Flight to Dreadlands

De Jure War - Joining The Fray - Flight to Vanhoover - Pirates VS Robots

Twilight Sparkle, Director and Princess of Equestria, had to make a lot of difficult choices during her rule. From helping the war effort against Changelings, to being crowned the sole princess when Celestia and Luna abdicated and left Equus, to organizing Project Exodus and Project Under. Today, there was another hard choice to make.

Her niece has fallen to the darkness, just like her sister-in-law did. She hasn’t done enough to stop them from doing so.

Yet, if Flurry didn’t unleash the terrific spells, ponykind might have only learned of Equus’s limited time when it was too late. Ironically, Flurry gave them the nudge to abandon a doomed land and find a new home. Twilight had no contact with the surface for almost a millennium, but the fact ponykind survived meant Project Exodus was a success. If they started it ten years later, when the signs became clear, they would have run out of time.

“Hey, Twi. Why are you so gloomy?” Rainbow Dash, who flew next to Twilight, asked.

“I need to order my robots to fight ponies.”

“Yeah, but don’t you remember how much fun it was to see Applejack roll over the commies on her tanks and capitulate Stalliongrad in nine days? I am sure your robots will take Crystal City no problem.”

“It’s not the point that I might lose. It’s that this whole situation could have been easily prevented.”

“Twi, don’t go into sad mode yet. I know you a…” Rainbow Dash suddenly stopped talking and froze mid-fight.

Twilight sighted. “Blox. Cancel. Load autosave. Commit,” she said.

Rainbow Dash fell on the floor, then went up on her hooves and blinked a few times. She looked at Twilight. “Hey, Twi. Why are you so gloomy?”

“It’s nothing, really. Maybe you should check on Fluttershy,” Twilight said. Her current project still had a few flaws, but as an Alicorn Princess, she had all the time in the world to get it working. Besides, if she played her cards right, she might find a way to bring a real Equestria back.

She reached the council room. The best scientists in Underequestria were sitting by the square obsidian table. All of them were in discussion, but once Twilight got into the room, they all went silent and stood up. Twilight waved at them to sit down.

“Welcome, Princess. Is the council meeting called due to the foreigners entering our shelter?” asked Notched Pickaxe.

“Indeed. I have two important announcements to make. First of all, the matter of succession.”

“Succession. You’re immortal, your majesty,” said one of the scientists.

“Indeed. Yet, because I’m about to conduct a very dangerous experiment, I need to make sure your work will keep going even without me. Therefore, I officially declare that if I became unable to continue leading Underequestria, professor Notched Pickaxe would succeed me as Director and Prince, with professors Jebediah Red and Dinner Bone as vice-directors. His successor in turn should be decided by a vote of the Obsidian Council.”

The rest of the scientists started to grumble and tried to convince Twilight it was a bad idea. However, she silenced them with a gesture.

“The second thing is, I decided to open the Vanhoover Shelter Zone to the outside world and move the robot army stationed there towards Crystal City. I will also declare war on the Crystal Empire.”

“That’s insanity!” one of the scientists shouted. The others agreed. “It would compromise our experiments.” “Equus would be destabilized and might get destroyed.” “You ordered us to never break into the surface.”

“I know, I know, I know. The point is, I can get my hooves on extremely powerful magical artifacts. Powerful enough to reshape the entire world. If I succeed, we won’t need to surround ourselves with anti-magic barriers that keep us separated from the outside world. The world will get magic back, and we might even find a new Equestria!”

“Princess, with all due respect, we…”

Twilight summoned a scroll. “Crystal Empire seized the city of Baltimore, which is a de jure part of Equestria. Therefore, I declare Equestrian-Crystal De Jure War over Baltimare to reconquer it.”

“Why in Tartarus do we need Baltimare? Isn’t it an empty forest by now?”

“Actually, my spies told me that there were in fact ponies in Baltimare. But it is irrelevant. The point isn’t to win this war, it is to provide a distraction for Flurry Heart so she will not attempt to foil our main plan.”

The scientists were still complaining, so Twilight silenced them again. “I know the plan is incredibly risky, but we need to do so. Besides, as long as I am the Princess, the Obsidian Council is only an advisory board. I decided on the plan and will begin it. I order you all to get on a train to Canterlot before I order the Vanhoover Zone to be quarantined. If I don’t reestablish contact with you in a week's time, assume Vanhoover is lost and I’m dead. Promise me one thing, that you will continue Project Block even without me.”

“We will, Princess,” said Notched Pickaxe.

Frey was escorted to the guest room after the news of the attack.

He guessed the motives. Twilight was trying to cause a distraction to help him steal the Crystal Heart.

Yet, thinking about it, should he be stealing the Heart? It is word against word. Sunrise and Twilight promised him everything short of godhood. Luna supported this, then just turned around. Then, Flurry. She was strange indeed, but seemed to want to help her ponies.

Darien Frey, a man who spent a large part of his life as an outlaw, had zero trust in government and rulers. Crystal City seemed to be a beautiful place, but given how militarized the society was, it was probably just a facade.

Still, he already caused enough trouble during his adventurers. He started a civil war, almost got a city devoured by vampires and accidentally assassinated the heir of the Archduke. Helping some daedric monster to get to the mortal world would probably top all of this.

“Frey, are we going to steal these crystals or not?” asked Malvery.

“I think this Sunrise mare is quite suspicious.”

“What do you mean, suspicious? The Abbess is wise and kind,” said Stellar.

“I once had a mission with an even bigger reward than what she offered me. I was to steal a box of jewelry. Things went south, fast.”

“Oh my, you learned how to plan for the future?” said Trinica, as if he was a kid who learned something basic.

“I’m serious. This situation is slightly suspicious. If the Crystal Princess was evil, I doubt she would talk to us.”

Suddenly, the doors opened. “Princess wants to meet you.”

Frey and the crew walked back towards one of the castle rooms. Frey entered, and saw Flurry Heart looking at a map.

“Here’s what I offer you. I will buy the Blade of Ages for, let’s say, triple its weight in gold. Then, you will be escorted back to your ship and will leave Equus.”

“I guess there’s a or there?”

“Indeed. You seem like a capable warrior. You will help me defeat my insane aunt. Obviously, you will be rewarded accordingly.”

Frey thought about it. “I’ve met Twilight, and she claimed that you are the crazy one. What proof do I have?”

“I have no reason to backstab you. I don’t even need you, I only need the Blade of Ages. Twilight, with all her power, won’t be able to continue her plan alone. She will use you to get what she wants, and will promise you anything you want. If you didn’t survive, she would just go look for other adventurers to do her bidding.”

Frey thought about it. If this was a game of Rake, Flurry would have the stronger hand. Granted, even a weak hand could win if you manage to add the Ace of Skulls.

Would ponies call this a hand? Do they even play card games? Frey thought for some reason.

“I will help you,” he blunted out suddenly. He was slightly confused, as if there were someone else’s words. This happens when I talk before thinking.

Flurry Heart managed to smile. “I knew you are a reasonable human, Captain Frey. I will ask my father to add your crew to the forces we gather to strike Vanhoover. Time to stop Twilight’s plan.”

Frey was sitting in an archaic-looking propeller transport plane.

He got a purple armband with a white snowflake. Other than that, he only had his own guns and ammo. Pony gun designs weren’t made for humans and were too clumsy to use. Ponies offered him some melee weapons, but his Enchanted Daedric Cutlass was more than enough.

Besides the crew, there were many ponies here. All of them were armed and armored. Despite the fact they were small and colorful, they still attempted to look tough and intimidating.

Yet, even though he didn’t understand a word from the chatter, he guessed they were afraid. Guess trying to fight an immortal sorceress was a bit beyond what they were training for.

One of the ponies told something to Stellar. The unicorn put on her translation medallion and spoke to Frey. “We are dropping in a minute.”

“What do they talk about?”

“They speak quite archaic version of my language, but for what I understand, some think it is a suicide mission.”

“Works for me,” said Frey. “And you. Have you jumped off a plane before?”

“No. They offered to get me down with a pegasus. Have you jumped before?”

“Obviously. Every kid in Cyrodiil trains parachute jumping. It’s basic safety.”

The ramp opened. Pony officer shouted some commands, and the soldiers started jumping.

Lucky for Frey, Pony parachutes were almost identical to those used in Cyrodiil.

He was floating down. He took a good look at the situation.

He was in the same place that he met Twilight before, but it was now hardly recognizable. Large part of the forest was cleared. There were multiple square holes in the ground. Frey noticed that there were straits going down.

Then, there were the robots. Thousands of vaguely humanoid machines, clad in armor that looked as if it was made of diamonds. Frey saw a volley of arrows, shot with inhuman speed towards the approaching pegasi.

The Crystal Army was gathering. Topaz Thunderer Division was almost an all-pegasi unit. The pegasi were setting up a formation, preparing to strike. Meanwhile, the Crystal Air Force was harassing the enemy ground units. Frey saw one plane falling, seemingly pelted with arrows.

Well, let’s have some fun, he thought.

Frey and his crew landed at the drop point. He checked his rewolvers and his cutlass.

“Well, Mr. Smart, what is your plan?” asked Trinica.

“I have an idea! That horse told us that we will get a reward for bringing her these crystals? How about we rob her blind instead?” said Asura.

“This is… actually a good idea,” replied Frey.

Suddenly, two diamond-clad robots went out of the woods. They looked at the humans in confusion.

They didn’t look for long, as the head of one of the robots exploded after being shot by a shotgun. The other robot started running towards Frey. The captain took out his cutlass and parried the attack. Robot was attempting another swing, but Frey managed to avoid it. Then, he managed to land a hit on the robot’s hand, severing it. Frey heard a strange robotic Ouch! The machine attempted to attack again, but Frey managed to score another hit, this time in the chest. The robot fell on the ground, making strange sounds and smoking.

“Let’s go then,” said Frey.

“Wait, are you really sure this is a good idea?” asked Stellar.

“Obviously. Why build an underground vault if not to keep something valuable in it?”

The rest of the crew agreed with Frey. The group walked towards one of the entrances.

The battle between ponies and robots was in full swing, with gunfire blasing, screams and robotic Ouch!’s all around them.

Frey ran into a group of a few robots fighting a group of pegasi. With a swift swing of his sword, he decapitated one of the robots. The others were met with gunfire. They were turned into scrap metal fairly quickly.

Frey was starting to get confident, until suddenly an arrow flew right past him. He ducked, barely avoiding being pierced. He hid behind a tree.

He saw his crewmates and the pegasi soldiers attempting to score hits with their guns. He took his revolver and attempted to shoot as well. He hadn’t hit, never being a very good shooter.

Suddenly, he felt as if the temperature suddenly rose. Then, he saw lava spreading. He quickly retreated.

Some distance further there was a large rock. He hid there, and met his crewmates.

“Are they building a lava wall?” asked Asura.

“Seems so. We need to get around this somehow. Follow me,” replied Frey.

Frey went out of the cover, and looked up. At first, it looked like a fiery comet, but then, he noticed the vaguely horse-like shape. Flurry Heart was in the sky, surrounded by magic. She shot a powerful golden beam that resulted in a massive explosion. Frey saw pieces of rock, wood and metal raining down. Flurry stopped over the lava wall, and with a flash of her horn, teleported the lava on top of a large gathering of robots.

“I guess we have our entrance. Go!” shouted Frey.

He took a few steps, and then fell to the ground. Another massive explosion of magic. This time, however, it was purple.

Frey looked up, and saw a windmill of magic. Inside of it, there was an outraged Alicorn.

“Flurry Heart mi Amore!” shouted Twilight, in a voice that shook the earth.