Author's Note

Well, here's the new chapter. Sorry for the delay and for this chapter being short. I'm working on a new project that I've been thinking about since the first day I wrote my first fic, and now I've finally written it.

I have just published another story along with this chapter. Go and read it! I've been hoping for it to get attention so badly because it's a complete alternate universe. Please go read it and let me know what you think about it in the comment section, and like it if you enjoyed it.

The link to the new story is down below.

https://www.fimfiction.net/story/559196/vortexx-brotherhood-is-everything

Time To Talk

Chapter 4:
[Time To Talk]

It had been a total of 10 minutes since the princesses had risen the sun and lowered the moon. Right outside the village of Springvill, a large group of ponies had made a small camp with royal tents. There were four medical tents, where doctors and nurses were examining the remains of the dead changeling corpses. Three large tents housed royal guards who were talking to each other about what they had seen in the town square of Springvill. The biggest tent, which had a regal look to it, contained the Elements of Harmony, Spike, and Princess Cadance.

The ponies inside the regal tent were silent, each lost in their thoughts. They were horrified by what they had witnessed in the town. Fluttershy rested her head on Rainbow Dash’s hind leg, crying silently, while Rainbow stroked her shy friend’s mane. Rarity was trying her hardest to forget about the massacre by looking through a book filled with fashion ideas. Pinkie Pie was playing with her pet Gummy; her mane and skin color had returned to normal, and she seemed happy. Applejack was sound asleep, exhausted after a long day of work at Sweet Apple Acres. Finally, Twilight Sparkle and Cadance were poring over a history book, trying to find out how many male alicorns had existed in the past, hoping to discover who that male alicorn could be... But they failed.

As for the regal sisters, they were inside a medical tent, where a doctor was discussing the corpses and how the changelings had been killed. At first, Luna and Celestia were horrified by the massacre, but as time passed, they began to acclimate to it, as such violence was common in the ancient past, and they had witnessed it more than once during the ancient wars.

The princesses stood in front of a medical bed that held the body of a changeling, while a yellow-colored stallion in a lab coat and glasses explained how the changelings had been murdered. “Well, this one,” he said, gesturing to the body, “as you can see, his heart was ripped out of his body. The examinations indicate that the pony who did this ripped his heart out through the mouth. I don’t know how that’s possible, but that’s what the X-ray shows.” He explained. Celestia winced at the thought while Luna just looked with a blank face.

The doctor grimaced as he approached another bed that contained the body of another changeling. He pulled the blanket off the corpse, revealing a headless body that had been torn in two. He looked away but proceeded to explain what had happened to the changeling. “This one was torn apart, and his head was crushed. The examinations show that he was cut in half with a sharp blade, and then the killer crushed the changeling’s head beneath his hoof.” The princesses had seen enough, so they thanked the doctor and left the tent.

As the princesses trotted out of the tent, the lunar alicorn broke the ice. “What do you think, Tia? What do you think happened here?” Celestia looked at her sister and shook her head with a sigh. Whenever something happened, Celestia usually knew what to do, but now she had no idea what was going on, and that worried Luna.

“Our only chance is Miss Cheerilee; she is the only witness and must know something,” the solar alicorn said, looking at her sister with a worried expression. “I never knew there were any male alicorns left. I thought they all died in the ancient war 1,300 years ago,” she finished.

“Princess!” The voice of Twilight Sparkle caught the princesses’ attention. Twilight, along with her friends and Cadance, was trotting toward the regal sisters. The student hugged her mentor and stood in front of her. “The nurse said that Cheerilee is awake. We should go and ask her what really happened,” Twilight said, to which Celestia gave a small smile and nodded. The group made their way to the medical tent where Cheerilee was and walked inside. The mare was sitting on her bed, resting her head against the wall behind her.

She saw the group and gave a weak, forced smile. Celestia trotted toward Cheerilee and gave her a hug, which she returned. After a few moments, they parted, and Celestia addressed her subject. “My little pony, are you okay?” Cheerilee slowly nodded her head. The doctors had healed her wounds, and she was now in prime health.

After a few minutes of silence, Luna began her questions. “Miss Cheerilee, thou art the only pony left and the only witness. We need thy help. Please, tell us what exactly happened.” Cheerilee shivered a bit as she recalled everything that had transpired. She finally spoke, her voice shaking slightly.

“I—I came here to see my mother. She is an old mare, so I need to see her from time to time. We were walking in the town to buy some groceries for her house when suddenly the changelings showed up. I told her to hide in the basement of her house, but... I think they found her.” She paused for a few seconds, then continued, “They took everypony and trapped them in some kind of pods, carrying them outside of the border. When they found me, the queen said she wanted to do bad things to us, but before she could do anything... A drone came and alerted them that a pony was flying toward the town... A-and...”

“And what? What happened then?” Twilight asked.

Cheerilee gulped as she decided to tell everything. “After a few minutes, a pony flew into the town, an alicorn to be exact. I could see him; he was... Tall, taller than Princess Celestia,” she said, pointing at the sun princess, who looked at her in surprise. “He also had big muscles, almost twice as big as Big Mac,” she added. Applejack was a bit surprised too, knowing her brother was the most muscular stallion, but now there was somepony twice as ripped as him?

Rarity cleared her throat and asked her own question. “Darling, how did this... Ruthless ruffian look exactly?” she said with disgust, remembering that he was the one responsible for the massacre. She didn’t like the changelings, but still, she didn’t believe they deserved to be mutilated like that.

The schoolteacher twitched with fear as she remembered the alicorn. “I—I couldn’t see his face. He was wearing some sort of armor; his armor was mostly green but had a few brown parts. His head was covered with a helmet that had a blue visor. The only things I could see were his tan-colored biceps and his brown tail, but his armor and weapons... They didn’t look like anything Equestria had. The armor looked like those futuristic space armors that could be seen in comics.”

That caught Spike’s attention. “Whoa, really? What about his weapons?” Spike said excitedly. The others looked at him, causing him to smile sheepishly.

“When the fight ended, the changelings ran toward the Badlands, and he followed them. If you want to find him, he might be there ,” Cheerilee finished. The princesses smiled and nodded in gratitude.

“Thank you for helping us, Cheerilee,” Twilight said as she placed a hoof on the schoolteacher’s shoulder. Just then, Pinkie Pie’s tail began to twitch. Everypony present looked at her with concern, and she returned their worried gazes.

“Girls, I think something is goi—WOAH!” she was interrupted as the ground beneath them started shaking. Everypony gasped, and some screamed, trying to maintain their balance.

Fluttershy looked around in fear as the ground shook violently. “It’s—it’s an earthquake! What should we do? Oh my, AHHHHHH!” she panicked, screaming as they experienced the worst earthquake in Equestria.

After a few hard moments, the earthquake died down, and the ponies all calmed. Celestia sighed as she wiped the sweat on her forehead. Afew seconds later shining armor and two other guards rushed into the tent. “Everypony okay?” He asked. Everypony nodded.

“If what miss Cheerilee is saying is true, then both the changelings and this alicorn are in the badlands. We need to go there” Cadance said, catching her breath.

Rainbow hoovered above Twilight, a worried look on her face. “Umm, Twilight,
Are you sure that's a good idea? " She said, Twilight frowned. Applejack smirked.

“What's the matter, dash? Too scared to see that Alicorn fella?” She chuckled. Rainbow looked at her with a glare, as she flied into applejack’s face.

“Of course not, you?” Rainbow challenged. AJ shook her head with a fake smirk.

“Girls, we don't have time, lets go” Twilight said to the duo. They all started packing. The medics stayed and waited for a construction team to come clean and repair the town while a few members of the guards stayed with them, while the others got into their carriages and flew up. Ready for a journey to the badlands.