my right fore hoof He looked out on the horizon and removed my hoof. He asks not looking at me "By the way, how's your partner?" Tulip, it came to me and realized that none of us were in here with Tulip. She just slept all alone with no one to guard. I trotted towards the room where I last saw her sleeping. Inside, there was a lump under her blanket. I thought it was just Tulip for a second but I know that she doesn't sleep under the blanket. She would always poke her head out of the covers or one of her hooves because she doesn't like to be very hot. I asked her if she was awake. No answer. She should be awake by now. Just then, once I come closer I heard beeping and I faint glow of red just under the lump and the blanket. I asked her if she was awake again yet no answer. The beeping started to get faster and faster every time I come near her. I heard footsteps and the human took me by the hoof and ran outside the room. BOOM The room was obliterated with a black stain across every inch in the small room. Someone or somepony has gotten in here, took her and set up a bomb. They didn't seem like they had a chance to get anymore stuff than her. Wooden planks and dust flew out of the room and down a floor. The human put me down and slowly crept up to the room. He came back with a dead pony and the remains of the bed. The pony was a blue haired mare with a green coat. She had her horn cut off and both of her sides were completely red and slashed by what looks like a whip. Her flank was the most reddish part and were sore. Upon closer inspection, her half cut neck was the cause of her death and a three large letters were stamped at her left side. The shrapnel made more holes into her body but not a single drop came out. "Holy Celestia! Who would do this?" I gasped "If only that damned president didn't ban the internet these would've been not that frequent. Rapists, of your species and mine. I've seen them roam around the streets taking in both mares and stallions. I don't see them take any more ladies and gents anymore" Rapists? I've never heard that word in a very long time. Last time I heard that it only happened on the newspapers. This can't be right. How could this all happen in a week? "Poor mare" I frowned The human walks past me and to the front door. He motions me to follow. We headed to a staircase and took a few floors down. We head to a large open room that somewhat looks like a parking lot but the broken pillars, hanging weapons and blood smeared across the walls makes it look like a slaughterhouse. In the middle of the parking lot were six makeshift graves all jaggedly cut in their upright position. The graves in front of them is a mountain of dirt enough to bury one pony. four of the boulders had names that are very familiar to me and others were not so familiar. Below the names were their cause of death. Choking, squished, ran over by a truck and exploded. The human puts down the dead mare and picks up a small stone and started to scratch a word onto the boulder. He writes on the boulder: Grassy Teal. "Grassy Teal? Do you know this mare?" I asked "Nope, I just take one good look on the body and I put in the first words that come into my mind. I might be disrespecting them but it's all I can do to give them a proper burial" "What about the bodies down at the streets? They deserve a proper burial" "I would like to but the curfews around the streets start to get more frequent each passing day" "But if the curfews were no more then would you bury them?" "I'd gladly bury them but if the curfews are gone then there will be chaos roaming around the streets. Like: Gunfights, Gang fights, Even more abductions, Explosions. I should be thankful for the curfews for pushing those bastards out" I looked back to the stairs. The rooftop back up at the tower there flickered in my mind. My gut tells me to investigate what is up there once more. I turned my attention to the human. He has finished burying the mare and is now standing up to look at all the graves. I open my mouth to ask my permission to go back up the tower but no word came out except for an: "Ehhhhhh..." "What?" The human asked without turning to look at me "Can I go back to the tower? I have some unfinished investigating to do" "Sure, where is this tower?" "The tallest one, just a few blocks away from here. My expedition got cut short when there was a disturbance downstairs. Someone or something is down there" "I'm coming with you. I'm in need of nails and I know that there is a hardware store full of them. There is no point in coming back here without any nails and my oh, my I'm gonna need a lot of nails" Going back upstairs I readied my wings for takeoff. While the human was getting his backpack on him he said without looking to me "Name's Sean by the way" "My pleasure to meet you Sean" I said and took off
ProlougeAuthor's Note I'm no writer, I just looked up while I was drawing an alley way filled with grafiti and trash and a possible murder scene that happened and realized that my drawing skills couldn't improve anymore. And that struck me a lot because that would mean that I have been drawing the same things for almost decade. So here I am, I've also wanted to come here the first time I found this site. But I had to wait for a month or two because damned Yahoo doesn't remember my account anymore. Prolouge Four weeks ago at the top balcony of Canterlot... "Sister, are you sure you are ready to make contact with another living creature?" Luna asks "Yes" Celestia replied with a face full of confidence "But isn't equestria enough? We have everything we need here" "We do. It's just that there might be other living beings like us that need help" "What makes you say that my sister?" "I can feel it and I believe it will be worth sending a few ponies out there" The night sky was interupted by a yellow streak of light that came from Celestia's horn. It shot out past the moon and into the stars. Once it finally left their line of sight, Celestia goes back wishing good night to Luna. Present day My name is Thunder Wind, for my entire life I've been looking forward to become one of the best fliers in all of equestria. For the record, I've won a good amount of gold medals against my competitors but if I compete with the fastest flyer in all of equestria. I'd always come in second or third or fourth. Looking out into the vast landscapes and the beautiful sun, I turn my gaze away to the poster taking up half of my wall. "Wonderbolts". I pushed myself away from the windowsill and started to trot down the front door. When I opened it, I saw a grey mare with a yellow mane. Her eyes were weird, they were always weird but no one seems to care about them. "Hi, Ditsy!" I waved my hoof at her She had a letter in her mouth. "Is that for me?" I pointed my hoof at my chest She nodded. I took the letter into my wing and said my thanks before closing the door. I went to my bed and opened it. It was a letter from the princess. Finally, she accepted me as a volunteer as one of the few ponies to enter this new world. I flew through my window in pure excitement. I knocked on the door of Tulip Blossom. I remember the first time we saw each other was at the Everfree Forest when we were just fillies. We learned a lot about each other during those few hours. Of course, when our parents found us we got a long lesson about not getting off the roads. The door swings open with a gleeful pony on the other side. "You got the letter too?" She asks "I did" I smiled "Yippee!" She pranced at the door She danced around in the same spot while I laughed. The portal's location was in front of the town hall. I count forty volunteers including me and Tulip. We are all getting ready. Some are saying goodbye, others are packing. Over packing. Princess Twilight gave us the signal to enter. Few ponies have galloped into the portal while others were still saying goodbye. Beside me, I can see Tulip trembling. I went up to her and reassured her that everything will be okay. She smiled, nodding at me as I turned to the portal, most of the ponies have entered already. I trot up to the purple and black hole and jumped in. On the other side was a forest full of greenery. I could see earth ponies and pegasi bringing down trees and unicorns setting up camp. In moments, Rose appeared on my left. "So, this is what the other side is like. Peaceful, Clean and full of adventure" "As much as I like to explore, the princess told us to set up camp here first before setting off for a scout trip" "Come on just for a few minutes" She nudged. I sighed "Alright, but we get back as soon as we find something" We were only half a kilometer away before we found something. It was a large wall. Probably twenty ponies high. Before we stepped out of the forest, we heard a loud rumbling to our left. A large moving object with tracks as wheels and a long pipe sticking out on it's top rotatable part. I've never seen anything like this. The loudness came to a stop and so did the large vehicle. It's pipe rotated around until it was aiming at us. I didn't realize that Rose has been tugging me away slowly with her magic. Before I could complain and wriggle out of her, a very loud explosion came from where we were. The sound was absolutely deafening. We retreated back to camp frightened. When we came back, nopony realized that we were gone. Except princess Twilight. Night fell upon our camp. Most ponies didn't even notice it. "How does the sun and moon move without the princesses?" Rose looks up whilst trying to get my attention "I don't know" Just then, there were lights in the sky, then pointing at our camp. We can hear shouts. Soon, everypony is looking at the lights. "Everypony stay back!" Princess Twilight shouts as she brings up a shield to cover the camp. The shouts stop and the lights were doused. There was silence. Until... Woosh... BOOM! The shield implodes as a fast moving object explodes on the shield. A chorus of shouting approached and figures appear from the forest. I can hear what they are saying "Get them!" "Take all of them! "Leave nothing behind!" "Immobolize the ones giving a fight!" From what I can tell, they're not friendly. "Run!" The lavender princess picks herself up and charges her horn releasing a powerful spell to the unknown. Pew! Pew! Pew! Brat-tat-tat, Brat-tat-tat I stood on my fore hooves looking around for Rose. She was lying down. I could see her crying. I galloped towards her and picked her up with my wing and put her on my back. The loud noises were confusing me, it was everywhere. I ran in an unknown direction in the night. Just before I left our campsite I looked back and saw the princess being taken away along with some of the others. She had blood dripping down from her shoulders. With the corner of my eye I could see somepony be stabbed repeatedly. With all this commotion I just want to get out of here. Be safe. After galloping for a long time, I started to become weary. Carrying Rose, I come to a trot. Before I can look around to see if I can find a place to hide, I collapsed.
Chapter 1Meanwhile in the white house... "Mister president I wonder why you have all these creatures in your newly built prison?" "Because we don't know what these things are they seem to be related to a popular fandom before in the internet. Yet I can't be so sure" "Interesting, what can you say about these things mister president?" "Some of them are peaceful, some of them are quite hostile but merciful. They refuse to eat some of the food what we usually give to inmates" "Where did you see these 'ponies'?" "In the forest, I saw them building a small campsite just not far away from here" "One more question president" "Yes?" "Everyone still wants answers. Why did you ban the internet in America and well, everwhere? I'm dying to find out what happened to Markiplier!" The news on the tv went on and on about how they have captured most of us even the princess of friendship and other things that were unrelated to it. I can't believe that happened. I last saw her being dragged all bloody. I just can't believe it. "Hey, chin up. Thinking about that moment again?" Tulip Blossom look to me I looked at her with a long sigh. She understood and continued to watch. The wood creaks behind me. "Oh man, what a party last night. Oh hey Thunder. How's your wing?" I turned towards who spoke and saw our savior. Her name is Jennifer. Rose said it was a weird name but I think it's unique. We've been here for three days. In those days, Rose and I learned from Jennifer about the Human world and all its beauty until chaos ensued from the choices of this president. She even said something about him being worser than another president who tried to build a wall around a specific place. Last night I remember about setting off a firecracker in one of the nearby lakes here. "It's fine Jennifer" I called back Jennifer jumped over the couch and came back to sit on it. I don't know how they sit like that. I remember I have made friends with a pony who sits like that I just don't remember who. "I haven't thought about it but I'd like to know where you came from. Or how you got here?" "We came from a magical land named equestria where friendship is magic. There were no wars in our world. So seeing the war down by camp left us confused and scared." Tulip answered "I see. Oh and Thunder, last night at the party you said that a guard had seen you running in the forest?" "Yes, he didn't chase us. I don't know why. I was exhausted yet he didn't take us. I bet they are looking for us right now. I think-" I felt a sudden surge of panic "I think we need to leave this place. Do you know anywhere we can hide?" I said trying to not sound panicked. "Well, I know places where you can hide but they're most likely haunted" "Hiding won't help. We need to get back to the portal. Last time I saw it, it was crawling with humans but if we do come back to our world we will go straight for help. If the humans haven't figured to enter the portal yet" Tulip entered the conversation "I can arrange a distraction for a few minutes. Should give you enough time to get in" We went for a plan. I flew up the sky until I was hiding behind a cloud. When I touched the cloud my hooves went straight through. Strange, because we pegasi can walk on clouds. As far as we know now, there are a total of eight guarding the portal. Four are next to the portal, there are two next to the front gate and the other two are guarding the flanks. I can carry her with my hooves while I'm flying silently. Jennifer will claim that we were at her house hiding. By noon the plan was set. Jennifer lured four guards out. We flew over the wall. By then we entered the base. I looked all around. The walls were painted in camo from the inside. One side of the base had five green tents. All of them were open. The tents were filled with crates and sleeping bags. The boxes were gray and has a logo of three yellow bullets at the front of it. On top of every crate was what looks like a gun. It's scary looking, even from this distance. When we entered the portal I saw ponies around the portal with Princess Celestia next to portal. Followed by five other important ponies. I knew who these ponies were and I asked the princess what she was going to do. I'm at disbelief "You were going to do what?!" I shouted "You're going to close the portal?!" Tulip shouted with me "You are going to leave princess Twilight alone with the mercy of who knows what we're facing?" I shouted once more "It's much more safer that way, besides princess Twilight should know what to do. She has never failed before" "What will she do? Will she show them kindness and friendship again? It didn't work at all for us" She stayed silent for a while then said "We will find a solution but in that time I suggest you go back to your homes and leave this one to us" I did not want to argue further more to her, instead I looked at her in the eyes. She stayed silent then her eyes went wide. I looked behind me and realized that Tulip went back in the portal. I turned around "No, Thunder!" The princess said Too late. I entered in the portal and four guards were seemingly waiting for me at the other side. I saw Tulip on the floor not moving but twitching. Her chest was bloody, I can see two bullet holes at her side. "Another one!" a grizzly voice boomed behind the mask "Ah shit!" I said Without a moment of thought I took flight. The four of them looked up and took no hesitation to aim their guns towards me. "We got a flyer!" "Get 'im. Get 'im" Tat-tat-tat! Bam! Bam! A bullet grazes through my left flank and another hit me in the chest. My vision started to blacken. Another hit me this time in my rear left. I fell down to the ground with a hard thud.
Chapter 2I woke up trying to get my bearings after I got knocked out from the sky. My vision was blurry but I can make out that I was in a small confined room and laying on concrete with a thin blanket only covering half of me. I tried to find comfort in my pillow but when I lift up my head to fluff it it felt soft and familiar to me. I tried to pick myself up but before I could I see a huge bandaged part in my chest. Guessing they were kind enough to patch me up. I looked to my left and saw a concrete wall and a shattered mirror dangerously beside me. I looked to the right and saw a blanket that looks identical like mine. Behind me I could make out a familiar pony. Peach skin, rose hair, brown eyes. This was definitely Tulip Blossom. "Morning, sleepy head" Tulip smiled at me "Sleepy head? They shot me from the sky" "That was a joke silly" Tulip continued to smile at me but weaker "Not a funny joke that is. Ugh, where are we?" "I don't know but this looks like a prison" "You think that we are in the same prison that president in the news has built?" "I think so" I tried to rise but instead I screamed in agony. What was stinging me on my back? I looked around and saw a few glass shards sticking out from my left shoulder and down to my foreleg. I tried to pull them out with both of my hooves. "Aaaaaaaagh!" I screamed "Stop it. I'll do it" She wrapped her hooves around my right fore leg Her horn glows and magic wraps my hooves and puts it away. Then one glass shard was enveloped in magic and started to slowly move out my body. I bit my lip and tried to not scream. When the first shard was safely removed, Tulip moved onto the second one. This one's a bit shorter than the other one. Before she pulls it she looks to her bed and takes a rag from from her pillow and motions me to put this in my mouth. I shook my head but she opens my mouth with her magic and puts the rag in. I tried to fight it but I was way too weak to even move an inch. The rag is now in my mouth and Tulip started to pull the second glass shard. I screamed but becasue of the rag it sounded muffled. She finally took the shard out. Now for the final one. It was bigger than the other two and it promised me pain. Lots of it. It was half embedded into my skin. When Tulip started to pull it out, blood really started to bleed out of me and when the glass shard has finally been removed I feel pale. It was a miracle that I didn't faint from so much blood loss but I was very weak. Tulip ripped a part of my bed sheet and started wrapping it around my wounded area. It wasn't as clean as it should be but it should do. "Thank you" Tulip looked to me then faced away to the cells across ours "Wha- What happened? Did I say something wrong?" She sat on her haunches. She raises her left fore leg to her eyes. From her posture, she's about to cry. "Hey are you crying?" I tried to sit up but I couldn't. I lay flat on the bed "I shouldn't have come back into the portal. You got worried about me. I'm so sorry" Tulip starts sobbing "Hey hey now" No use. For about the next five minutes she cries. I wanted to just pick myself up and wrap her around my wings. After those full five minutes we both hear a soft voice coming from all around us. "Good afternoon. We will be giving you food shortly. Please be patient" The voice repeated three more times before falling silent. It was a recorded message. A speaker maybe? "What do you think the food's gonna be?" I asked changing the subject "Probably grass... and such" She said in between sobs We were wrong. A human with a blue uniform and black pants came into view and reached out for his backpack. They gave us mashed greens. It looked disgusting at first but it seems not so bad after I tasted it. However, Tulip did not agree. "What is in this stuff?" She examined that green mush "Vegetables and water all in a single paper plate. The food given to me is only enough for the rest of you so don't be begging to ask for more" He turned around to treat the ponies across our cell. "Its as if I'd be asking for more" Tulip glanced at the human before she started eating the mush The hours went by and dinner was coming up it was the same green, disgusting looking clump of food I have ever seen. As night draws in I fell asleep on my bed. For my first few hours here, I need to get out of here. We need to get out of here and maybe when we escape we can come back and free every pony here. *Ding ding ding ding* A loud ringing of a bell woke me up. It's as if a bell was placed next to multiple megaphones and someone hits it like there was no tomorrow. Breaking the bell in the process. "WAKEY WAKEY!! RISE AND SHINE" a happy cheerful voice voiced through the speaker "GET UP AND GET OUT OF YOUR CELLS YOU WILL BE ESCORTED TO THE PARK FOR A ROLECALL" "Oh, what time is it?" Tulip yawned "I think it's very early in the morning" I looked if there were any windows in our cells but there were none. A guard rolls up to our cell and starts opening it. He gestures his hand to move to the door of to the right. We were out of that cell and outside. But there was something off about outside. The sun seems to be dim, The clouds are not moving and the grass doesn't smell or look like grass. A sign next to a flowing 'river' says: "Do not piss in the fresh water" Whatever this place is, it's definitely not outside. "What is this place?" I looked around trying to understand where we are. The 'outside' is just a large room with a dim light to be the sun. The only source of light is surrounded with bright yellow paint. The clouds are just white paint pasted onto the walls and ceilings. The grass is fake and the 'fresh water' that's running through a small river between the fake grass is murky. Probably a few rats have taken a dump in there. All of us were told to sit in the middle of the 'field'. Three prison guards stood next to each other facing us all. One guard took a step forward. "Alright, shit heads. As you all may know I am Nicholas Steen. Call me Nick" A prison guard yelled out "We're going to inspect your cells this morning, so every single contraband item will be confiscated and you will be sent to Hell's door for your punishment. If you attempt to fight us we will shoot you down until the last drop of your own blood falls from your body into the grass. Or whatever the fuck the green fake shit is." "Prisoner #23, #38 and #17. Your belongings have been confiscated. Please directly head to the Job listings. Do not try to resist you already know what happens" In the middle of the crowd a young mare stood up and started yelling. She then rushed up to Nick but was soon stopped by the bullets that went right into her, piercing and hitting a few more ponies sitting behind her. The mare tried to crawl up to Nick with eyes filled with anger. Nick just smirked and put a bullet through her eye. "Sweet Celestia!" I shivered Most ponies have shouted in fear too. Some cried. One even pleaded to join her dead sister. She got what she wanted. "Anymore? All right, #38 and #17 follow me. The rest of you, go back to your cells and when that's over, expect even less rations. Remember, field day's tomorrow. Better get those legs working if you don't want to get shot" Nick leaves with the other prison guards followed by two other ponies. I stood in shock and horror. My body was clearly not responding to me. I've dealt with Tulip's Job in being a medical pony but this amount of blood was too much. I shook my head furiously trying to snap out of it. I looked to my side, Tulip has fainted during the execution. I took Tulip by my wing and started walking her towards our cell. I lay her on her bed giving her my blanket giving her the warmth she needs and looked out to the other cell. The other cell was not as similar to ours. It was longer, it had two ponies inside but it had five blankets. One was looking up to the ceiling while one was not moving. It looked like it's flesh was decaying and a flew flies have been buzzing around it. 'That pony is dead' I thought. The dead pony was a pegasus. I could tell by it's tiny bones sticking out from it's sides. Few bits of flesh have been hanging from the bones. The pony looking up finally noticed me looking at his cellmate. "Oh, hi there. You're new here ain't ya?" The stallion asked. He was an orange colored earth pony with a leather jacket. His cutie mark is a revolver with a jail cell. Before answering he said "Ah know ah way out of here. Ya interested?" "Yeah, Does it have a catch though?" "A catch? No, ah just want to make sure every pony safely escape this wretched place. Food rations are going to be extremely strict when ponies refuse to do their daily tasks. Then when the prison cells become fed up of us ponies then they will stop giving us food. We will starve until the population slightly lessens then the food will come back. Poor Cotton had sacrificed herself to feed all four of us. I don't want that to happen to anypony else" He looks to the skeleton with a frown in his face "Ah'm sorry Cotton. Anyways, there are no catches but it's risky getting outta of here" "How did you get here? Were you a volunteer too? I didn't see you in Ponyville" "Ya didn't know? Not one portal was released but three. One in ponyville, another in appleloosa and the last one in cloudsdale. Ah was in the Everfree forest that time when ah heard Princess Luna ride up with Flutters beside her. Ah volunteered along with the rest of my friends and we stepped through the portal. We couldn't bring any weapons so getting captured was inevitable. We tried kicking them but their armor was tough. We couldn't fight back" The earth pony stops and puts his fore hooves on his face "Cotton broke her leg and couldn't walk anymore. We were surrounded and we had no choice but to comply or die. When ah first tried to escape with Haze Glow ah couldn't reach the nearby vent somewhere 'outside'. Ah tried to make everyone escape at the same time. We did the same plan again and tried to enter the same vent but it has been boarded shut with metal bars and nails. Ah tried to kick the metal bars down but it was too strong. The only escape plan was to make it to the entrance of the prison. When the entrance was in sight we were ambushed and were sentenced to maximum security. Luckily there were no max security cells in this prison yet. But if any of us were caught in escaping we were to be punished by pulling a large shipment of whatever the hell was in there. Hell, I don't even know if I'll survive the next punishment. The load gets heavier each time it feels like Ah'm carrying the souls of the damned. Are ya in or not?" "I sure am. But, a few questions, I know that there were three portals that have been released just not four. I'm also worried about Tulip here. Will you keep us safe?" "First, maybe ya didn't get the message properly and second, ah can assure you that both of you will escape. Ah will provide a distraction for the both of you. When you hear the sirens run. Get away from this place as far as you can. Ah will only provide a few minutes before finally getting caught" "You've got a deal. What's the plan?" "We'll talk tomorrow when field day is out. Ah know ah place where we can safely talk out there" Meanwhile... "You think anymore will pop up?" A heavily armored guard stood next to the portal pointing his gun at the portal "It's night time and I want to have my well deserved sleep for fuck's sakes" "If I read the general's orders again and leave the portal unattended without extra firepower then we can end up having a gaggle of them right here, right now" Another heavily armored guard points his finger at the first guard "What did the orders say again?" The second guard sighed "It said-" *Fwoosh* The portal lights up and a white alicorn stepped into the human world. "Oh shit another one" the second guard shouts Before the guards can fire at the alicorn. The white alicorn built up a shield protecting her from the incoming bullets. The bullets come into contact with the shield but they bounce off it. Some bullets even reflecting towards the guards. "Enough!" Boomed the alicorn "You have been given a chance and yet you still think violence is the answer?" Her horn glows into this large orb of yellow and aims her horn to the guards. Magical sparks spread around the guards making them fall flat of their faces and backs. One guard looks up to the white princess... "What are you?" ...before going unconcious. "My princess, is everything alright out there?" A voice came through the portal Celestia moved the unconcious bodies away from the portal into one of the green tents. She then closed the tent and threw their guns in a unknown direction. "Yes, everything is alright out here. I just told the landowners here that we'll be borrowing this place for a while" "Okay, we'll be coming out right now. Tell them that there are a lot of us here" "Oh don't worry, I got that covered" Celestia smirks. By day time, the ponies have completely taken the base and started making temporarily homes in the base. Meanwhile back at the prison... "Where is he?" I looked around the field full of trotting ponies yet I couldn't see the orange colored pony. "Psst, Ah'm over here!" he whispers I looked over my shoulder to see a very familiar pony under a wooden cart. "Hey! Over here" he starts to louden his voice to get my attention "How did they not even know your here? Your voice sounds shady and you're not even whispering" I whispered "That's because they don't care what we're talkin' about. They think we're just talking about our families and friends back in equestria" I look to the field where ponies should have been trotting. Instead, they've stopped in there tracks and started talking to each other. I see one, two, six crying. One is stomping on the ground angrily and four others started talking to the prison guards standing next to the door back into the prison. That didn't end up well when one of the guards shoved a mare with the end of his gun. The four trotted back to the field stopping nearby to talk to each other. "I see" "Anyways, the plan is this. The way out is to the front door but ah did manage to see a vent somewhere 'round here" He looks around and I follow suit "Down there, that's where the vent is" He points his hoof to the vent beside the river. The vent looks half open and it could probably fit one and a half ponies inside. The vent seems to be ignored by everyone in the field. "When night comes you'll need to cut the steel bars with this file" He picks up a file with his mouth and drops it to my hooves. I've usually seen in movies when the good guy or gal gets in jail he or she uses a file to get out. "Ah'm coming with you tonight" *Ding ding ding* The bell rings and the cheerful voice echoes throughout the entire prison. I looked away to the speaker just above the entrance door. Heads turn towards the speaker. "LUNCH TIME. IT'S LUNCH TIME!! GO BACK TO YOUR CELLS TO GET YOUR FOOD. IF YOU DON'T MANAGE TO GET TO YOUR RESPECTIVE CELLS YOU WILL NOT GET YOUR SHARE OF FOOD!! AHAHAHAHAHA! HEEHEEHEEHEEHEEEeeee!" I look back at him "We better get moving then" I said
Chapter 3The food rations are getting smaller than ever. Tulip insisted on giving me some of her mush because of my cuts but I refuse. Three little cuts won't stop me would it? And also I think this is her trying to give most of her mush to me. While we were waiting for night time to come up. We tried to entertain ourselves by playing a game of hide and seek. Although you might have guessed it that there wasn't anything to hide their except for Rose's invisibility spell. Somehow, this led Tulip to talk about what happened when I was still knocked out. "They threw me into the cell first then you. But they threw you into a mirror and shut the gate" "Why didn't you remove the shards when I was still out cold?" I could see her trembling and trying to not cry "I can't focus at that time. I was so busy hating myself for going back to the portal and worrying both you and the princesses-" With this tears start to treckle down on her muzzle "Hey now" I say as I put a wing around her "Everything is gonna be fine. I've found a ticket out of here" "I'm just so sorry. I should've just never entered that portal-" "Shh, shh alright? Everything's gonna be fine" I reassured her Night fell, as soon as dinner was done I took the file that I kept under my wing and started cutting the cell bars. Then, a soft yellow glow enveloped the file and started to cut on its own. Just before the cell bar clanked to the ground, Tulip stopped it before it fell. We were both out and now, to help our helper. She started sawing the steel bar until it had become loose. The earth pony stood out of the cell and turned towards Tulip. "Name's Shining Oak. M'lady" "Glad to meet you" They both shook hooves. With our new acquaintance by our side. We enter the field. The room was pitch black. There is no other source of light other than the prison's inside lights. Then, Tulip's horn glowed creating a glow of yellow giving out a faint light we need to see better. "There, the vent" I said whispering "Everypony get in. Move it" Shinning Oak barked As Tulip entered the vent she turned to look at Oak "You have no sense in being stealthy. No wonder you haven't even escaped yet" She stared at Oak Yet, Shinning Oak stood completely still bringing up one eyebrow staring back at her. Tulip deeply sighs and turned towards the vent. *Clunk* *Scratch* *Scree* The vents squealed. We were making too much noise. Well Oak, he was making too much noise. "Hey, you're gonna give out our position" I whispered loudly "Sorry" Oak said not whispering at all "I just don't like to be sneaky" We came across an intersection. Oak said to take a turn to the left so we headed there. He also needed to check on something. Something important he said. I wonder what that is. We went to a T-Junction next and Oak said that he'll need to go to the left and do whatever he's doing while we continue going to the right. Wishing us good luck we crawl the opposite direction that he went. We are outside. The sky was dark and the moonlight only provided a small amount of light. The outside looks like the same back inside but without the ceiling. We could easily fly out of here if it wasn't for those spotlights. Then, there were footsteps. Coming closer to us. We headed back to the vent and quickly shut the trapdoor. They were no doubt the security guards of this prison. By the time they've walked into view an alarm went off at the other side of the building. The security guards took off to that direction. This was our chance to escape. I opened the trapdoor and helped Rose climb out. "Agh!" Intense pain came from my bandaged shoulder suddenly. How unfortunate of me Tulip looked at me worried again "Don't worry about me. Let's hurry, that distraction is our only chance to escape" The wall was at least more than twenty ponies high. Higher than the last wall we saw back near camp. We couldn't climb up that far. I flapped my wings. My cut made me wince but I can fly, I'm just don't know if I'll be able to carry Tulip "Thunder, are you sure you are able carry me when you fly us over the wall? I can float myself up there if I have to" "Yeah, I'll be fine" I reassured her I took flight and wrapped Rose by her body. The alarms abruptly stopped. Oak didn't last very long. By the time I was halfway up the wall a spotlight saw us. Alarms started blaring again. "Oh shit!" I flapped my wings harder but that only led me hurting myself. Bullets shot right to us. "Ahhhhh!" I hear Tulip shouting as a bullet pierces through her right flank and two hitting her right side. "Shit!" *Bang* "Ackkk!" A bullet hits my back and another barely hits me in the head. I saw the bullet flew past next to me and hit the prison wall. When we got over the wall, I can hear multiple voices shouting in the darkness. I coudn't handle it any longer, I made a hard landing outside. The ground outside was sand. I can't see any nearby trees or any mountains to take shelter with. I tried to get myself back up but I couldn't. I moaned, it hurts so much. Yellow magic wrapped around me and floated me closer to Tulip. We both stayed there for a while. Even with the sirens whiring and alarms ringing we stayed there motionless, helpless maybe even dead. Was I dead? I moved a muscle. Nope, I was not dead but I refused to be alive right now. I started to try and get up. My body didn't want to. Because of that, I crawled a little bit closer to Tulip and lay beside her. Her entire right side was bloody. "Hey, you awake still?" Nothing. She's still be breathing just slowly. "Well we did it. We made it out of here" "Just not alive" I heard her murmur "You don't know that" *Click* A small beam of light shown our location in the dark. My vision became blurry and I started to lose focus. Darkness filled my eyes as I drift off into unconsciousness.
Chapter 5Flying over the destroyed buildings I finally reach the top of the tower. The scene is as same as before only the ponies were missing this time. The bonfire was five logs leaning close to each other forming a star shape from above. I swoop down and landed on my four hooves. There was a really big stain between the bonfire and the makeshift kitchen that is made out of scrapped wood and metal. In the middle of the blood stain there lay a single revolver. I had a difficult time opening its chamber but managed to get a quick look. The gun was empty, all it had was a small beeping red light. I quickly galloped and dove behind the bonfire but nothing happened. I came back with caution holding up the revolver with a hoof and a wing. I brought it over to the side of the tower and tossed it. After a while of looking at the falling gun I looked at staircase behind the kitchen. Once I took one step to the staircase. Bullets fired past me from behind. I take a look behind me and saw a helicopter just hovering above the tower its side open and one figure holding one huge gun aimed to me. My muscles tense at the sight of it. "Stay where you are. Don't move a muscle or else you might end up loosing your muscles" My wings twitched. I wanted to fly away so bad but I don't think I'd want to get shot again. Without thinking, I fled down the stairs. Bullets fired past me as I ran. A bullet grazes me on my left cheek and my neck but I was in a panic I didn't have time to whine and cry. Thrashing around furniture that was in my way. I escaped the helicopter. With a clear sense of thought and a feeling that everything's gonna be okay. The first thing I looked at was the staircase. Then up the staircase. I must've went down five or six floors in such a hurry that I barely even noticed. I looked around the corridor and I can tell that this building is a hotel. Before whatever hell this place came through. I entered the nearest door from the staircase. Room #356. As I entered the room was large, paintings covered the left wall as if I was in an exhibit. To my right was a huge bed maybe possible to have most of my friends fit there and there was a huge window at the opposite side of the room. I gasped in awe as the orange sun came into view of the window. It was almost night time. Looking around, I lay on the huge bed. The bed was slightly dirty as I begin to jump on it. At one foot of the bed there were closed luggage next to the king-sized bed. I tried to open the lock but I couldn't. Instead, I started bashing the lock open with the only tool I have. It worked miraculously and inside the briefcase was a set a black hoodies. I tried putting them on me and one of them that is just too large, another one too small and this hoodie that is just the right size for me. I liked it so I decided to keep it on me. The warmth of the hoodie was comforting. Like I was just in a sauna but not that hot. Damn it, now I want to go back to ponyville and get a sauna but the prices is just a little bit over my budget. As I looked out the window once more, something blocked my view. The helicopter again. It's motor blades blew wind through my face. The bullets started to sweep the room flinging paintings and rip through the bed. I ducked just in time when that happened. I fled back to the staircase but mid-way it was stopped short when an explosion caught me off guard and rang my eardrums. As I regain my sense of hearing. I was looking at the helicopter. The gun aimed at me once again. I looked to my right. There was another room with the room name #366. I quickly picked myself up and barged in the room before the gun started firing at my direction. With the bullets ripping through the room like butter I galloped towards the window quickly turning to my side and smashed the glass. I opened my eyes and felt the wind blow against my mane and my brain finally understood that I was plummeting down. I tried to stabilize myself but only ended up getting dizzy. I tried again and this time I flew. I was just inches above the ground. My heart started pounding heavily until it calmed. I hid at a shop near my location to seek for shelter. The sign on top of the shop was "7-11" with the number 7 underlapping the words 'ELEVEN'. To my surprise, Sean was there too searching for goodies. "Thunder? What happened to you?" Sean asked shockingly looking at all my cuts He inspects the cuts first then he sizes me up and takes a good look at my hoodie "Where'd you get that hoodie?" He points the hoodie then puts his hands on his sides "In an old suitcase I found in the building. There was one that almost looked like it could fit you" "You'd want to remove it though people might mistakenly call you a loner" "Does it matter anymore?" "No" Accompanying Sean we both scavenge both useful and useless. Sean was searching behind the counter then let out a triumph yelling: "We're rich" He is looking at the cash register with a big smile on his face. Boom Thunder roared outside. The rain trickled down one intact window of the shop. It's gonna be one hell of a night. As I bunker down I hear gunshots. I hid behind the counter. The sound scared me still to this day. I never heard what a gun sounded like before, the way a bullet can pierce through skin, where innocent ponies or humans get shot down. Now I know now. I cried on the floor for probably less than 2 minutes until Sean picked me up and cradled me. I did not like the way others treated me as a child or gave me one too many cautions. But this, I needed this. The horror was too much. Meanwhile in the location of the first portal... "There are humans coming princess. What shall we do?" "Guard the main entrance. Once they start firing, attack. Do not attempt to reason" the white coated princess replied "Yes your highness" The royal guard left the briefing room or what was once a briefing room before it got raided. Princess Celestia pondered on the table until her younger sister came in. "Sister! My base at appleloosa has been overrun. I had to close the portal before more humans came" "What happened to Applejack?" Princess Luna lowered her voice in sadness. "She saved me from a bullet. I saw her get taken and all the others that's the last thing I saw before leaving" Princess Celestia sighed then looked at one of the glass pane windows. The rain outside was heavy and thunder erupted the silence "How was the report on searching for Twilight today before you got overrun?" "We are certain that they have kept Twilight in a large building. Preferably a prison. It is approximately 73 miles away from here though" "Is there a portal that is nearer?" "There is, the one in cloudsdale. But as you said, the clouds are not the same here" The older princess stands up and walks toward Princess Luna. "Send the best fliers out there. I will be with them" She walks past Princess Luna "Take good care of my people okay?" she added before walking out the room *** "Where are we going now?" I asked after jumping over a puddle "To a trading area. That's where I get my things. I usually bargain and plead for the things I need but this?" He holds up the bag of bills with faces printed on them "That won't be a problem. I'm gonna need to get there so I can fix the holes in the safe room then re-reinforce the door then probably if I get more wood in one of my later scavengings I might just make a landing platform in my apartment. If you didn't know already then a hammer and nails are one of the most essential things in protecting yourself, your most valuable professions and others" "But you can't fix the holes in your heart" Sean stops then continues anyway "That's true. I couldn't save them. Hey Thunder... wait... No, nevermind" "What's wrong?" I picked up my pace "Nothing" The noise we only hear are from our footsteps stepping onto rocks and wires. I stopped when I noticed a large banner stapled to a building nearby. 'The Red Dragons'. There were two trucks right next to the entrance. "What's that?" I pointed a hoof at it "The red dragons?! Shit they moved? We need to go" "Why?" "They're dirty bastards that's why" I crouched. We weaved through broken down cars and fallen down lamp posts. Scouting from debris I looked at one of the trucks. One human dressed in red and black came from the building to the back of the truck and opened its contents. From what I hear after that was a lot of muffled voices and crying. The human came inside and took two ponies from the truck. They were both whimpering and crying. The human then closed the door. He walked back to the building. When he came back out again he saw me. He shouted and pointed at me. I hid behind the car even though it won't help me as much. I looked over to Sean who is quietly scavenging one of the cars with a huge hole at the side of it. I trotted beside him and motioned him to move. He nodded and we started moving away from our old location. Fwoosh! Boom! Behind us chunks of cars and concrete fly. Some of the chunks were heading in our direction and we can't dodge it if we're moving this slow. So we ran and ran. Until we were way ahead of range from them. From minutes of walking we come upon a T-Junction with a large building catching my eyes. It had large holes on it's right. It looked like it was sliced multiple times exposing more of it. On the very top was large printed letters that I can't make out on. There were logs scattered almost everywhere. I assumed this place had trees but because of the chaos, not a single tree is unharmed. "Ah, this place really brings back memories" Sean takes his backpack off and sits down on a wooden stump admiring the half exposed building "What is this place?" I pointed a hoof towards the building "It's a convention center. The place where I used to go to before all of this happened" He raises his arms then flops it back down.
Chapter 6On the clouds the portal sits in the middle of Cloudsdale. Every pegasus is warming up for the mission Princess Celestia made and on top of that she is going to be with them today. Everypony is excited and they wait until the princess gives her signal. Princess Celestia however, was not in a good mood. "Are you alright your majesty?" One of the volunteers ask "Yes, I am" Princess Celestia sighed deeply "Still worried about Twilight?" "Much more than that. I'm worried about my ponies, Ripper" Ripper looked away from her and looked into the purple and black portal below them. Ripper stood up and flew away to meet up with the others. Celestia looked at the sky for a brief moment before standing up and telling everypony that the scouting is about to begin. Some pegasi have started to become nervous and others have been trying to keep confidence high. But there was only one who didn't have a single one of those. Rainbow Dash was soaring through the sky with a big grin on his face. "Oh yeah! When I get in there I will kick those foalnapper's butts" The crowd was lively once again. Most ponies have shaken off their fears. Then Rainbow noticed somepony in the crowd. She flew down to see Scootaloo looking up at her "You will come back right?" Scootaloo asks as she tries to not cry "I'll be fine. Besides, how would they catch me?" She raises her wings for everypony to see. "Promise?" Scootaloo asks before whimpering "I promise" Rainbow comforted her Then Celestia moved to the front of the portal. She called out to the volunteers "On the count of three!" All the pegasi have turned to the princess "One" They ready their wings "Two" "Three" All of the volunteers including Celestia have gone through the portal. Minutes past until Sean and Thunder Wing has finally entered Bronycon Thunder Wing looked around him. Broken shops and stands have been fixed with pieces of scrap metal and poles. The lights above them are shattered and there were humans and ponies walking alongside each other everywhere. Sean stops at a stand with nuts, screws, bolts and nails alongside with an open toolbox overflowing with tools. He fumbles in his backpack and hands out canned beans and a few paper bills. The shop keeper, wearing a green jacket and camo-pants, took the can and money in exchange for two small boxes of nails. Sean thanks the shop keeper and went in a direction further into the half exposed structure. He motions me to follow him and so I did. Around me, were ponies either half-covered in bandages or recovering. On one corner of the room, Sean is talking to a man with a full grown beard and wearing a poncho. "Are you bringing in another pony?" The man pointed at me "A pegasus ay? That's rare to see" "No, I'm asking if you've seen a female unicorn with peach skin and rosy hair" The man scratches his beard for a second before answering "I did see one. But she is long gone. She was being taken by the yellow tigers a few hours ago" "The yellow tigers... How far is it from here?" Sean asks "About 2 miles at least" "Two?" "Sorry pardner, it's a long walk from here to them" I sat down and hung my head. How are we going to walk two miles when I can't even finish my exercise quota back in ponyville? I really didn't think my lack of exercise would bite me back. "How about if we fly?" I chipped in "Thunder, you know I can't fly" Sean stretches his hands out and pretending to flap wings. "Don't worry. I've got a mode of transportation right here" The man uncovers a small pile of debris behind him. There were two scooters both colored in bright blue. They each had a small basket made of bright oak to their front. "These girls are very maneuverable in the harsh debris. For you Sean, this time it's for free" "Uh, Thanks for the offer but we-" "I'll take one" I interrupted him "Wonderful choice. Although I don't see why you would need a scooter when you have wings" He handed me the scooter. I made a spin around the room. Avoiding all the wounded ponies. The wind blowing through my mane made a feeling when I was back in equestria controlling the weather. "Woowee! This is amazing" I stopped right at Sean's feet Sean's arms were cross but the grin on his face made me feel happy. To our left a pony cried out of pain and the man in the poncho came to him or her. I can hear silent whispers from them. Out of curiosity I trotted next to him. Sean did to. "Is it okay now?" The man asked the pink pony She only whimpered but nodded eventually. I examined her thoroughly. Three large bandage covered in red stains were enough to gag me already. Her hooves were sore and bleeding. Her sides were I assume cuts. Luckily, the bleeding has stopped but she's still weak. On her left side was the same print that was on the mare we found dead in the safehouse. "Red... What does that mean?" I asked pointing the stamped fur and another to my chin "Means that the red dragons have disposed of her. Fortunately, a few scouts have found her before she died" "Ah. But what's the use of the stamp?" "So that when they scout for more ponies they aren't gonna get the same one" We left Bronycon with a new goal: to find the Yellow Tigers and rescue Tulip Blossom. At the T-junction, Sean told me that he'll come back to the safe house to reinforce the hole in the floor and the door. I agreed but before we could part ways. A fast gust of air left us landed on our backs and followed by wisps of wind. Looking up, I saw a rainbow slowly fading. Sean looks at the rainbow with me "Was that Rainbow Dash?" "Looks like it" I flew up until I was high above the city. The rainbow trail seems to be going to the opposite direction we were heading. I tried to call out for them but they didn't hear it. They were too far already. I flew back down next to Sean. "Did you manage to get their attention?" "No. They seem to be distracted by someone or somepony" Sean ponders for a second before talking back "Well, I'll be going now. You take care now" Sean puts his backpack on him before walking away "Yeah, you too" Tulip is only two miles away. Approximately four hours between here and there. As the few minutes pass, I became quite bored of the scooter. I looked around me to find something that would help me make some fun out of. Fun comes first before mission after all. My eyes catch a pharmacy just across the street. Through the broken slide doors, it's lights are busted and the shelves are thrashed. In the middle of the store lay a wooden chest. It barely fits in the aisle. The lock was rusted with a green note sticking at its front. "If you want the goods, then you need to earn the goods -Green Eagles" I searched around trying to find something that will break the lock. On the counter I found a screwdriver and some pins, seeing that I grabbed them both only to realize I don't know how to pick a lock. I frowned and put them back on the counter. Looking back, I take the screwdriver because it's the only weapon I can find here. I enter the storage room. It's rather small for a large store like this. Eyeing at the taped cardboard boxes I pull the screwdriver under my wing and start to cut it. It didn't take long until the cardboard box opened and I took a look inside. The contents of the box were painkillers lots of them, some snacks and cereal bars and a few bottles of water. I took a cereal bar and started ripping the wrapper off. I ate the crunchy cereal bar in three bites. I looked back down at the cardboard box more closely. There were bundles of cereal bars and a hidden cigarette pack under them. I took a bottle of water and opened it with my teeth. After sipping, I figured I'd put the scavenged snacks and water when I leave. Taking snacks and placing them on the basket is quite tiring even though it's just a small distance. As I make my final trip, I looked back at the aisle where the wooden chest lay. Examining the chest I trot behind it and saw a hole. There goes my curiosity of whatever was in there. But when I approached the chest it started to emit this glowing purple light. I crouched down to look for the light source and I saw a purple diamond-like gem sitting in a glass box container. I reached out for the gem. The gem was glowing brighter and brighter when I pulled it closer to me. When the glass box was finally outside the chest. I looked into it. The gem was on top of a wooden foundation the size of the glass box. The foundation had an engraving on it that says: "Subject #01 interrogation please handle with care" Outside, I can hear screams and gunfire just a short distance from here. I kept the parcel under my wing. There was no way I'd be staying here for long. Satisfied with my choice to keep the cereal bars and water bottles I move on. In the next intersection I cross was a slaughter. I counted at least seven bodies, all of them in a camo uniform with a vest with the word 'Police', in the middle and long trails of blood leading from the middle to their respective owners. I gagged but not enough to make me vomit. The dead humans were armed judging by the huge guns that they were holding. One was full to the brim with explosives. Between all the blood and bullets scattered around the intersection. There was one trail of blood that caught my interest. It was leading to a bar with cracked glass windows and a glass door with multiple cracks and an obvious struggle happened with the lock seeing as the knob of the door has been hacked straight off from the door. The blood trail goes behind a counter. When I approached the floor below me squeaked and a voice came behind the counter. "Alright! You got me. You got me. I'm coming out now" I expected a human criminal or one of the gangs out living in those buildings but what came out was a pony. A unicorn stallion with a yellow coat and a bright green and green patterned mane. He is stained in blood both his and not his. He looks at me wide eyed. "Oh thank fuck. I thought I'd never see another fellow pony. You are not going to kill me are you?" "No, I'm not" I said "Finally, somepony who I can trust after a week" he says wearily I inspect him. He was limping the time when he faced me. He had bandages strapped around his entire chest. The bandage was tattered. He also had multiple slices in his chest region. One of the cuts were huge. Probably made by a sharp object. Maybe a machete. His knees were trembling in fact, his entire body is trembling by the amount of blood he is losing. "You okay there?" I asked him, he just slowly shook his head "Here, let me treat your wounds. I'm an amatuer" He didn't say anything. He fell onto his knees before slowly laying on his side. I didn't think twice but look for medical supplies somewhere in the bar. Lucky for me, I found a first aid kit just across me and my patient. I unraveled the adhesive bandage and luckily there were no open wounds under it. The chest area was the one I'm worried about. I opened the first aid kit and started to work. I worked on it immediately. I sat there then looked around looking for a bathroom. Behind us were two restrooms. One had a symbol of a stick figure and the other had an extra triangle in its body. It didn't matter to me at all. I helped him as we slowly trot up to one of the restrooms. Once there, I laid him back on his side and trot upon one of the sinks. I bit the faucet and turned the handle. Water was splashing around me. I wet my hooves and laid them onto the injured unicorn. He groaned but didn't move. I massaged the cut and added pressure to stop the bleeding, The unicorn winced but ignored it. Looking into the kit I grabbed the antibacterial bottle in my teeth and put it between my hooves then opening it with my teeth. I opened the bottle and started to put the oily liquid next to the wound then to the wound itself. The unicorn wriggled around then stopped. I took a clean bandage from the kit into my mouth and started to wrap him up. I kept the bandage in place then tied it. As my first time doing this to somepony else it felt good. Doing these kinds practices over and over again in a training area for years in the best hospital of all of equestria is just insanely boring. "You should be good to go now" I gently tapped my fore hoof to his chest "Thank you for that" He waved his hoof at me I breathed a sigh of relief. I looked for supplies in the bar. All I could find was a stock full of beer and wine in the back rooms and a strange long box with a golden lock I found in a room just beside the restrooms. "Let me see that" The unicorn slowly walked to me and lifted it up with telekinesis. His tired red eyes looked at the lock and looked at me. "Do you happen to have a screwdriver on you and a pin?" I lifted up my left wing and grabbed the screwdriver with my teeth. "I have a screwdriver just no pins" "Eh, this'll do" He wraps his light green magic on the screwdriver and starts to work on the lock. I looked away going back to search for supplies. For minutes, I thought he'd just given up on the lock and started to search around like me but then I heard a loud click reverberating the bar. Inside the large box was a long gun. I've never seen a single gun this large. I only knew the pistols or the revolvers. But not this kind. "Ooh! Me likey!" The unicorn wraps the long gun with his magic. "What's it called?" "It's called a shotgun. One pull from this trigger at point blank and your victim would just be a clump of blood lying on the floor" He raises the gun at eye level and points it to the wine bottles. Bang! The bottles explode from the blast. The recoil was extremely powerful even the unicorn stumbled back. "Has it really been that long since I first held a gun?" He checks himself then the gun dangerously pointing at him to him. He sees this and points it somewhere else safe. Again, he doesn't look like one of the volunteers I saw back at camp so I asked him. "Where did you come from?" "I came from one of the portals like you silly" "Then where was the portal located?" "Erhm..." He looked around probably thinking for an answer There we go. I didn't need anything after that "You're not one of the volunteers aren't you?" I finally broke the silence "Okay, you got me. I am not one of the volunteers of the princesses" The unicorn sighs "I was not a pony before" I raised an eyebrow "I lived one peaceful life, training myself to become one of the best marksman in the world but this happens and that dream is forever lost to the sea. Because I don't think I will get hired in this" He looks at himself "If you were not a pony before, then what were you?" "A human"
Chapter 4I wake up in a scorched apartment filled with foggy atmosphere. I stretched out my wings forgetting that I had been shot multiple times in the air. I yawned. I looked around while I lay in bed. Beside me was Tulip. She's snoring. I see a clear white cloth wrapped around her right flank with a large spot of blood in the middle of the wrapped cloth. Looking at this, I quickly looked at my left shoulder. It was mummified with a white clean cloth. So is half of me. Whoever who took care of us really wanted us alive, I wanted to stand up to look at my surrounding better but the warmth of where I'm laying on is so good. I don't want to leave at all. I haven't slept in good beds for the last two days. I look farther to my left. There was a door frame but no sight of where the actual door went. Everything else in the room was junk. The only two windows in this room are boarded up. *Clank* A noise followed by a voice came from the left of us. I quickly stood up and headed for the noise quietly. In the other room was a tad bit lighter with two monitors at the back of the room. A wide open hole at the side of the apartment to the left and a boarded up stair and door to the right. I see a human figure next to the monitors picking up something from the ground. It seems to be watching a video from the monitors. The wooden floor squeaked and that made the figure turn its head around. I quickly hid behind the wall. The footsteps came closer then stopped at the doorway. It grunted and shrugged and continued picking up what was at the ground. I looked back to Rose. She's still fast asleep. She's so cute when she sleeps. I quietly snuck past the door frame and headed towards the figure. As I opened my wings for take off just to knock him out, the figure said. "Don't even try, If you attack me all of my turrents will incapcitate you. If you flee I will shoot you myself" A low voice came from him. He pushed a button on his keyboard and lasers start to point at me. About four turrents are trained at me. I tried to shrug off my fear and asked him how did he find us. "You're scared aren't you? I can hear the tremble in your voice. You know, these monitors are not here for entertainment" He pushes three keys and the two monitors change screens "All six of these monitors were all functioning and scanning for anyone to tell that my safehouse is completely danger-proof. I saw you on the outskirts of the holding prison. It's lucky I found you on time. The other four monitors were down because of those bastard curfews that just roam around the streets 24/7. The amount of damage that these curfews caused a lot. Just look outside for example" I trot to look out the huge hole where a corner should have been. I looked outside the huge hole and saw destruction everywhere. Burning buildings, fallen trees and bodies and blood just scattered everywhere. "The streets were filled with guards everyday slaughtering us and your species" Then I saw a few rotting corpses all around the building. A few were ponies while most of them are humans. The streets just outside the apartment were painted with blood. The sight was very horrific. I just stood there my jaw dropping in horror. I sat down on my haunches thinking about the lives these people had until. I don't know how much time was passed when the human talked again "Hey, it's been three minutes. Thinking about something?" I looked behind me. He has brown hair with white skin. He has a torn gray T-shirt with the words 'Just Do It' and pants that seems to be sliced multiple times. He also wears sneakers with stained blood on every inch of his shoes. "Nothing" I said "I know that expression. You're hiding something in there" I sighed "Just knowing that most of the ponies are my friends make it..." I trailed off into my thoughts and lay down and looked out into the horizon He sat next to me. His feet dangling off the edge. I will never know how we could sit like him. "Ahhhh, I see. I had friends too" He points down the street to what looks like a pharmacy. "Sadly, they've died in that building over there. I took shelter in this wreckage" He says in a straight face He looks up and down and finally stared at me with a frown "When I first encountered the military. What's weird to me is that when they saw me they didn't try to shoot me. When they stepped closer, I panicked and ran. They didn't run after me either. Until I realized that..." He puts his right hand to his pocket and showed me an ID. It read 'Bronycon 2023'. "I forgot that it was on my neck and I think that this is the reason they didn't want to shoot me. Maybe because, Ah! I get it now" He stands up and raised his arms "I've fooled them!" I looked at him "How could a single ID fool them?" "Because they think I know your species so much that they think that I'm important. It makes so much sense now." I look back outside "I don't get you" I said with a cross face "You see, Bronycon is a place where people can share their feelings to one another with the help of technicolored cartoon horses. The word 'Brony' is a combination of 'bro' and 'pony'. If you're wondering what the word 'Brony' is. What I mean is that Bronycon is a place dedicated to your world" "An entire place dedicated to... my world?" "Yep pretty much. Do you have something similar to this?" "Well there is one-" "You mean Lyra?" He cut me off "How did you know that?" I look in confusion at him "Just one lucky, lucky guess" He trails off again and looks out. In the distance I can make out a crate with a parachute strapped on it. "Would you look at that. We've got a supple crate" He continues A box strapped with the parachute slowly fell from the sky. I turned my head to him. The human rushes back to his monitor and grabs a backpack. Then rushes to a metal door reinforced with nails and streets signs. He turns back to look at me. "I'll be back soon. Watch yourself and your partner. And do NOT go anywhere" He closes the door silently I look back outside. The crate is slowly making it's way down. I again look outside but focus on one of the largest buildings. That building is huge. Probably just able to reach the skies. At the very top of the tower I see a large bonfire and shadows dancing. Hmm, I wonder... I flapped my wings. Should I go? Should I investigate the fire? It only takes one choice to change my future. I've made my decision, I'm going. Before I leave, I made another decision to go back to Tulip. After I greeted her and stepped out of the door frame. I heard a slight wimper but I shrugged and took off. The air was full of smoke. Fires have spread all around and I couldn't stop coughing until I was high above the clouds. The sky is beautiful at this time of the day. By the looks of the where the sun is, it's approximately 5 pm. I saw the faint light of the bonfire. Looking closer and saw eight ponies dancing around the fire shouting a familiar name and I saw two cooking from a pan that what seems to be food and two others laying down next to the ponies cooking. Behind the main attraction and the cooking, was what seems to be a blocked up staircase leading downstairs. I flew a bit closer and closer until one saw me and gestured the others. "Finally a savior! Can you please help us down here?" One stallion said "All 10 of us are dying from hunger here!" Another stallion said 10? I thought I saw 12. They must be slowly dying up here. I've got to help them. I need to. I dove down and stopped mid-way so I could land safely. "It's a pegasus! Please save us from the monsters down below!" He tries to imitate a human being by standing up on her hind legs but falls back down to her four hooves. "What do I do?" I ask "A sacrifice!" A black coated mare with a purple mane shouted followed by agreement by the others. Oh shit. Have ponies already gone insane in just less than a week? Purple magic enveloped me and floated me above the bonfire. I could feel the heat as the unicorn mare slowly lowered me down. Suddenly, a loud gunfire erupted from below. The unicorn floated me off to the side of the fire and beat me up with a stick. Whatever this trouble is, they really seem keen on making me a sacrifice. I hear someone or something banging somewhere below shouting and trying to get up here. In moments, I can hear voices walking up the stairs and soon they started breaking down the barricade. Everypony took a battle stance looking straight at the door. I steadied myself up and slowly crawled backwards until I was at the edge. The banging became louder and then the barricade exploded into splinters and chunks of wood. Once that happened, I jumped off the building and started heading back to the safe house. I flew back to the safehouse just before our keeper entered through the safe house door. "Hey uh, what's your name?" the human asked me "Thunder Wind?" I replied "Thunder, were you the pony that flew outside just a few minutes ago?" "Umm..." I tried to not look guilty "Didn't I tell you to not leave the apartment? You could have gotten hurt" His expression became cross. He then inspects me. I shrugged him off. "Sorry. I just got curious by the big bonfire at the top of that tower" I hung my head and pointed a hoof at the tall tower where the bonfire was lit. Instead, the bonfire seems to be gone and the roof was now just filled with whizzing magic and bullets. The human sighed. He walked close to me, knelt down and pats me on the head. "You're a curious one eh?" He pats me on the head again "Whenever you want to explore someplace. Please, tell me. I don't want to search high and wide when you're just playing the dirt" "You worried about me?" "I'm hella worried. You know, you're not the only pony I've tried to save" "They've all died haven't they?" "Yep, some by natural causes, some by bleeding out... and some that disappeared... the second I leave... the safe house. For fuck's sakes" I looked up and saw him covered in his hands. "Hey cheer up. You have another chance. You have me and my Rose" I pat him on the back with my right fore hoof He looked out on the horizon and removed my hoof. He asks not looking at me "By the way, how's your partner?" Tulip, it came to me and realized that none of us were in here with Tulip. She just slept all alone with no one to guard. I trotted towards the room where I last saw her sleeping. Inside, there was a lump under her blanket. I thought it was just Tulip for a second but I know that she doesn't sleep under the blanket. She would always poke her head out of the covers or one of her hooves because she doesn't like to be very hot. I asked her if she was awake. No answer. She should be awake by now. Just then, once I come closer I heard beeping and I faint glow of red just under the lump and the blanket. I asked her if she was awake again yet no answer. The beeping started to get faster and faster every time I come near her. I heard footsteps and the human took me by the hoof and ran outside the room. BOOM The room was obliterated with a black stain across every inch in the small room. Someone or somepony has gotten in here, took her and set up a bomb. They didn't seem like they had a chance to get anymore stuff than her. Wooden planks and dust flew out of the room and down a floor. The human put me down and slowly crept up to the room. He came back with a dead pony and the remains of the bed. The pony was a blue haired mare with a green coat. She had her horn cut off and both of her sides were completely red and slashed by what looks like a whip. Her flank was the most reddish part and were sore. Upon closer inspection, her half cut neck was the cause of her death and a three large letters were stamped at her left side. The shrapnel made more holes into her body but not a single drop came out. "Holy Celestia! Who would do this?" I gasped "If only that damned president didn't ban the internet these would've been not that frequent. Rapists, of your species and mine. I've seen them roam around the streets taking in both mares and stallions. I don't see them take any more ladies and gents anymore" Rapists? I've never heard that word in a very long time. Last time I heard that it only happened on the newspapers. This can't be right. How could this all happen in a week? "Poor mare" I frowned The human walks past me and to the front door. He motions me to follow. We headed to a staircase and took a few floors down. We head to a large open room that somewhat looks like a parking lot but the broken pillars, hanging weapons and blood smeared across the walls makes it look like a slaughterhouse. In the middle of the parking lot were six makeshift graves all jaggedly cut in their upright position. The graves in front of them is a mountain of dirt enough to bury one pony. four of the boulders had names that are very familiar to me and others were not so familiar. Below the names were their cause of death. Choking, squished, ran over by a truck and exploded. The human puts down the dead mare and picks up a small stone and started to scratch a word onto the boulder. He writes on the boulder: Grassy Teal. "Grassy Teal? Do you know this mare?" I asked "Nope, I just take one good look on the body and I put in the first words that come into my mind. I might be disrespecting them but it's all I can do to give them a proper burial" "What about the bodies down at the streets? They deserve a proper burial" "I would like to but the curfews around the streets start to get more frequent each passing day" "But if the curfews were no more then would you bury them?" "I'd gladly bury them but if the curfews are gone then there will be chaos roaming around the streets. Like: Gunfights, Gang fights, Even more abductions, Explosions. I should be thankful for the curfews for pushing those bastards out" I looked back to the stairs. The rooftop back up at the tower there flickered in my mind. My gut tells me to investigate what is up there once more. I turned my attention to the human. He has finished burying the mare and is now standing up to look at all the graves. I open my mouth to ask my permission to go back up the tower but no word came out except for an: "Ehhhhhh..." "What?" The human asked without turning to look at me "Can I go back to the tower? I have some unfinished investigating to do" "Sure, where is this tower?" "The tallest one, just a few blocks away from here. My expedition got cut short when there was a disturbance downstairs. Someone or something is down there" "I'm coming with you. I'm in need of nails and I know that there is a hardware store full of them. There is no point in coming back here without any nails and my oh, my I'm gonna need a lot of nails" Going back upstairs I readied my wings for takeoff. While the human was getting his backpack on him he said without looking to me "Name's Sean by the way" "My pleasure to meet you Sean" I said and took off
