The Invasion

We turned and our worst fears materialized in front of us. There stood three zebras side by side, and they didn’t look too friendly. One appeared to be the leader of the small squad, as the other two gave physical deference to him, even though they were much larger. They were coated with scars, symbols of some far off battle that we had no knowledge of. More than that, they were representative of the type of violent lifestyle that these particular zebras had taken hold of. Most zebras were not like this, but according to Zecora, some of them had turned to this. They were not unlike the air pirates of old, only their method of transport was probably much closer to the ground.

The zebra in the middle carried none of these scars. He was small, relatively plain, and had a dull look in his green eyes. A belt wrapped around his midsection and I gulped as I saw knife handles sticking out. I also caught the metallic glint of some type of broadsword. Even the belt itself could be used as a weapon. Sharp metal spikes poked their way from its leathery façade, and I imagined it wrapped around either me or Twilight. I couldn’t bear to see even an anxiety produced hallucination of my beloved being hurt or killed, so I shook my head and cleared the thought away. I felt a cool breeze begin emanating from the window behind us, which still stood open from our previous observation. It played with my mane, and I felt somewhat heroic…stupidly heroic, that is.

I jumped in front of Twilight. “We aren’t going anywhere!” I thundered, with what I thought was the might of all the royal ponies put together.

But to the zebras…it was the whimper of a mouse. They laughed, and their leader stepped forward with an evil sneer. “Oh, you aren’t?” He asked with a healthy dose of sarcasm, “well, I’m sorry, I guess we’ll just leave. We must have invaded the wrong country, because it’s totally obvious that you aren’t gonna move.”

The other two snickered. “Heh, nice sarcasm, boss!” The one on the left said.

“Yeah, you’re the king of the facetious!” The one on the right said.

“Thank you, thank you,” the leader said, taking an even more sarcastic bow, “I pride myself on being very trenchant in my contemptuous and contumelious cynicism. Now, then, back to reality. The fact is, you wretched little stains otherwise known as ponies, you aren’t going anywhere. The town is ours, the nation is ours, and soon enough, the WHOLE WORLD will be ours! We’ll kill any creature that stands in our way, be it pony, dragon, griffon, or Changeling! Soon, you’ll ALL BOW to the zebras! Now, let’s go!”

I knew I had to do something drastic. The two mountainous quadrupeds were advancing upon my beloved Twilight. So, I sprang into action with all the courage of Robin Hoof…and all the foolishness of the evil king. Of course, I wouldn’t stop to think of how I’d fight them. They were each easily three times bigger than I was, and probably six times more violent. Even worse, they also seemed to be incredibly reckless. So, I was faced with giant zebras who were probably incompetent, and each one of them packed a recklessly violent punch. To borrow the colloquialism of the street ponies that overly crowded Manehattan…I was fucking screwed.

But I didn’t care. All I knew was that they were being cruel to the pony I loved, and I was going to fight for her. It didn’t matter that my love was completely one-sided and I probably would have gotten bitten had I confessed. It existed, and I needed to show her that I cared. So, I leapt at one of the beasts just as he picked Twilight up by the tail and bit down on his neck. He howled in pain and dropped her. She scurried around behind the other one and began her own assault. But, their recklessness soon caught up with us and we found ourselves being flung around like rag dolls. They hurled us off the wall, and I found myself drifting into unconsciousness. The last thing I remember seeing was one of them snarling at Twilight before I blacked out…

When I awoke, I found myself in a cage. I rattled at the bars, and tried to call for help, but to no avail. Nopony came. No friendly face emerged from the darkness. Instead, it was just me…or…I thought it was just me. So, since my situation called for some sadness, I took myself to the task of weeping. My cries were filled with pain, as it seemed I had lost everything I loved. I had lost Ponyville, Equestria, my friends, my brother, my family…and Twilight. The scene came rushing back into my mind, and once again, I saw the brute’s teeth bared against my beloved. It hurt me so much that my tears became even more frequent. I knew he had raped her…I just knew he’d committed that terrible deed against her.

“It’s hopeless,” I said out loud, “completely hopeless.”

“What’s hopeless?” A female voice answered.

I looked and broke into a smile as Twilight emerged from the other side of the cell. She looked as if she’d been through so much. Her beautiful wedding gown, which she was wearing at the time of the attack, was torn to shreds. Her purple orbs, so often filled with happiness and knowledge, were dull and pained. The hooves that used to carry news of new acquaintances and friendships, were sliced and bloody. She was covered in cuts and bruises, and she appeared to have multiple contusions along her forehead. Her horn had been cut in half, and blood dripped from the wound.

My smile disappeared as I ran to her and embraced her. “Please, please tell me this isn’t real!” I cried.

She gently pushed me back and looked at me. “It is,” she said solemnly and with a voice weakened by some type of trauma, “…but we cannot give up, Trundle. Things are bleak now, true, but we can’t give in. The others will be counting on us.”

She began breathing very hard and collapsed onto my shoulder. “Oh, what did they do to you?” I asked softly.

“What had to be done,” came a new voice.

I turned and saw the same zebras from earlier. I growled at them, showing my teeth as a sign of defense. I would never forgive myself for falling into oblivion while Twilight endured unknown hours of torture. This time, I would fight them off myself, and then we would escape; or, at least, that was my plan. I just needed one of them to open the cell door and do some kind of inspection. I’d heard about jailbreaks in the news before where this type of event was taken advantage of. Now, it was Twilight and I’s turn.

“What do you mean, ‘what had to be done?’” I asked, trying to keep the conversation flowing.

“You ponies live in delusions of grandeur,” the zebra said, “while you do this, you believe you have control over the entire world! You do the weather for every place on the planet! You send out your…BLEGH…friendship ambassadors to try and turn the world to your way of thinking! You promise freedom, but only if we succumb to your dangerous and harmful philosophy!”

“Harmful?!” I roared, “the bonds that friendship brings are beautiful! How can you sit there and say such nonsense?!”

“Because I’ve fucking seen what friendship can do!” The zebra shrieked back, “I’ve seen the hurt it produces, the division it creates, and the complete idiocy it bequeaths on someone! Now, thanks to you, the once proud zebra warriors have been cut to ribbons! We’re just returning the favor. I, Cutthroat, the leader of the Order of the Striped Warrior, have taken it upon myself to punish the ponies for their sins against us. You shall all bow to the zebra before this is over! We shall have your stallions for slaves and your mares for breeding! We shall prevail!”