Author's Note
Hey y'all,
This story was a challenge I set for myself, to start and finish a story as that is an issue I have. I tend to not finish something I've started, this was an attempt to combat that.
Anyway, I hope y'all enjoy.
The Clash
Princess Celestia sat atop her throne, wishing for the monotony of ruling to be broken up by something. There's only so many meetings with various minsters all begging for more money one can attend before losing their mind. No matter how large or small, she didn't care, she just wished it would happen already. Her gaze drifted out the window, stained glass cascaded the hall with waves of multicolored hues. The last of the petitioners for the day was escorted out by a guard and the throne room fell silent. The silence itself was oxymoronic, for despite the lack of matter, its presence was suffocating.
So fierce was the silence, that Celestia was reminded of the ringing in her ears she'd forgotten. A soft whinny escaped her lips and her eyes began to flutter. Just as her vision went dark, the silence was thrashed by a very disheveled messenger pegasus crashing through the doors.
The blonde pegasus fell to one knee and through very labored breath spoke, "Your highness! Down...badlands...city...appear-".
"Easy my little pony," she cut off, "take a deep breath and start over.".
The pegasus did as her princess instructed. "Down in the Badlands, a large city has appeared. By request of the mayor of Appleoosa, I am here to request instructions."
"A...city, just randomly appeared? In the middle of the Badlands? Interesting. I assume you have proof of authority?"
"Yes ma'am," the pegasus reached into her bag and brought out a scroll.
Princess Celestia's aura surrounded the scroll and brought it to her muzzle.
From the order of the Local Government of Appleoosa, to the supreme ruler of Equestria. It is with great urgency that the City of Appleoosa humbly requests her majesty's guidance in relation to the current situation. As of now, no incursions of any kind have taken place either into, or from the city. We, the City of Appleoosa, fear that will not be the case for long however.
At the bottom of the letter is a seal of an apple surrounded by a weaved circle, the official stamp of Appleoosa.
The princess rolled up the scroll and magically popped it into storage. She stood to full height and unfurled her wings, "Guards, assemble the Privy Council at once!".
Just south of Appleoosa, on the Four-Five-Seven*
Venty Mapper writhed in excitement. For the first time in her life, she felt like she was actually doing what she was supposed to do. Her partner, Prude Picker, was less enthusiastic.
"Venty please, if you keep moving like that, the only interview you'll ever get will be from Playcolt."
"Oh come on Picky, you can't tell me you're not even a little bit excited. This isn't just some rinky dink cave with some graffiti some colt mistook for ancient art. This is an entire CITY just waiting for us to explore!"
"Do you remember what happened the last time a city spontaneously appeared? No? Well I do, Equestria almost lost the entire north to that Sombra! I just want to make sure you don't fall into an old sewer."
"Yeah, yeah. You know you're gonna love it."
The Four-Five-Seven's brakes could be heard squealing for miles in every direction. Eventually, the train came to a halt, and Venty was the first one off the train, followed of course by Prude. Once the train had fully unloaded, it departed, allowing the true ramshacklery of the station come to light. Prude gingerly prodded at the planks of platform, only for one to splinter and fall to the ground beneath. This station was meant to only be a refueling station for the trains, it was never meant to accommodate passengers, and that was obvious.
"I've never wished so hard to be a pegasus!" Venty squealed.
"I thought you loved being an earth pony? That was always your response to the unicorns' bullying anyway."
"I don't hate being an earth pony, but I wish I could fly there. That way I wouldn't have to wait so long."
"What do you mean long? It's like a three hour trot."
"Length is relative Picky."
"You're starting to sound like a stallion"
The duo trudged along the freshly created path up the hill. The journey had been rough, but after this hill, it is literally all down hill.
"No more...can't go on...tell Celestia I died fighting."
"Yeah yeah Venty, I hear you."
"Hey! I'm dying over here, the least you could do is act sad."
"What happened to all that enthusiasm back there?"
"I think I left it at the train station."
"Look, we're almost there!"
Prude was the first to reach the top, and she was the first of the duo to lay her eyes on the city before her.
"Sweet Celestia..."
"Told you you'd love it."
Before them, nestled within the various hills of red dirt, was the city. It was a gargantuan metropolis of sliver and black. Streets that seemed to reach the horizon paved the ground. Most impressive was the city center, a T shaped tower, coated in silver, with a large black cavern and ramp leading towards it. Atop the tower was an array of pointed obelisks. That was nothing to say about the buildings, massive blocks that seemed to scrape the very sky. To the duo, 'twas the grandest sight they'd ever laid eyes upon.
"First one down's a rotten daisy!" Venty yelled as she began to charge down the hill.
"Confound it Venty!" Prude followed shortly after.
Venty and Prude galloped down the hill, their exasperation forgotten. Closer as they got, the city did seem to grow in size. So did it grow until it filled their sights, and naught was seen beside the city and the sky. Taller and taller did the city center grow. Their gallop pace crawled to a stop as the ground leveled, and the dirt gave way to the city streets. Prude looked to Venty, and saw, even from the side, the happiness radiating from her eyes.
"We're here Picky! I can't believe it!"
"Just keep your eyes open Venty, I don't want a repeat of the Ghastly Gorge incident."
"I've apologized for that countless times, when are you gonna drop that?"
"When I stop hearing the screams."
"I'm telling you, those weren't screams, it was just the rock formations settling."
"That doesn't make them any less horrifying."
Venty shook her head, and locked eyes with her friend. "It's gonna be alright, ok Picky?"
Prude said nothing, but nodded.
Venty looked back to the city street in front of them, it was...odd to say the least. The street was a shiny black material without imperfection. It was a far cry from the dirt roads of Ponyville, or even the cobble of Manehatten. Her hoof trembled with excitement as she made contact with the street. Trembling gave way to full blown hopping in place.
"I can't believe it, we're actually here! Just think about all of the places to explore, oh, my knees are getting weak just thinking about it."
"Calm down Venty, I don't want to file a report on you collapsing from excitement again. Seriously, all the forms were made by unicorns. Do you have any idea how hard it is to fill out a form in triplicate with these?" she held up her hooves to express her point. The duo began the lengthy stretch ahead.
"One thing I'll say about this place, it's definitely built to last." she punctuated her statement by slamming a hoof onto the street with great effort. The street, however, did not provide any kind of reaction, not a dent, not a chip, nothing.
"You can say that again. Building well...buildings out of metal isn't exactly a new concept per say. I mean there's plenty of metal buildings in Manehatten, but nothing to this existent."
"So Venty, this is your area of expertise. Where should we start?"
Venty put a hoof to her chin in thought. "Well, personally, I'd like to start in the big tower in the center, but the smarter thing to do would be to map out the streets, that way we can better organize the operation. Tell you what, why don't we flip a coin? Heads, we explore the center, tails, the streets."
Prude reached into her bag and pulled out a single gold bit. She tossed the bit into the air, and watched as it fell back down. The sound of the bit colliding with the metal street echoed in every direction for hundreds of feet. Tails.
"Aww, I was really hoping for heads."
Princess Celestia sat at her royal desk. it was a marvelous piece of craftmareship, created by the most skilled of ponies from across Equestria. Some of Equestria's brightest minds even came up with a never extinguishing lamp, to eliminate the tediousness of having to fetch oil.
Still, even with all this marvel, the princess was much too busy to enjoy the work put into it. As it turns out, a city larger than Fillydelphia randomly appearing overnight brought with it a lot of paperwork. Still, She was the princess, and it would be a cold day in Tartarus before the ruler of Equestria was brought down by tree pulp. It was very tedious however, this wasn't like the Crystal Empire, where the ancient layout of the city could just be dug up. This city had never existed previously, and it needed to be mapped out, and that took ponies. Ponies need things, like food and water, especially in the Badlands, and that takes bits. Bits, oh how the crown was ever so desperate for bits. As it turns out, repeated world-ending phenomena do not inspire confidence for a nation's economy.
She worked silently. In and out did her aura persuade the papers to move. Hours upon hours passed, and upon the final piece of paper did the mare's eyes land. Just as her quill left the paper from the final signature did a guard burst into her study.
"Your Highness, there's an emergency!"
"Speak then, what is it?"
"It's Dodge junction your Highness, it's been crushed."
The princess' hooves planted themselves at the threshold of the black street. It seemed to go on for miles, before it turned upward. The black street gave way to an aquamarine street. Compared to the black ramp, the aquamarine street seemed to be many times the length. At the end of the street, atop the aquamarine plate, sat a massive tower of purple. On either side were towers of silver with purple obelisks atop them. 'Twas a sight that put even Canterlot to shame, and that was merely the city center.
The surrounding metropolis consisted of two main streets, a mile in width, with many branching paths coming to and from. The two main streets terminated in large cul-de-sacs with centerpieces of orange. To the average Equestrian, it would have been the most impressive sight they had ever seen. To Princess Celestia, it was a living nightmare.
"Are you absolutely certain this is Dodge Junction? You have no doubts that this is in fact what happened?"
The local guard captain nodded firmly.
The princess' eyes closed for a moment, then flung open, brimming with power, "Captain, the purse strings of Equestria are laid bare before you, if there are any survivors, get them to safety. As of this moment, I am declaring this area in a state of emergency. The royal guard of Canterlot will be dispatched here to aid in further efforts. These are my orders!"
The captain saluted silently, then turned about face and galloped towards the nearest outpost. The closest of which, was just outside of Dodge.
As she watched the captain get further and further away, her brave face faltered. In its place manifested the pained look of sorrow. She knelt down to the sand, and touched her horn to the ground.
"Please forgive me, my little ponies."
Venty Mapper and Prude Picker stood at the base of the silver tower, their necks craned to see the top.
"Well, come on! What are you waiting for?"
With an exasperated sigh, Prude Picker followed her friend into the opening.
"What a stroke of luck that the local weather team came to help out! I was honestly terrified I'd have to hear about the city center secondhand."
"I can't argue that it wasn't lucky, the pegasi will have no problem mapping the streets from the sky. I just can't quite shake this feeling. It's not a bad feeling per say, it's just...off"
"It's just your nerves, don't worry, I'll take point and if there's anything scary, I'll wallop 'em good!"
"I hope you're right, I really do."
As they entered the opening, they were left breathless by the sheer size of the building. The walls were lined with innumerable panels and lines, they themselves appeared as miniature cities. So enamored were they, they didn't notice the opening behind them close. Venty pulled a pad of paper and a pen out of her saddlebag, and began to write the steps they made.
"I've never seen you do that before, why start now?"
"Just because I've always wanted to explore a city, doesn't mean I have. Almost all of my experience comes from caves, and they're very different from cities."
"Fair enough".
After about an hour of walking, the path they walked came to an end.
"Why would they just build a dead end? It makes no sense. This place was very obviously built from the ground up, so why did they just end this here?"
"Maybe it's not an end." Venty placed a hoof on the offending wall, "Maybe it's a massive door? Yes! look at the corners, there's a seam. This has to be a door.".
"Ok, so this is a door, how do we open it?"
"Ask it nicely?"
Prude put a hoof to her face.
"Well, while you figure that out, I'll be over here taking a break."
She walked over to a spot she deemed worthy, and sat her rump upon the metal. Only for the metal to slightly give under her weight. A deafening screech echoed off the metallic walls as the door crawled up into the ceiling. This would be a victory for Prude, were it not for the fact Venty was still holding onto the grooves in the door. Prude frantically ran over just underneath where Venty was hanging.
"Picky! I did it!"
"Let go Venty, I'll catch you!"
"What do y- OH HORSEAPPLES!" Venty yelled as she lost her grip on the door.
"Nice catch." Venty sarcastically added.
"Zip it."
The door lead into some kind of specialized room. Scattered around them was an array of consoles and stations. At the far end of the room was a set of doors on either side of what appeared to be the main console. Both doors had red lettering pasted on them, in a language neither one of the ponies could read, and a small square full of buttons on the frames.
"You thinking what I'm thinking?"
"Press every button until something happens?"
"Bingo!"
The sound of pickaxes ringing filled the caverns beneath Dodge Junction. At the head of the crew was specialist Shining Star. Unicorns are uniquely adept at mining, their aura can seep into the rock like water, and split it apart with little effort. Thus is the reason Star is at the front. The work was not pretty, dust and sand clung to her coat. None of that mattered to her. The only thing that mattered to her was possible survivors.
"Someone bring a light over here!" yelled one of the miners.
"Coming up!" yelled another.
She allowed her aura to permeate the rocks, and ripped it back, dislodging the earth. She stepped back to allow the digging crews to remove the loose dirt. The chances of anypony actually surviving something like this was nearing the scientifically impossible. She knew that, they all did, that didn't change the fact they needed to at the very least try.
"Fresh picks coming in!"
"Toss one over 'ere!"
The cycle of digging continued over and over. Star would break up the rocks, the digging crew would remove the dirt, and the pickers would clean up shaft for the bracing. The rocks parted way once more, and Star came to a halt. A foul stench creeped its way into her muzzle, the smell of gas.
"GAS!"
The mineshaft burst to action, miners ran around extinguishing lamps, and evacuating.
Captain Soaring Arrow never liked rescue missions. No matter how quickly, how much effort was spent, they wouldn't be able to save everyone. Missions like these didn't happen very often, usually after a landslide or an earthquake. Some kind of natural disaster was an easy thought, just some ponies in the wrong place at the wrong time. Something like this though...cities don't just appear. Especially not where another town already was.
From within a canvas tent on the outskirts of the city, the captain coordinated the operation. At that point, it was more of a balancing act. You merely had to make sure the right resources were being used at the correct time in the correct place. The routine was shaken when a tan pony carrying a scroll galloped up beside him.
"Whoa, almost didn't see you, you blend right in. You've got perfect camouflage."
"Captain, it's almost time for the miners' shift change."
"Hm? Oh! yes of course, hand me the paper, I'll sign off-"
BANG
"What in Celestia's name was that?"
"Fire in the mine!"
"Fetch some water!"
The post fell into complete disarray. Ponies galloped back and forth to various wells and water sources trying desperately to quell the fire. It was all in vain.
BANG
Minutes after the first bang, a second much louder bang rocked the post. Everything not fixed to the ground was now on it. Fire could now be seen pouring out the the mine shaft entrance, licking the support beams. In a matter of moments, the mine came crashing down. Smoke billowed out of the the entrance like dragon's smoke. In less than a minute, hours of work came crashing down, crushing any hopes of finding survivors, along with the miners.
Soaring Arrow was brought out of his transfixion by a recruit falling to his side.
"Sir, what do we do now? It's all over."
"It ain't over till Celestia herself comes down here and tells us it is recruit. As of right now, you are promoted to courier. Tell every sergeant at this post to deliver a head count to me, and to await further instructions!"
The recruit shakily stood and saluted, "Yes, sir!"
"Celestia help us all." the captain said as he viewed the tarnished landscape before him.
Before the recruit could even get out of ear-shot, the ground started to rumble. The rumble evolved into a full-blown shaking.
"What's going on captain?"
Before the captain could answer, the large black ramp that led into the city center began to rise into the air.
"Everypony! Retreat! Fall back to Appleoosa!"
Soaring Arrow took to the sky, to better asses the situation. Below him unfolded a living nightmare. The very streets of the city retracted into themselves. The various buildings scattered around split down the middle and folded down.
Once the streets had consolidated, the main mile wide street began to lift into the air. At their peak, the orange cull-de-sacks became beacons of terror. The main streets themselves folded in half, and secured on the aquamarine city center.
The two pillars slammed down into the sand, rocketing a wave in every direction. The aquamarine city center began to creep its way vertical. The top of the city center began to rotate, the two silver buildings forced down, and a large reptillian head locked into place. Its eyes brought to fruition terror within Arrow's heart. The mechanical behemoth rose from its sitting position, and stood upright, revealing the desolate compression that was Dodge Junction.
It flexed its comparatively small hands, and with a mighty roar, declared its intentions.
TRYPTICON CRUSH METROPLEX
However, to the ponies in the surrounding area it was just an inaudible rumbling. The beast took a step, and it did seem as though the whole of Equestria came to a halt as the colossal foot dropped.
WHERE METROPLEX
Venty and Prude rejoiced, after the sizeable task that was just getting the door open, they were rewarded with a very impressive room. Not that they actually knew what anything in the room was or did, but it was still very impressive. Large beams extended from one side of the room to another, and on the end of each was a great perpendicular ellipsoid. The ellipsoids faced two great red windows, each of them ten or twenty ponies high.
"In your expert opinion, what is this place?" asked Prude.
"Not a clue, the windows suggest lavishness, but the other...things tell me this room had some specific purpose."
"You know Venty, it's rather odd, I haven't seen any actual signs of life for a little while."
"Well, yeah. There's no one here."
"No, no, I mean look around, there's no furniture, no consoles, nothing to interact with. Are you certain this was even a room for ponies to be in?"
"Picky, I'm not even certain this city was made for, or by, ponies. Everything is waaay too big. It did appear in the Badlands, maybe it's an ancient dragon city?"
"I don't think so, the most advanced civilizations at the time weren't able to construct buildings of this size. Venty, do you possibly think this city wasn't built by ponies, or dragons, or anything else on Earth?"
"What, like aliens? Picky, you can't seriously think-" A great rumble cut her off.
"What was that?"
"I don't know, but I don't think we should stay here. Come on, lets go!"
The duo started for the door, only for it to snap shut just before they reached it. Fear took hold of Venty as another rumble began.
"What's happening Picky?"
"I don't know!"
"What do we do? Where should we go?"
"I don't know Venty, just let me think!" she slammed her hoof down, "That's it! The windows, we might be able to open them."
The duo moved to the windows, where they saw the cause of the rumble. The very city itself was coming apart, and yet, putting itself back together.
"Picky..."
"Yeah Venty?"
"I'm sorry."
"Yeah, me too."
The absence of belief is merely the rejection of reality. The mind's inability to comprehend is not sufficient enough reason for fact to alter. Nonetheless, the prince simply could not believe what he was seeing. A city, a stationary city, was attacking Equestria. It was Tartarus ponified, a behemoth most could scarcely comprehend, much less understand.
The behemoth, Trypticon, forged through the desert. In his wake he created new terrain, he was a monster, like those from legends, or more accurately, from nightmares. His colossal tail drug behind him, not limply, imparting a deep groove in the earth, like that of a dried up lakebed. from his height, in the distance, he saw a small town. This town was exactly what he needed. After loosing Metroplex, he needed to vent.
And that's exactly what he was gonna do.
Closer came the behemoth, closer and closer came doom. A roar shattered every pane for miles. Hundreds heard it, and thousands felt it. As he came closer, the town was not the only thing that came into view. An army, hundreds strong, stood in front of the town. At the front, a small, squishy, organic. He was going to enjoy this.
A translucent, pink dome encapsulated the town moments later. Shining Armor's specialty. The behemoth's mouth opened, and the resulting sound was so great that even the wind fell silent.
FOOLISH FLESH CREATURES, TRYPTICON TREAD WHERE HE PLEASE
To the ponies, the sound was so great they couldn't even understand. The guard didn't have time to catch their breath as the beast's orange snout lifted, and was replaced by a silver barrel. The beast's jaw opened like a gaping maw, threatening to swallow Equestria whole. Out of his mouth and the barrel came a heavy light, as it crashed down upon the shield, and then the sand, turning the desert floor to glass. What had taken the Changelings days to achieve, Trypticon had done in seconds.
Death had come for the ponies of Appleoosa, and its name was Trypticon.
Within sight of Appleoosa was the Macintosh hills. A set of mountains created a border between the unforgiving desert, and the murderous Badlands. Just as Dodge Junction was fact until Trypticon, the Macintosh Hills were fact, until Metroplex.
When a volcano erupts, fire and ash are thrown into the air, therefore, anypony unfortunate enough to witness Metroplex in action, would have thought the end had come with the amount of molten rock flung into the desert. Where once was a mountain, now stood Metroplex, a bipedal mechanoid of white and black and red. His figure bridged the ground and the sky, and lit within Trypticon a terrible rage.
TRYPTICON CRUSH METROPLEX
DECEPTICON INTRUDER IN MY SIGHT, DECEPTICON INTRUDER INITIATES COMBAT
Thus far, Trypticon's head was the only thing facing Metroplex. When the behemoth turned to face Metroplex, his tail did wipe the desert clean of Appleoosa's taint. The trash of a city created waves of destruction that crashed against the mountains like water.
As Trypticon rushed towards Metroplex, his feet collided with the ground, each step an earthquake. Metroplex's feet sunk into the sand slightly as he readied himself. The collision imparted most of Trypticon's speed into the ground, as Metroplex barely moved an inch. The resulting earthquake caused another of the Macintosh hills to falter, and collapse.
Metroplex's hands grasped Trypticon's shoulders, holding him in place. The large obelisks on the arms of Metroplex rotated forward, just enough to aim at the beast, and take fire. Trypticon's eyes were filled with orange light as the beams impacted. With a loud roar, the behemoth returned fire from the still exposed barrel on his snout. Purple beams pierced the titan's eye, igniting his head case. The titan recoiled from the behemoth, pivoting in place, he retaliated with an Appleoosa-sized fist directly into the reptillian cranium of Trypticon. During all of the movement, no one could be blamed for missing the charred bodies of two ponies fall out of the titan's head.
Trypticon recovered from the blow, his head now severely dented. Rise did the silver buildings on his back, and down did they come onto his shoulders, landing perfectly aimed at Metroplex. A wave of destruction swept the countryside as the weapons fired. Metroplex rose his arms and tanked the blast. After an eternity, the blast ended, the result being a scorched paintjob. Trypticon's shoulder cannons reverted to their original state, he begat a mighty roar.
DIE METROPLEX
Metroplex reached for his main arms, a pair of fusion cannons. Trypticon fired at the ground using his back cannons, granting him temporary lift. In conjunction, he leapt into the air, and flew toward Metroplex. The titan jumped to the side as the behemoth slammed into the ground. The resulting shock wave demolished yet another mountain. The titan used his cannons to fire at the behemoth's back, hitting his back cannon. The impact caused a chain reaction in the cannon, forcing an explosion out the barrel, and down Trypticon's back.
YOU PAY FOR THAT
In preparation to fire, Trypticon's snout cannon emitted a piercing purple glow. Metroplex could play that game too, he prepared every available weapon he had on his body to fire. The beams left their owners at the same time, each one hitting a part of each city. By the end of the exchange, both had received substantial damage.
Trypticon's jaw now hung limply off his face, and his right arm was destroyed. Metroplex's left arm ended at the elbow, and his left pectoral had been shattered, exposing a cavernous wound. Still the two cities stood, waiting for the other to make a move. In the end, Metroplex was the first to act. A small circle in the center of his chest began to glow, and the remaining weapon systems began charging.
Trypticon took a much more, aggressive, approach. He charged toward Metroplex once again, his jaw bounced with each step, until the hinge gave way, and the colossal mandible fell to the ground. This did not impede his charge. The titan opened fire against the behemoth, each beam struck at the monster, yet this did not stop its charge. The distance had been closed, and Trypticon played his last card. The singular remaining shoulder cannon pivoted up and over, resting on the behemoth's shoulder once more. Similarly, Metroplex played his last card as well.
As the wave of destruction once more swept across the desert, Metroplex's small chest circle begat a magnificent beam, one that hit Trypticon dead center in the chest. At the same time, the shoulder cannon's beam pierced the left pectoral of the titan. The titan's beam dug into the behemoth's chest, and erupted out its back. The behemoth's beam did the same.
Metroplex stumbled back several steps, and braced himself. Only for nothing to happen. Trypticon's knee buckled, and the behemoth was felled. The final shockwave sending one last mountain tumbling down.
With his power failing, and his spark fading, Metroplex uttered one satisfactory word.
VICTORY
