Chapters Prologue: An Unknown Enemy
Luna’s moon shone above, casting solemn light over the orchard, its crater-pocked surface, and the dark imprint of the mare in the moon, seemed to shimmer as it moved through the sky… Dusk had just fallen, the last notes of the diurnal birds could be heard, mixing with the first notes of the nocturnal birds, the quiet and all-encompassing orchestra accompanied by the dark organ-tones of owls, and even a few tweets from the fruit bats, who felt like joining in on the avian harmony. Big Macintosh, he wasn’t the smartest, or strongest, or nicest pony in Equestria… Even if his sister would argue… But he liked music, he liked the night, and even if few others did, he liked the story of Nightmare Moon… Vague memories of his mother reciting that tale to him as a colt still lingered in his mind, it was one of the few memories of his parent he had, and that story was still his favourite… Luna, the traitor, who betrayed Equestria, a quite and grim soul, constantly overshadowed by her sister… Somehow, as crazy as it would seem to others, Big Mac sympathized with her, even if he would never know the princess in person… Or even if there was any guarantee that she actually existed in the first place… The tale was old, only Celestia herself would know if any of it was real or not, and the stallion would never have the courage to actually talk to that legendary figure… Sure, the Summer Sun Celebration was coming up soon, just a month or so away at this point.
To take his mind off memories of his parents, or the princesses, or other such grim things, the stallion turned his attention to the grove, the harvest was looking good this year, the fruit was red, pristine, and almost ripe, just a few weeks, four, possibly five, and they would be perfect for this year’s batch of hard apple cider- Something moving just beyond his perception stole the buck’s attention, something dark was moving across the sky… Looking up, he saw the glimmers of the stars seeming to blackout and reappear at odd times… It wasn’t a bird or bat, he would normally be able to hear such things… But it was dead quiet… In fact, he couldn’t hear a thing, not a rodent on the ground, not a bird nor bat in the sky, not even the smallest of insects, just his hooves on the ground, and even that noise died when he moved to listen. It was all just, void.
There was something out there, he didn’t quite know how he knew, but there was, just a strange feeling, like… Like a unicorn, charging a spell right in front of you, he had felt that before, that surge of magical energy, he envied the unicorn, he wanted to cast spells like one… This was close to that feeling, but it was different, less focused, less powerful, and less emotional, in fact, this magical energy, if that was even what this pressure was, was completely emotionless…
He turned, staring deeper into the grove… Eyes, purple, bright, strange… Then they were gone, the stallion blinked, trying to figure out if that was real or not… “Nope…” He quietly muttered, deciding that, regardless if it was real or not, this, whatever this was, whether it was just anxiety or something very real, he didn’t want to be out here tonight, the mood was well and truly crushed, and he really, really wanted to be back inside, with his sister and grandmother… He slowly moved back in the direction of the barn, listening intently for anything… Then, there was a sharp feeling in his skull, like a brief but intense pain, quickly followed by the complete absence of feeling, almost like being drunk, his mind ached, but not, it was just and void, a strange void… He tried to run, to sprint back to the barn with all his might, but his legs just wouldn’t respond, he could still feel them, but they were just, dead, like he was no longer in control… Then, he closed his eyes, and regardless how hard he tried, he couldn’t open them back up again…
He could still feel, but feeling was slowly fading from his body... He could still hear, but sound was slowly fading from his body… He heard something moving around him, he heard it’s hoofsteps on the grass, not the clop-clop of a pony, but more like the pitter-patter of a rabbit or dog, and from what he heard, it sounded like, whatever it was, had three legs and walked unevenly… Again, the stallion tried to kick out, but he couldn’t feel his legs any more, and that numbness was slowly passing up through his body… He heard more of the three-legged creatures closing around him, he was scared, he tried to call out, tried to scream for his sister, but his mouth just wouldn’t respond… Then, there came a hissing sound, not like a snake, but more like boiling water inside a kettle, it was short, just a small hiss and some kind of whir, then his sense of sound was gone, but feeling still remained… So he felt as strange claws, of some kind grabbed on to him, many claws, all around him, like giant spiders, they lifted him up, and he felt himself being slowly lowered into… A thick, sticky, water-like fluid, like a barrel of apple juice right before it goes to be fermented… Then, finally, feeling left him, and in the few moments before unconsciousness claimed him, his mind was left to go wild with all the horrible thoughts about what could have just happened to him… Was he eaten, swallowed whole, was he about to drown, had he fallen into a small lake, would he survive… And if he didn’t, would his sister even find out?
“Mom… Mommy, are you there?” Big Mac thought, he was dead, he had to be dead, this feeling of complete emptiness couldn’t be anything else… But everything was black, he didn’t know what the afterlife was like, but it couldn’t just be this endless blackness, devoid of all feelings and presence, this couldn’t be death, he wanted to see his mom again, if he was actually dead, he would see his mom, he would finally see her bright orange coat again, smell her sweet sents, hear her alicornesque voice… But there was no seeing, no smelling, no hearing… Oddly though, there was feeling, a faint, distant feeling, like air brushing against him after getting out of a bath, warm water soaking his back and flanks… Hours passed, or perhaps they were seconds, he couldn’t tell at this point, but the feelings grew stronger, he could feel the tips of his hooves, they were resting against metal, half-submerged in liquid.
No, no he wasn’t dead, far from dead, he was still alive… Part of him was relieved, part of him was still worried as his last memories from before consciousness left him had returned, and very small and grim part of him was disappointed… He would have to wait before seeing his mother’s face again.
Second to return was his hearing, despite being half-submerged, his ears could still make out sounds, there was a humming, some beeping, some strange noises, like a strange clicking, going back and forth, like speech, not that the stallion could actually recognize any words… Then, as his body slowly awakened, he was able to open his eyes… At first, all he could see was green, but slowly he started to see things a little clearer… He was lying flat on his back, belly in the air, hooves splayed out, he tried to move them, but found they were clamped shut, and he started to panic… He looked and found himself in some kind of room, the ceiling was made from some slick metal that shined like oil, there were plenty of lights built into it, but they didn’t seem like torches, or candles, or even magical crystals… His bed… If you could call it that, was some kind of platform with a large indent in it… It didn’t look like it was built for ponies, or even by ponies, it looked more like some kind of torture device for adolescent dragons. His fear and unease grew, and with each new thing in the room he saw, this only doubled.
There were, pods of some kind, filled with green fluid, inside were ponies, unicorns, pegasi, earth ponies, griffons, and all sorts of other creatures…Stories came into Macintosh’s mind, stories about Changelings, strange insects that captured you, drained your magic, would come for you in the night if you were a bad colt or filly and steal your soul… “Bu-But they were just a pony’s tail, they were just a story,” He tried to convince himself, repeating that in his mind over and over again, but the more felt, the more he saw, the less he believed himself.
A noise was growing closer, like a hissing breath… In the stallion’s mind, he wondered what changelings looked like, he knew they were bugs the size of ponies, but he couldn’t remember more than that… How did they steal your soul, t-they used magic, right, it wasn’t going to be painful, just… Just horrible… The stallion screwed his eyes shut, and whimpered, awaiting the sucking magic that would take his soul from his body, he was going to become food… It wasn’t going to hurt, he hoped… The hissing breath came closer, inch by inch, but curiosity clawed at his mind, and he gained the courage to open his eyes, just a little… In truth, he expected some horrible maw with a thousand gnashing teeth or a serpent’s mouth with poisonous fangs or an ant’s claw-like pincers grasping at his head… What he actually saw was none of these things, in some ways it was better, in some ways, it was worse...
A tall creature, some kind of animal that walked on two legs, dressed in a fine red robe, like the kind priests used to wear… The only thing that could be seen of its head was a silver helmet, the only opening around the muzzle, but there was no equine muzzle or avian beak, just blackness underneath that helmet… And a powerful magical pressure, like an entire choir of unicorns all casting the same spell at once, but unlike pony magic, this feeling, this power, was completely devoid of the emotional background that came with it. “W-What are you! What do you want with me! Where am I!” Big Mac said, panicked, but logical, trying his best to not give into the fear in the back of his mind, telling him, demanding him, to whimper and cower away from this… Thing…
The creature didn’t answer… From underneath its robe, it rose a single, grey, skinny, almost rotted arm, long with wicked dragon-like claws at the end… And did something… Something that Macintosh didn’t understand, like pressing a button made from a magical illusion… There was a series of grinding, hissing, and whirring noises, and above him, a machine of some kind came out of the wall and moved, slowly and ominous, toward Macintosh’s face, it looked like a mouth and from inside a magical pressure grew and grew until it became painful, the stallion screwed his eyes shut, tears flowing from his face, screaming as pain inside his head, like a million headaches, but worse, far far worse, like a drill into his very mind, erupted inside him… It hurt, hurt so bad you couldn’t even think, and just went on and on… On and on… On and on… Until all feeling left him, save for the distant feeling of pain, that every second grew further and further away, and he grew closer and closer to a familiar feeling, the feeling of his mother’s fur and her sweet voice...
Author's Note
I've made 3 chapters so far, don't expect frequent updates, but I'll try to put them out ASAP for you. Hope you enjoy... Next chapter we get to the actual invasion.
Below, the horns of carriages and chariots honked as the lines of traffic continued in their ceaseless cacophony, the moon was high in the sky, shining down on the brick and plaster buildings of Manehattan, from her balcony, high above the street, Coco watched it all, sighing in melancholy. “Looks like it’s back to searching,” she muttered to herself… Twenty-three years old and already got fired thrice, Coco just couldn’t catch a break, at least her siblings, and most her foalhood friend were successful, at least the ones she still kept in contact with… Perhaps she could stay with one of them, at least until she could find a new job.
There came a hoof-knock on her door… She whined at the back of her throat… She didn’t even need to ask, she recognized that knock… She stayed there, cringing at the voice of her landlord, “Pommel, I know you’re in there, you late on your rent, again!” The old griffoness’ voice full of malice.
Coco didn’t move, she would rather not get her eyes clawed out, perhaps she could find an apartment in Canterlot… Sure they were more patronizing, but less mean… For whatever that was worth. There was always Rarity, over in Ponyville, but they hadn’t talked in years, and Ponyville was not the place to move if you wanted to make bits. Twisting her head up, Coco annoyed the angry knocking and just stared at the starts...
“What?” Coco whispered, starting at three, no, four… Five? Eight? Stars that were growing brighter… Brilliant yellow things, growing bigger in the sky… No… Not bigger, closer! Coco gave a yelp as the streaking, burning stars fell from the sky, leaving trails of acrid smoke smashing into the street below, a few crashing through buildings, she felt the shock as they slammed into the ground, scoring massive craters, she could see more of them, falling down, dotting the city, and feel the distant quaking as they blasted apart the ground… Then, above her, there came a horribly loud BOOM! And the ceiling caved in… Dust, debris, asbestos, and drywall hung in her room, Coco coughed, waving a hoof to help clear the air, screwing her eyes shut. Her eyes were opened by a loud, angry, and incoherent screech from the griffoness, who had decided to kick down the door.
“Coco!” She screamed, “What did I sayyyyyy-” Her voice trailed off, turning from anger to confusion and a little bit of fear, noticing the giant hole in the roof, and the object that had just bulldozed its way through a good twenty stories to end up right inside Coco’s room. The object was huge… A large, metal device of some kind, with four legs splayed like some kind of demi-spider, a strange protrusion from below, four hatches, one on each side, and various lines glowing a bright green, and not with any magic the pony could feel.
Coco cowered in the corner, nearly falling off the balcony… Down below, ponies were milling about the strange machines… Then screams started, and Coco Pommel twisted her head to stare at what was going on. The machines, from inside them, tendrils of green energy were lashing out, much like telekinesis, grabbing ponies by the hooves and chest and head, and dragging them toward the devices, Coco gulped, and stared at the machine in the room…
It hissed, smoking and steaming, searing the floor with the heat created by slapping its way through the building like a cannonball. Coco stared at it, entranced by its green glow and odd lack of magic. “Stop sitting there you useless bitch, and help me get this damned mess cleaned up!” The griffon squealed.
“M-M-Ma’am, I don’t think…” Coco squeaked out.
“Get off your lazy ass and use some of that earth pony strength to get this damn thing out of here, you know how much all this is going to cost to repair!” The landlord huffed, moving forward and grabbing the still hot machine, trying to lever it out of the ground… Coco leapt forward, seeing what happened down below, and tried to push the griffon out of the way before she could touch it, but she was too slow… The moment the griffon laid a clawed talon on the machine, it gave a click, then a hiss, the hatches opened up, revealing dozens of ports, out of which energy flowed, lashing out… Coco tried to kick at the tendrils, but her strikes just passed through them, and it took effort, and no small amount of her natural earth-pony strength, to pull free from their grasps… The griffon squawked as they reached for the bird’s neck, she tried to bat them away with her wings and talons, but to no effect, Coco found her leg being grabbed not by one of the machine’s tendrils, but rather by the claw of her griffoness landlord, “Help me you dirt-bag-bit-” The griffoness gave another squawk as Coco slammed her hoof into the griffon’s head, sending the griffon firmly into the tendrils of the machine, and gave Coco the momentum to go sprawling out of the door, which she then slammed shut before the tendrils could follow her out.
Hyperventilating, heart racing, and mind swirling, Coco slumped against the opposite wall… Half a minute later, dozens of ponies, and a few griffons, came marching out of their rooms, dishevelled and tired, “What is Celestia’s name was that!” A mare shouted.
“I-I…” Coco tried to speak, but her voice failed her, all she managed to get out was a shouted instruction “Get away!” Many ponies were confused or sceptical, one moved and opened the door to Coco’s room, then the next instant, slammed it shut and repeated what Coco had just shouted, in a tone somehow even more panicked... And despite some of the resident’s demeanours, most of them got the hint, hearing the fear in the young mare’s voice, and all started to move toward an exit. A mare and her coltfriend bent down and helped Coco back to her hooves, she was still panting, and her head still felt dizzy, but she got back up with little effort.
“What’s going on!” A colt shouted
“D-Don’t know, something fell from the sky and tried to eat me… Or something… It’s all over town, dozens of them!” Coco feebly replied.
“B-But, what do we do!” An older mare continued.
Suddenly, the door to the stairs burst open, and a dozen or so ponies in plate-mail with spears came rushing in, the royal guard… There was a collective sigh from the residents as one of the guards approached, simply saying “Follow us, some kind of disaster is going on, so we have been instructed to get all of you to safety, everyone fit to fly will follow wingbolt over there,” The guard pointed to one of his companions, a pegasus, “Everyone else will follow me…”
On the ground, the street was in disarray, ponies were being evacuated, rapidly, but the guard could only do so much to contain the mob, Manehattan was a busy place, even at night. Most of the chariots had been moved, and much of the civilians were clear of the numerous ground-zeros for the fallen objects, in just half an hour or so, the local commander, Wintergreen, planned to have this entire section of the city closed off.
As the rest were busy ordering around civilians, a trio of guards approached one of the landed objects, “What’s your opinion, Brightfloss?” A stallion, Death Grip, asked.
“Hmm, they aren’t dead, mostly, a few unlucky souls were right below when it hit, but mostly everyone is fine, the machines seem to have… Spun ponies into these strange green webs, everyone’s unconscious though...” The mare said, pointing at a pair of guards who had busied themselves trying to pull off all the green stuff from the ponies caught by the machine’s tendrils.
The machine had formed quite the crater in the flagstone pavement, dozens of chariots and wagons lay, abandoned, knocked over, trampled by the hordes, running from the machines, and in the area immediately around the device, everything was covered in green fibres, like moss or spider silk, most concerningly of all, the threads saught out the ponies and griffons around the impact site, many were covered in the stuff, knocked unconscious either from the impacts, or some property of the machines. “Where do you think they came from? Some pony couldn’t have just threw them this far?” Death Grip retorted.
“Perhaps Luna just flung them from the moon… Who cares were they came from, I’m more concerned why…”
“Whatever it is, I doubt it’s for any good cause…”
The two continued bantering, but both fell silent as a noise echoed through the street… Some kind of rapid clicking crossed with a strange hissing… “You hear that?” Brightfloss said.
“Hear what!” The stallion replied.
The mare tilted her head, looking up at the buildings, up there, in the window of some industrial building, she saw a pair of purple eyes staring down, there was a small green light coming from inside, and the mare’s ears moved flat back against her head, “Umm… Death…” She began.
Death Grip just scoffed, “What now-” Then, from the window, there was a green flash, and a bolt of energy launched outward, flying through the air with amazing speed and slamming into Death Grip’s back, who gave a loud scream as, whatever it was, melted clean through his golden plate and burned deep into his side, burning deep enough that you could see the charred bone around his ribs and his seared stomach. Suddenly, all the guards leapt into action, Pegasi raising their spears and flying toward the building, more green blasts followed, and one pegasus fell, half his head burned off. As this happened, there came more clicking-hissing noises, this time louder, and more bursts flung from windows or alleyways and all the guards scattered.
Brightfloss narrowly missed a burst as it blasted the ground right next to her hoof, sending green sparks that burned like the depths of Tartarus itself, but she pushed past the pain, raising her wings and biting the air with ease, quickly twirling around the side of a building as a green bolt smacked her in the wing joint, burning through flesh and bone and sending burning white feathers across the ground, she hissed and tumbled as suddenly one of her wings was made useless, and she cringed in pain and revulsion as she halted, staring at her now useless appendage… The bolt had narrowly missed the bone, if it hit, she wouldn’t have a left wing any more. But as it was, she couldn’t fly, and this would take a unicorn’s skill to heal. She gave a quick curse, then galloped down the alley, hoping more of those, things, weren’t chasing her…
Ten minutes later she managed to find Wingbolt, tending to some civilian pegasi, “W-Wing, Wing!”
“What is-” Wingbolt began, his mouth shutting with a snap and shivering in horror as he saw the wound on Brightfloss’ wing, “What happened!” He managed to get out.
“T-Things, enemy ponies, we think, attacked us… Just, out of nowhere, they used this horrible green magic that burned like Tartarus!”
“Q-Quickly, get a hold of a telepath and contact Canterlot, we need to evacuate this area.”
“Weren’t we already doing that!”
“If some pony attacked you, this makes this a military situation, we’re a policing detachment, we can’t handle shit like this! I’ll go inform the captain, we need to secure this area, make sure no hostiles infiltrate the rest of the city!”
“What makes you think the rest of the city isn’t overrun with enemies!”
“I-” He paused, his insides growing icy cold.
“Battlemages, to me!” A unicorn in armour said… Reports had started to come in from all over the affected areas, some unknown enemy was attacking the guards sent to investigate the crashsites, at least the attacked seemed limited to the crashsites themselves, and there weren’t any concerning reports coming in from the rest of Manehattan.
The unicorn raised his sword, hilt glowing with his telekinetic grasp, and blade ignited with enchantments. The rest of the unicorns marched up, horns glowing with power, forming a deadly rainbow of lights. The street was vacant, up ahead was a device, still glowing green, surrounded by ponies and one or two griffons tied up in the strange fibres… But that wasn’t the only concerning thing around the crashsite… Bodies, guard bodies, horribly burned, the ground splattered with nuggets of gold from where their armour was melted under enemy spells, all of them unmoving, dead.
The unicorns cast shields and moved forward slowly, carefully… There came a clicking-hissing noise, and one unicorn marched forward raising a spear in a magical grasp, turning the corner, he gave a startled yelp and backed away, flinging his spear with all his magical might down the alley, several green blasts followed this up, one smacking him in the leg… There was horrible noise as the limb was completely burned off from the blast, but a medical mage was quick to catch the stallion. The rest of the unicorns rushed forward to see what had attacked the now tripod stallion, but as they circled the corner, they found nothing there… Nothing that was, until, from the corner down the alley, the hostels opened fire…
The shield spells flickered as the blasts struck them, but none of the unicorns present had the power to resist more than two or three hits… As the first few unicorns began to fall, the rest backed away, the commander had only gotten a brief glimpse of the hostiles, small bipedal creatures, with grey skin, and large heads with purplish-red eyes, the guards flung their spears at the creatures, but most missed, the one or two strikes that hit had knocked the creatures to the ground, spears in their chests or sides, but many still limped back up, pulling the spears free from their wounds, bleeding yellow blood.
The unicorns rushed to cover, but many were still clipped by green blasts on their flanks or legs. Above them, there was a strange humming, and the commander looked up to see a trio of… Things… Small metal spheres glowing from within, with various metal limbs, levitating through some unknown means… There was no magic coming from inside it, not that the commander could tell. He telekinetically flung his sword at the thing, but the strike simply bounced off its metal hide, then, a single glowing eye within the device turned in his direction, and from it came a blast of burning yellow energy that struck him in the side, melting through his plate and scoring burns underneath… He grunted and swore, but with his telekinetic might, he grabbed the device and flung it to the ground, it was hard though, as the metal eye resisted his magical grasp, but still, as it fell to the ground, it smacked down with a loud clang and it sparked and hissed.
Around him, the battle was not in the ponies favour, already four or five were dead, a dozen more guards were injured, but still putting up a fight, telekinetically throwing their spears at the targets, only to hit their cover, or miss. One of the strange creatures came out of cover and raised its arms, its head glowing brightly with magical energy and from it came arcane tendrils that lashed at the head of one of his guards, hiding behind cover… The guardmare screamed in pain and terror, putting her hooves to her horn and falling over, writhing on the ground, screaming “It hurts it hurts! Help! Someone! Get me out of here!”
“Medic, get over there and help her!” The commander shouted, sending a burst of magic missiles toward the enemy spellcaster, most of which struck the target’s cover, but one smacked the creature in the head, causing it to fall over, presumably dead. “Medic!” The commander shouted, turning to see why his medic wasn’t responding, only to go silent as he saw the medic’s head, or what was left of it, scorched and burned. The commander gave a growl, and poured power into a shield spell, covering himself in a bubble of safety… He felt blasts strike his shield, and the effort required to keep the spell from breaking drove him to his knees, tears building in his eyes… He constructed a new spell, a telepathic spell, one tuned to all arcane frequencies, “This is Commander Wintergreen of the Manehattan Battlemage Detachment, we’re under attack by unknown hostiles, the situation is-Ahhh-” He grunted, as another fusillade of blasts splashed against his magical defences, “Screw it all! He shouted, if you can hear this, get the fuck out of the city! I don’t know what these things are, just run!” Right as his telepathic message ended, he felt his shield spell break, his head erupted in pain from the violent dispelling of his shield, and he fell over, grunting and whimpering from the ungodly headache… He looked, and saw the strange creatures looming over him, then just blackness…
The chariot swayed in the wind, the pegasi pilots hauling as fast as they could, the gusts whipping at the guard’s manes, the earth below zooming past. The chariot was only big enough for six ponies, but it would have to do, for now. Shining Armor stood up front, staring at the distant shape of Manehattan, smoke rising from the west side, where the unidentified objects impacted… It was shocking, a telepathic message, broadcast and relayed through every telepathically trained unicorn this side of Equestria, Manehattan was under attack by some unidentified enemies, wielding weapons and magic that seemed to far outclass anything the local guard garrison had… It was a slaughter, the few surviving guards were keeping a close watch on the area but panic was spreading, if the hostiles tried to push deeper into Manehattan, there was little the garrison could do to stop them, but, whatever they were, seemed content to stay in the initial attack area, around the crashed objects.
“Think the bird boys finally snapped?” A pegasus stallion, Goldhook, said bitterly.
“We had nothing to do with this attack, Griffons do not use magic!” A griffoness guard, Valeria, replied, her tone gruff and angry, like always.
“Whatever you say…” Goldhook sarcastically replied.
“Shut up, all of you!” Shining Armor announced.
“Well, I didn’t say anything,” A unicorn mare, Gladius Glaze, replied, only to earn a harsh glare from the captain.
“We do not know who, or what, is attacking the metropolis, it would be best to restrain judgment until after the situation is made clear to us…” Bitterly purred Eldergreen, his large rack of antlers glowing every so slightly with arcane pressure.
Finally, there was the quiet Starbright, her nocturnal eyes protected from the light of day by a pair of heavy tinted goggles, and her leathery bat-wings kept firmly to her side… Her only reaction to everyone’s squabbling was a simple scoff as she drew her musket and started to load it… Everyone wore heavy padded armour, the enemy, from what few reports could be trusted, used some kind of fire magic, one that could easily melt metal armour, so insulated and padded armour was the best choice short of dragon scales or enchanted crystal, and each of these padded leather suits was indeed enchanted, not that the spells seemed effective, all guard armour was enchanted to some degree, and that certainly didn’t save the Manehattanites.
“Everyone, get your weapons ready, we’re coming down on the battlefield!” One of the pegasus drivers shouted above the wind, and Shining Armor nodded, repeating the command. Soon everyone was drawing their weapons and loading them. Shining Armor double and triple checked each pistol on his bandolier and drew his shortsword, Goldhook started fiddling with the lock on his blunderbuss, Gladius loaded her double-barreled carbine and checked the sights, Eldergreen’s caliver was nearly eight hoof-spans long and nearly took up the back of the entire chariot, so he busied himself inspecting the spyglass he had fused to the barrel, and finally, Valeria hefted her massive culverin to her back, and action that jostled the chariot and eared the griffon harsh looks from the pilots.
The chariot came around, slowly landing in an abandoned street, it was gloomy, the midnight moon shining down, the eerie green glow from the dropped devices lighting the streets with an almost tartarussian ambience. Shining Armor was the first on the ground, keeping his shield spell in his mind, moments from being summoned into reality, “Elder, anything?”
Eldergreen raised his antlers, glowing with magical energy, trotting around for a second, he finally replied, “I feel… Something, it’s alive, that’s for sure, but it isn’t pony, or griffon, or anything I’ve ever felt before… It feels so… Empty…”
“Where exactly is it?”
“North-north-west, about eighty-two degrees… It’s moving, toward us… Wait, there’s more, somewhere due north, also closing in…”
“Alright, everyone, get in position, and do not make a noise…” Shining whispered.
Everyone followed without fuss… Eldergreen found himself a perch overlooking the street from atop a fire escape stairwell and drew his long musket, looking down the spyglass, looking for any movement. Valeria found a spot just behind a ruined wagon and kept her claw on the trigger. Goldhook was already rushing forward to the front, ducking into a shop a few meters down from where the chariot landed, and was accompanied by Gladius who perched her carbine on the trash bin just outside said shop. Starbright had vanished, in the typical night-guard fashion, and flew up, silent as a breeze, to a balcony overlooking the street, ready to descend on anything her bat-eyes saw. Shining Armor also took cover behind an overturned chariot and the crates it was carrying, he wasn’t used to all this sneaking around, he wanted a straight-up fight, not this tense waiting for an enemy to show itself, but he didn’t know exactly what he was dealing with, a stealthy approach was necessary in this situation… Going in muskets blazing and swords clashing was exactly what the local garrison decided to do, and a fat lot of good that did.
The chariot took off, and left the group simply sitting there, waiting… Eventually, after what felt like hours but was more than likely just a few minutes, there was movement, three figures, small, grey-skinned, bipeds with head that looked just a little too large for their almost malnourished-looking bodies, eyes glowing purplish red… They seemed to waddle around on all fours like a pony, then stand up and move like a biped at times, it was odd to look at… They didn’t seem to have noticed the guards yet… That changed when Shining reached out to Elder telepathically, sending a single word down the link… “Fire”
There was a tremendous BANG! And a bright bluish-purple puff of smoke as the magical propellant used in the cavalier did its job, in the distance a solid lump of iron tore through the creature’s head, a strange device mounted to its wrist detonated in a spark of green… One of the creatures scattered, taking cover behind an overturned wagon, the other turned and replied to Elder’s attack with one of its own, raising its clawed hand, upon which it has its own wrist-device, and let loose a fusillade of green bursts, three of four shots in just a few seconds, all from the same weapon… Everyone stood a little shocked at whatever kind of weapon or magic the creature was using, all except for Eldergreen, who decided to duck behind cover rather than marvel at the blasts heading toward his head, and just in time to, as one passed mere millimetres from his muzzle, close enough he could actually feel the intense heat lightly burning his cheek.
The shock didn’t last long, as soon Starbright leapt from her perch and flew down upon one of the fleeing creatures, ripping it to shreds with the claws on her armoured ponyshoes, the last one received a nasty surprise as a point-blank burst from a blunderbuss blew open its chest as Goldhook leapt forward, using his wings to propel himself into the battle… Somewhere up ahead there were more clicking-hissing noises, and green blasts started to fly from somewhere down the street, Starbright was quick to duck out of the way and fly back into cover, but Goldhook wasn’t as quick, several blasts flew toward his direction, but at the last moment a shimmering shield of blue magic sprung up, Gladius at his side, her horn glowing brightly, and the two rushed back to cover.
From her perch, Starbright fired her musket, then leapt down to avoid the retaliation, it was unclear if she hit her target or not, but Gladius rushed forward, getting behind cover and deflecting the bolts launched at her with precise telekinetic strikes… This wasn’t any magic she knew of, she didn’t feel any arcane pressure when the bolts struck her shield, they felt more like solid objects, light but flung at incredible speed and with tremendous heat, so she didn’t need a shield to block them, but trying to deflect them with telekinesis was a difficult task, the blasts clearly weren’t solid objects, it was like trying to scoop up liquid with magic, and she nearly took a bolt to the chest when she misjudged her spellcasting, but instead it slammed into the ground beneath her and she leapt to avoid getting hit with burning debris. Tumbling into cover she raised her carbine at one target, fired, then pointed it at a second, firing again.
Shining Armor dashed forward magical shield in front and took blast after blast, but even he had a limit, and each shot that scored against his defences hurt, badly, and his magic was starting to fail when he reached the hostiles in cover, drawing his sword he cleaved the large head of one clean off, yellow blood fountaining out of its neck, and twirled around to bash the other, hard, with his magical shield, sending the creature sprawling to the ground… This was the last one, apparently, and a jab finished the thing off.
“Regroup, reload those weapons of yours, there may be more out there…” Shining Armor ordered, and everyone followed, quickly retrieving their muskets and loading more gem-powder and shot.
“What in the world are these things?” Gladius said, looking down at the bleeding body of the creature.
“I do not know, but they aren’t pony, or griffon, or… Anything else I’ve heard of before…” Eldergreen commented.
“Well I-” Gold began to speak, but was cut off by the sound of a hostile weapon, the blast cutting through the air and striking Goldhook on the side, he fell over, swearing and grunting as the padding did little to stop the enemy’s strange weapon. Everyone was quick to scatter to cover, and soon Valeria raised her back-cannon and fired at the direction the enemy attack came from. There was a tremendous BOOM! And the cannonball tore into the side of the building, smashing in the side of the second-floor wall, and from inside came strange screeches.
Gladius opened a pouch and retrieved a small iron ball with a fuse set into it, with a touch of magic she lit the bomb and flung it through the window… A few seconds passed, then a loud, multicoloured, blast flung the bodies of the creatures out of the building. Somewhere around the corner of the block there were more distant noises, the same hissing-clicking the creatures made.
“Elder, contact the chariot, tell them we need to extract Gold, the rest of us will go on ahead and look for any remaining hostiles! Collect the bodies and anything you find on them too!” Shining Armor.
“Yes sir!”
“Come on you chicks! Let’s get moving!” Valeria shouted, tossing aside her empty cannon and drawing an axe from her belt. Shining Armor was still in the lead through, following the noises… They moved around the block, quickly but quietly, weapons raised and ready for anything.
“H-Help… Me…” Came a droning voice from behind them, at the entrance of the dark alley. Shining Armor raised his hoof, motioning everyone to stop.
“Identify yourself, I am Captian Shining Armor of the royal guard…”
Slowly, moving as if drunk, the figure of a stallion came limping out of the darkness, he was badly burnt on his sides and legs, as if he took dozens of near-hits with the enemies’ weapons… There was a slight purple glow around his horn, as if charging a spell.
“C-Commander Wintergreen, you’re alive? What is the status battlemage battalion?”
Shining Armor moved to get closer to the unicorn, but a telekinetic grab on his legs stopped him, “Wait…” Gladius said, “Feel that, his magic, it’s devoid of emotion, not like a pony…”
“What do you mean-” At that moment, the commander leapt at Gladius and knocked her to the ground, drawing a severed spearhead and trying to jab it into her eye, but a sharp telekinetic jab from Shining Armor knocked the commander’s weapon from his grasp, and before he retrieved it, Valeria leapt on him as Gladius squirmed free from the commander’s hooves.
Valeria clawed at the commander, her avian talons cutting deep and bloody gashes in his side, which was already covered in burn-wounds, and tried to bite at his neck with her beak, but a hard buck with his forehooves knocked the flailing bird off him. At the same moment, there came the hissing-clicking call from right behind them, and both Starbright and Gladius turned to see three more creatures blocking their escape, aiming their wrist-weapons, taking cover behind trash bins and rubble.
“Commander, what are you doing!” Shining Armor shouted at the commander turned in his direction, only to receive some kind of gargling shout in response, the commander drew his makeshift dagger and lunged at Shining, but Valeria had gotten back to her paws and leapt on the commander, drawing her axe and slicing Wintergreen’s neck. “Valeria! He’s friendly!” The shocked unicorn responded, only to get a grunt.
“Tell that to my bruised underside…” She huffed, then turned when she heard a shout.
Gladius stood her ground and raised her carbine, taking a shot at one of the creatures that somehow missed by a wide margin, the creature turned her way and fired a shot, the green blast piercing the air… There was a blur of blue fur and a loud scream as a pair of bat wings smacked into the mare. The next thing she knew she was lying on the ground, with Starbright lying atop her, eyes screwed shut. The mare’s back was smoking as the green bolt tore a chunk from her spine. The next moment, there was a grey blur as Valeria leapt into battle with frightening speed and cleaved the big head of the creature in half. Followed by a pair of gunshots as Shining Armor drew his pistols from his bandolier, and another other creature giving a scream as it was shot. The third one, a larger one with wrinkled ruddy skin and a fiercer glow in its cranium, ran.
There was a long pause as Shining Armor and Valeria looked, horrified, at Starbright as her breathing faltered, then, suddenly angry, Shining bellowed “After it!” and ran off with his griffon. Meanwhile, Gladius lie there, listening as this bat pony, a pony she barely knew and never spoke to her in all their time together in the guard, a pony that just saved her life, took her last breath for her own mistakes. Gladius felt tears well up in her own eyes and pulled the dying mare closer in a sorrowful hug.
Shining Armor and Valeria leapt out into the next street, the creature had just joined with a group of three more, and was talking in that strange clicking-hissing language it spoke, when the two caught up, Shining Armor fired his last two pistols, blowing off the heads of two creatures, and the griffon gave a battle cry as she dove on one more, ripping it apart. The red-skinned one continued to run, leaping behind another alley…
“Come on! Forward! After that coward!” Valeria shouted, her claws and beak thoroughly covered in both red pony blood, and the yellow blood of these strange creatures.
“No, wait… It could be leading us into another trap…” Shining said.
“We can’t let it get away!”
“Wait, let’s think about this for a second! Rushing blindly into that alley cost Starbright her life! Do you want to get shot in the back next!” Shining shouted, Valeria looked conflicted for a second, then put her axe down. Shining looked around, seeing if there was anything that could signal an ambush, but what he found instead was a lack of something… The strange pods, the devices that he had encountered, didn’t have any bodies around them… Normally, there were ponies or griffons trapped within the green fibres that came from those devices, but here, they were missing… No, not missing, taken… There were outlines of where ponies had been caught in the strange webbing, but they were missing now…
Then, a moment later, a loud droning noise, accompanied by a humming, pierced their ears, Valeria looked up and swore, and Shining stood speechless save for a whispered “By Celestia…” as they saw large disk-shaped airship taking off from somewhere just outside the city limits… The ship seemed to bend the air around it for a second, then took off fast enough he expected the thing to make a sonic rainboom as it zoomed off into the sky.
Author's Note
Our pony XCOM is here... Almost, the council hasn't been formed, but it will be when Celestia realizes that these enemies are not from Equus.
