Red Sky At Dawn

Red Sky At Dawn.

Spinoff of Steadfast Sky.

Chapter 3: Crisis In Stringhalt

Astral

I was awoken by somepony shaking me gently. I opened my eyes expecting plain walls and familiar surroundings and found to my surprise that I was lying in a mossy forest clearing. Crisis knelt next to me,

"At last! I thought you'd never wake up!"

I looked blankly at him. How had we... then I remembered the previous night's events, the run to freedom, the confrontation and the teleport. Not to mention freedom, a feeling that blanked out all pain, and discomfort.

"What happened?" Crisis asked, "How the hell did we end up here?"

"Teleport."

"Wait... ponies can teleport?"

"Unicorns can, though usually not very far. How did we get all the way in here?" I looked at my surroundings puzzled.

Crisis joined me in looking. "So... do you know where exactly you teleported us to?" he asked.

I couldn't hear any sounds except for birdsong and the whispering wind. I had no idea where we were. The Phantasm Forest? A different forest? When I didn't reply, Crisis sighed deeply.

"So now we're lost. Great." he sat down next to me. "What's the point of teleportation if you don't know where you're going?"

"It might have saved our lives back there! My master was furious!"

"So what do we do now? Stay here or try and find a way out?"

I searched the landscape around us for any signs of direction, and found none. "If we can find running water, then we could follow it. That will help us reach the edge."

Crisis nodded, and we both got to our feet, me moving clumsily out of fatigue, and Crisis nimble as ever.

We walked through the deep woodland for hours, and each step that we took seemed to lead us no closer to the exit. The trees went on miles into the distance, and as the sun began to set I realised that we were still going to be here after dark. Crisis seemed to sense this too, but didn't react to it, even when I suggested making a camp in one of the many clearings.

"Do you want to stop here for the night?" I asked. "This forest is bigger than I thought..."

"Stop? Why would we need to stop?"

"We need sleep! I don't know about you, but I'm exhausted..."

"Why don't you just teleport us out of here?" Crisis asked and then, seeing my look, sighed.

I created a pile of sticks and dead leaves in the centre of the clearing. If there was one thing that I was not doing, it was staying here in darkness. "Help me to make a fire!" I called out to my metal friend. "Rub some stones together to create sparks. Instead of following my suggestion, Crisis raised one arm, and focused it towards the pile of dry sticks and leaves.

"What are you doing?"

"Trying to light this thing..." he muttered. "Without rubbing stones either..." Tiny blue sparks danced around his outstretched hand, and then a small line of lightning arced out into the sticks, instantly setting them alight.

We gathered by the warm fire, the night slowly creeping in. "I didn't know you could do that," I said to the Biomech.

"Well you learn something new everyday. Here's another fact for you." he gestured to the steadily growing darkness, "We Biomech can see just as clearly in the day as in the night. To us the two are no different, so sleep is an unfamiliar concept."

"You don't need rest?"

"Only after draining my power, and that can hardly be called sleep..." he looked up. "Its a thing."

I lay down in the fire's warm glow while Crisis sat nearby, looking up at the thick clouds that smothered the sky. He probably thinking of his home. It was strange really, to think that far above us, and all the conflict evil and cruelty of Equestria, there was a mass of metal moving through the void. Beyond that? Who knew. Thoughts of infinity circled my head as I drifted slowly but surely into a deep sleep.

Crisis

I looked up at the clouds, searching for a gap in the grey wall or for any sign of activity. There wasn't a chance of my owners searching for me, It wouldn't be viable. Instead they would expect me to make my own way back to the ship. When you thought about it from the point of view of a pony, the life of a Biomech was pretty harsh. I glanced down at Astral, asleep by the roaring fire. Ponies were strange creatures themselves. No technology, yet natural ability at emitting energies. I raised my hand, and practiced my own energy attack, the one weapon I had managed to master.

Electricity. The sparks danced in my hand, before turning to flickering lines of power. They lit up the darkness with a blue glow, that waxed and waned in time to the volts. I closed my hand, snuffing out the sparks. The blue glow remained. Shocked, I looked carefully into the darkness, and noticed for the first time, tiny glowing blue orbs circling a cave. Some kind of insect? Whatever they were, I was interested! I looked back guiltily at the sleeping form of Astral. I should probably stay and guard her, but then again...

"I won't be gone long," I muttered to myself, heading towards the blue lights. Besides, she still had the fire.

Astral

I awoke rapidly, sitting up. The fire had died out, leaving just glowing embers and Crisis was no longer sitting where he was. "Crisis?!" I called out in panic, "Crisis! Where are you!?"

I frantically listened for a reply, and heard none. Where had the Biomech gone too... He said that day and night were the same for him, so maybe he just wandered off. Then in the dwindling light of the campfire embers, I noticed tracks leading away from the clearing into the darkness. I cast a soft torch spell, and began to follow them, my spine crawling with the thoughts of all the night monsters that might be nearby. Without the fire, or Crisis to scare them off I'd be defenceless!

The tracks led to a small cavern, and upon raising my head, I saw tiny blue lights drifting around its body, lighting the tunnel ahead. There was no need for my spell, so I ended it. These insects would provide all the light I needed.

I followed the tunnel down, getting deeper and deeper into the cave, my path lit by these strange blue orbs, each one lazily drifting in the cool night air. The tunnel ended in an opening, and so I rushed towards it hoping to find my friend. The sight that met me in the cavern ahead stunned me into silence.

Darkness had flooded the room, so it's edges were hidden, but the centre was lit up by hundreds and hundreds of the blue orb-insects, surrounding a standing figure, Crisis. The sight of my friend wasn't what amazed me the most however, for in the centre of the room stood a well detailed  majestic statue of an alicorn, and it was an alicorn that I knew very well.

Golden Jubilee, one of the original bearers of harmony! The element of laughter... I had read all about him in my master's book, and I simply couldn't believe that I was where I was.

We had found Golden Jubilee's tomb!!! By a freak teleport at a crucial time  we had found the tomb of a bearer of harmony! This had to be fate, working to help us! I called out to my metal friend who looked up from the blue lights shocked.

"Astral! What are you doing here... is it morning yet?"

"Crisis! How did you find this place?"

"I just followed these things," he replied, gesturing to the gathered insects. " I think they like me! They must be attracted to my LEDs..." he saw my shocked expression. "Wait Astral, what are you gawping at?

"The statue Crisis! The statue!"

He looked behind him at the monument, it's hard worked details lost in the low light. "Yeah, it's of some pony... Golden something..."

"Golden Jubilee," I answered joyously, "the element of laughter! This is the tomb of an original bringer of harmony!"

Crisis looked more carefully at the statue, no doubt noticing the wings and horn. "Oh, so he's one of those alicorns! Does that mean there's an element here then?"

"Definitely." I replied, "All we have to do, is summon it."

"Summon it?"

"We need to prove ourselves worthy... Um... So it's laughter then... Crisis, do you know any jokes?"

The Biomech stared at her. "I'm a superadvanced other-worldly weapon."

"I guess that's a no then..." I began to think long and hard for a joke or anything that would convey laughter but was stopped by Crisis, who stated something, almost to himself.

"Heh, looks like someone lost something."

I followed his gaze to the base of the statue, where there lay...

A small toy pony. I gasped, eyes widening in shock. Somepony had already been here... And maybe, somepony had already claimed the element! Was this a good thing or a bad thing? I honestly didn't know.

Crisis seemed to sense my anguish, and he glanced at me. "What's up with you?"

"The toy! Somepony must have left it here, and that means that we're not the first ones to find this place! They might have already taken the element..."

"Or more likely, some local kid left it here."

"Local?! We're in the middle of a forest!"

"Oh yeah... well it must be a kid, who else would leave a toy?"

"That isn't the issue here. We need to find out if the element is still here! Tell a joke!" I glared at my friend.

"You tell one!" Crisis countered.

"Uh..." I wracked my brains for a joke, and came back empty hoofed. Comedy had never been my strong point, and nearly a year of misery and imprisonment hadn't improved that. How could we check if the element was taken?!

"Listen, there's no point sitting here all day."

Crisis looked bored, and he leant rudely against the mighty statue. "Just cut your losses, and try the next place. If there are six elements then there must be six statues right?"

I nodded. "Okay then," he went on, "We'll just say that this one is gone for now and try the next statue. Problem solved!" he crossed his arms, and tilted his head back against the statue's leg. "I dunno why you're getting so worked up though, they're only necklaces!"

I replied by pushing him off the statue, and spoke angrily to the Biomech. "They're the only thing that can save our world!"

"Why do you care? This place is horrible! What would 'saving' it change?"

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Could someone really be that selfish? "That's easy for you to say Crisis, you don't have to live here the rest of your life! You'll just grow your wings and fly back up to wherever you came from!"

Crisis looked a little hurt, but he carried on regardless, "But why elements? How are a bunch of necklaces going to save the world?" he stood up straight, in a fighting pose, and spoke in a cocky voice. "The only way that you can change a world is in a hail of missiles."

Missiles? They were probably something from his world. I continued my argument,

"Well I think that the elements are the only way! It's not the elements that matter though, it's what they bring..." I paused for effect, then continued, "they bring harmony. That's what this world needs, harmony."

Crisis gave up, and returned to my side. "So if someone's already taken this element, isn't that a good thing? It means that there are other groups like us aiming for the same goal!"

"But what if they have all of the elements?"

"Even better right?"

I looked down at my hooves. "It should be... but still..." tears began to appear in my eyes, and I closed them. "I wanted to help. It was my dream to one day help restore harmony, and now I'll never get the chance."

Crisis sat alongside me, speaking in a comforting voice. Or at least an attempt at one. "Don't worry Astral, if they'd gathered all the elements of umm..."

"Harmony," I helped.

"Yeah, that. If someone had them all, then it stands to reason that they'd have defeated umm..."

"The Shadow Stallion?"

"Yeah, that guy. Look, what I'm trying to say is that if they had all the elements, then surely they'd have defeated him by now. So that means..."

"They're still searching!" I replied, hope returning.

"Yeah. So all we have to do is..."

"Find them, and help them!"

"Uh, actually," Crisis replied, "I was gonna say find the others before they can,  but that works too." he patted me on the back. "All we have to do is locate the remaining elements."

"And we've got one advantage!" I exclaimed, tears vanishing. "We've got this!" I levitated out the element book from my saddlebag. "This book was written by my master during one of his phases. It's filled with information! Look, it even shows where each element it!" I gestured at a map on the back cover. "It's also a one off, there's no replica. This means that we can find all the other statues in no time... and we can help whoever it is that's searching for them!"

Crisis looked uncertain, but eventually he agreed. "Okay, fine. Where should we head first?"

"That's the beauty of it!" I exclaimed gesturing to the map, "Because of this we now know our location! The Braeburn forest... Wow..."

"What?" Crisis asked.

"My teleport... We travelled so far..." I pointed to the map. "I've never heard of anypony teleporting this far before... especially not a filly! How did my teleport work so well?"

"Fear?" the Biomech questioned.

"Fear? Why fear?"

"When I was cornered by those guards, my fear enhanced my abilities. Like a defence strategy!"

"I guess...."

Crisis shrugged. "Soo... which element first?"

"We could try loyalty..." I muttered, pointing out a location on the map. "But that's in Hock... it's pretty far." I looked up at my friend. "Do you think you can handle it?"

"Handle it? Some poxy walking? Heh, it won't effect me. What about you?"

I questioned that myself. Months of being trapped indoors had made me unfit, and I wondered if I could take the endless miles of walking. "Okay, we'll pass through there and there..." I said gesturing to a number of cities, "We can stock up on food and supplies there... That reminds me Crisis! What do Biomech eat?"

"Experience." he replied.

"What?"

"We grow through winning battles, pulling off certain moves while flying... Basically we get better by getting better."

"I see..." I replied, not understanding.

I returned the book to my saddlebag, and turned to leave the chamber. Crisis followed, carrying something.

"Why are you taking that?" I asked, "It's filthy!"

Crisis examined the purple doll. "It looked lonely." he said simply.

"Crisis... It's just a doll. It can't feel anything, it's not aliv..." I stopped myself remembering Crisis' origins. "I mean...  let's take it." I used magic to levitate the doll into my bag, and we left the chamber.

In order to reach Hock, we would have to pass through a number of towns and cities, not to mention vast forests and grassland. It looked like a journey and a half! We left the cavern, and I looked around at the surrounding forest before groaning loudly. "A compass! We can't make the journey without a compass!"

"A compass?" Crisis asked. "Don't need one!" he clicked his fingers, an act that bought up another small wave of envy within me. "Check this out! Inbuilt compass..." he looked around carefully and pointed. "That way!"

We walked the way he had suggested, and soon left the forest's dark embrace. Part of me was glad to leave that place, but part was more worried about the road ahead. There were griffin patrols all over these parts, and we were out in the open without any identification. Crisis didn't seem share my worries, and he walked calmly along the dirt path, ignorant of the danger we were in. I didn't dwell on his arrogance however, there were more pressing matters on hand.

Stringhalt. To reach Hock we'd have to pass through Stringhalt, the town where I had been imprisoned in that school. I still feared that town, and I did not want to go there.

But I would have to. For harmony.

Crisis

Agh, so boring! We've been walking for days now, and nothing has happened, no towns, no landmarks... Heck even a patrol squadron would be fine now, anything to get away from this boredom!

Astral seems to be worried more than ever, looking around constantly and refusing fire at night. She's determined to find those elements of harmony too, for some reason. I guess that if it was my planet then I'd want to save it, but by gathering jewellery?

Along the winding road to wherever, my time had been taken up by either education from Astral, or practice at my own moves which were steadily growing stronger. As for the education, I found most of the stuff she told me irrelevant. It was just stupid stuff about her planet's history and discoveries. Despite the boredom of her knowledge, I said nothing, instead allowing her to teach me. She seemed to enjoy relating her knowledge, so I just let her. It felt like the right thing to do. Not everything she taught me was boring however, her knowledge of magic intrigued me, after all, when you find a weakness you need to study it!

All of a sudden, Astral stopped waking, and looked up wildly. She then grabbed my arm, and pulled me into a roadside ditch. The next thing I knew, a flock or group or whatever of griffins flew past. They didn't see us, and were gone in minutes, vanishing over the horizon.

"How did you?" I began.

"I saw them coming! If you kept your eyes on your surroundings, and your head out of the clouds then you would have too!"

"I was just.. caught off guard."

"If I hadn't been there, you'd have been captured Crisis!" she looked concerned, and I felt really bad.

"Sor... sorry Astral. I'll be more careful next time."

She softened a little. "Sometimes I worry about you Crisis. You're so headstrong that you don't think! Just be careful."

We continued to walk, and I began to look around at the sky, the land anything. I felt terrible about the way I had been just minutes ago... hoping for a guard patrol just to liven up the day! As we walked however, the feeling left and my confidence returned.

We scaled a small hill, and there it was. Stringhalt, a huge city surrounded by a thick wall. Ponies, griffins and god knows what else bustled through the gates in and out of Stringhalt. This was the first major city I had ever seen, and it did not disappoint.

"Oh no!" Astral cried out.

"What's up?" I replied glancing at her. She was staring horrified at me.

"Crisis, how are we going to get you into Stringhalt!? You'll never get past the gates looking like that!" She hung her head in her hooves. "Why didn't I think of this before?! We can't go around this city, it'll add days to our journey!"

I patted her comfortingly. "Don't sweat it Astral! I've got a way around that."

The distraught unicorn looked up from her hooves. "How?"

I gestured to myself. "Cloaking device!"

"Cloaking what?"

"It's... like invisibility... only cooler."

"And you can do this? For long periods of time?"

"As long as I concentrate I'll be able to keep it up for as long as I want!" I was lying. I'd never used my cloaking abilities, and I had no idea how long I could sustain them for. The tactic worked however; Astral brightened instantly.

"That's amazing! Come on then, let's head inside."

I concentrated, and began cloaking myself, fading into nothing, and disappearing from visibility.

Astral gasped, looking at where I stood, and I gasped too. This cloaking device took a huge amount of power to sustain, and the initial activation tugged on my energy. I had maybe... an hour before I shut down from fatigue. It was already starting to hurt, and the toll on my CPU weighed me down like a lead cloak. Astral heard my initial gasp. "Crisis, what's the matter? Are you okay?"

Replying was a nightmare, my brain clouded by strained energy. "Yeah... I'm fine... It's just... been a while..."

She looked uncertain, but we continued to the gate nevertheless. I nearly groaned again when we arrived outside the wall, as there was a huge queue of ponies, and pony lookalikes waiting in line to gain entry. At this rate I'd run out of power before we got inside!

After what seemed like an endless queue of ponies, it was our turn, or rather Astral's turn. I was safely hidden by my cloaking device, and the guards simply looked through me. The toll keeper was a red-coated guard pony who looked wearily at Astral. "Name" he called out hoarsely, and in the manner of a word that has lost all meaning.

"A..." my friend began, then changed her mind, "Alice. My name is Alice." the guard didn't seem to care and, while writing down her name, continued questioning.

"Tribes?"

"Tribes...? Umm..."

"Sponsor? Family?"

Astral looked blankly at him, so he sighed wearily and asked, "Where are you from kid?"

"C... Canterlot?"

The guard looked carefully at her, before writing another note. "Toll's 2 bits kid."

Astral gasped aloud. "Bits! I completely forgot... oh no!"

The guard sighed once again. "Just this once kid, and only because I'm too busy to care. Next!" he pushed the sheet of paper, freshly stamped, to Astral and we walked past the checkpoint into Stringhalt.

The city inside was part beautiful grass, and part tiled wall. White houses surrounded the flowered parks, and earth ponies occupied the well worn streets. "We should get some food," began Astral and then, remembering the money situation, stopped.

When I didn't respond, she looked around worried. "Crisis? Are you still there?"

"Yep..." I strained.

Relieved, she walked to a grassy area and sat, the cut grass moving gently in a breeze. "How are we going to get money?" she said to herself.

An idea hit me, and one that Astral would not like. I had to distract her first... "Let's... keep walking..." I said painfully.

She glanced at where the voice had come from and nodded. We carried on walking, heading for one of the bustling streets, or rather she carried on walking. I stayed right where I was, waiting until Astral was gone. I then made a beeline towards a family sitting on the short grass. A mother and a father with three children were picnicking, completely unaware as I approached. The father was a noble grey stallion, and the family practically screamed 'nobility'. I moved as slowly as possible towards the picnic, and reached out towards the packed basket. Who needs money for food!?

A hoof came down on top of mine, and one of the older sisters screamed jumping back in surprise. Damn! I lunged for the basket, but my movement was slowed by the strain of cloaking. A number of hooves pinned me to the ground, and I released the cloaking device out of shock. I wasn't the only shocked one.

The family screamed once again at my alien appearance, and they jumped back allowing me enough room to grab the basket and run, dodging and jumping over townsfolk in an effort to escape. My cloaking device was neglected as I ran, and the surrounding patrol guards gave chase as well. By now the entire park was in uproar, as ponies struggled to get a glimpse of me. More lassos flew around me as the chase thickened, forcing me to run faster. There was no way I was gonna get captured again! I leapt onto a cart, then clambered onto the roof of a house running away instantly. The guards, unable to climb that way, began to look for an alternative way up.

I sprinted along the rooftops, jumping over gaps in ecstasy. That was awesome! I felt full of life, and the thrill of the chase made that life seem even more poignant. My thoughts returned to Astral. She was going to flip if she found out about this! I began to slow, and re enabled my cloaking ability, scouring the street below for a sign of Astral. The thrill of the chase had been left behind, and now I began to worry. The whole of Stringhalt would be out looking for us now! I had just gotten both of us in trouble again, leaving our relative secrecy in tatters.

Not that it mattered, my mission was complete, the basket  was mine! Headstrong? Hell yeah!

Astral

It was while walking along a cramped street that I heard shouting behind me. Something had just happened in the park, and by the sounds of it, something big. "Come on Crisis," I muttered and continued to walk, increasing my speed. I ducked into an empty side road, and spoke to my friend directly. "What do think happened back there?" There was no reply. "Crisis? Crisis are you there?" still no answer. I poked the air in front of me with a hoof and it passed straight through. Crisis was gone! But where had he g... My mind returned to the commission earlier. "Crisis!!" I shouted, and when no answer came I ran back into the street, heading for the park. What had he done now?!!

Crisis

The cloaking was beginning to tire me out, so I leapt down into a deserted alleyway turning the cloak off as I fell. I'd rest here for a bit, then find Astral. My sight fell on the stolen picnic basket at my feet, and I opened one of the flaps. It was full of food! There were sandwiches, cakes, pies all kinds of stuff! Astral would be so happy when I returned with this... wouldn't she? What if she asked where it came from? I pushed these thoughts aside and sat in the centre of the alley, examining one of the sandwiches. That's when I heard the voice.

"Hello..."

I glanced to my left, and there in the shadows stood a little pony. As it walked out from its hiding place, I noticed black and white stripes running along its body. I also noticed ribs poking at the skin of its stomach and thin frail legs. This thing looked starved! The little striped pony continued talking in a sickly voice, "Mister... please can I have some food?" I could now see that it was a boy, and a young one at that.

I stared blankly at the pony before nodding slowly. "Sure kid, help yourself." the creature brightened instantly, and sat on the floor before dragging himself over to where I sat. He looked really ill, and I wondered how long it had been since he'd eaten.

"I'm Zee. Who are you?" Zee moved his mouth to the basket lid, and lifted it weakly.

"The name's Crisis... you look pretty hungry kid..."

Zee nodded, and I held out a sandwich. The thin pony snapped it up instantly, and swallowed it whole, before looking at me with those wide eyes of his. I fed him some more sandwiches until at last he sat up, coughing. "Do... do you have any parents?" I asked.

Zee shook his head. "Nope I got a big bruver though. He's somewhere..." the striped pony looked sadly at me.

"So you're alone out here?"

"Yea."

We continued to look at each other for a while, Zee coughing every so often and shivering in the cold.

I've said it once, and I'll say it again; There's something wrong with this planet...

Zee

After eating, I just sat on the floor next to the silver thing. Was he a giant silver coin? I'd never seen anything like him before. Crysus was his name, and he stood on two hooves. Still though, I should have been scared but I wasn't. He gave me food, so he must be nice right?

Eventually Crysus spoke again. "You mentioned a brother?"

"Yep!" I replied proudly, "Soulstance! He's the best bro ever!"

"Where is he?"

"Umm... I don't know... I got lost. I think he's looking for me though."

"When were you separated kid?"

"Umm?" I didn't know. It was a while ago... I decided to tell him about Soulstance instead. "My bro is the best ever! He can use shadow majic, an, an make potions'n stuff!"

"Shadow magic?"

"Like... shadows!"

Crysus nodded. "Stands to reason..."

"Do you have a bro?"

He seemed to pause for a second, before answering. "Kinda... I've got nine."

"Nine bros!"

"But... they're not really brothers see?"

I shook my head. "Not really.."

"Never mind."

He started to speak again, but paused as someone else appeared in the alley.

I turned to see a pony walking towards us, only this wasn't any pony, this was a unicorn! The unicorn saw Crysus, and ran towards us.

I smiled widely at her as she approached.

Unicorns were fun!

Astral

Crisis was sitting next to a small zebra who, on closer inspection, was thin and malnourished. "Crisis, what's going on!" I called out to him. "People in the park told me they saw you steal a..." I noticed the picnic basket. "You didn't!"

The Biomech nodded. "Those rich ponies didn't deserve this food. We needed it more!"

I walked over to the pair, and kicked Crisis angrily. "You stole it!? Now the whole of Stringhalt is out looking for you!" I looked down at the zebra. "Who's he?"

"His name's Zee. I found him here."

"Well come on Crisis, we need to go!" I looked down at Zee. "Zee, do you have anyone to stay with?" the zebra nodded enthusiastically, before hugging Crisis.

"Crysus!" he exclaimed.

Crisis stood, and shrugged at me. "What can I say?" he said cheerfully, "everything I meet loves me!"

"Except me."

"Except you."

I groaned aloud. "Okay fine, he can come with us, now activate your cloaking device, and let's get the heck out of here. This city is giving me the creeps!" Crisis sparked, and dissolved into thin air, while Zee looked on. "Crysus! Where ja go?"

"I'm still here kid." came the reply from thin air. "It's just invisibility."

"Like shadow majic!"

I nodded. "Kind of, now lets go!"

We walked out of the alley, and continued down the semi-busy street. Zee limped alongside us, and as he did, I  began to feel concerned for him. We should probably take him to a doctor, and get that cough checked out.

"Guys.." came Crisis' voice from thin air.

"Not now..." I muttered. We had just entered a town square filled with ponies, many of which were guards. I continued to walk tensely and Zee, seeming to sense the situation, stuck close to me fearfully. We had reached the centre of the square, when Crisis spoke again, "Guys... I... I really don't feel so good..."

"Crisis!" I hissed. Luckily, the noise from the crowd blocked out our conversation.

"This cloaking.... It takes up a... Lot of power... I think I'm gonna..."

Suddenly, there was a distortion in the air next to me, and a transparent Crisis appeared. He quickly became solid, then collapsed to the ground next to us sparking cries of horror from the nearby ponies. "Crisis! No!" I cried out. I looked up to find that we were surrounded by guards, slowly edging in closer. Zee clung to my leg, sobbing, and I simply stared in shock.

A circle of guards, edging closer and closer. With no way out...

What would happen to us?