The Last Ones Leftby VortixChaptersChapter 1Chapter 2Chapter 3Chapter 4Chapter 5Chapter 1Celestia sat in her throne, the soft cushions providing a great amount of comfort for her. Everything had gone according to plan. The wretched humans had been pushed back to their last stronghold in the United Kingdom, all of her armies laying siege to it. She sighed in relief. The war would finally come to an end. The previous 20 years had been nothing but Tartarus for her and her subjects, with their own casualties in the billions. What had once been a thriving nation with many ponies had become almost barren. You only needed to look at the cities of Manehattan and Vanhoover, both of which had fallen into a state of extreme disrepair. But it was necessary for the war effort, and it would all be worth it. The new human lands they had conquered could be fully analysed and assessed upon the completion of the war. She had done it. She had singlehoofedly saved planet Earth from the horrors of the humans and halted their inevitable destruction of it. Now the ponies of Equestria had all they could ever want. She had given them a planet afterall... Three days after the fall of London.. Celestia stood in a wasteland, it's churned mud staining her once pure white hooves as she walked through it, her personal guards following a reasonable distance behind. She looked around, trying to find an end to this terrible landscape, only to find the looming horizon filling with more of it. She stopped as her hoof clanked into something, her golden shoe clanging as it hit the object. Curious she tapped what appeared to be a lump in the ground with her shoe again, finding it to respond with similar clanging. Using her magic she wiped away a portion of mud, somehow making her feel dirtier despite only touching it with magic. Her eyes widened as they fell upon the eyes of a pony, his once gold helmet covered in brown sludge. She gulped as she wiped away more mud from the pony, revealing more of his armor and finding a pair of five different hooves attached to him. Five? Shoving back her disgust she wiped upwards the fifth leg, finding it connected to another pony, this time a mare. She was in much worse shape in him, having half her body missing, the presumably once red entrails a sickly brown. Breathing deeply she stepped back, turning to move towards her personal carriage. Her guards beat her their, standing at their posts at either side of the door. One of them opened the door for her to enter, only for Celestia to stop and look at him. He simply stood still however, staring straight ahead. "Do you know what this place was?" She asked, eliciting a blink of shock. "No I'm afraid not ma'am." The guard replied, unsure of how to react to the question. She smiled sadly at that before it disappeared in an instant, "This was the Amazon rainforest." She whispered quietly, almost to herself, before stepping into the carriage. The guard blinked once again looking around the desolate wasteland. There was no way she was telling the truth. But she was Princess, so she had to be. He had visited the forest once, when he had gone on a vacation with his family during his break. Yet it had been completely destroyed by the warfare. His eyes glanced to where Princess Celestia had stopped, his eyes widening slightly at the sight of gold armor. His eyes turned back to his partner who was already strapping himself into the harness to carry the carriage. And as he followed suit, preparing to take off, he asked himself. Was it all worth it? 3 years after the fall of London... Vinyl banged her head as the blasting music in her headphones drummed through her ears, making a sound most would find unpleasant, as she lent on the railing. She was currently on a cruise headed to Australia, the mythical land of beasts. Not only was she headed to Australia but she was on the first commercial cruise ever given the go ahead to go there. Plus, they had departed from the Chilean coast, which was also a first. She moved her headphone slightly off her ear to upon hearing the faint noise of a megaphone. "Attention pasengers, it is with great pleasure that I must inform you we are now 2 days away from Australia!" The captain said, eliciting excited cheers and talking. They had been on this ship for about 30 days now, so it would be a relief to make it to land. Turning away from the ocean she headed to the bar cabin, planning to prepare her things for landfall... Daring Do stared at her reflection, going over her plans as she fixed her hat into position while also straightening up her classic green safari shirt. The whole reason she had even come on this trip was the chance to explore a mythical continent without the military getting involved. There were many tales about Australia, ranging from giant lizards to giant spiders. It was exactly this reason that it had taken so long to get clearance to have a commercial cruise go there. Sure Equestria was nice, but the same temples and villains got boring fast. She needed something new and exciting for her next book, and Australia was the perfect place for that. Breathing deeply she closed her eyes, using her breathing technique to banish any thoughts of worry. Opening them again she looked back down at the mirror. A white unicorn stood in her doorway, headphones over her ears as she stared at Daring. The unicorn than smiled, waved and trotted away. Whipping around she bolted to the door in an attempt to find the unicorn. Looking to her left she saw her happily trot around a corner, prompting Daring to shoot after her, flapping her wings for extra speed. Stopping at the corner she looked behind her to make sure noone else had seen her before peeking back around. She whipped her head back behind the corner as a singlular sailor made his way toward her. Thinking quick she dove into a nearby closet, leaving it just a tiny smidge open to look at the sailor. Once he had gone by she sprinted out of the closet after the unicorn. She couldn't risk her identity being revealed. Even if she denied being A.K Yearling people would still realize that Daring Do isn't a fictional character and ask questions that she couldn't answer. Rounding another corner she spotted the unicorn trotting down the hall straight in front of her. Speeding ahead of the unicorn, she whipped around, staring her dead in the glasses. She slowly walked toward the unicorn, eyes narrowing as she continued to smile and wave. Stopping just inches from her, Daring continued to scrutinze her. "You do not say a word of this to anyone, understand." She said in a threatening tone, pointing her hoof at the unicorns face. What she did not expect was the unicorn to smile again before moving her hoof over her mouth in a zipping motion before sidestepping past Daring to continue her walk. Blinking, Daring whipped her head back around to stare after the mare, still unsure of how to react. Yet she still trotted away, slightly banging her head to whatever music was playing in her headphones. Her head shot back forward upon hearing other noises, making her remember that she was in the middle of a public hallway. Thinking quick she dove into a nearby closet, thanking her luck that their was always a closet nearby when she needed one. After making sure the coast was clear she bolted back down the hall, making sure to check her corners so she wasn't spotted. After safely reaching her room, she shut and lock the door before diving into her luggage. Finding her desired purple cloak and glasses she flicked them on with practiced precision, doing one last look over in the mirror before nodding to herself. "Adventure here I come." "Target is getting closer with no sign of stopping, moving to engage." "Um, C-Captain." Another sailor in the bridge said, staring at something on his side of the massive spanning window. Curious Steel Hoof called out to him, "What is it sailor?" The sailor slowly raised his hoof to point at something that was blocked by his body, not allowing the captain to get a good look. Walking up to the sailor he opened his mouth to ask what it was when he suddenly spotted what the sailor was pointing at. It was what looked to be a ship on the horizon, yet you could clearly see that something was different about it. A plume of smoke poofed out of it's side, confusing the captain even more. The bridge was engulfed in flames. Vinyl continued her happy walk to the room, eager to finally get off this boat and touch land again. Her thoughts were interrupted when the ship lurched to the side violently, throwing her against the wall and causing her glasses to fall off and descend to the floor. Confued she picked herself up only to realize the ship slowly turning and fall over again. Thinking quick she snatched up her glasses in her magic before sprinting down the hallway, careful to not lose her footing. The ship was now so sideways that Vinyl had to walk on the wall(floor?). She skidded to a halt as she reached a corner. Or rather a drop. There was no way she could walk up or down these. Her worrying is interrupted by the sound of hoofsteps, bringing her attention behind her. The same strange mare from before was running down the hallway as well, her hat nowhere to be seen. Their eyes met for a split second as the mare stopped beside Vinyl. She made a show of pointing up and down the vast square chasm. The mare simply rolled her eyes before picking Vinyl up and flying her up albeit slowly. Once they reached the top the both nodded and continued running down the hall. They both stopped as they looked up at the open door into the world, a flurry of screams eminating from it. Gulping she looked at the mare before nodding that she was ready. Picking her up the mare flapped her wings, getting them through the door. A scene of chaos filled their eyes as they landed on the wall. The entire ship was on it's side, with ponies either falling off into the water or hanging on for dear life onto anything. Looking to the place that wasn't just a giant wall of ship they spotted what appeared to be another ship on the horizon heading towards them. A poof of smoke suddenly eminated from the ship followed by a distant boom. Before either of them had time to react the front of the ship suddenly exploded, sending chunks of metal flying everywhere, hitting those who didn't have time to get out of the way. The shockwave knocked both of them onto their sides, with Vinyl almost sliding off the edge only to barely grab onto the edge of the wall they had been standing on. The mare beside her quickly stood up and rushed to her assistance, linking both of their hooves together as she slowly began picking Vinyl back up. Another boom could be heard bringing their attention to the ship. Sure enough a plume of smoke was once again coming from the ship. Thinking quick, Vinyl pulled the mare down with her, causing them both to land in the water. Waving her hooves all around in an attempt to get above the cold surface. Her head peaked above the water, allowing her to breath deeply. It didn't last long however as a similar explosion to before happened just above her, the shockwave sending her back down under. Looking around under water she instinctively curled up into a ball as she spotted pieces of metal descending from above. After the sounds of explosions ceased she got out of her ball looking around. The metal had stopped falling, meaning it was most likely safe to reemerge. Doing just that, Vinyl blinked away the water in her eyes looking around at the scene before her. The ship was currently in the process of sinking, several fires sprouting up from the places it had been hit. Vinyl gagged as her eyes fell on the strewn out bodies either floating lifelessly or impaled on the jagged metal spikes on the sinking ship. Her eyes than spotted a small floating piece of ship, pulling herself up onto it. With the need for swimming now delayed Vinyl let out a deep breath as she coughed out small spurts of water as she simply lay down on the piece of ship. Her eyes slowly closed as she drifted off, exhaustion catching up with her... Vinyl slowly opened her eyes, the sound of crashing waves and seagulls filling her ears. Groaning she lifted her head, gazing at the vast treeline in front of her, the sand on the beach stopping there. Wait sand! Trees! Excitedly she picked herself up, staggering of her makeshift lifeboat. As soon as her hooves touched the warm and soft sand she immediately collapsed into it, rolling around it as she grinned like a maniac. After doing this for a while she lay there, happy that she had made it to land. She didn't even care what land it was. Whispering caught her attenion, causing her ears to turn towards the source. "What should we do?" "I don't know, go talk to her." "What, no! You do it." While they were talking Vinyl had rolled back over to get a good look at them. What she saw made her jaw drop. A bright red unicorn was facing away from her speaking to her companion. That wasn't what had shocked her though. Rather it was her companion. A tall, lanky human stood in front of her, a red hoodie and black pants being his attire. And he was now staring right at Vinyl. The unicorn noticed his silence and turned to look at Vinyl as well, her eyes widening. Gulping the unicorn decided to speak, "Um, hi?" Chapter 2Cherry Blossom stared in silent shock at the white unicorn before them. She had spikey electric blue hair, being two different shades. She looked like she had been through hell and back if her frazzled coat and tired crimson eyes were anything to believe. Gulping she took a step forward, caution and curiosity filling her head. Who was she? Why was she here? Questions she intended to discover. Taking another step forward she tried her best at a motherly smile, failing spectacularly however as the unicorn simply continued to back away beginning to panic. Frowning she took another step, noting that the unicorn immediately took another step back. Looking back at Arthur for help he simply shrugged and waved at the stranger. Looking back she than noticed something. She wasn't even looking at her. She was looking at Arthur. Looking back she waved for him to leave, which he simply shrugged at before walking back into the forest. The unicorn visibly relaxed at this yet still maintained her panicked demeanour while not saying a word. Stepping forward she internally breathed a sigh of relief when she didn't step back again, Contuing her slow walk towards her, she stopped to hold out her hoof. "Hi there I'm Cherry Blossom." She greeted happily, only being met with a silent stare. Tilting her head in confusion, "Hello?" She said, waving a hoof in front of the unicorns blank stare in an attempt to gain her attention. This apparently worked as she soon blinked a couple of times before returning Cherry Blossoms stare. They stood there for what seemed like hours when it was really only a couple of minutes. Before either of them could break the silence however a very faint chopping could be heard, causing the unicorn's head to whip around in an attempt to find the sound. Cherry knew what it was though. And she had a feeling that this unicorn was runninh from them. Acting quickly she used her magic to teleport the piece of scrap that the unicorn had been lying on into the ocean, pushing it down into the depths. As she did this Arthur came back, bursting through the trees. "We got incoming." He shouted as the chopping got louder. The appearance of Arthur immediately sent the stranger into another panicking session as she rapidly backed up, only stopping once she touched the water. Before either of them could get to her however a helicopter flew into view the wind from the rotors causing all of them to stop as their manes (and hair) began whipping around wildly from the force of the circular rotors as it flew over top of them. This didn't last long however when it quickly passed over before turning around, heading back towards them. Looking to the unicorn Cherry could see that she was visibly shaking in fear, her crimson eyes wide. The helicopter came to a hover about ten metres from them, sending sand flying away, simultaneously forcing everyone to cover their eyes with either arm or leg, After a while of this the rotors slowly died down allowing all of them to get a good look at it. It had a sleek black design with circular rotors protruding from wings on either side of it. The vehicle had landed side on to them giving them a clear view the now opening door which housed several figures, all human except for a single pony at the centre, their general look shrouded by the darkness of the small part of the helicopter they were in. What was noticable however was the light blue streaks running throughout their bodies, each one glowing. This was the only way she could see them, certain that if they weren't there they would be almost invisible. The most noticeable parts of the blue streaks was the two sharp lines running across their supposed faces, most likely being for their eyes. Taking a step out, the clear figure of the lead pony became apparent. She wore what looked to be light grey metal armor, even incasing the wings that hung beside her back, the ends of them looking like they could cut through steel. In fact there was no sign of the actual pony underneath that wasn't covered in armor. She simply stood there for a while, scanning the surroundings, hesitating slightly on the white unicorn before continuing her viewing of the area. Her head suddenly snapped back to Cherry, a deathly stare being projected from the helmeted pony. Stepping forward, she continued moving towards Cherry, stopping only a few feet away from her. She than raised her hooves, placing them on the sides of her helmet before pressing inwards, a faint hissing sound resonating from it, as well as a few puffs of smoke. Lifting it up, the pony revealed herself to have a bright blonde mane, that lazily fell back against her light grey coat. She smiled at Cherry, her right eye covered by an eye patch, the scar running down behind it probably being the reason. The other eye stared at Cherry, while also glancing around at her surroundings, an unnatural shine emmiting from it. "Hello Cherry." Derpy said, a kind yet dangerous smile gracing her face. Smiling in kind Cherry returned Derpy's stare, "Hello Derpy." "So whose your new friend here?" She asked, looking back to the unicorn. Said unicorn was visibly shaking, her eyes flicking to Cherry in what seemed like a plea for help. "W-Well her name is..." Cherry trailed off, mind coming up blank. "U-Uh, Cloud!" She said in an affirmative way. Depry however rolled her hooves, signalling Cherry to continue, "Cloud...Spell! Cloud Spell!" She said, trying to play into the fact that she was a unicorn. "Cloud Spell? Interesting. And where exactly is Cloud Spell from than?" Derpy pressed, still looking at the recently dubbed Cloud. "Uh, well she's from...Wellington!" She concluded, saying the first city she knew of. Derpy raised her eyebrow at that however. "Really? You sure are a long way from Wellington Cloud. Care to explain?" She pointed out. Cherry's hopes of decieving her were dashed. She didn't have an excuse for that. And Derpy knew it. Derpy took a step toward Cloud yet stopped as a voice called to her from the helicopter, "Hey boss! Just got a call in. They found 'em." He said, causing Derpy's eyes to widen. Placing her helmet back on, she secured her helmet before taking another look at Cherry, "You're playing a dangerous game Cherry." She said, the helmet making her voice sound almost robotic, "Don't be caught on the losing side." She advised before turning and walking back to the helicopter, it's blades already spinning up in preparation for take off. Entering she closed the door, shooting one last glance at Cherry before being hidden by the steel wall between them. Waiting for the helicopter to be out of sight she turned to 'Cloud'. Who now lay on the sand, her crimson eyes rolled back into her head, leaving only white. She sighed, "Well, that could have gone better." Author's Note sorry for short chapter. Also the helicopter is not an exact replica of the one in the picture, as instead of the door being in the back, they are located in the sides. Also thinking of writing a sort of history book about how the ponies could have won the war. Be sure to point out grammatical errors as well. Next chapter will probably take a while to get out so don't get your hopes up. Chapter 3Daring ducked under a low hanging branch, her muscles and body screaming in protest as she increased her speed. Looking back behind her she saw the three other ponies she was running with. One was a dark blue unicorn stallion with a gray mane, a single gold coin as his cutie mark. the other two were apparent twins, both being pegasi mares with white coats and red manes. Heck, even their cute marks were the same, being that of a candy cane emerging from the clouds. All of them were running for their lives at the moment however, with Daring leading them. Looking ahead she began pacing her breathing, eager to keep up her current speed in an attempt to outrun what was chasing them. Emerging from the bushes behind them was the thing all were running from. A tall and heavily armoured human. The human raised his weapon before pulling the trigger for it, a yellow beam hitting one of the twins, causing her to drop to the ground convulsing violently as the beam continued, the human slowlyu approaching the downed mare. "No!" The other twin shouted, stopping and sprinting back towards her sister, despite the audible protests of both her and the stallion. Sure enough another yellow beam came out of the woods from her side, quickly relegating her to the same fate as her sister. Looking ahead let out a yelp of surprise as she quickly ducked beneath a particularly low branch, only barely missing it. The unicorn was not so likely as he also yelped before colliding with the branch, sending him quickly down to the ground. Stopping she made to turn back to get him before remembering the fate of the other two. Looking at him she silently mouthed, "I'm Sorry." Before continuing her sprint through the unfamiliar woods. She winced as the sounds of him screaming was heard, no doubt from the yellow beams these humans had. Humans. She didn't know why or how, but they had somehow stayed hidden on this island, and from the looks of it, advanced extremely quickly in terms of technology. Not even bothering to turn back she let out a yell of surprise as she stopped at a large drop, the bottom leading to a river. Looking back she quickly ducked as a beam flew overhead, right where she was standing just a second ago. Looking up at the beam she caught several small arcs of yellow electricity slowly circle the beam erratically. She didn't have time to continue watching however as she rolled to the side another beam hitting where she sat. Seeing no other option she continued her roll, eventually heading down the drop, spreading her wings just moments before she hit the water, flying at high speeds down the river. This would not last however as a yellow beam suddenly made contact with her right wing, bringing a pained scream as her body was enveloped by pain, little arcs of elecrticity travelling along her wing, shocking her endlessly. The beam soon passed however as she had gained speed to pass through it. Not without conseqeunces though. She immediately plummeted, her wing having been tortured by the beam now hung limply at her side, wind rushing past ehr as she made contact with the water, the icy cold battling with the hot pain. Neither won out and so she was left with the worst of both. She soon landed fully into the water, submerging quickly, the water filling her lungs. Panic filling her mind she moved her legs around trying to find out which way was up and down so she could escape the waters iron grip on her lungs. Her head suddenly reached the cool crisp air above the water and she immediately redirected all her efforts in that direction, being met with success as her eyes, than muzzle reemerged from the water, spitting out as much water as she could. Her relief was short lived as a yellow beam whizzed past her head, impacting the water instead. Looking back she watched as the humans ran across the tall hill above, occasionally stopping to try and shoot at her, only missing by millimetres thanks to her frantic attempt at trying to stay above the water and dodge the beams at the same time. Basically she was flailing about. As this happened she noticed that the beams and shouts of the humans were slowly growing quieter, causing her to look back to see that the speed of the river was carrying her rather quickly. Hope flicked it's way into her eyes before dying out as sounds of what seemed like chopping pushed it's way into her ears. Eyes widening she looked up above the humans to find the last thing that was good for her. A helicopter. She had seen many of the strange flying contraptions during her time as an operative for S.M.I.L.E, and knew what they were capable of. However she couldn't base her previous human knowledge on these ones as they were clearly different. This was further reinforced by the strange design of the helicopter, featuring two outward circles with the spinning blades that helicopters were so known for instead of being located at the top. Her gaze trailed it as it flew over her, moving far ahead before turning to the side and halting. What she assumed was a door opened up, revealing a human in the same armor as the ones chasing her, holding another one of the rifles, except this one was longer and larger. As it raised it's weapon she reacted quickly, diving back underneath the water, just in time too, as she felt immense heat and a feeling of static, as a light blue beam pierced through the water where her head once was. Reemerging she took a deep breath of air before going back under, trying to give them the slip by going under water. This worked as multiple yellow beams began hitting the water around her, although not coming too close. She continued her underwater drift, her lungs beginning their prtoests as they began to burn. Finally, after the beams stopped coming in, she finally deigned to head back to the surface, taking the biggest gulp of air she could. Looking behind her she saw the helicopter simply hovering a sizeable distance away. Looking around she found herself drifting down a small stream dense forest surrounding her. Seeing a small decline, she waded over to it, collapsing onto the dry dirt in relief, the pain in her legs finally cathcing up with her as the adrenaline ran out. She layed there for what seemed like hours, until the sounds of footsteps caught her attention, her ears flicking upwards at what sounded like leaves crunching. Dragging her head forward she now looked straight ahead, up the incline in front of her, her eyes slowly trailing up. She first saw silver metal in the shape of human feet, strange glowing blue lines flowing through them. Than she saw the long legs of the same material, ther blue lines continuing their path from the feet. The humans hands held a black rifle of sorts, it's design not discernable to Daring's, tired eyes. Her eyes than locked onto the helmet the human wore, being a sort of prism, with three horizontal blue lines running across the face, separate from the intricate labyrinth of glowing blue lines running across it's body. She sighed and turned her head away from it, silently accepting her fate. "Command, I have located the target." The distorted voice fo the human said as she heard it approach, most liekly to execute her. What she didn't expect was a metal finger to be pressed up against her neck, checking for a pulse. THe next thing that happened was even less expected though. "Come on, let's get you some help." Author's Note I had to write something so here you go. Chapter 4Daring Do jolted awake, causing the chair she was sitting in to shift across the floor violently. Looking around she saw that she was in a square metal room with what she presumed to be one way glass situated in front of her, a light silently swinging slightly over the table she was sitting at. Trying to move her hooves she found she couldn't, with a pair of cold metal clamps securing her hooves to the table. She leaned in towards them observing the glowing blue lines running through them, similar to the ones she had seen on the human's armour. Attempting to remove her hooves from the clamps yielded no results, as they wouldn't budge an inch. Her attempted escapes were halted however when a portion of the flat metal wall to her right suddenly pulled in on its self, leaving a portion of blackness in its wake. Due to her position on the table she couldn't see directly into it, however, the very faint noises of whispering voices caught the attention of her pegasus ears. The whispering quickly halted however and another surprise almost as surprising as the fact that humans still existed. A dark grey unicorn stallion walked through the door, holding a clipboard in one hoof. The door quickly closed behind him, leaving her to observe his features. A very noticeable scar ran from the top of his head, arcing to his left eye before halting at the centre of his torso. What was the most horrifying for her though was the snapped off horn crowning the top of his head. He moved to the opposite side of the table, sitting in a chair that she hadn't even noticed. He placed the clipboard on the table, and leaned forward, looking deep into Daring Do's eyes. "Why are you here?" He asked, throwing Daring off guard slightly by the question. She ignored it and leaned forward glancing at the one way glass nervously. "We can help each other." She whispered, causing him to raise an eyebrow at her. "Excuse me." He said, obviously a bit confused. But Daring would be damned if she would just leave this poor pony in this bastion of humans. She leaned forward more, "You're being held captive aren't you? If you can get the humans to get me out of these clamps I can get us both out of here and back to Equestria." She said, motioning her head to the clamps. The unicorn stared at Daring for what seemed like hours, a silence falling over the room. A small chuckle escaped from the unicorn's lips, catching Daring off guard. The chuckle soon spiralled into a loud laugh as the unicorn began hitting the table with his hooves in mirth. The laughter was abruptly cut short as he glared at her, hatred filling his eyes. He leaned forward, "If you think I'll ever go back to that hellhole, then you are stupider than I thought. I will ask you one more time. Why are you here." He basically snarled at her, shaking her to the core. Gulping she looked around the room, looking for some way to get out, no matter how slim the chances were. Upon discovering the futility of her efforts she looked back to explain everything. Director Max stroked his chin in thought as the Equestrian explained why they were so close to their shores. Apparently they had been a part of a civilian cruise to what had once been Australia. They just so happened to have departed from Chile, going for a straight path instead of the usual routes, of stopping off in the Cook Islands to resupply before going from there. This meant that they would not come close to New Zealand. Now, however, that it was apparent they could just go straight to Australia instead of resupplying. "This is an...Unforeseen development." He admitted to the gathered politicians and soldiers. "If Equestria really does have the logistical ability to send out a civilian cruiser directly to Australia from Chile then their logistics must be better than what we expected." "Well, it's not really that surprising, I mean they did conquer the entire world." General Jacob pointed out. "That would give them access to all of the ports and railways we have constructed over centuries." He held up a hand as Director Max's mouth opened to say something., "And yes I am aware that we followed a scorched earth policy towards the end of the war. But that was at the end of the war. All the land they conquered before that was still relatively intact." "If I may interject." Ditzy said, walking up to them. "The war was just as taxing on Equestria as it was on the humans. When I was still a part of that wretched country Celestia had started conscripting the masses, and had also began heavily taxing the farms. Heck, by the time I had faked my death Ponyville was almost empty." "While this does give us insight, we were already aware of this-" Jacob explained before being cut off again. "I know you are aware of this. After all I am the one who told you. My point is that if Equestria is willing to send out a civilian expedition to Australia, then that means that they aren't getting stronger. They're recovering. If a ship has a good amount of unicorns and pegasi onboard, as well as some seeds, they can make their own sustainable food source." Ditzy explained, garnering nods from the gathered, even Jacob himself. "My theory is that the reason they used the islands as a resupply zone is because they just didn't have enough ponies. Most unicorns and pegasi were conscripted into the army for their combat capabilities, and those who weren't were used as propaganda material by putting them in the armour of a soldier and saying they had fought. If they are willing to send out a civilian expedition, without a military escort, that means they are beginning to recover from what we can only assume to be a population shortage. Basically, they're getting stronger as time goes on." Jacob hummed to himself in thought as he turned back around to look through the glass. Steel Gaze was still drilling the pegasus for information, and had been clearly nerve wracked by the intense pony in front of her. Ditzy was right, he concluded. The longer they waited the stronger Equestria became, and soon enough they would be unstoppable even with their countries recent bounds in technology. "Contact the prime minister. Tell him I wish to speak with him." He said to the aide to his left, who nodded and quickly left the room, dialling the number into her phone. He continued his gaze out the window at the pony, multiple theories and plans going over in his head. One thing was certain however. He was going to have to plan the invasion of Equestria. Author's Note Sorry Pete, had a change of plans. No expanding today. Just some vague references. Chapter 5Sharp Eye sat at his desk, folder in hoof, as he furrowed his brows in concentration. He was a detective, one of the best in Vanhoover, yet that did not help the strange puzzle that he held. After the war, everything that wasn't Equestria had been locked down form civilians, the reason being the utter disrepair the land was in. Forests turned to fields, fields turned to mud, mud then soaked in the blood of soldiers. The first civilian cruise allowed by the Equestrian government had been big news for everypony, but not as big as it was for the mediocre city of Vanhoover, the point of the cruise's departure. The whole city had been in celebration for the entire day, happy that their city had accomplished something worthwhile, making them as noticed as Manehatten and Canterlot. Now though, it was quite possible that it would not be viewed in a positive light. The journey to Australia from their departure point would take approximately 30-40 days. Their departure point had been in the south port of the remains of the human nation of Chile. Of course, most did not know of this, as if word got out that it was not a pony place that had sent them off but a formerly human one with human engineered ports, the outrage would be catastrophic. Heck, he didn't even know that the whole departing ceremony held in Vanhoover was just that, a ceremony. After pouring over the file he had been given on everything he needed to know he soon learned that soon after getting out of sight from Vanhoover they had used long range teleportation crystals, used by the Equestrian Military during the war to get to the other side of a continent in a single step. The range of it just so happened to end at the southern tip of South America. Of course, while the teleportation had been a success, the following journey wasn't. As pointed out in the file the journey would take about 30-40 days, with no available outside contact other then periodic check ins every 2 days. About day 32 did the cruise stop responding. From the looks of it the cruise simply disappeared, not a single trace left. And, as the most competent detective in Vanhoover, he was to find out what happened to it form his end, while the government tried to find out what happened outside of Equestria. Running a red hoof through his dark mane, he leaned back in his chair, placing his back hooves on the desk. He simply sat there for awhile, pondering the possibilities. It could simply have been a storm, afterall, the weather on Earth was uncontrolled by external forces and instead ran rampant. He shook his head at the though. No, their would have been some form of a trace, even if it was just some floating wreckage that hadn't manage to sink. Whatever happened definitely wasn't to do with the weather. He, put a hoof to his chin in thought, trying to think of other reasons. His attention turned back to the file, picking it up as he reread it. As he began to turn the page he stopped, his gaze fixated on a map in the middle of the page. it detailed the route that the cruise was taking, and the approximate area they would have disappeared if they kept on that same route. A bright red circle outlined the possible area of disappearance, being nothing more then big empty ocean. Hopping out of the chair, he grabbed his grey fedora, placing it on his head with a hoof before opening the door to leave. He had an ocean to research. "Look I'm telling you, I have special clearance from the government, I need access to those files." Sharp Eye explained in a frustrated tone, the young pegasus officer on the other side of the desk looking at him like one might at a complaining foal. "And I am telling you, I don't believe you. If you have some sort of proof to show me I could let you in. Even if I wanted to, which I don't by the way, I still need proof of that sort of clearance. Honestly you mud ponies make up the wildest stories sometimes." He sneered back, deeming the conversation over he looked back down to whatever he was doing. Sharp Eye took a deep breath at the name, calming his nerves, obviously to the amusement of the officer. Before it could go any further however, a deep grizzled voice called out from the left, "HEY! What in Celestia's name is going on here!" HE practically shouted, causing the detective to wince slightly at the volume. The officer immediately snapped to attention, saluting the clearly important unicorn now approaching them, his golden armour having many scratches and marks, while a scar ran down his muzzle. "Sir! I was just telling this mud pony to leave sir!" The officer yelled in turn, though not nearly as loud as his superior. The newcomer grunted before turning to Sharp Eye, eyeing him up and down as though one would an enemy combatant, "And just who are you supposed to be?" He said, his voice somehow still being louder than the officer's shout, not even trying. "Detective Sharp Eye," Sharp Eye replied, tipping his fedora in greeting, "I have been tasked by the government to investigate a...terrible incident at sea." He explained, trying to leave out the disappearance so as not to make it public knowledge, while still hoping the unicorn would recognise what he was talking about. The unicorn stared into Sharp's eyes for what seemed like an eternity, making Sharp nervously shuffle around, as if trying to gauge whether or not he was lying. Without warning, the unicorn turned to face the officer, an angry look on his face, "WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING MAGGOT! GIVE THIS DETECTIVE WHAT HE WANTS OR I'LL MAKE SURE YOU REGRET REJECTING HIM IN THE FIRST PLACE, DO YOU UNDERSTAND!" He screamed, sending the officer reeling back in his chair, sinking lower and lower into it with each word. At the end he saluted, stammering out an endless amount of apologies as he hurriedly typed the files into the search crystal, said files soon appearing with a *pop* on the desk. Ears ringing, Sharp Eye grabbed the files and turned back to the way he came, yet slightly happy that he would be able to get somewhere. He was not getting anywhere. Well sort of. One of the files that he had requisitioned were on the ocean that the cruise disappeared in, which happened to be just the southern part of a bigger ocean, the Pacific. However, instead of finding something useful as to what could have happened, it just detailed the ocean, it's weather, and how good the waters were for ships. The second file was on the military side of things. Apparently the majority of the Australian navy had been situated there, and often clashed with Equestrian ships. How they got there was a mystery however, as according to there intel the human ships could not go out that far without a resupply port, which the ponies held at the time. This did not stop them however, and the high command dismissed it as bad intel on the human's capabilities. And while it was plausible, something else had also popped up. Apparently, every now and then, a different ship would appear alongside the Australian ones. High command once again dismissed it as just a new ship, but it would soon be revealed that, despite the striking similarities in the flag that was flown, it was not the same. At around this point, the Australian continent had almost completely fallen, with only a few key cities left standing. He compared the military map with the map he been originally given, finding no difference between the two. Getting out a marker he copied down the most used routes by the Equestrian navy, finding that they would hop to and from the literal hundreds of islands, resupplying and taking down human resistance along the way. He raised an eyebrow, as they noticeably avoided the more direct route toward Australia. Getting an idea, he flipped to the back of the file, detailing ship losses and what caused them in the Pacfic theatre. The majority of them were in combat, either destroyed by enemy ships or jets. What did catch his eye though was the 'MIA' ones. "HHS Rockville, contact lost at coordinates -39,-172." He muttered to himself, marking it down on the map. Which happened to be smack bang in the middle of the circle in whcih the cruise disappeared. "HHS Candy Cane, contact lost at coordinates -46, -178." Marking it again he searched until he found another. "HHS Platinum, contact lost at coordinates -35, -179." This continued on for some while, until finally he had gone through the entire list. "23 ships, all disappearing without a trace. All search ships disappearing as well." He recited to himself, looking at the sprawling of the dots. One thing was connected with all of them aside from the disappearance. All contact had been lost upon entering a certain area, that being the direct way to Australia. And all disappeared within an oval of sorts, that curved down that specific part of the ocean, as if acting as a sort of barrier. And wouldn't you know it, the circle in which the cruise disappeared was right in the middle of it. Sighing in exasperation, he grabbed the marker, circling the apparent area that the 'barrier' was protecting. Tapping the marker against his chin he stared at it for ten minutes, feeling like something should be there, yet for some reason wasn't present on the map. He couldn't shake the feeling that something was missing from it, particularly in the circle the 'barrier was protecting, like the map was incomplete. "What are you?" Author's Note Guess what, schools is over so now we may finally get back to one chapter a month. Also please point out any continuity errors, as it is 11:35 pm right now and I don't have the brain power right now to go back and read all the chapters. Have a nice day and enjoy.
Chapter 1Celestia sat in her throne, the soft cushions providing a great amount of comfort for her. Everything had gone according to plan. The wretched humans had been pushed back to their last stronghold in the United Kingdom, all of her armies laying siege to it. She sighed in relief. The war would finally come to an end. The previous 20 years had been nothing but Tartarus for her and her subjects, with their own casualties in the billions. What had once been a thriving nation with many ponies had become almost barren. You only needed to look at the cities of Manehattan and Vanhoover, both of which had fallen into a state of extreme disrepair. But it was necessary for the war effort, and it would all be worth it. The new human lands they had conquered could be fully analysed and assessed upon the completion of the war. She had done it. She had singlehoofedly saved planet Earth from the horrors of the humans and halted their inevitable destruction of it. Now the ponies of Equestria had all they could ever want. She had given them a planet afterall... Three days after the fall of London.. Celestia stood in a wasteland, it's churned mud staining her once pure white hooves as she walked through it, her personal guards following a reasonable distance behind. She looked around, trying to find an end to this terrible landscape, only to find the looming horizon filling with more of it. She stopped as her hoof clanked into something, her golden shoe clanging as it hit the object. Curious she tapped what appeared to be a lump in the ground with her shoe again, finding it to respond with similar clanging. Using her magic she wiped away a portion of mud, somehow making her feel dirtier despite only touching it with magic. Her eyes widened as they fell upon the eyes of a pony, his once gold helmet covered in brown sludge. She gulped as she wiped away more mud from the pony, revealing more of his armor and finding a pair of five different hooves attached to him. Five? Shoving back her disgust she wiped upwards the fifth leg, finding it connected to another pony, this time a mare. She was in much worse shape in him, having half her body missing, the presumably once red entrails a sickly brown. Breathing deeply she stepped back, turning to move towards her personal carriage. Her guards beat her their, standing at their posts at either side of the door. One of them opened the door for her to enter, only for Celestia to stop and look at him. He simply stood still however, staring straight ahead. "Do you know what this place was?" She asked, eliciting a blink of shock. "No I'm afraid not ma'am." The guard replied, unsure of how to react to the question. She smiled sadly at that before it disappeared in an instant, "This was the Amazon rainforest." She whispered quietly, almost to herself, before stepping into the carriage. The guard blinked once again looking around the desolate wasteland. There was no way she was telling the truth. But she was Princess, so she had to be. He had visited the forest once, when he had gone on a vacation with his family during his break. Yet it had been completely destroyed by the warfare. His eyes glanced to where Princess Celestia had stopped, his eyes widening slightly at the sight of gold armor. His eyes turned back to his partner who was already strapping himself into the harness to carry the carriage. And as he followed suit, preparing to take off, he asked himself. Was it all worth it? 3 years after the fall of London... Vinyl banged her head as the blasting music in her headphones drummed through her ears, making a sound most would find unpleasant, as she lent on the railing. She was currently on a cruise headed to Australia, the mythical land of beasts. Not only was she headed to Australia but she was on the first commercial cruise ever given the go ahead to go there. Plus, they had departed from the Chilean coast, which was also a first. She moved her headphone slightly off her ear to upon hearing the faint noise of a megaphone. "Attention pasengers, it is with great pleasure that I must inform you we are now 2 days away from Australia!" The captain said, eliciting excited cheers and talking. They had been on this ship for about 30 days now, so it would be a relief to make it to land. Turning away from the ocean she headed to the bar cabin, planning to prepare her things for landfall... Daring Do stared at her reflection, going over her plans as she fixed her hat into position while also straightening up her classic green safari shirt. The whole reason she had even come on this trip was the chance to explore a mythical continent without the military getting involved. There were many tales about Australia, ranging from giant lizards to giant spiders. It was exactly this reason that it had taken so long to get clearance to have a commercial cruise go there. Sure Equestria was nice, but the same temples and villains got boring fast. She needed something new and exciting for her next book, and Australia was the perfect place for that. Breathing deeply she closed her eyes, using her breathing technique to banish any thoughts of worry. Opening them again she looked back down at the mirror. A white unicorn stood in her doorway, headphones over her ears as she stared at Daring. The unicorn than smiled, waved and trotted away. Whipping around she bolted to the door in an attempt to find the unicorn. Looking to her left she saw her happily trot around a corner, prompting Daring to shoot after her, flapping her wings for extra speed. Stopping at the corner she looked behind her to make sure noone else had seen her before peeking back around. She whipped her head back behind the corner as a singlular sailor made his way toward her. Thinking quick she dove into a nearby closet, leaving it just a tiny smidge open to look at the sailor. Once he had gone by she sprinted out of the closet after the unicorn. She couldn't risk her identity being revealed. Even if she denied being A.K Yearling people would still realize that Daring Do isn't a fictional character and ask questions that she couldn't answer. Rounding another corner she spotted the unicorn trotting down the hall straight in front of her. Speeding ahead of the unicorn, she whipped around, staring her dead in the glasses. She slowly walked toward the unicorn, eyes narrowing as she continued to smile and wave. Stopping just inches from her, Daring continued to scrutinze her. "You do not say a word of this to anyone, understand." She said in a threatening tone, pointing her hoof at the unicorns face. What she did not expect was the unicorn to smile again before moving her hoof over her mouth in a zipping motion before sidestepping past Daring to continue her walk. Blinking, Daring whipped her head back around to stare after the mare, still unsure of how to react. Yet she still trotted away, slightly banging her head to whatever music was playing in her headphones. Her head shot back forward upon hearing other noises, making her remember that she was in the middle of a public hallway. Thinking quick she dove into a nearby closet, thanking her luck that their was always a closet nearby when she needed one. After making sure the coast was clear she bolted back down the hall, making sure to check her corners so she wasn't spotted. After safely reaching her room, she shut and lock the door before diving into her luggage. Finding her desired purple cloak and glasses she flicked them on with practiced precision, doing one last look over in the mirror before nodding to herself. "Adventure here I come." "Target is getting closer with no sign of stopping, moving to engage." "Um, C-Captain." Another sailor in the bridge said, staring at something on his side of the massive spanning window. Curious Steel Hoof called out to him, "What is it sailor?" The sailor slowly raised his hoof to point at something that was blocked by his body, not allowing the captain to get a good look. Walking up to the sailor he opened his mouth to ask what it was when he suddenly spotted what the sailor was pointing at. It was what looked to be a ship on the horizon, yet you could clearly see that something was different about it. A plume of smoke poofed out of it's side, confusing the captain even more. The bridge was engulfed in flames. Vinyl continued her happy walk to the room, eager to finally get off this boat and touch land again. Her thoughts were interrupted when the ship lurched to the side violently, throwing her against the wall and causing her glasses to fall off and descend to the floor. Confued she picked herself up only to realize the ship slowly turning and fall over again. Thinking quick she snatched up her glasses in her magic before sprinting down the hallway, careful to not lose her footing. The ship was now so sideways that Vinyl had to walk on the wall(floor?). She skidded to a halt as she reached a corner. Or rather a drop. There was no way she could walk up or down these. Her worrying is interrupted by the sound of hoofsteps, bringing her attention behind her. The same strange mare from before was running down the hallway as well, her hat nowhere to be seen. Their eyes met for a split second as the mare stopped beside Vinyl. She made a show of pointing up and down the vast square chasm. The mare simply rolled her eyes before picking Vinyl up and flying her up albeit slowly. Once they reached the top the both nodded and continued running down the hall. They both stopped as they looked up at the open door into the world, a flurry of screams eminating from it. Gulping she looked at the mare before nodding that she was ready. Picking her up the mare flapped her wings, getting them through the door. A scene of chaos filled their eyes as they landed on the wall. The entire ship was on it's side, with ponies either falling off into the water or hanging on for dear life onto anything. Looking to the place that wasn't just a giant wall of ship they spotted what appeared to be another ship on the horizon heading towards them. A poof of smoke suddenly eminated from the ship followed by a distant boom. Before either of them had time to react the front of the ship suddenly exploded, sending chunks of metal flying everywhere, hitting those who didn't have time to get out of the way. The shockwave knocked both of them onto their sides, with Vinyl almost sliding off the edge only to barely grab onto the edge of the wall they had been standing on. The mare beside her quickly stood up and rushed to her assistance, linking both of their hooves together as she slowly began picking Vinyl back up. Another boom could be heard bringing their attention to the ship. Sure enough a plume of smoke was once again coming from the ship. Thinking quick, Vinyl pulled the mare down with her, causing them both to land in the water. Waving her hooves all around in an attempt to get above the cold surface. Her head peaked above the water, allowing her to breath deeply. It didn't last long however as a similar explosion to before happened just above her, the shockwave sending her back down under. Looking around under water she instinctively curled up into a ball as she spotted pieces of metal descending from above. After the sounds of explosions ceased she got out of her ball looking around. The metal had stopped falling, meaning it was most likely safe to reemerge. Doing just that, Vinyl blinked away the water in her eyes looking around at the scene before her. The ship was currently in the process of sinking, several fires sprouting up from the places it had been hit. Vinyl gagged as her eyes fell on the strewn out bodies either floating lifelessly or impaled on the jagged metal spikes on the sinking ship. Her eyes than spotted a small floating piece of ship, pulling herself up onto it. With the need for swimming now delayed Vinyl let out a deep breath as she coughed out small spurts of water as she simply lay down on the piece of ship. Her eyes slowly closed as she drifted off, exhaustion catching up with her... Vinyl slowly opened her eyes, the sound of crashing waves and seagulls filling her ears. Groaning she lifted her head, gazing at the vast treeline in front of her, the sand on the beach stopping there. Wait sand! Trees! Excitedly she picked herself up, staggering of her makeshift lifeboat. As soon as her hooves touched the warm and soft sand she immediately collapsed into it, rolling around it as she grinned like a maniac. After doing this for a while she lay there, happy that she had made it to land. She didn't even care what land it was. Whispering caught her attenion, causing her ears to turn towards the source. "What should we do?" "I don't know, go talk to her." "What, no! You do it." While they were talking Vinyl had rolled back over to get a good look at them. What she saw made her jaw drop. A bright red unicorn was facing away from her speaking to her companion. That wasn't what had shocked her though. Rather it was her companion. A tall, lanky human stood in front of her, a red hoodie and black pants being his attire. And he was now staring right at Vinyl. The unicorn noticed his silence and turned to look at Vinyl as well, her eyes widening. Gulping the unicorn decided to speak, "Um, hi?"
Chapter 2Cherry Blossom stared in silent shock at the white unicorn before them. She had spikey electric blue hair, being two different shades. She looked like she had been through hell and back if her frazzled coat and tired crimson eyes were anything to believe. Gulping she took a step forward, caution and curiosity filling her head. Who was she? Why was she here? Questions she intended to discover. Taking another step forward she tried her best at a motherly smile, failing spectacularly however as the unicorn simply continued to back away beginning to panic. Frowning she took another step, noting that the unicorn immediately took another step back. Looking back at Arthur for help he simply shrugged and waved at the stranger. Looking back she than noticed something. She wasn't even looking at her. She was looking at Arthur. Looking back she waved for him to leave, which he simply shrugged at before walking back into the forest. The unicorn visibly relaxed at this yet still maintained her panicked demeanour while not saying a word. Stepping forward she internally breathed a sigh of relief when she didn't step back again, Contuing her slow walk towards her, she stopped to hold out her hoof. "Hi there I'm Cherry Blossom." She greeted happily, only being met with a silent stare. Tilting her head in confusion, "Hello?" She said, waving a hoof in front of the unicorns blank stare in an attempt to gain her attention. This apparently worked as she soon blinked a couple of times before returning Cherry Blossoms stare. They stood there for what seemed like hours when it was really only a couple of minutes. Before either of them could break the silence however a very faint chopping could be heard, causing the unicorn's head to whip around in an attempt to find the sound. Cherry knew what it was though. And she had a feeling that this unicorn was runninh from them. Acting quickly she used her magic to teleport the piece of scrap that the unicorn had been lying on into the ocean, pushing it down into the depths. As she did this Arthur came back, bursting through the trees. "We got incoming." He shouted as the chopping got louder. The appearance of Arthur immediately sent the stranger into another panicking session as she rapidly backed up, only stopping once she touched the water. Before either of them could get to her however a helicopter flew into view the wind from the rotors causing all of them to stop as their manes (and hair) began whipping around wildly from the force of the circular rotors as it flew over top of them. This didn't last long however when it quickly passed over before turning around, heading back towards them. Looking to the unicorn Cherry could see that she was visibly shaking in fear, her crimson eyes wide. The helicopter came to a hover about ten metres from them, sending sand flying away, simultaneously forcing everyone to cover their eyes with either arm or leg, After a while of this the rotors slowly died down allowing all of them to get a good look at it. It had a sleek black design with circular rotors protruding from wings on either side of it. The vehicle had landed side on to them giving them a clear view the now opening door which housed several figures, all human except for a single pony at the centre, their general look shrouded by the darkness of the small part of the helicopter they were in. What was noticable however was the light blue streaks running throughout their bodies, each one glowing. This was the only way she could see them, certain that if they weren't there they would be almost invisible. The most noticeable parts of the blue streaks was the two sharp lines running across their supposed faces, most likely being for their eyes. Taking a step out, the clear figure of the lead pony became apparent. She wore what looked to be light grey metal armor, even incasing the wings that hung beside her back, the ends of them looking like they could cut through steel. In fact there was no sign of the actual pony underneath that wasn't covered in armor. She simply stood there for a while, scanning the surroundings, hesitating slightly on the white unicorn before continuing her viewing of the area. Her head suddenly snapped back to Cherry, a deathly stare being projected from the helmeted pony. Stepping forward, she continued moving towards Cherry, stopping only a few feet away from her. She than raised her hooves, placing them on the sides of her helmet before pressing inwards, a faint hissing sound resonating from it, as well as a few puffs of smoke. Lifting it up, the pony revealed herself to have a bright blonde mane, that lazily fell back against her light grey coat. She smiled at Cherry, her right eye covered by an eye patch, the scar running down behind it probably being the reason. The other eye stared at Cherry, while also glancing around at her surroundings, an unnatural shine emmiting from it. "Hello Cherry." Derpy said, a kind yet dangerous smile gracing her face. Smiling in kind Cherry returned Derpy's stare, "Hello Derpy." "So whose your new friend here?" She asked, looking back to the unicorn. Said unicorn was visibly shaking, her eyes flicking to Cherry in what seemed like a plea for help. "W-Well her name is..." Cherry trailed off, mind coming up blank. "U-Uh, Cloud!" She said in an affirmative way. Depry however rolled her hooves, signalling Cherry to continue, "Cloud...Spell! Cloud Spell!" She said, trying to play into the fact that she was a unicorn. "Cloud Spell? Interesting. And where exactly is Cloud Spell from than?" Derpy pressed, still looking at the recently dubbed Cloud. "Uh, well she's from...Wellington!" She concluded, saying the first city she knew of. Derpy raised her eyebrow at that however. "Really? You sure are a long way from Wellington Cloud. Care to explain?" She pointed out. Cherry's hopes of decieving her were dashed. She didn't have an excuse for that. And Derpy knew it. Derpy took a step toward Cloud yet stopped as a voice called to her from the helicopter, "Hey boss! Just got a call in. They found 'em." He said, causing Derpy's eyes to widen. Placing her helmet back on, she secured her helmet before taking another look at Cherry, "You're playing a dangerous game Cherry." She said, the helmet making her voice sound almost robotic, "Don't be caught on the losing side." She advised before turning and walking back to the helicopter, it's blades already spinning up in preparation for take off. Entering she closed the door, shooting one last glance at Cherry before being hidden by the steel wall between them. Waiting for the helicopter to be out of sight she turned to 'Cloud'. Who now lay on the sand, her crimson eyes rolled back into her head, leaving only white. She sighed, "Well, that could have gone better." Author's Note sorry for short chapter. Also the helicopter is not an exact replica of the one in the picture, as instead of the door being in the back, they are located in the sides. Also thinking of writing a sort of history book about how the ponies could have won the war. Be sure to point out grammatical errors as well. Next chapter will probably take a while to get out so don't get your hopes up.
Chapter 3Daring ducked under a low hanging branch, her muscles and body screaming in protest as she increased her speed. Looking back behind her she saw the three other ponies she was running with. One was a dark blue unicorn stallion with a gray mane, a single gold coin as his cutie mark. the other two were apparent twins, both being pegasi mares with white coats and red manes. Heck, even their cute marks were the same, being that of a candy cane emerging from the clouds. All of them were running for their lives at the moment however, with Daring leading them. Looking ahead she began pacing her breathing, eager to keep up her current speed in an attempt to outrun what was chasing them. Emerging from the bushes behind them was the thing all were running from. A tall and heavily armoured human. The human raised his weapon before pulling the trigger for it, a yellow beam hitting one of the twins, causing her to drop to the ground convulsing violently as the beam continued, the human slowlyu approaching the downed mare. "No!" The other twin shouted, stopping and sprinting back towards her sister, despite the audible protests of both her and the stallion. Sure enough another yellow beam came out of the woods from her side, quickly relegating her to the same fate as her sister. Looking ahead let out a yelp of surprise as she quickly ducked beneath a particularly low branch, only barely missing it. The unicorn was not so likely as he also yelped before colliding with the branch, sending him quickly down to the ground. Stopping she made to turn back to get him before remembering the fate of the other two. Looking at him she silently mouthed, "I'm Sorry." Before continuing her sprint through the unfamiliar woods. She winced as the sounds of him screaming was heard, no doubt from the yellow beams these humans had. Humans. She didn't know why or how, but they had somehow stayed hidden on this island, and from the looks of it, advanced extremely quickly in terms of technology. Not even bothering to turn back she let out a yell of surprise as she stopped at a large drop, the bottom leading to a river. Looking back she quickly ducked as a beam flew overhead, right where she was standing just a second ago. Looking up at the beam she caught several small arcs of yellow electricity slowly circle the beam erratically. She didn't have time to continue watching however as she rolled to the side another beam hitting where she sat. Seeing no other option she continued her roll, eventually heading down the drop, spreading her wings just moments before she hit the water, flying at high speeds down the river. This would not last however as a yellow beam suddenly made contact with her right wing, bringing a pained scream as her body was enveloped by pain, little arcs of elecrticity travelling along her wing, shocking her endlessly. The beam soon passed however as she had gained speed to pass through it. Not without conseqeunces though. She immediately plummeted, her wing having been tortured by the beam now hung limply at her side, wind rushing past ehr as she made contact with the water, the icy cold battling with the hot pain. Neither won out and so she was left with the worst of both. She soon landed fully into the water, submerging quickly, the water filling her lungs. Panic filling her mind she moved her legs around trying to find out which way was up and down so she could escape the waters iron grip on her lungs. Her head suddenly reached the cool crisp air above the water and she immediately redirected all her efforts in that direction, being met with success as her eyes, than muzzle reemerged from the water, spitting out as much water as she could. Her relief was short lived as a yellow beam whizzed past her head, impacting the water instead. Looking back she watched as the humans ran across the tall hill above, occasionally stopping to try and shoot at her, only missing by millimetres thanks to her frantic attempt at trying to stay above the water and dodge the beams at the same time. Basically she was flailing about. As this happened she noticed that the beams and shouts of the humans were slowly growing quieter, causing her to look back to see that the speed of the river was carrying her rather quickly. Hope flicked it's way into her eyes before dying out as sounds of what seemed like chopping pushed it's way into her ears. Eyes widening she looked up above the humans to find the last thing that was good for her. A helicopter. She had seen many of the strange flying contraptions during her time as an operative for S.M.I.L.E, and knew what they were capable of. However she couldn't base her previous human knowledge on these ones as they were clearly different. This was further reinforced by the strange design of the helicopter, featuring two outward circles with the spinning blades that helicopters were so known for instead of being located at the top. Her gaze trailed it as it flew over her, moving far ahead before turning to the side and halting. What she assumed was a door opened up, revealing a human in the same armor as the ones chasing her, holding another one of the rifles, except this one was longer and larger. As it raised it's weapon she reacted quickly, diving back underneath the water, just in time too, as she felt immense heat and a feeling of static, as a light blue beam pierced through the water where her head once was. Reemerging she took a deep breath of air before going back under, trying to give them the slip by going under water. This worked as multiple yellow beams began hitting the water around her, although not coming too close. She continued her underwater drift, her lungs beginning their prtoests as they began to burn. Finally, after the beams stopped coming in, she finally deigned to head back to the surface, taking the biggest gulp of air she could. Looking behind her she saw the helicopter simply hovering a sizeable distance away. Looking around she found herself drifting down a small stream dense forest surrounding her. Seeing a small decline, she waded over to it, collapsing onto the dry dirt in relief, the pain in her legs finally cathcing up with her as the adrenaline ran out. She layed there for what seemed like hours, until the sounds of footsteps caught her attention, her ears flicking upwards at what sounded like leaves crunching. Dragging her head forward she now looked straight ahead, up the incline in front of her, her eyes slowly trailing up. She first saw silver metal in the shape of human feet, strange glowing blue lines flowing through them. Than she saw the long legs of the same material, ther blue lines continuing their path from the feet. The humans hands held a black rifle of sorts, it's design not discernable to Daring's, tired eyes. Her eyes than locked onto the helmet the human wore, being a sort of prism, with three horizontal blue lines running across the face, separate from the intricate labyrinth of glowing blue lines running across it's body. She sighed and turned her head away from it, silently accepting her fate. "Command, I have located the target." The distorted voice fo the human said as she heard it approach, most liekly to execute her. What she didn't expect was a metal finger to be pressed up against her neck, checking for a pulse. THe next thing that happened was even less expected though. "Come on, let's get you some help." Author's Note I had to write something so here you go.
Chapter 4Daring Do jolted awake, causing the chair she was sitting in to shift across the floor violently. Looking around she saw that she was in a square metal room with what she presumed to be one way glass situated in front of her, a light silently swinging slightly over the table she was sitting at. Trying to move her hooves she found she couldn't, with a pair of cold metal clamps securing her hooves to the table. She leaned in towards them observing the glowing blue lines running through them, similar to the ones she had seen on the human's armour. Attempting to remove her hooves from the clamps yielded no results, as they wouldn't budge an inch. Her attempted escapes were halted however when a portion of the flat metal wall to her right suddenly pulled in on its self, leaving a portion of blackness in its wake. Due to her position on the table she couldn't see directly into it, however, the very faint noises of whispering voices caught the attention of her pegasus ears. The whispering quickly halted however and another surprise almost as surprising as the fact that humans still existed. A dark grey unicorn stallion walked through the door, holding a clipboard in one hoof. The door quickly closed behind him, leaving her to observe his features. A very noticeable scar ran from the top of his head, arcing to his left eye before halting at the centre of his torso. What was the most horrifying for her though was the snapped off horn crowning the top of his head. He moved to the opposite side of the table, sitting in a chair that she hadn't even noticed. He placed the clipboard on the table, and leaned forward, looking deep into Daring Do's eyes. "Why are you here?" He asked, throwing Daring off guard slightly by the question. She ignored it and leaned forward glancing at the one way glass nervously. "We can help each other." She whispered, causing him to raise an eyebrow at her. "Excuse me." He said, obviously a bit confused. But Daring would be damned if she would just leave this poor pony in this bastion of humans. She leaned forward more, "You're being held captive aren't you? If you can get the humans to get me out of these clamps I can get us both out of here and back to Equestria." She said, motioning her head to the clamps. The unicorn stared at Daring for what seemed like hours, a silence falling over the room. A small chuckle escaped from the unicorn's lips, catching Daring off guard. The chuckle soon spiralled into a loud laugh as the unicorn began hitting the table with his hooves in mirth. The laughter was abruptly cut short as he glared at her, hatred filling his eyes. He leaned forward, "If you think I'll ever go back to that hellhole, then you are stupider than I thought. I will ask you one more time. Why are you here." He basically snarled at her, shaking her to the core. Gulping she looked around the room, looking for some way to get out, no matter how slim the chances were. Upon discovering the futility of her efforts she looked back to explain everything. Director Max stroked his chin in thought as the Equestrian explained why they were so close to their shores. Apparently they had been a part of a civilian cruise to what had once been Australia. They just so happened to have departed from Chile, going for a straight path instead of the usual routes, of stopping off in the Cook Islands to resupply before going from there. This meant that they would not come close to New Zealand. Now, however, that it was apparent they could just go straight to Australia instead of resupplying. "This is an...Unforeseen development." He admitted to the gathered politicians and soldiers. "If Equestria really does have the logistical ability to send out a civilian cruiser directly to Australia from Chile then their logistics must be better than what we expected." "Well, it's not really that surprising, I mean they did conquer the entire world." General Jacob pointed out. "That would give them access to all of the ports and railways we have constructed over centuries." He held up a hand as Director Max's mouth opened to say something., "And yes I am aware that we followed a scorched earth policy towards the end of the war. But that was at the end of the war. All the land they conquered before that was still relatively intact." "If I may interject." Ditzy said, walking up to them. "The war was just as taxing on Equestria as it was on the humans. When I was still a part of that wretched country Celestia had started conscripting the masses, and had also began heavily taxing the farms. Heck, by the time I had faked my death Ponyville was almost empty." "While this does give us insight, we were already aware of this-" Jacob explained before being cut off again. "I know you are aware of this. After all I am the one who told you. My point is that if Equestria is willing to send out a civilian expedition to Australia, then that means that they aren't getting stronger. They're recovering. If a ship has a good amount of unicorns and pegasi onboard, as well as some seeds, they can make their own sustainable food source." Ditzy explained, garnering nods from the gathered, even Jacob himself. "My theory is that the reason they used the islands as a resupply zone is because they just didn't have enough ponies. Most unicorns and pegasi were conscripted into the army for their combat capabilities, and those who weren't were used as propaganda material by putting them in the armour of a soldier and saying they had fought. If they are willing to send out a civilian expedition, without a military escort, that means they are beginning to recover from what we can only assume to be a population shortage. Basically, they're getting stronger as time goes on." Jacob hummed to himself in thought as he turned back around to look through the glass. Steel Gaze was still drilling the pegasus for information, and had been clearly nerve wracked by the intense pony in front of her. Ditzy was right, he concluded. The longer they waited the stronger Equestria became, and soon enough they would be unstoppable even with their countries recent bounds in technology. "Contact the prime minister. Tell him I wish to speak with him." He said to the aide to his left, who nodded and quickly left the room, dialling the number into her phone. He continued his gaze out the window at the pony, multiple theories and plans going over in his head. One thing was certain however. He was going to have to plan the invasion of Equestria. Author's Note Sorry Pete, had a change of plans. No expanding today. Just some vague references.
Chapter 5Sharp Eye sat at his desk, folder in hoof, as he furrowed his brows in concentration. He was a detective, one of the best in Vanhoover, yet that did not help the strange puzzle that he held. After the war, everything that wasn't Equestria had been locked down form civilians, the reason being the utter disrepair the land was in. Forests turned to fields, fields turned to mud, mud then soaked in the blood of soldiers. The first civilian cruise allowed by the Equestrian government had been big news for everypony, but not as big as it was for the mediocre city of Vanhoover, the point of the cruise's departure. The whole city had been in celebration for the entire day, happy that their city had accomplished something worthwhile, making them as noticed as Manehatten and Canterlot. Now though, it was quite possible that it would not be viewed in a positive light. The journey to Australia from their departure point would take approximately 30-40 days. Their departure point had been in the south port of the remains of the human nation of Chile. Of course, most did not know of this, as if word got out that it was not a pony place that had sent them off but a formerly human one with human engineered ports, the outrage would be catastrophic. Heck, he didn't even know that the whole departing ceremony held in Vanhoover was just that, a ceremony. After pouring over the file he had been given on everything he needed to know he soon learned that soon after getting out of sight from Vanhoover they had used long range teleportation crystals, used by the Equestrian Military during the war to get to the other side of a continent in a single step. The range of it just so happened to end at the southern tip of South America. Of course, while the teleportation had been a success, the following journey wasn't. As pointed out in the file the journey would take about 30-40 days, with no available outside contact other then periodic check ins every 2 days. About day 32 did the cruise stop responding. From the looks of it the cruise simply disappeared, not a single trace left. And, as the most competent detective in Vanhoover, he was to find out what happened to it form his end, while the government tried to find out what happened outside of Equestria. Running a red hoof through his dark mane, he leaned back in his chair, placing his back hooves on the desk. He simply sat there for awhile, pondering the possibilities. It could simply have been a storm, afterall, the weather on Earth was uncontrolled by external forces and instead ran rampant. He shook his head at the though. No, their would have been some form of a trace, even if it was just some floating wreckage that hadn't manage to sink. Whatever happened definitely wasn't to do with the weather. He, put a hoof to his chin in thought, trying to think of other reasons. His attention turned back to the file, picking it up as he reread it. As he began to turn the page he stopped, his gaze fixated on a map in the middle of the page. it detailed the route that the cruise was taking, and the approximate area they would have disappeared if they kept on that same route. A bright red circle outlined the possible area of disappearance, being nothing more then big empty ocean. Hopping out of the chair, he grabbed his grey fedora, placing it on his head with a hoof before opening the door to leave. He had an ocean to research. "Look I'm telling you, I have special clearance from the government, I need access to those files." Sharp Eye explained in a frustrated tone, the young pegasus officer on the other side of the desk looking at him like one might at a complaining foal. "And I am telling you, I don't believe you. If you have some sort of proof to show me I could let you in. Even if I wanted to, which I don't by the way, I still need proof of that sort of clearance. Honestly you mud ponies make up the wildest stories sometimes." He sneered back, deeming the conversation over he looked back down to whatever he was doing. Sharp Eye took a deep breath at the name, calming his nerves, obviously to the amusement of the officer. Before it could go any further however, a deep grizzled voice called out from the left, "HEY! What in Celestia's name is going on here!" HE practically shouted, causing the detective to wince slightly at the volume. The officer immediately snapped to attention, saluting the clearly important unicorn now approaching them, his golden armour having many scratches and marks, while a scar ran down his muzzle. "Sir! I was just telling this mud pony to leave sir!" The officer yelled in turn, though not nearly as loud as his superior. The newcomer grunted before turning to Sharp Eye, eyeing him up and down as though one would an enemy combatant, "And just who are you supposed to be?" He said, his voice somehow still being louder than the officer's shout, not even trying. "Detective Sharp Eye," Sharp Eye replied, tipping his fedora in greeting, "I have been tasked by the government to investigate a...terrible incident at sea." He explained, trying to leave out the disappearance so as not to make it public knowledge, while still hoping the unicorn would recognise what he was talking about. The unicorn stared into Sharp's eyes for what seemed like an eternity, making Sharp nervously shuffle around, as if trying to gauge whether or not he was lying. Without warning, the unicorn turned to face the officer, an angry look on his face, "WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING MAGGOT! GIVE THIS DETECTIVE WHAT HE WANTS OR I'LL MAKE SURE YOU REGRET REJECTING HIM IN THE FIRST PLACE, DO YOU UNDERSTAND!" He screamed, sending the officer reeling back in his chair, sinking lower and lower into it with each word. At the end he saluted, stammering out an endless amount of apologies as he hurriedly typed the files into the search crystal, said files soon appearing with a *pop* on the desk. Ears ringing, Sharp Eye grabbed the files and turned back to the way he came, yet slightly happy that he would be able to get somewhere. He was not getting anywhere. Well sort of. One of the files that he had requisitioned were on the ocean that the cruise disappeared in, which happened to be just the southern part of a bigger ocean, the Pacific. However, instead of finding something useful as to what could have happened, it just detailed the ocean, it's weather, and how good the waters were for ships. The second file was on the military side of things. Apparently the majority of the Australian navy had been situated there, and often clashed with Equestrian ships. How they got there was a mystery however, as according to there intel the human ships could not go out that far without a resupply port, which the ponies held at the time. This did not stop them however, and the high command dismissed it as bad intel on the human's capabilities. And while it was plausible, something else had also popped up. Apparently, every now and then, a different ship would appear alongside the Australian ones. High command once again dismissed it as just a new ship, but it would soon be revealed that, despite the striking similarities in the flag that was flown, it was not the same. At around this point, the Australian continent had almost completely fallen, with only a few key cities left standing. He compared the military map with the map he been originally given, finding no difference between the two. Getting out a marker he copied down the most used routes by the Equestrian navy, finding that they would hop to and from the literal hundreds of islands, resupplying and taking down human resistance along the way. He raised an eyebrow, as they noticeably avoided the more direct route toward Australia. Getting an idea, he flipped to the back of the file, detailing ship losses and what caused them in the Pacfic theatre. The majority of them were in combat, either destroyed by enemy ships or jets. What did catch his eye though was the 'MIA' ones. "HHS Rockville, contact lost at coordinates -39,-172." He muttered to himself, marking it down on the map. Which happened to be smack bang in the middle of the circle in whcih the cruise disappeared. "HHS Candy Cane, contact lost at coordinates -46, -178." Marking it again he searched until he found another. "HHS Platinum, contact lost at coordinates -35, -179." This continued on for some while, until finally he had gone through the entire list. "23 ships, all disappearing without a trace. All search ships disappearing as well." He recited to himself, looking at the sprawling of the dots. One thing was connected with all of them aside from the disappearance. All contact had been lost upon entering a certain area, that being the direct way to Australia. And all disappeared within an oval of sorts, that curved down that specific part of the ocean, as if acting as a sort of barrier. And wouldn't you know it, the circle in which the cruise disappeared was right in the middle of it. Sighing in exasperation, he grabbed the marker, circling the apparent area that the 'barrier' was protecting. Tapping the marker against his chin he stared at it for ten minutes, feeling like something should be there, yet for some reason wasn't present on the map. He couldn't shake the feeling that something was missing from it, particularly in the circle the 'barrier was protecting, like the map was incomplete. "What are you?" Author's Note Guess what, schools is over so now we may finally get back to one chapter a month. Also please point out any continuity errors, as it is 11:35 pm right now and I don't have the brain power right now to go back and read all the chapters. Have a nice day and enjoy.
