Lyra yawned as she woke up, wearily opening her eyes as she sat up in her bed, the covers falling off to reveal that she still wore her work clothes from last night. Said clothes consisted of a simple white hoodie with the company brand placed on the back, while a similarily coloured t-shirt sat beneath the hoodie, the logo instead being placed on it's breast pocket yet wasn't visible underneath the hoodie. The company symbol consisted of a crimson red rose with a small strip of paper below it saying 'Rosey Delights' after both the store she worked at and the store's owner, Rose Red. The store, if it wasan't painfully obvious was a flower store, boasting the greatest smelling and looking roses in Ponyville. Other than the hoodie and t-shirt there was no dress code for the lower half of the body, allowing Lyra to choose simple black pants.
Grumpily rolling off the bed she made for the door to the hallway, not needing to get dressed considering that she already was. Entering the hallway, she noted how Bon Bon's door hung open, an empty bed lying inside. She always was an early riser. Continuing down the hall she smiled fondly at the multiple photos hanging on the walls depicitng her and Bon Bon doing a multitude of activities. Continuing down, she reached the stairs, happily skipping down the steps. Reaching the bottom, all the curtains were shut a yellow sticky note situated on the table in the centre of the living room drew her attention, bringing her to pick it up and read it.
Gone out early, got called to a work emergency.
-Bon Bon
Sighing, she placed it back down, trudging over to the couch. This had happened several times before, making it kinda annoying whenever she wanted to hang out with Bon Bon. It was made pretty suspicious however when these 'Work Emergencies' came right before a terrible disaster came upon Equestria. But she trusted her nonetheless, having been through many different things.
Flopping onto the couch she picked up the remote before flicking on the TV, beginning to flip through the channels.
"Recent reports have indicated-"
*beep*
"Rioting in the streets of Canterlo-"
*beep*
"Authortities advise ponies to stay indo-"
*beep*
"Canterlot has been put on lockdown, with the violent riots in the streets reaching a critical point. In other news it appears that the string of riots that originated in Canterlot have reached the cities on the east coast, causing severe damage with multiple fires breaking out. Princess Celestia had this to say."
The screen switched to Princess Celestia standing on a podium, trying to calm the sea of reporters clamouring to get past the line of royal guards.
"Please my little ponies, remain calm the situation is under control."
"What is the cause of rioting!?"
"W-we don't know yet, but we are looking into it-"
"What are the demands of the rioters!?"
"We are trying to find that out right now-"
Celestia was suddenly interrupted when a loud explosion happens beyond the view of the camera, prompting said camera to turn towards it, revealing a large plume of smoke rising very close by. Gunshots followed, causing screams of panic to also rise from the direction of the sound.
"Everypony evacuate!" Celestia yelled, prompting the mob reporters to begin their retreat, the camera still recording.
Also running, the camera pony turned around at the sound of the screams coming closer, pointing the camera at a large horde of oncoming ponies, blood smeared all over them as they charged the line of military, despite said military firing on them.
"What the-" Lyra began before screams outside drew her attention. Standing up, she hurried over to the closed curtains, opening them, putting a hand up at the blinding light shining through the windows. After the temporary blindness subsided, she gazed upon absolute chaos outside. Ponies were running down the street constantly glancing backwards as if something was chasing them, the screams appearing to originate from that direction. Frantic banging at the door jolted her out of her confusion, bringing her to wearily watch the oaken entrance as the banging continued. Rushing over to the kitchen she grabbed a knife from the drawer, holding it up in front of her as she approached the door shakily. Reaching it, she pressed her eye up against the small peephole to see who it was.
Sighing in relief, she opened the door, allowing a disheveled Cheerilee to stumble in. Glancing outside at the chaos for a split second, she quickly shut the door and locked it, fixing her gaze on the shaking Cheerilee that had opted to sit on the ground. Placing the knife down, she knelt beside Cheerilee, placing a reassuring hand on her shoulder, gaining nothing but a shudder form the shocked earth pony.
"Cheerilee." She said, looking for any reaction on her face. None. "Cheerilee!" She yelled this time, causing her to gasp in shock as she backpedaled away from Lyra.
Stunned by the sudden reaction, Lyra held both her hands up, signifying she meant no harm, "It's all right Cheerilee, your safe in here." She reassured, smiling.
"No. No we're not safe." She replied before jumping up and sprinting for the windows, taking brief glances as if she was looking for...something, before shutting the curtains rather violently. This went on until she had finished everything on the bottom floor, now focusing her attention on the table in the middle of the room. Walking over she began to push the table towards the door, being the final straw for Lyra.
"What are you doing Cheerilee?" She asked, standing defiantly in front of the door.
Still shaking, Cheerilee looked deep into Lyra's eyes, making Lyra realize just how bad things were. Cheerilee's eyes were dead. There was no other way to say it. The once vibrant colour and cheery feeling that originally came from them was replaced by a shellshocked, much less vibrant feeling. Whatever it was, it made Lyra realize that whatever Cheerilee had seen outside was bad. Very bad.
Stepping out of the way Lyra walekd over to Cheerilee's side to help push the table. Nodding in solemn thanks, Cheerilee continued to push the table with the help of Lyra, flipping it up as they reached door so that it blocked it completely. Quickly grabbing a chair, Lyra placed it under the door knob, insuring their safety.
Turning back to Cheerilee, she sighed in relief as she found her sitting on the couch in a semi-relaxed position, being an extreme step up form the scared pony from before. Taking a seat beside Cheerilee, she cleared her throat, gaining the magenta ponies attention.
"What's going on Cheerilee?" She asked in concern.
"T-their killing each other." She stuttered, garnering a confused look from the unicorn. "I don't know what happened. One moment I was teaching the foals at the schoolhouse, when all of a sudden people start screaming outside. Oh god, the foals." Tears were now actively falling down her face as she continued to sob until she could speak again, "We tried to evacuate. But those...things, got to us first. I-I couldn't do anything. Oh god, they're all dead Lyra, they're all dead!" Wrapping an arm around Cheerilee, Lyra brought her into a hug, comforting the destraught pony.
After what felt like hours of crying and comforting Cheerilee calmed down, peeling away from Lyra before giving a silent nod of thanks. Lyra opened her mouth to speak before Cheerilee shot a hand into her mouth, silencing her.
"Shhhh." She whispered urgently, glancing at all the windows that were obscured by curtains.
Nodding, Lyra grabbed Cheerilee's hand, slowly taking it away from her mouth. Leaning in she whispered to Cheerilee, "What's wrong?" She inquired, following her glances at the windows.
"Did you hear that?" She whispered, the urgent tone still present in her voice.
Tilting her head in question, she listened with all her might only to find silence. "I don't hear anything." She answered, beginning to worry for her friends sanity.
"Exactly." Cheerilee said, getting up from the couch before walking over to where Lyra had dropped the knife, "Nothing at all."
Lyra's eyes widened in realization. It was silent. It was dead silent. The previous chaos and screams that could be heard outside had fallen to nothing.
"We need to go upstairs." Cheerilee whispered, falling back to the corridor.
Following suit, Lyra followed closely behind when a faint scratching caught her attention. Turning to the door she continued to back away, watching it closely. A deafening smash happened from behind her, bringing her attention to the vase she had bumped, causing it to fall to the ground. The scratching stopped for a moment before a bloodcurdling scream came from the door, followed by furious banging, shaking the wooden frame.
A hand grabbed her by the arm, dragging her up the stairs before throwing her onto the bed she had only just recently gotten out of. Looking towards the door she found Cheerilee propping anything she could get her hands on against the door, only hesitating for a moment when the smash of the door downstairs happened before continuing with double the pace. The sound of what seemed like hundreds of footsteps suddenly flooded her hearing as she stared in horror at the now thoroughly barricaded door as it began to shake very similarily to the door downstairs.
Whimpering she retreated under the covers, silently praying to whatever gods were out there to have mercy on them...
Author's Note
I was bored so I wrote this, enjoy.
A blaring alarm awoke him from his sleep, making him shoot up too quickly and smashing into the bunk above him. Groaning, he rolled of the bed, looking around at the surrounding bunks, a red light bathing the room. All the soldiers in each bunk were either rushing to get up, or looking around in confusion. He was the former, quickly jogging towards the door at the end of the long aisle of bunkbeds, each containing a pair of ponies. Deftly dodging, the confused soldiers that were waking up, he made it to the end of the aisle, following the other soldiers that were acting through the door.
He moved into the new room, this one being much wider than the previous cramped room. Looking to the right, he spotted his locker, weaving his way through the organized chaos of the dozens of soldiers running to their respective lockers. Reaching his, he opened it quickly, grabbing his gear and putting it on. After equipping himself, he grabbed his rifle, checking it was loaded before hurrying out the final door to the outside.
Chaos assaulted his ears, as he observed several helicopters taking off and heading off into the black night sky. He quickly followed a group of fellow soldiers, looking on as soldiers began to head towards vehicles and their commanding officers. Something was definitely wrong. He stopped in his tracks, sniffing the air.
"Smoke?" He said in confusion, pulling his mask down, he sniffed at the air again. Yep it was definitely smoke.
The sound of metal hitting dirt drew his attention to a soldier in front of him who was looking at something behind him. Looking at all the other soldiers in front of him, he noticed that they were all looking behind him as well. Confused he decided to see for himself. His rifle joined the other on the ground as he gazed upon it, the blaring yellow glow bathing the entire base in light.
Canterlot was burning.
Vinyl looked on from her bedroom window, staring silently at the once great city of Canterlot as it burned. She then flipped her gaze downward at the roaming creatures below, noting their dismissal of the destruction of the capital. The distant, yet still clear, cracking of stone revebrated form Canterlot, a large chunk of the outer wall falling off into the dark abyss of the ground below. A faint sound then made it's way into her ears, being different from the scratching and growling of the creatures and the sounds of destruction form Canterlot.
Cracks could be heard echoing over the vast plains of Equestria, almost impossible to hear if you weren't paying attention. Looking off to the right, she could see faint flashes of light flying out across the plains before disappearing into an ominous dark shadow that slowly enroached upon the flashes, smothering and snuffing them out. She looked up as she spotted a large flying object, it's exact nature unclear due to the dark night sky. She did however notice small lights positioned on it, being the only way she had noticed it in the first place. She took off her shades to get a better look, scarlet eyes widening in realization.
"It's a helicopter"
Quartz watched in horror as those...things, swarmed into the base, the metal fences that were supposed to halt unauthorized personnel being overturned from the sheer numbers. Any that were left on the ground did their best to fight back, shooting like hell before being surrounded and piled on. He spotted a couple of trucks make it out, and even a tank, yet none slowed done for the screaming soldiers behind. He turned back ahead to the soldier sitting in front of him, the chopping of the helicopters blades filling his ears.
Checking his rifle out of habit and needing something to do, he continued to do this, occasionally glancing up at the pony in front, who had chosen to simply gave a thousand yard stare, his black pegasus wings occasionally ruffling in between the straps of his backpack. While normally he would attempt to strike up a conversation he knew this particular soldier very well. His name was Thunder Wing, and he was a mute, having never spoken as far as he knew. He had heard several rumours about why he wouldn't or couldn't talk ranging from fighting in the Griffon War to him just not wanting to.
Any thought of calm dissipated immediately as the sound of glass smashing came from the cockpit, followed by a guttural scream as a sickening crunch came from the cockpit, the helicopter suddenly lurching to the side. Quartz grabbed onto nearby seat, clenching it so hard his hands began to hurt. Something suddenly shot through the open side door, smashing into the floor. It slowly got up, pulling it's lips back in a snarl. Standing before him was a pegasus, the ruins of a white shirt covering his torso. Blood covered every inch of him, his mouth in particular, while his tattered wings twitched sporatically behind him.
He screamed, charging at Quartz before dropping to the ground following a quick crack. Blinking in shock he looked at Thunder who had raised his rifle, smoke pouring out of the end. The door to the cockpit slammed open, the pilot dropping onto the floor, growling unnaturally. Another pegasi similar to the previous one charged out, this time moving for Thunder. She didn't get the chance however, as the lack of piloting caught up to the helicopter, resulting in it begin a quick descent, followed by uncontrolled spinning. The pegasus and pilot were sent flying out the open side door, having not grabbed onto something to hold onto.
The world span, his vision not being able to focus on one thing for long. Attempting to look out the door, he caught a final glimpse of the quickly approaching ground before they finally collided with it...
A boom sounded out through Ponyville, drawing the attention of Lyra and Cheerilee, causing them to look out the window. They had already seen Canterlot, but a new fire had appeared near the outskirts of Ponyville. They both looked at each other in worry as every one of those things screamed as they sprinted towards the new fire.
He pulled Quartz deeper into the forest, the sounds of the inevitable horde coming closer. He just had to get far enough. He just had to get him out. He just had to survive.
Author's Note
I know I said this was going on hiatus but I had an idea and wrote it. Sadly I fear this is a low quality chapter so I apologize in advance. I do not need people in the comments complaining about how the story is going. I would appreciate grammar mistakes being corrected as well as spelling ones.
Live long and taco.
