"Yes, Yes. Now, goodbye!" Twilight said while nearly pushing the stallion 'Blues' out the door. The blue pony was asking for some advice in a relationship he was in, but Twilight had no time to talk. Today was special. She slammed the door behind her and leaned against it, letting out a long sigh. "Disaster averted. Now, to get onto the important business of today. Spike!" she called her servant, Spike, into the room.
"Yes, Twilight?" he said, rubbing his eyes. It was still 3:00 in the morning, and winter wrap up wasn't for another six months, so Twilight had no good reason to be waking him before the crack of dawn. "It better be more important than sleep."
"You know what today is?" she asked, batting her eyelashes.
Suddenly the bitter memory of september 21st lashed into spike's mind. He sighed and said in a unenthusiastic voice: "Clean-a-thon day." Clean-a-thon day fell every September 21st, starting promptly at 3:10 in the morning, and lasts until 11:15 at night. It consisted of nothing but dusting, scrubbing, reshelving, packing, replacing the candles, and all around cleaning. It was dreadful.
"Now, let's go over the Clean-a-thon code. Repeat after me: Everything must be clean." She said, pacing in front of the slumping spike.
"Everything must be clean" he said in a voice with the underlying implication that he'd rather be dead than doing another Clean-a-thon.
"The tree must sparkle!"
"The tree must sparkle."
"There will be no sap, dust, dirt, mud, or grime!"
"There will be no sap, dust, dirt, mud, or grime."
"We will work promtly from 3:10 in the morning to 11:15 at night!"
"Do we really have to work that long, Twilight?"
"You're not repeating after me, spike!" she said with a high tone.
"We will work promtly from 3:10 in the morning to 11:15 at night."
"Very good. Now," She turned on the lights, and said, "Let the 32nd annual Clean-a-thon begin!" She sped off over to her podium, and pulled out two peices of paper. She handed one to spike. It was his schedule.
SCHEDULE FOR SPIKE ON THE 32ND CLEAN-A-THON
- Dust the upstairs
- trim the balcony leaves
- recalibrate the apertures on the nine and quarter catadioptric telescopes.
- reshelve downstairs library
- replace the door hinges
- send all unsent letters to Princess Celestia, including the one entitled '32nd Clean-a-thon'
- help me, Twilight, with anything I'm doing at the time.
"Well," said Twilight, "Get to work!" as Spike slowly trudged upstairs to do some dusting, Twilight turned back around, levitated a broom from the rack, and began her first job, Sweeping the central library. She realised that she hadn't given Spike enough work, but after all, he is a baby dragon. Nonetheless, Twilight still had to do almost three times as much work as Spike. She might as well do it thoroughly. Halfway through her next job, replacing the candle wax on the downstairs candles, there was a knock on the door. Twilight yelled, "Go away! We're accepting no visitors today."
The knocking continued more heavily, and Twilight yelled, "I said go away! Does privacy not exist to you?" The knocking escalated into a pounding on the door, and Twilight opened it, saying, "Does the solemn holiday of Clean-a-thon mean nothing to you?""
"I'm sorry, miss," Said the griffon at her door. He was wearing a suit and a top hat. His voice was slightly obscured, due to a large metal replacement where his beak once was. He appeared to be a respectable, classy, unusual, griffon. Twilight could only assume this was an entreponuer, and she slammed the door in his face. "Wait, wait, wait!" said the Griffon on the other side of the door.
Twilight re-opened the door and said, "I'm sorry sir, but I'm not interested in anything you're selling."
"But you haven't even given me a chance to introduce myself. I am Sir Arthur Greybeak."
Twilight opened the door completely, stood out side, wide eyed, and said, "You mean the Sir Arthur Greybeak? The single richest Griffon in the world, owner of 'Greybeak Unlimited', the largets superstore chain in Equestria, and the Griffon who masterminded the economic takeover of the tyrannical Griffon king protor?"
Arthur chuckled and said, "The very same!"
"Then come in!" She said, extending a hoof into the library, "I am eager to learn from your extensive knowledge of literature."
Arthur walked in, and Twilight closed the door behind them. "Actually, my dear Twilight Sparckle," he said, "I've come here for you."
"How do you know my name?" Twilight asked.
"Oh, I know much more than that. I know that you are the only pony ever to defeat an Ursa Minor, an exquisite mathematitian, and the most magically skilled of any Unicorn in the land."
"Thank you, but that still doesn't answer my question of how you know this."
"Heh. You may not know thiss, but since the war, I've realised that I am not the only Pony or Griffon with unusual or unique traits. There are uncountable masses of enhanced Ponies or Griffons, which I have nicknamed 'mutants', who are shunned by society. Therefore, I created the COUUPG, or the Coalition Of Unique and Unusual Ponies and Griffons. I've been monitering you ever since you proved your magical ability on the night of the ursa attack, and have decided that the time has come."
"Time for what?"
"Time to enlist you into the COUUPG."
"Why me?"
"Because, like I said, you are the most magically skilled of anypony I've ever met. And the only executive mutant I'm missing, is the one in the field of magic. Twilight, I believe that your magic is not just learned or taught. I believe that in your subconscious, there was knlowledge of this magic since your birth. That's why you learn magic and can use it so easily. Twilight, You are a mutant, and I want you to be my Magic executive for the COUUPG. Do you accept?"
Twilight could see right through this, and said, "But how do I know that you're the real Arthur Greybeak? How do I know that this isn't all just a con? A ruse?"
"Because it isn't. I hope that you trust me."
"How do I know that you're really you?"
"Because,"He said, gripping his metal beak. He pulled it off, showing a gaping hole into his mouth and down his throught. He spoke with a raspy, crackly voice as he said, "I lost my beak in the war between the Griffons and the Zebras," He put his mask back on, "I own the most successful business in the world, and therefore need no con money, and I have no desire to lie to somepony as skilled, and as beautiful," he said, running his claw down her mane, "as you. Now, if you have no desire to join, i'll let you be, and find another unicorn. But if you accept, you may find that it might save your life."
Twilight couldn't argue that this was the real Sir Arthur Greybeak, and his logic was undeniable, but those words: 'It might save your life' had caught her attention, she said, "Spike!"
Soon spike, who had regained his energy leaned over the edge, "Yeah, Twilight?"
"We'll have to postpone the 32nd annual Clean-a-thon. Sir Arthur Greybeak here has offered me a proposal."
"You mean he wants to marry you?"
"No, Spike, it means that he gave me a job opprotunity. I'll be gone for the rest of today, so feel free to kick back."
"Alright!"
Twilight turned back to Arthur, and said, "Shall we get going?"
Greybeak and Twilight walked out of the library, and towards the train sation. "So," said Twilight, "Why exactly did you decide to form this ... Coalitian?"
"Yes, Coalitian, and I formed it because I had a revalation. While I was in the war, the Zebras put me into a concentration camp. They tortured me and my comrades, until another lutenient, Curcuitclaw Techbeak, you'll meet him later on, made an attempt to rescue me. Now, Curcuitclaw's real name is Fiercestrike Talonclaw, but when he tried to rescue me, he made a mistake. His idea was sound: blow up the central control station, thus releasing all remote bindings, therefore releasing me and the others. But Fiercestrike underestimated the power of the explosives he was given, and the entire camp was decimated. Curcuitclaw lost most of his torso, his left arm, and right leg, and half of his head, and I was the lucky one: I only lost my beak. They supplied me with a replacement, and Fiercestrike was saved. However, he was only half Griffon. he was also a cyborg, with a cybernetic head, arm, leg, and body. He was able to fly faster, hit harder, and look farther than any other Griffon, and he came with a bonus: nearly immortal, and, he could fire lasers from his one electronic eye. We gave him the nickname 'Curcuitclaw Techbeak'. It was then that I realised that me and him were one in the same. Him, a cyborg, and me, a genius."
"You're a genius?" asked Twilight, "They sure don't advertise you as one."
"How do they advertise me?"
"As a ruthless, shady, snake of a multi-billionaire."
"Hm. I'll have to consult the advertising company about that. Nonetheless, in case you didn't know, I have an IQ of 160, therefore, I'm a genius. I realised that we were both now better than the average pony or Griffon. I spent five years after military retirement searching both Griffinium and Equestria for others like me and Techbeak. I found so many, that I realized that these 'mutants' were everywhere! And so, I formed the Coalitian Of Unique and Unusual Ponies and Griffons, or the CO double-U PG. I made a tower larger than Manehattan tower to home these mutants, and so my business took off. It started out with me and Techbeak controlling the entire haven, but over time, we got executives in the fields of flight, brawn, disguise, demolition, and the only spot left untaken, was magic. That was where you came in."
"Interesting. I have so many questions for you, though."
"One moment, the train is almost here." They had arrived at the train station a few moments ago, and Arthur could see the train coming over the hill. As soon as it came to a stop, Greybeak and Twilight got on board. They sat at a table on the side of the wall, with Arthur's back towards the back of the train, and Twilight's back towards the front. "So," he began, relaxing in his cusioned seat, "You said that you have questions?"
"Oh, yes. First of all, how are we going to get to the haven?"
"Are you familiar with the Neighagra paradigm?"
"Yes. It states that there is a mythical force in the Neighagra falls caverns, that supposedly leads to the forth dimension, but that's all hokem, right?"
"Well, actually, this train, after stopping in Manehattan, goes up to Neighagra falls. from there, we can travel through the Neighagra falls caverns, which doesn't lead to the fourth dimension, but it does lead to a massive underground cave, at least ten times the square footage of Canterlot. This is where I built the CO double-U PG haven tower. It's the perfect location, because nopony would ever think of looking where they think the Neighagra paradigm is. That's where we're going."
"Amazing. I'm also wondering who else is part of this group."
"Do you know Raincast Dash?"
"Yeah. He's my friend Rainbow Dash's son."
"He was chosen for flight, as he was the only Pegasus ever to complete a double rainboom. It's an amazing story, really. He soared up twenty miles into the air, and began freefall. He completed the rare sonic rainboom as he broke the sound barrier, but then he went so fast that his very bieng broke the speed of light, and he dissappeared. He later shared his story about how he saw the color spectrum and how the laws of the universe worked, but he could not explain it in mortal words. And so, it was obvious that we had to have him."
"Incredible. Who else, besides you, Curcuitclaw Techbeak, and Raincast?"
" There is a pygmy we found named Blowtorch. He got his name because if he could concentrate hard enough, he could light anything on fire, and sometimes, he could even make it explode. It was remarkable, and we chose him to be our demolitionist." The train came to a halt. "We're in Manehattan. One more stop before Neighagra falls. There are two others still: Bloodrage Fiercewing, and Knotmane. Bloodrage was a Griffon that we rescued from a zebra concentration camp during the war. His hate for the Zebras was so great that he broke free of our custody, and ripped the entire camp limb from limb. As soon as we started recruiting, I remembered him, and we got him into our 'Brawn' spot. and Knotmane...That is an interesting story right there, that even I cannot fully understand. We once found an old stallion in the streets of Baltimare one day, who was asking for money. We donated, and as we came by that spot again, there was a different, young adult stallion standing there, also asking for money. We asked him what he can do, and he showed us. He stood on his back hooves with ease, and there was a bright ring around his hooves. It rose up to above his head, and he was transformed into a different pony. He did it again and again, as he immitated me, Curcuitclaw, and others on the bridge. Finally, he showed us his true form: a brown stallion with a knotted mane and tail. Half his face was deformed, and his coat was rugged. We took him into the haven, and he explained his story the best he could: He was a test subject for the humans, you remember them, right?"
"Of course. how could I forget? they ran those horrible tests and simulations on me and my friends once."
"Right. Well, They had taken Knotmane while he still lived under the name Hoops, but when they ran tests on him, he changed. They injected Human DNA into him, so that he could stand on his back hooves, and he lost his wings, but then their next test went horribly wrong. He broke free, assumed the form of the head scientist, a man named Damian Been, and escaped. But before he could get off the grounds, he was blasted with fire, and his face was scorched. finally, he escaped, and started raising money on the Baltimare bridge. I still can't percieve how he can change, or what gave him this power, but he is still a irreplacable spot on our panel." The train stopped again, "Ah, finally. We're here!"
They stepped off the train, and began their trek to the Neighagra Falls Caverns. It took almost three hours to get there, but once they arrived, Arthur couldn't be more exited as they walked down the tunnel, and at the end met a purple stallion with green and black hair, guarding a stone wall with four lines going through it, making eight triangles all pointed to the center. "Ahem," said Greybeak, clearing his throught, "Toxic, listen up: T'ukael kil'orop. Ta'ukakuk'ka Fa'ghetik."
The pony named Toxic closed his eyes, and each triangle in the door receded into the wall, showing a huge chasm, with COUUPG haven tower in the center, streching from the floor to the cieling. Arthur walked down the grate path in front of them, and into the corridor leading into Haven Tower. Twilight got vertigo looking to the top, and then to the bottom, but reluctantly walked inside. on the interior, Twilight saw hundreds, thousands, even of mutants roaming the halls. the halls went around the perimeter of the square tower, leaving the inside a hollow prism reaching to the highest point with a few bridges criss-crossing here and there, and a massive dome at the bottom. "What's the dome?" Twilight asked.
"That is actually four stories. the top story is the dome and observation room, two stories underneath it are learning centers, where mutants learn to control and harvest their powers. We have ponies and griffons who can manipulate rock, fire, water, wind, lightning... anything you can imagine. and the bottom floor is where we're going: the executive meeting room. let's go." the pony and Griffon stepped into the glass elevator, which sped down to the bottom. it took a few minutes, and Twilight witnessed the levels of business, housing, restraunts, and floors that she didn't know the purpose of. finally, they passed the learning floors, where on one, a pony was summoning blades out of thin air, and on the other, a griffon was showing off his fire manipulation skills. then, finally, they came down into a room that was dark, except for a table with a griffon, and two ponies sitting at it, and a wall covered in moniters. Arthur and Twilight stepped out, and sat at their respective spots at the table. also at the table was Curcuitclaw Techbeak, the co-founder of COUUPG and a good friend to sir Arthur Greybeak, and Knotmane sat across from Twilight, with the right side of his face looking stern, and the left deformed into a twisting scorched mess. Also at the table was the pygmy Blowtorch, who was small, like a colt, but with a crazed look in his eyes, and a wretched smile. right now, he was focusing on a wine glass over by knotmane, lighting it on fire, and then putting it out over and over.
Arthur hammered his fist, and shouted, "Attention!" Everyone in the room looked towards him, as he began to say, "Curcuitclaw, turn on Raincast and Bloodrage's moniters, if you will." Techbeak turned to the wall covered in moniters, pressed a few buttons on his cybernetic arm, and Raincast appeared on a moniter, appearing to be in Cloudsdale, and Bloodrage appeared on another, appearing to be outside the tower. "Very well," said Greybeak again, "I hereby call the 734th meeting of the COUUPG executives to order."
Everyone in the room and on the moniters said, "Here here!"
"Yes, yes. Our first order of business: new arrivals! We have two new executives with us here today. first up, I'd like to introduce you to our new Magic executive, Twilight Sparckle!"
Once again, everybody said, "Here Here, Twilight!"
"And now, to unviel my own flesh and blood, to take over the Coalitian when my days have come to an end: my son, Drake Greybeak!" he extended a claw to the glass elevator, where another griffon, with no discernable traits, walked into the room, and sat opposite of his father, and right next to Twilight.
"Objection!" shouted Bloodrage through his moniter.
"On what grounds?" Asked Curcuitclaw, in a robotic voice.
"A non-mutant plaguing our meeting room! I mean, look at him! nothing different between him and any other griffon!"
"Not exactly, Bloodrage," refuted Arthur, "You see, he can do one thing. Show 'em, Drake."
The silent Griffon closed his eyes, concentrated, and suddenly vanished in a cloud of dust, only to reappear behind Bloodrage, then teleported back.
Curcuitclaw clapped respectively, then turned to Bloodrage, who only crossed his arms, and looked away.
"Onto out second order of business: the time has come for us to use the military reserve."
*****
Doctor Been made the final adjustments to his Tech-commandos, which he designed to lead his unmanned android soldiers, which he called TSAs, or Techno-Soldier-Androids. He had an army of over 5,000 TSAs, which were to be led by the five Tech-commandos: Magmus, Aquor, Eartcon, Aistius, and Dargon. He sent them off to the carriers with one mission: Attack and destroy Haven Tower.
*Dun Dun Dunnnnnnn*
Aistius led the TSAs onto the carriers, heading to Neighagra Falls. Their goal was simple: invade Haven tower, take no prisoners, and cave in the entire chasm. They had an entire package of D12 explosive, the most powerful explosive known to man; at least ten times as powerful as C4 per square inch. They planned to enter through the caverns, plant charges on the bottom dome, housing levels, and all across the roof of the cave, which led to a huge lake on the other side. Once detonated, the cave will flood, and even if anypony or Griffon survived in the storm shelter, they'd have to swim out of complete darkness to escape. He was going to lead the infiltation and charges, Magmus will lead the defense, Aquos would lead the frontal attack of Haven Tower, and Eartcon would lead the patrol afterwards to kill any prisoners. Dargon would have been in charge of the execution of the executives, but his carrier went off course, into the west. (This is important to the story later on)
"What do you mean we have to use the military reserve? Can't there be some other way? You'll doom us all!" such things were said by the executives the instant they heard the news. None of them were happy about the use of something meant mostly for show and security; never before had they had to use the controversal division.
Even with all the shouting, one voice rose above the others, and that was of Bloodrage, saying, "NOW HOLD ON A MINUTE!" everyone else in the room shut their mouths in both fear and respect for the brute. After he was sure he had everyone's attention, he continued to ask the leader with a tone that never changed: angry, "Why do we even have to use the military reserve? What are you keeping from us? Haven tower is imervious to any attack."
"Or so you think," said Arthur with an undertone of urgency, "You see, I have recieved word from another mutant like James, who goes by the name 'Shade', that the human Doctor Damian Been has made an army." Simply the mention of Beens name made Knotmane angry. He was miserable ever since that *CENSORED* ran those tests on him, and now him coming up in conversation was so enraging, that Knotmane was about to volunteer for the defense of the tower himself. But Arthur kept going, "And this army is aimed straight at Haven Tower. We have at least 30 minutes before they arrive."
"But father," said Drake. Twilight could tell by the sound of his voice that Drake Greybeak was just like any billionaire's son: a spoiled, cocky know-it-all that can never be denied of anything he wants. He continued by saying, "We've never even seen the troops in training. How do we know if they're ready?"
"We don't," Said Arthur, in a half sigh, "But we have to take our chances and hope for the best." his voice went from unsure to serious, "Techbeak. Get me Toxic on the communicator. Bloodrage, get inside the tower now! And Raincast..."
"Yes, Arthur?" said Raincast, waking from his rest. While everyone else was making a huge deal out of nothing, Raincast took the chance to catch up on his sleep. Yep, truly like his mother.
"Quit your sleeping and get over here. We need everyone's help."
"On it boss." said Raincast. He did say something else afterwards, but the noise was drowned out by the sound of his takeoff.
"Sir," said Techbeak to Arthur. His voice remained the same: a slightly robotic almost recording, kind of like that steering whell in Wall-E. "I have Toxic's signal."
"Then bring him up!" shoted Arthur with a new tone: one that implied that under his urgency, was slivers of fear.
Soon, the huge moniter in the center of the wall lit up, and there was the purple pony who was obviously the gatekeeper. "What is it, Mr. Greybeak?" his voice symbolised a true follower: loyal, without a trace of doubt at his master's plans, and ready to do almost anything needed to help the general welfare.
"Toxic, I need you to lock the blast doors and perpare for battle, we're getting company."
"Y-yes,sir, "He said almost like a little boy. He quickly swallowed his words, cleared his throat, and said, "I'll protect this tower, or die trying."
"Very good. Dismissed." In a few moments the screen went blank, and Arthur turned to the rest of the group. "I want you all to blow the elavator, and hold down on the dome level. If all else fails, don't let them reach the students. Techbeak, I need general Overcast."
"Right away sir." Techbeak pressed a few more buttons on his wrist, and soon Overcast, Raincast's father, and renowned war hero, appeared on the screen.
"Overcast, activate the military reserve. This isn't a drill. We have company."
"Yes, sir." Overcast turned away, and the screen went blank.
Everyone was gone, and only Arthur and Curcuitclaw were left. "Sir," the cyborg asked after contemplating the consequences of asking his question, "What now?"
"Now..." Said Arthur. He knew it made no differance what they did. So many good ponies and Griffons would lose their lives today, and with the army Been has, the Tower will be short lived. "Now, we wait to die."
"What about the others?"
"They'll die, too."
"But-"
"Don't you understand, Fiercestrike!" Arthur covered his metal beak. He hadn't called Techbeak by his name since the war, but his temper got the best of him. He couldn't appear afraid, he had to continue, with a fake raised voice, "We are going to die here today! It doesn't matter how many defences we've put in place, it doesn't matter how many ponies and griffons we put in the field, and it doesn't matter how long we hold them off. They are going to break in, and they are going to kill us."
"How do you know?"
"Because," He said, wondering if he should release such information to Techbeak. It didn't matter, since they were doomed. "I didn't tell them the entire story about Shade. You see, right before I closed communications with him, the humans found him, and tore him limb from limb. With that strength, we don't stand a chance." He let that be the final words as he turned his back on Techbeak, and walked towards the elavator. Once inside, a scanner scanned his eye, and allowed him down one level: to the secret escape. But he wasn't down here to be a coward, he was down here to be the opposite. he kicked a support beam over the cave ahead of him. the cave became unsettled, and collapsed, trapping everyone inside.
******
Toxic held his ground as Aistius blew through the blast doors with D12. The gatekeeper stood at the ready to fight. the first human in was a drone. he ventured forward, only to be attacked from a crevice by Toxic. He wrestled the enemy to the ground, summoned a huge stalagmite through his chest, and stole his gun. He then turned to the still smoking entrance, and fired aimlessly through the blindness. At least seven drones were killed by the barrage before he ran out of bullets, and threw the gun aside. He waited to see how the humans would react. They pulled out their guns, and began shooting at the pony. With amazing reaction time, Toxic brought a stone wall up out of the ground, and the bullets bumbed off of it. He then pushed this wall through the earth back at them. since the entrance to the cave is behind a waterfall, every drone in front of the doorway was pushed off, and into the rocky basin below. As the smoke cleared, Toxic realised that more drones would just take their place. This series of events continued for a while, until a rocket drone appeared. He fired a rocket, which shattered the rock shilde, and threw Toxic to the ground a few feet away. He stood again, and pulled bullet sized rocks form the walls. He propelled them at the enemy with the speed of a bullet, and more drones were killed, and strewn over the edge. But more kept coming. Toxic was worn out, and his reaction time was not quick enough the last time to avoid death, and the gatekeeper was pelted with plasma bullets. He fell to the ground, finally defeated in combat, and Aistius entered the cavern. He had the power to punch straight through the thin main door, and ripped it apart from the inside.
Aistius and his men stood aside as Aquos' men prepared for the frontal assualt. as they stood on the grate bridge, only three or four troops wide, Overcast and the military reserve stood on the balcony leading in. The drones started marching, only to be intercepted by Bloodrage, who chose this exact moment to return to the tower. He ripped through the enemy lines, tossing these limbs and that drone over the edge, antil Aquos delivered a few well placed shots to the Griffon, and he himself tumbled over the side of the bridge. "FIRE!" Shouted Overcast to his troops. All four lines of soldiers fired their weapons at the drones, dropping row after row. When the massive reload came, the humans offered their rebuttle, cutting down squads of troops this way and that. So much death was to much of a sight for a few light-hearted ponies, who pushed themselves over the edges. Soon it was just Overcast the old war hero left, but he was the most determined not to die. Doing quite the opposite, he pulled out his pistol, and started firing at the drones, while slowly walking towards their marching lines. Aquos stood above the others, on top of a discarded drone corpse, and pointed at the general. Every drone aiemed their guns at him, and he started shooting Aquos saying, "Die you son of a- AUGH!" he grunted as he gripped his bullet wounds, which forced him over the edge. "NOOOOooooooooooo-" and like that, the war hero was lost to the abyss forever.Aquos didn't even flinch as he directed his men towards the huge corridor.
Twilight and the others couldn't help looking up, as they saw the swarms of blue androids fill the tower, heartlessly slaughtering every mutant they came by. Some could put up a fight, and managed to kill a few enemies before being riddled with bullets. A few discarded corpses were thrown out windows, to break through the dome's glass cieling. There was no arguement: the battle of Haven Tower was over, and now the Haven Tower massacre had begun. Room after room, floor after floor was devoid of life as the killers continued. Eventually, Aquos stepped into the elevator on the 15th floor. He rode it down to the dome level, where he jumped out to fight the executives. "So," he began, swaying as hhe walked. With this one, along with all the Tech-commandos, there was a real human inside. "This is the board of executives. I'm so scared.
" he said sarcastically. "Now come on, put 'em up so I can hurry up and kill you."
Drake teleported behind Aquos, who saw it coming, and spun around to grab Drakes leg, holding him upside down. "So," he began again, "I see you have another teleporter. Let me tell you, that wimp Shade sure didn't go painlessly. Turns out, as long as I hold you, you cant go anywhere." He shot off one of his glove fingers, and held Drake in place against a wall. As he was doing this, Knotmane mimiced Aquos, and started pelting him with bullets. "Really?" he said turning. "You're gonna get me while I'm gloating? That's just low, dude. Oh, well. I don't care. This suit's impervious to any attacks. Go ahead and try. Twilight fired beam after beam of magic at him, only for it to be deflected by his suit. Blowtorch even tried igniting him, or exploding him, but nothing worked. "Hehe. Now it's my turn." He pulled out his gun, and fired shot after shot at them, but no one was hurt. Twilight got an idea, however. One part of his body was unprotected, so she fired a bolt of magic at his hand, where his finger shelling was gone. His finger was gone, so he dropped to the floor, and gripped the bloody stub. Twilight used levitation to bring the finger shelling off of Drake just long enough so that he could drop to the floor, and teleport to the rest of them. Above the executives, two bridges criss-crossing the walls of the Tower detonated on the edges and in the center. They began falling as Drake grapped every mutant and teleported to the elevator shaft. They broke through the elevator and onto the bottom level. Arthur was waiting for them. As they entered, part of the roof caved in with the impact of the bridge pieces. they were still 50 yards from the blast doors, which were closing rappidly. As Drake fell behind the rest, a hand reached out of the rubble, and grasped his ankle. Aquos stood up from the dust, and said, "Oh, no you don't! You're not getting out of here alive." He put his plasma pistol to Drake's head, and shouted to Arthur, behing the closing doors, "This place is set to blow in thirty seconds. Where i'm standing is safe from the blast, but so is where you're standing, so here's my proposition: You come out here, survive the blast, and get taken prisoner by me and the human army, or you stay behind closed doors, and watch your son die. Either way, you survive, but he" he said pushing the gun into Drake's left temple, "Dies. That is, if you stay there. So what's it gonna be, Greybeak? All your lives? Or all your lives, minus one."
Arthur looked at his son, as if telling him telepathically what to do. As if he heeded the warning, Drake kicked Aquos in the leg, so he loosened his grip enough for Drake to break out. But Aquos wasn't letting him get away that easy. As Drake was teleporting into the room, Aquos fired a plasma bullet. As Drake disappeared, Aquos noticed a lack of impact marks, meaning he had done it. Drake teleported into the blast room, and fell to the floor in a heap, grunting with pain, Arthur ran to his sone, layed him on his back, and removed his claws from his stomach, covered in blood. He was shot. Arthur knew the wound was fatal, and only looked at his son. Drake looked back, and wearily asked, "Dad... Will I..." a hacking cough interrupted his sentence.
Arthur put his claw over his son's mouth and said, "No... no, you'll survive. Just rest for a while." He almost couldn't hold back the tears as he knew that when Drake went to sleep, he wouldn't wake up. Drake closed his eyes, and that was the end of it. Some say, that that was the day a fire started in his heart, and the calm-mannered, classy gentle man Arthur Greybeak, became a rutheless human fighter. That was the day it began. That was the day that the resistancewas formed.
AN: *This chapter is really short, and literally 50% of it is a really long fight scene, but bare with me, here, this is suppodsed to be really fast. So is the next chapter. These are really only used to introduce other key story characters, but I promise that chapter 5 will be much longer.*
Phantom walked through the great hall of Been's hideout. His tall leather steel-toes clanged on the tile floors, with their hidden cletes. His dark brown cloak that covered his body waved away from his back, and his hands under his metal gloves clenched into fists at his sides, moving with each step. Phamton never showed his face, as it was shadowed by his cloak hood. He was one of the incredibly rare cases of a human mutant, and more powerful than any other. With a single clance at his opponent, and he could mimic his abilities and skills. his eyes could also see into the future, making him impossible to defeat. Phantom was feared by every mutant, as he was also Been's personal assassin. He watched on as the board of executives battled Aquos in Haven Tower, and therefore, he aquired all of their mutant powers. Now, Been had another mission. Phantom stopped before the scientist, and crossed his arms, "You said that the next time we met, you'd have Greybeak's head on your mantle." Said phantom in a disguised voice. In addition to his cloaked face, Phantom never let anyone hear his real voice.
"Yes, but there's been a change of plans," said Been, "The executives have survived, and Equestria will soon be protected to the fullest. Therefore, we have to invade prematurely. Get ready, you will single-handedly be in charge of the takeover of Canterlot."
*****
Princess Celestia and Princess Luna stood in the throne room. behind them, a huge window stretched from floor to cieling, revealing the sun, and in front of them, a huge hallway stretched to the massive doorway. On either side of the corridor were ornate marble columns. Everything seemed business as usual until Been and Phantom appeared, walking down the hall. "Sister," whispered Luna to Celestia, "Who are these trespassers?"
"I'm not sure, but they are not welcome," She glared her eyes as Phantom glanced at one, then the other. She shouted to them, "Halt! By order of fair ruler Princess Celestia, what be your business in these sacred halls?"
"Oh, not much really," Said Breen, crossing his arms behind his back, "Just taking your country."
"Over my dead body!" shouted Luna to the old man.
Been got an evil grin over his face, "That can be arranged. Phantom!"
PHantom looked up, and proceeded to bring two stones out of the walls on either side of Luna. Celestia managed to dodge her rock, and Luna jumped to ground level before the space she used to occupy was crushed between the two pieces of earth. Luna's eyes went white as she egan to levitate. Out the window behind her, a huge wave began rising. When this wave was the height of the window, Luna sent it crashing into the royal hall. In this time, Phantom grabbed Been teleported him somewhere safe, then he ruturned to battle the wave. As water rushed into the sacred hall, Phantom raised a hand, and the roaring wave split into two before it hit him. As the weather settled, Luna stood again, and Celestia was hovering over her throne. "Wait sister. I will aid your fight." Said Celestia as she swooped down, hoping to at least knock Phantom to the floor. But the assassin was too quick, and he managed to limbo underneath her, grab her leg, and swing her down to the floor. Luna fired a beam of pure night into Phantom, who simply raised his hand, and deflected it into a sacred piller. Each piller in the royal hall represented a pair of princes or princesses who ruled before Celestia and Luna. With the beam's impact, the piller representing Prince Solarus was broken at the bottom. Phantom used his rock manipulation powers to break this piller from the wall, and swing it. As Celestia got up, both her and Luna were knocked down again by the Solarus column, which then swung back shattering more columns. He then thrust the column into Luna, ramming her into the wall. Celestia recovered agin, and fired a beam of sunlight at the evildoer. Phantom countered it by shielding himself with the essance of night. The sunlight died, and Phantom replied with a fireball, which cinged Celestia's coat, and sent her rolling to the back wall. He then shook the back wall, damaged by the wave, and broke it apart, sending each shard into the abyss that was the Canterlot mountainside. Luna pushed the rock off of her, and glanced at her sister. They both knew what needed to be done. Luna stood in front of her throne, and Celestia, the same. Luna released her chest guard, and Celestia, her crown, and each item was placed on top of the other, forming a physical contradiction. First Celestia split into a second form, which was slightly transparent, and was slowly levitated toward the anomaly. The original form of Celestia went deathly cold, and soon, Luna's body did the same. With both the princess' souls united, a huuge embodiment of the god 'Equinox' appeared in the royal hall. He had all power in the world, and manipulated time itself as to fight Phantom. Equinox struck Phantom with a sphere of pure energy, despite phantoms future sighting being his doing nothing. Phantom was thrown to the floor, in shock of the first attack to strike him. Equinox must have been cancelling out Phantom's future seeing, and thus giving him the ability to defeat the assassin. But as Phantom looked at the god, He gained his powers, and fired the same energy sphere at Equinox, who was pushed back. And so, a battle of the titans ensued. Phantom increased his size to almost 30 times the original, to match the being's size. It was chaos from that point on. Energy spheres here, huge meteor showers there, and ultimately, it ended with Phantom thrusting his fists into Equinox's constelation-like chest, grabbed Celestia's crown, and Luna's chestguard, which were in place of his heart, and ripped them out. Like that, Phantom had killed the god of all creation, and the world returned to normal. Phantom was original size again, and Equinox lay, dead on the ground. He had won. Phantom levitated the crown and chestpiece toward him, and melted their physical forms. He brought the gem out of the crown, and morphed it into a pitch black jet, then he reformed the crown and chespiece into obsidian with streaks of fire and ruby. Then he placed the armor upon himself, and became ruler of Equestria.
