Chapter 1: A Fire in the Sky
Fifteen meters.
Several shots of red went off to the right.
Ten meters.
More red bolts flew as one singed his right flank.
Five meters.
The alien pointed the device at the guard’s chest as they collided.
-fsshck-
The guard closed his eyes for a second as a hot bolt hit him and inertia sprawled them both across the dirt.
24 Hours earlier
“Oh, it’s no problem at all...” Fluttershy said as Twilight thanked her the second time that night. Twilight had moved her telescope out to Fluttershy’s cottage for the night since all the light from around the library was making it difficult to see the fainter stars.
“I even petitioned the Mayor to turn the street lamps out after 10pm but she said it would be a ‘Public Hazard’. She has no idea how much light pollution those things create. It’s not like that many ponies are walking around late at night anyway,” Twilight said.
Fluttershy let her friend rant and politely nodded and when Twilight finally took a breath she turned the conversation back to the stars by asking, “So...what are you studying tonight?”
Twilight’s attention piqued at the opportunity to share her knowledge with Fluttershy. The lavender unicorn quickly made final adjustments to the telescope and said “Tonight I’m studying the Canis Major constellation, would you like a look?” as she stepped back to let the pegasus use the telescope.
Fluttershy remained where she was, her eyes transfixed on the sky, “It’s beautiful....”.
“Uh, Fluttershy, you have to look through the telescope...” Twilight trailed off as she followed her friend’s eye line up to the sky.
Small meteors rained down, dimly starting from the east and becoming brighter as they flew across to the west eventually disappearing as they burned out. Several larger ones made grand entrances with loud bangs as they passed overhead, one even appeared to almost make it to the ground before it vanished in the black night sky. The impromptu light show lasted for about twenty minutes before it tapered off.
Fluttershy broke the silence. “Did you know that was going to happen tonight?”
“No. Princess Luna is usually so precise about her sky, this wasn’t on the schedule at all.”
After several hours of standing outside in the crisp spring air Twilight brought her telescope inside. She quickly made herself at home in Fluttershy’s guest room and began pouring over the night schedule for any explanation of what they saw.
***************************************************************
Princess Celestia stood silently on her balcony as she waited for the moon to clear the sky; sunrise was already ten minutes late and she was getting frustrated at her sister’s tardiness. An orange glow had already begun to appear in the eastern sky as the sun made a small show of defiance. Celestia launched herself into the morning air, spiralled upwards to the tower that Luna routinely favoured to perform her celestial duties.
Landing quietly on the platform, Celestia had expected to find her sister engrossed in one of her side projects. What she found instead was Luna standing at the edge of the balcony, face up to the sky, with a large plume of blue magic surrounding her horn. The intensity of the magic being used had turned the calm aura into a spinning blue vortex, throwing sparks like somepony was using an angle grinder on her horn.
“Sister, is something wrong?” Celestia said trying to conceal her earlier frustrations.
Luna jumped at the unexpected voice and let her concentration lapse, dissipating the glowing blue vortex. “I-I don’t know. Do you remember the first night after I returned from the moon?”
“You mean the one after you banished me and tried to plunge Equestria into eternal night?” Celestia quipped.
Luna’s expression dropped like someone had taken a new puppy away from her. Celestia mentally kicked herself for being so insensitive. “I’m sorry Sister, I didn’t mean anything by that. We raised the moon together didn’t we? Shall we give that a try?”
The grimace on Luna’s face gave way to a smile as both alicorns turned to the lingering moon and focused their magic. Ten seconds passed. Celestia was also having trouble making a connection. Twenty seconds. She adjusted her stance and closed her eyes, pouring all of her focus into her horn. A tenuous connection started to form, she channelled all of her energy into her horn and willed the moon downwards. As the connection severed abruptly, she turned to her sister and tried to find some words of encouragement.
“That wasn’t so bad…perhaps you just need some rest, dear Sister,” Celestia said.
Luna remained silent, her eyes fixed on the sky. Celestia turned to find the moon still where it was a few minutes earlier.
“I don’t even--” Luna stammered.
“I’ll just raise the sun and we’ll come back to the moon afterwards,” Celestia offered, more out of confusion then an actual plan.
Turning to the east to face the orange sky she flared up her magic with her usual grace and finesse. Over a thousand years of practice had made her very efficient with her magic, just enough to make a connection and no more. Nothing. Perhaps trying to move the moon had taxed her magic? She focused more energy into her horn. The familiar bridge refused to form. Already over the events of the morning Celestia opted to get this over with and focused her full energy towards the sun. Ten seconds went past and a hint of the connection teased her. Twenty seconds. The amount of effort took its toll as her knees started to shake. Celestia pushed forward with her magic, commanding the sun to rise. Thirty five seconds later her knees buckled and she fell forward like a filly tripping on a log.
A blue aura caught Celestia before she could hit the polished marble and gently lowered her onto the platform. After a few minutes she opened her eyes to see her sister sitting beside her. Seeing her sister recovered slightly Luna said, “I think we have a serious problem.”
As the two sisters sat on the top of the tower trying to work through the problem facing them, the sun slowly crept into the eastern sky. At first the colour change was barely perceptible but as soon as the corona breached the eastern horizon both Celestia and Luna looked at each other with a knowing expression.
“It would seem Sister, that the sun and the moon are roaming the sky freely,” Celestia said, giving voice to the inevitable.
A set of hoofsteps echoed up the stairs. “Pardon the intrusion your highnesses,” the royal guard said as he announced his presence “but there is an urgent matter that requires your attention”.
Celestia turned, “Yes we are aware of this morning’s issues, we will be addressing them at meeting with the astrological society shortly.”
“Beg pardon your highness, but the message I carry is a report of a meteor shower during the night, with a sighting of an impact just north of the Foal mountains. Additionally we’ve sent several messengers from the Royal Signalling Corps to Fillydelphia, but we haven’t heard back.”
“Sister, what if this is related to my visions? We must prepare,” Luna whispered to Celestia.
“This is most troubling. Please relay to the captain of the guard that I request he departs with the standing forces to Fillydelphia immediately, for disaster relief,” Celestia said.
The royal guard made quick bow and immediately ran back down into the tower.
“Sister, I would like to investigate the report of that meteor crash,” Luna added.
"I agree, but I’m going to ask Twilight and her friends to assist you in this.”
Surprised by this unusual condition, Luna hesitated, “I would appreciate Twilight’s assistance but I’m not sure how her friends will be of any help in this situation.”
“Merely as a precaution sister. If in the case that your visions are accurate, I would prefer to keep the Elements of Harmony together in case they are needed.”
Walking into Luna’s study, Celestia picked up a quill and wrote a quick note to Twilight explaining her request. Once she was done she rolled up the scroll and cast the dragon fire spell. She had become accustomed to creating a flame just around the scroll, such that it appeared to just swirl away. This time was an exception as Celestia struggled to ignite the flame. When the flame finally did materialise, it did so with a roar and a jet of green heat ignited the paper and turned it to ash.
Celestia quickly rewrote the letter and gave it to a pegasus from the Signalling Corps as she made her way back to the throne room. When she arrived most of the ministers were already there, surrounding Luna at the center of the crowd, overwhelmed with a torrent of questions.
***************************************************************
Twilight awoke as she often did, with her face wedged in the book she was reading the night before. With the light from the sun streaming in through the window and a pain in her neck, she realised she wasn’t going to be able to get any more sleep like this. Begrudgingly she stood up and made her way out to the living area of the cottage.
Fluttershy was already busy feeding and caring for all the woodland critters. After she put Angel’s breakfast in front of him she looked up and saw Twilight emerge.
“Good morning Twilight, did you sleep well?” Fluttershy asked, already knowing the answer from the state of Twilight’s mane.
“Well enough I suppose. I was up all night going through the astral schedules, but I couldn’t find anything to explain the meteor shower,” Twilight replied with a groggy drole.
“Perhaps some breakfast will make you feel better,” Fluttershy suggested as she flitted over to a cupboard and began to organise something edible.
Twilight was about to take the first bite of her cereal when the door burst open, prompting her to drop her spoon and shower her coat with milk. Fluttershy’s reaction was more extreme as the shy pegasus launched herself from her seat at a speed that Rainbow Dash would be proud of and hovered up high against the roof.
The armoured pegasus powered through the door and stopped in the middle of the living area where he spotted Twilight. “Miss Sparkle?” he asked.
“Yes?” Twilight responded as she stood to face the unexpected visitor.
“I have an urgent message from the Princess. She requests the presence of the Elements of Harmony at Canterlot immediately. The rail service has been suspended in anticipation of your arrival.” The guard continued as he offered Twilight the Princess’s scroll. As soon as Twilight had the scroll in hoof the guard nodded slightly and left just as abruptly.
“Wow...what could be so important that the Princess would stop the train service just for us?” Fluttershy asked as she gently made her way back down to the ground.
“I’m not sure but whatever it is we’d better not keep her waiting.”
“But my animals?---” Fluttershy started.
“I’ll get Spike to take care of things back here for us while we’re gone, get what you need and we better get going. I have a feeling that our friends got similar wake up calls this morning and they’ll probably already be at the station waiting for us,” Twilight interjected.
As predicted, by the time Twilight and Fluttershy got to the station they were the last to arrive. Twilight spent the train ride dissecting every word of Celestia’s letter, looking for any further clues as to what was happening. By the time they arrived at Canterlot she was none the wiser as to the circumstances of their summoning.
When the Elements arrived in the throne room a large crowd of officials were already present milling around with the two princesses at the front of the crowd. At the sight of the group the two princesses motioned for the six to join them in a small chamber just off the main room.
Once inside, Celestia began explaining the events of that morning and Luna’s mission to investigate the meteor impact. The confusion from the other five over their presence was quelled when Celestia produced the Elements of Harmony and said “There is a second reason I’ve summoned you all; we don’t know exactly what is happening, so I need the Elements of Harmony to be able to respond should the need arise.”
“Take whatever provisions you need from the quartermaster. I’ll also be assigning you a guard detail. I’m sorry to cut this short but I must get back to the ministers. I leave you in my Sister’s capable hooves,” Princess Celestia said with the kindest voice she could manage.
Twilight could see the concern both on Princess Celestia's face and in her voice. She was truly worried.
After getting enough provisions for nearly a week the group walked out into the courtyard. Waiting for them was three earth ponies in glistening armour, spears and a full marching pack. In the front was a stallion with a brown coat, a grey mane and a sergeant’s insignia on his armour. Slightly detached from the group was a blue pegasus mare with an iridescent green mane.
As Princess Luna approached the four ponies bowed.
“Sergeant Silver Charge, your highness. My troops and I are at your command.”
The blue pegasus stepped forward “I am Aurora your highness. Princess Celestia requested that I accompany you to assist with communication.”
“I trust you are all ready to go?” Luna asked. A chorus of simultaneous nods from all parties was all the Princess needed before she started moving toward the main gate.
***************************************************************
The walk north east was comfortable enough, winter had been wrapped up a few weeks prior and the warmer weather was a welcome change. There would be the occasional gust that came down off of the mountains to the south, which would make everypony shiver.
Rainbow Dash was flying overhead being both scout and showoff at the same time. Every now and then she would surge ahead of the group and perform a few tricks, much to Pinkie’s amusement. Aurora kept a more disciplined flight path, circling the group and using the thermals to save energy.
Twilight noted that even the three earth pony guards were keeping perfect time and formation. She pulled out a small scroll and made a note to ask Princess Celestia if this was normal or if the royal guard was on their very best behaviour because Princess Luna was with them.
After the group took a short lunch break Rainbow Dash joined the group on the ground. Rarity quizzed Rainbow Dash, “Rainbow dear, did you wear yourself out doing all those tricks?”
“More like I missed my nap today.” Rainbow Dash replied with a hint of bitterness.
Not long after that Aurora joined the group on the ground as well. With the pace being set by the sergeant it was only a few more hours before they spotted a plume of black smoke against the fading light as the sun started to set.
“Rainbow, could you do a quick flyover and see if that is the meteor?” Twilight asked.
“No problem!” Rainbow Dash replied as she sprung into the air. Her initial leap put her a few lengths above the ground and she started to beat her wings. After the first beat Rainbow knew something wasn’t right, the weight ratio was off, it was like she was trying to take off with three ponies on her back. The second wing beat had the same result. The ground approached quickly and Rainbow Dash hit the soft dirt with a thump.
“Oh my goodness...Are you ok Rainbow Dash?” Fluttershy asked as the group approached the downed pegasus.
“No worse than usual.” Rainbow replied as she picked herself up off the dirt.
Luna turned to Aurora, “Would you please do the reconnaissance for us?”
“Yes your highness.” Aurora said before launching herself into the air but all she could manage was a flitter, landing roughly, a small distance from the group.
Twilight looked to Luna “Princess, do you think this could have any relation to the magical disruption issues you mentioned this morning?”
“It’s possible Twilight. It’s important that we don’t start ruling things in or out at this stage based on assumptions but yes, a definite possibility.” Luna said.
As the group crested a hill they got their first look at the meteor. At the bottom of the hill a large swath of dirt had been dug up as the object had impacted and slid to a stop some distance from the impact point.
The ‘meteor’ could hardly be called that. Twilight started trying to make a rough sketch without much success until Rarity interrupted, “Allow me Twilight.”
Taking Twilight’s pencil, Rarity quickly drew the craft, making note of the overall box-like shape, with it’s angled sides and flat roof. The contraption had come to rest on an unnatural angle, facing toward the group giving them a good top down view of it. It hadn’t survived completely intact, there were several more flimsy parts that littered the approach. The wreck had come to rest just before the treeline of the forest.
Luna took the lead, cantering down to the craft with a level of enthusiasm that Twilight had not seen from the Princess before. Just as the group got to the main part of the wreck, something began moving along the treeline. Twilight stepped out from behind the wreck to see what it was.
A streak of red went flying past Twilight, close enough that a part of her mane turned black and shriveled. She let out a surprised yelp as she recoiled behind the bulk of the shuttle, more bolts flew past while others hit the other side of the craft. Twilight felt the impacts course through the metal into her spine.
Carefully peering out from behind the wreck Twilight was able to see three creatures emerging from the treeline. Two of them broke off towards where Luna and the guards were taking cover. The bipeds had grey skin with an eerie light emanating from their eyes. The third creature was also a biped but had more of an insectoid form than the others and it was carrying something with both hands. “What is that?” Twilight muttered to herself when the alien pointed the device and fired more red bolts at her. “Not curious any more!” she screamed as she recoiled behind the metal.
She turned and saw the rest of her friends similarly hiding behind the metal wreckage to escape the red projectiles. On the other hoof Luna and the guards were fighting off the two-legged creatures that had found them. The aliens had a fierce glow in their eyes as they clawed at Luna and the guards, the latter responding with a swift thrust of a spear or a buck to the torso. Despite the ease that the grey aliens were dispatched, the wedge headed alien with four eyes stopped shooting for a second before a disembodied voice yelled, "Assuming direct control!"
Luna's expression changed instantly, she hunched down, her ears flattened against her head. She turned to Twilight and shouted, "Gather the Elements and wait for my signal!"
Twilight was about to question the princess as to what she meant by that, but the question died in her throat as Luna and the royal guards dived over the metal and charged.
The armoured guard ran straight at the alien.
Fifteen meters.
Several shots of red went off to the right.
Ten meters.
More red bolts flew as one singed his right flank.
Five meters.
The alien pointed the device at the guard’s chest as they collided.
-fsshck-
The guard closed his eyes for a second as a hot bolt hit him and inertia sprawled them both across the dirt.
A second later, Luna caught up with him and pinned the alien to the ground with a hoof.
The alien’s eyes were now a burning white glow. Luna turned to Twilight, her face contorted with worry and shouted “Now Twilight!” The pleading shout had a sobering effect on Twilight not unlike a bucket of cold water. She ran forward, nearly collecting Fluttershy as she ran around the wreck and took up her spot in front of the alien. Turning to yell at her friends to join her she discovered they were already standing behind her.
The act of charging the elements was different to the last times they had been used successfully. Initiating the spell was normally no more difficult for Twilight than levitating a small book across the library but now in order to get the elements to full power, it was like trying to throw a large boulder. The spell started draining every last bit of energy from Twilight. Just as she was about to give up and release the spell the trademark rainbow appeared, arced and struck the alien square in the chest.
Twilight dropped the spell abruptly, dropping all six ponies from a height. All of them fell hard except for one whose practice at crash landings didn’t make it seem so bad.
Fluttershy, while normally indecisive and quiet, changed the minute she saw the guards plight. Without a word she galloped over to where she’d dropped her saddlepack at the wreck and returned with a small medkit. Twilight picked herself off the ground and motioned to see if she could put her knowledge from Sticks and Stones: A guide to basic first aid to use.
“Twilight, I need your assistance here first.” Luna commanded. The alien was pinned by a large blue hoof that had been reinstated after the elements had hit.
“Luna, it’s been cleansed by the elements, there is no way that it can possibly harm us now.” Twilight insisted.
Luna gave Twilight an enigmatic look, “You don’t know that for sure Twilight. All we know right now is that the elements hit it, we have no way of knowing what effect that had, if any.”
As much as Twilight wanted to object, she internally resigned the point and had to admit that the princess was right. Both mares stared at the alien. It finally stirred, looked at Luna, and started muttering “Reapers...protect the sanctuary”. It made an attempt to rise but was counted by Luna who put her weight back onto the hoof pinning the alien to the ground. She lowered her head and her horn began to glow in a menacing fashion.
Whether it was the stress of being hit by the friendship cannon or just the weight of Luna’s hoof on its’ chest, the alien dropped back into unconsciousness. Luna turned to the guards behind her and simply ordered, “Restrain him and watch him.”
The injuries to the guard didn’t look too bad, some of the gashes were deep but surprisingly they weren’t bleeding as badly as she thought they should be. Fluttershy was already trying to tend to the superficial wounds but the guards lack of consciousness combined with the muddy ground made it had to see where he had been injured.
“The only benefit to this type of weapon is that when it grazes like this the wound is immediately cauterised and stops the patient bleeding out.” Luna said with an air of confidence. “He was lucky, a direct hit could have been fatal.”
Fluttershy winced at the possibility but continued to tend her patient with the same degree of care that she would show her animal friends. It wasn’t until Luna levitated the guard out of the mud that the the true damage was revealed.
The round had been deflected just enough by the collision between the guard and the alien to send it just along the underside of the guards chestplate and straight through the metacarpal bone in his rear left leg.
Rarity was the first to try to offer some hope. “Well it doesn’t look so bad, we can just make a splint for his leg and he should be ok to come with us to Hollow Shades.”
“He will need to be carried back to Canterlot, as the bone will almost certainly be shattered from that type of weapon.” Luna said.
“Oh...my...” Fluttershy stammered.
Before the assessment could continue Pinkie Pie bounced into the conversation, “Princess, I don’t mean to be a Nosy, McNosy Pony, but how do you know so much about the aliens?”
Everypony but Pinkie Pie and the Princess looked like someone had spoiled the ending of the book they were reading. Twilight was instantly kicking herself for missing such an obvious oversight.
“In good time Pinkie. I understand that you will all have questions, and I will answer them but for now you will just have to trust me.”
Luna passed over the job of levitating the guard out of the mud and leaving the six friends to the first aid task and walked off without saying another word.
“Ah don’t like this. Ain’t been gone for but a day and we’re already banged up.”
“Relax AJ. Princess Luna’s got this one and we’re all ok...well, most of us.” Rainbow dash said as her eyes drew back over the hurt guard.
After finishing the splint and bandages, Twilight gingerly levitated the injured pony over to a makeshift stretcher that Pinkie Pie and Rarity had hastily constructed. How Pinkie Pie had managed to find straight logs and string to bind them was anypony’s guess.
Looking around, Twilight saw a spectral tail sticking out of the door of the crashed ship giving away the location of the Princess.
She walked over to see what the Princess had found. Luna had evidently found something of interest as she slowly removed herself from the ship with two crates that looked mostly in tact.
The princess had managed to pry open the door closer to the ground and gain access to the inside of the wreck. The ship was still on its 45 degree incline so anything not tied down had gathered near Twilight’s hooves at the door. The remnants of daylight shone in through the broken door that was facing the sky as the windows at the front of the shuttle were opaque with dirt. It was then Twilight realised that the front seats were still occupied.
Making her way over the debris on the floor, Twilight moved to the front of the craft. “Princess, have you seen this?”
Still harnessed into their seats were two aliens, both dead. They did not look like the aggressive aliens they recently encountered. They would have been tall, if they could stand, and had a tan coloured skin that was not dissimilar to the depictions of Daring Do’s coat. Their eyes were large and black, and their faces had an unusual split lower jaw configuration.
“I have Twilight, you needn’t worry about them. There isn’t anything that we can do for them now.” Luna said as she floated another box outside. “Please gather everypony. I need to show you all something, and we don’t have much time.”
The mane six were milling around the crates while Silver Charge and Aurora had moved the prisoner back to the shuttle and bailed him up against the metal.
With everypony gathered, Luna launched into a small speech “I’m sorry, I know this isn’t what you expected and I’m afraid that it isn’t going to get better anytime soon.”
Luna opened the crate revealing an assortment of objects, she picked out one of the smaller ones, levitated it in front of the group and continued, “This is one of the weapons that other species use to fight them. They call them guns, basically think of them as a smaller and much more powerful version of Pinkie’s party cannon. If we’re going to survive we’re going to need to learn to use them.” Luna then began into a quick lecture about the different parts of the gun and how to use it.
“Wait a minute, what about us?” Rainbow interjected brazenly. “It’s all very good for unicorns and alicorns, but how are we supposed to press that trigger and aim it at the same time?” Applejack stepped up behind Rainbow Dash in a quiet sign of support for her.
Luna levitated the smaller pistol over to the prismatically maned pegasus and hovered the grip in front of her face. “I know these were created for creatures with hands but if you hold that grip in your mouth you should be able to depress the trigger with your tongue.”
This idea seemed to repulse Rarity who promptly screwed up her face at the thought. Taking her cue from this, Applejack stepped up and grabbed the grip of the pistol in her mouth as Luna released her hold on it.
“Now with your hoof press the button on the side, like that, now the safety is off. Take aim and gently pull the trigger,” Luna coached Applejack as she obediently followed the instructions. Nothing seemed to happen for a second. Suddenly there was a loud bang followed by a red bolt that quickly flew over and embedded itself in a tree. Applejack flinched and would have dropped the pistol if Luna hadn’t caught it with her magic.
A similar procedure was repeated for Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie. Luna didn’t bother to ask the yellow pegasus, already knowing what the answer would be. Rarity was given a long weapon with a small telescope attached to it.
“Are you sure this is necessary?” The white dressmaker protested, “I don’t like the idea of these things, much less using one, and looking through this glass is messing up my mane”. Luna sighed, “I’m sorry Rarity but there isn’t another choice. They will kill us if we let them. If you don’t do this for yourself, then do it to protect your friends.” Luna motioned softly at the quiet yellow pegasus. That seemed to be all the motivation Rarity needed and she turned back to Luna and said “Show me.”
“This is a sniper rifle, it requires finesse, something which I’m sure you can manage...” Luna began. For Rarity, finesse was not the issue. It took Luna several attempts to explain the different purpose of a sniper before she was satisfied that the dressmaker understood her role.
After finishing with Rarity, it was Twilight’s turn. Luna produced a large weapon that was mostly silver with a touch of black and red. “Twilight, this is an assault rifle, if you hold down the trigger on this it will just keep firing until you need to change the clip. Please be careful, out of all of the weapons we took from that crate, this one is the most likely to end up hurting somepony you don’t intend to.”
Twilight took the rifle in her magic, now more scared of it than anything else. She wanted to say something to the Princess, perhaps ask if there was a book or two she could carry instead of this thing. But her chance evaporated as Luna turned back to the group.
Towering over the circle of mares that had gathered Luna announced “We need to be moving. Applejack would you please bring that case,” with a hoof gesturing at the other case that Luna had removed from the craft.
“Uh Princess, we uh, can’t....” Fluttershy trailed off.
“We most certainly can and we must,” Rarity retorted.
“No I mean he can’t,” Fluttershy gestured toward the guard on the stretcher
“But Fluttershy, dear, we need everyone right now. Surely we can alight him at the next town, and what if those creatures attack again?” Rarity said.
“Fluttershy is correct.” Luna said putting an end to the disagreement. Rarity’s ears dropped like she had just been scolded by her mother. Seeing this Luna attempted to handle this with some diplomacy rather than her usual wrecking ball approach. “While I appreciate your sentiment Rarity, the guard’s injuries require surgery. Furthermore the guards will take some of these weapons to Canterlot so we might have a chance to reverse engineer our own. For now however we must get moving.”
“But Princess, tha-” Rarity started.
Luna interrupted “Rarity, please understand that there are worse things right now then being killed by one’s enemy.”
With a puzzled look on her face the fashionista let the argument end there, as she tried to work out what the Princess was alluding to.
With that Luna got up, ordered the corporal to return to Canterlot with a hastily written scroll, an assortment of weapons and items salvaged from the crash site along with his comrade. Once the stretcher was rigged so one pony could carry it he left, looking somewhat like an ant carrying food back to its colony. With the departure of the two guards, this left only sergeant Silver Charge and Aurora as representatives from the military.
While everypony was packing the salvaged equipment, Luna took the opportunity to walk up on what was now the top of the shuttle. Looking down at the half open door she could see a large mounted gun mounted on a swivel with a few pipes attached. Without much care for the attachments she encircled the weapon in her magic and began to work it free from its mounting. With a metallic snap and a hiss of cold gas, the oversized gun came free and she made her way back to the group.
“Come on everypony, we need to get moving,” Luna announced.
The gun hovering beside her was about as long as her and probably weighed that much. The six friends exchanged bewildered looks at the juxtaposition of the blue alicorn carrying a gun as big as she was. This look quickly changed to jealousy for Rainbow Dash who instinctively took it as a challenge to find something bigger.
It was Twilight who broke the silence as the group departed, continuing on from Pinkie’s question earlier. “Princess, how do you know so much about all of this?” gesturing at the large cannon floating above the blue mare.
“That’s a long story Twilight. Until now ‘Tia has been the only pony I have trusted with this but I do owe you an explanation. It all started in the last few years of my banishment on the moon...”
Chapter 2: Fear and Secrets
“It all started in the last few years of my banishment on the moon...” Luna continued.
“It began with a few flashes of images of places I’d never seen before. Then the images were more than just a glimpse, I started to see through the eyes of another being. At first it was nothing too unusual, foreign landscapes and small settlements. Then I saw the true purpose of these creatures. They would descend upon a town, place all its residents into pods, and then move them back to their ship.”
“Princess, are you saying the alien who you were connected to had a ship like the crashed one we found?” Twilight said.
“No Twilight. The vessel we found is nothing more than a small landing craft that would fly to and from a much larger vessel that was in orbit.”
The two ponies walked silently together while Luna allowed Twilight time to assimilate this new concept. The forest was dense and aside from the well trodden trail there, wasn’t any signs of activity. It was, at the very least, quiet. Luna ignited a small light at tip of her horn that allowed them to see better in the quickly fading light.
“So this means that space travel is possible?” Twilight said breaking the silence.
“Yes. Not only possible, but very common amongst the species that I saw during these links.”
“Princess, if you were seeing through the eyes of another pony, as it were, how did you learn how to operate their weapons?”
“I can’t tell you exactly how I came to all of this knowledge. Some of it I learned directly from the visions, but for the most part it just comes to me. I didn’t even realise that I knew how those weapons worked until I picked one up, from there it was like I’d handled them all my life.”
At the front of the group, Silver Charge stopped suddenly. Since he obviously saw something interesting, Pinkie made her way to the front of the group to see what she was missing out on.
“What’cha doing?” Pinkie said with her usual enthusiasm.
“Sshhhhhhh, be quiet or they’ll see us...” Silver Charge whispered as he tried to shut down the party pony.
Ahead on the trail was a small clearing, in which six tall aliens with weapons were spread out in a line. They were searching for something, or someone. All pretence of avoiding them was lost when one of them looked up at where the noise came and alerted his allies.
“Those look the aliens from the crashed shuttle, maybe they can help us!” Twilight said bounding ahead of the group towards the aliens.
“Twilight, No--” Luna whispered.
Twilight was already trotting towards them and didn’t hear the Princesses’ warning. “Hey, we found your friends, perhaps you could help us?” Twilight called out.
Then she saw the glow in their eyes.
Her question was answered with a hail of gunfire.
“Take cover behind the trees!” Silver Charge shouted, dragging Twilight out of the line of fire.
The group was far enough into the forest that the mass of trees provided some cover, but that was quickly fading as the aliens pushed closer.
Luna was the first to react, lifting the gun she had resting on her back and returning fire.
The reverberating -thunk-thunk-thunk- of Luna’s mounted gun was joined by the smaller pops from the pistols as Silver Charge and Applejack also started to shoot back. In that first volley two of the aliens fell and weren’t moving.
Luna turned the gun on the next reaper expecting a similar result. She pulled the heavy trigger with her magic but the gun responded with a loud -click- and a hiss of steam. Not wasting time she released the cannon from her magic and pulled out the small machine pistol she had in her saddlebags.
The remaining four were now more cautiously approaching, using the trees as cover.
Applejack lined up a shot and fired. The round should have hit the alien directly in the chest but instead it impacted a barrier that shimmered as the bullet made its mark.
Recognising the same signature from her spells Twilight shouted “They have shields, we need to work together!”
Twilight turned her rifle to face the alien that Applejack was just shooting at and pulled the trigger. A wild storm of angry red came out the end of her rifle, spraying the alien, the trees and just about anything else that happened to be in front of it.
Rainbow Dash ducked out from behind her tree and landed two shots to the alien’s chest. Without the shield to protect him, he dropped to the ground.
The remaining three aliens advanced without much resistance. Twilight and Silver Charge were making up the Equestrian front line. Twilight looked around her tree and saw a reaper right in front of her nose. She let out a small squeal, it responded with a kick, sending her sprawling to the ground.
After sliding a few meters she came to rest on her back, realising she still had the rifle in her telekinesis, she turned the rifle on her attacker and pulled the trigger.
-beep-beep-beep-beep-
Nothing. A small jet of steam emerged from the chamber as Twilight realised that she had forgotten to reload after her earlier assault.
The alien advanced, raising his weapon.
“Princess...help!” Twilight stammered.
-Krakooom-
Twilight opened her eyes and saw the alien fall to the ground. Looking over to where the shot came from she saw Rarity on top of a pile of rocks, with a smoking rifle and a concerned look on her face. Twilight scrambled back towards the princess, fumbling to reload her rifle.
Cornered by the remaining two aliens, Aurora had taken cover behind the biggest tree she could find.
Rainbow Dash sprinted straight at them and was joined shortly by Silver Charge. Rarity was yelling at the top of her voice for Aurora to get out of the way. Rainbow made a flying leap at one, using it to cushion her landing. The other alien turned to fire at Silver Charge who slammed into the back of the nearest tree narrowly avoiding the bullets.
Rainbow emptied her entire clip into the head of the alien as she stood astride it. The shield collapsed and the last two rounds turned its head into blue mush.
The last alien turned to face Rainbow Dash and raised its weapon. The pegasus instinctively flapped her wings to escape to the sky but gravity won this battle.
Rainbow dash looked around frantically for a way out. There wasn’t one.
A loud report echoed as Rarity’s shot dropped the aliens shield by otherwise left it unharmed.
Aurora was still behind the tree and had a clear shot at the attacker but she sat there with her wing covering her eyes and the pistol in her mouth.
“Aurora, help!” Rainbow Dash yelled, dropping her spent pistol and making a run for the nearest tree. Silver Charge was already out from behind his tree and charging the enemy.
The alien fired.
-Blam-
The first shot went between Rainbow’s hooves.
-Blam-
A white hot pain shot through Rainbow’s chest as she sprawled across the ground.
Silver Charge was almost there but he knew he wasn’t going to make it --.
-Blam-
The alien dropped its rifle as Silver Charge pummeled it to the ground. Dead.
Surprised, Silver Charge turned to Aurora. Facing him with the smoking gun still in her mouth and tears streaming down her cheeks, she dropped the pistol and ran at the sight of the blood.
After seeing Rainbow Dash fall, Fluttershy was already sprinting across to her friend.
“Don’t move, Rainbow Dash. You’re going to be ok,” she said choking back a sob.
“You’re a t-terrible -- liar, F-Fluttershy,” Rainbow dash replied between gasps.
“Princess, we need some help over here!” Twilight yelled, as she joined the gathering crowd around Rainbow Dash.
Luna turned, “Sergeant, get the prisoner over here now!”
Silver Charge left the group to retrieve the prisoner, who was now awake, and returned to the gathering around Rainbow Dash.
As soon as Luna saw the injury she turned to Applejack “Applejack, fetch me the crate that you were carrying earlier.”
Rainbow Dash’s breathing became more laboured as she began coughing up more blood. Fluttershy was doing all she could with the small medkit, but she knew it wasn’t going to be enough.
She turned to Rarity, “Its punctured both of her lungs. I don’t think she has much time..” as she buried her face in Rarity’s mane and sobbed quietly.
Silver Charge propped the prisoner up against a tree, a front row seat to the unfolding madness.
Luna loomed over the bound alien, “Tell me now, is there anything we can use?”
The alien merely responded with a gesture to a small capsule protruding from Luna’s saddlebag.
Luna fumbled with the canister, dropping it to the ground. The small capsule rolled and stopped against a tree root, a white cross facing upwards.
“You need to calibrate it.”
“What?” Luna remarked as she turned to face the voice.
“You need to calibrate it to your physiology before you can use it,” he continued.
“Why should we trust you?” Silver Charge retorted.
“Princess, Rainbow Dash needs our help. We don’t have much choice right now,” Twilight interjected.
“Show me how,” Luna commanded.
“Get an omni tool.”
Luna emptied the entire contents of the crate onto the ground in front of the prisoner.
“There, that band, put it on.”
Luna levitated the metal band over the lower part of her hoof. She got it a third of the way up her leg when it suddenly shrunk and and attached itself. She recoiled, expecting the device to do something nefarious, but instead an orange display lit up along the lower part of her leg.
“Now wave it over the canister and then an uninjured specimen,” the prisoner continued.
Luna made her way over to Fluttershy who was still sobbing quietly into Rarity’s mane. She waived her hoof over the hovering canister and then did a full pass over Fluttershy, starting at her tail. As soon as that was complete a new option appeared on the orange display emanating from her hoof.
“Press the calibrate button. Now attach the medi-gel and do the same thing to your injured soldier.”
Luna waived the canister over the orange display looking for where she was meant to attach it. As she did a round section lit up. She moved the canister over to it and to her surprise it was solid and it made a connection.
Rainbow’s breathing was shallow and sounded more like gurgling from a boiling pot than a pony trying to breathe. As she held her hoof over the entrance wound, the display lit up and the canister came to life. A stream of purple gel emanated from the tip of her hoof and into the wound.
For a moment nothing seemed to happen.
Rainbow Dash took a breath. On the exhale her lungs sounded slightly clearer. The pegasus had stopped convulsing and coughing blood.
Rarity took a step back from Fluttershy and lifted the pegasus out of her mane. “Look dear, Rainbow’s going to be ok.”
Fluttershy turned and saw Luna still hovering her hoof over Rainbow Dash with a strange display giving a readout of her friend’s vital statistics.
“How are you feeling?” Fluttershy asked as she lowered her head to the ground, covering her eyes with her mane.
-cough-
“Better. The pain is mostly gone, but it still feels worse than breaking a wing.”
“Why are you helping us?” Luna said as she turned to interrogate the prisoner.
“You are not my enemy,” The prisoner replied plainly.
“Then who are you?”
“I am called Jorund. In my cycle I was a support technician for my unit before I was captured by the Reapers.”
“Your cycle?” Twilight asked.
“The Reapers are very old, our scientists estimated that once every 50,000 of our years they emerge from The Rim and harvest all races beyond a certain level of technology and sentience. They will attack you for one of two reasons, either they harvest your species, or they are using your world for raw materials. Given the situation I suspect the latter is the case here.”
Several harsh words echoed through the forest. It was clear that Silver Charge was giving Aurora his version of a pep talk after her recent actions. Shortly after Silver Charge and a rather chagrined pegasus rejoined the waiting group.
“We need to keep moving” Luna said, changing the topic.
“But Princess, we’ve been walking all day. Surely we can find a small cabin nearby or something...” Rarity said voicing her complaint.
“Ah’ don’t see no cabins around these parts Rarity. Looks like we’ll just ‘ave to find somewhere else to set up camp.” Applejack said, as she recollected the contents of the crate from the ground.
Rainbow Dash was loaded up on Luna’s back like she was a basket of apples and then the group began moving again. Now in darkness, broken only by three small lights from the unicorns and the Princess, Twilight began to notice something. Silence. For the first time since they left Canterlot, no pony was talking, not even Pinkie Pie.
***************************************************************
After a few hours of stumbling around in the dark, Silver Charge found a small cave. Luna and Silver Charge took it upon themselves to take watch duty for what was left of the night while everypony got some rest.
Twilight felt some relief at not being asked to take a shift at watch, it made her feel more like herself and less of an impromptu soldier. All she could think about was the alien she shot, the noise the rifle made each time it released a charge and the smell that it made at the end of a clip. At least she had her friends.
Her friends.
For the first time since the Discord incident, Twilight felt that the group was starting to break apart, and it wasn’t the sort of problems a friendship report could fix. Pinkie Pie was taking personal responsibility for Rainbow Dash getting shot, Fluttershy was even more withdrawn after the near miss and Rarity somehow was maintaining a cold detachment to just about everything.
As tired as they were, sleep was elusive. A high pitched whine like a mosquito could be heard in the distance. Luna, who was standing watch, extinguished her light, leaving the cave in pitch black. As the whine grew louder, Twilight could hear her own heart beating as she tried to regulate her breathing.
The whine started to fade in the opposite direction and there was a collective sigh. Twilight was apparently not the only pony holding her breath.
A warm light filtered into Twilight’s eyes and for a moment she was back in her bed at Canterlot. A gentle hoof was prodding her shoulder.
“Twilight, we’re leaving now...you need to get up...” a soft voice said.
“Ughhh. Five more minutes Spike...” Twilight replied as she tried to roll further into her pillow.
Feathers. Blue feathers. Since when did she have a blue feathered pillow? Twilight bolted to her hooves so fast she startled Fluttershy.
“Princess, I’m so sorry.” Twilight stammered. Her brain was still only half awake.
“It’s quite alright Twilight.” Luna stated as she got up and gathered her things.
The purple unicorn’s brain slowly started coming back to life as she remembered the Princess coming over to her during the night, but she couldn’t remember why.
Her train of thought was derailed as she felt a weight drop on to her flank. She looked around to see Applejack standing behind her and her saddlebags had found their way onto her back. Twilight was many things, but a morning pony was not one of them.
“Come on Sugarcube”
***************************************************************
The morning air was cold and dry as they walked through the trees. Glimpses of the rising sun could be seen filtering through the leaves. Despite all that was happening, Equestria was still beautiful.
Rainbow Dash had slowed them down a bit after insisting she could walk by herself but her slow speed and constant breaks had worn thin on Silver Charge, who finally won the argument and Rainbow Dash was forced to let Luna carry her the rest of the way to the village.
The path started following along side a dried up creek bed, with a fairly steep embankment. Twilight idly wondered just how much water could flow through it during a flood. It didn’t take much longer for her bored mind to start making rough estimations and she came to an approximate figure not long after.
Twilight looked back up and could start to make out the shapes of the village in the distance. She half expected to be able to see the usual bustle of a small town but it seemed quiet. “Perhaps it’s some kind of pony holiday?” she said quietly to Fluttershy.
Her heart sank as she saw three bipeds walking around the skirts of the treeline. No pony moved. Fluttershy’s mane had covered her eyes forming a pink shield. After they passed by without incident, Silver Charge motioned for the rest of the group to follow him behind a large tree.
“Somepony needs to get close and have a look,” Silver Charge said.
“Couldn’t we just, um.... go around them? I don’t think they know we’re here...” Fluttershy added quietly.
“They wouldn’t be here if there wasn’t something worth guarding,” Jorund stated.
“Oh...” said the yellow pegasus, now thoroughly depressed.
“Aurora, you’re the closest we have to anypony with reconnaissance training,” Silver Charge said.
“I’m a messenger, not a soldier!” She hissed.
“It’s either that, or I’ll give you back your pistol--”
“Fine. I’ll do what I can,” Aurora replied with a snort.
Luna used the break to give the omni tool to Fluttershy along with a quick explanation of what she did to help Rainbow Dash earlier, and the remaining canister of medication.
As time dragged on Twilight became more worried about Aurora. She hadn’t heard anything, which was good, but she didn’t expect her to be gone this long. Not long later Aurora reemerged from the creek bed, her mane covered in leaves and twigs.
“There were six guarding the town hall, two in front of the small hut next to it and those three that are walking around the edge of the town. They nearly caught me you know...”
Her complaint was ended with a raised hoof from Luna. “You did well Aurora.”
Twilight noticed that this didn’t seem to mollify her. She suspected that a single day ago, praise from a royal figure was all that Aurora desired and she would have been overjoyed at it, now it didn’t seem to matter to her anymore.
Meanwhile, Silver Charge had been drawing out a rough map of the town along with Aurora’s observations in the dirt with his hoof.
With a concerned look on his face he turned to Luna and said, “Can I speak to you privately for a moment Princess?”
“I don’t like this at all. Your friends, capable as they are, they are not soldiers.”
“I am aware of this Sergeant.”
“I mean no disrespect Princess. But until now we’ve been fighting in self defence, now you’re expecting me to organise 7 untrained ponies in an unprovoked assault?”
“It’s not unprovoked, they invaded our land. If you paid attention to your information you’d realise that the six aliens guarding the town hall probably have all the towns-ponies locked inside. I can not leave my subjects in the hands of those aliens!”
Silver Charge opened his mouth to object but he couldn’t find any words. She was right. They had to do something.
Jorund walked over from the main group and interrupted, “There is a way that this group can take the town.”
Luna glared at him for eavesdropping, giving Jorund her best ‘we are not amused’ look. Either he ignored it or didn’t understand the nuances of equine facial expressions.
“I’m not sure that I am ready to trust you with a weapon yet, but I will hear your plan,” Luna said.
***************************************************************
Aurora crouched behind a bush at the edge of the clearing. The creek bed was just behind her but the patrol was already too close for her to make an escape. The Turian-Reapers, as Jorund had explained to them, didn’t seem to notice her as they passed by and continued on their endless circuit. Relieved, she shifted her weight slightly and a small twig cracked under hoof.
The reapers immediately turned and began to approach the origin of the noise. She ran. Diving for the creek bed she galloped as fast as her legs would carry her, even deploying her wings at times to glide over the uneven surface. As she got closer to where the group had first stopped, the walls of the creek bed were getting steeper. It would be impossible for her to climb out quickly, she was trapped.
Aurora rounded a few bends, the aliens not far behind. With the last bend behind her there was only a straight section of the creek with fairly high walls. As soon as the Reapers rounded the corner they began firing roughly in her direction. Ahead of her the walls of the embankments started to ease.
The bullets started to whizz past her like angry wasps, she turned and ran towards the lessening embankment. As the turned she clipped her hoof on a stone which sent her tumbling to the ground.
Fire erupted as the edges of the embankments lit up an angry red. The three aliens crumbled under the withering fire.
“What took you so long? They almost got me!” Aurora shouted angrily.
Behind the trees, along both sides of the embankment, the group stepped out of their cover.
“Sorry Sugarcube, but we ‘ad to wait until they were right close,” Applejack replied with a hint of guilt.
Fluttershy came galloping down the path and slid to a stop in front of Luna and Silver Charge. She breathlessly tried to deliver a message that nopony could understand.
“Take a breath first Fluttershy--” Twilight suggested.
“They..There’s more. *gasp* The first group is coming right here and the other *gasp* one went off into the forest.”
“What? How many?” Silver Charge said as he reloaded his pistol.
“Six,” Fluttershy yelped.
“What do you recommend Sergeant?” Luna inquired.
Rounds started to filter through the trees. The sound wasn’t unlike a log slowly cracking on a campfire, except louder.
“Run!” Fluttershy squeaked as she galloped off into the creek bed away from the town.
No pony argued with Fluttershy’s tactical assessment this time. It was at least a hundred meters before Applejack managed to catch the winded yellow pegasus and bring her to a halt.
“Ah reckon we oughta lay low a mite.”
Silver Charge stuck his head over the top of the embankment. What he saw wasn’t encouraging.
“Eight. Eight more, not six!” he whispered.
“They are still separated?” Jorund enquired.
“For now, yes.”
Bullets still flew around the last place that the reaper forces had seen the ponies.
“This is our opportunity. We should strike now, while they do not know our location, and before they can regroup.”
“Are you crazy?” Twilight uttered.
Jorund was done with this discussion. He snatched Twilight’s assault rifle out of the air and charged the group that was attempting to flank their original position.
“Oh my, he just ran in...” Fluttershy added, stating the obvious.
Silver Charge hesitated for a second before following. Once he moved, everypony except Fluttershy and Aurora followed suit.
Jorund moved quickly through the trees. Approaching slightly from behind gave him an element of surprise, but that wouldn’t last. Raising the rifle he fired a burst in to the closest reaper, dropping the barrier and the reaper in less than a second. The Turian reapers stopped to return the favour, but Jorund had already emptied the last of the clip into a second Turian, killing him.
Ducking behind his tree he reloaded the rifle with one of the spare clips Twilight had affixed to the weapon. The spent clip shimmered an angry red.
-Krakooom-
Rarity had turned her attention on the first group coming from the town and was, at the very least, slowing them down.
Jorund threw the spent clip just behind the tree that two reapers were using for cover. He fired a single shot at the clip.
-BOOM-
The spent clip went off like a grenade.
Seizing his chance Journd ran around the far side of the tree and raised his rifle. The first reaper went down without challenge. The second raised his rifle and they both fired.
-Blam-
-Fsshck-
Jorund’s first round hit the Reaper on the side. He in turn felt a burning in his leg.
-Blam-
-Fsshck-
The second round hit the reaper square in the chest, without shields it was a fatal hit. Jorund felt a sharp pain in his left shoulder that knocked him to the ground. The remaining two reapers would take advantage of that.
Applejack, Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie were all engaging the remaining reaper from the second squad. Twilight followed behind them, feeling useless, but not wanting to abandon them just because she was unarmed.
A withering barrage of fire poured upon Jorund, but surprisingly he remained unharmed.
Luna stood behind Jorund, projecting a translucent blue shield in front of them both.
“Fluttershy, your assistance is required here!” Luna commanded.
Fluttershy did not need to be told. She was already halfway there by the time Luna had called for her, closely followed by Aurora.
Silver Charge came to Luna’s aid. Using her shield as cover he fired his pistol around it, knocking the legs out from one.
-Blam- -Blam-
The second went down for the count.
Fluttershy saw something move out of the corner of her eye. The last reaper from that squad had moved around behind Luna and stepped out from behind a tree ready to fire. She did the only thing she could, she ran.
The first shot went into the dirt as the Turian turned his gun on the new aggressor. Fluttershy launched herself into the air, pumping her wings furiously. In mid air the omni tool came to life.
-Shiiiick-
It was too late. Fluttershy’s attempt to save Luna was fatal. The holographic blade from the omni tool pierced the reaper in the upper chest, ignoring his barrier and killing him instantly. She let out a soft squeal as she recoiled, trying to get away from the alien blood that now covered her face and hooves.
“COWARDS!” Luna yelled with the force of the Royal Canterlot Voice, her anger made evident by a white hot glow in her eyes. Dispelling the barrier and reforming it around her like a personal shield she charged straight at the squad approaching from the town.
Rounds bounced off her shield deflecting into the nearby trees and dirt. She wasn’t safe to be around, regardless of how friendly you were.
Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Pinkie Pie and Twilight were all swept up in the sudden rush forward, as they hurried to move from tree to tree to keep up with the Princess. On the edge of the battle they resumed their fight with the new adversaries, who were now much more conservative in their battle technique.
Luna on the other hoof was a whirlwind of reckless abandon. One tried to fire a burst at her, but instead of letting it bounce off her new shield she grabbed the weapon with her magic and redirected it at one of his allies. Another tried to sneak up behind Luna with a blade and got bucked hard into a tree for his efforts. None of those reapers were getting back up.
The four friends behind a nearby tree were in a stalemate with two reapers behind the opposite tree. That was until one of the reapers slipped by and managed to come around Rainbow Dash’s side of the tree.
Applejack saw the movement out of the corner of her eye, but the cyan pegasus was distracted and oblivious to the danger. She dived on her friend and knocked her to the ground, the bullet that was intended for Rainbow’s head lodged itself firmly in her flank. Twilight turned and charged her magic with the intention of flinging the Turian hard against the next tree, all she managed to do was to knock him to the ground.
It was enough. Pinkie sprung into the air and landed on its head.
-bounce- -bounce- -bounce- -bounce-
Each bounce was punctuated by Pinkie’s words, “Stop.....hurting......my......... friends!” With the last bounce there was nothing left that was recognisable of the Turians face, it was now a blue paste.
Luna’s fight had descended into a scrappy mess. The last three aliens had abandoned projectile weapons and opted for bladed weapons. Rarity’s sniper rifle was also silenced, as the only remaining foes were right in close with Luna.
Silver Charge galloped past Twilight’s group and made for the nearest Turian. Pinkie Pie and Twilight followed as best they could. Luna’s shield was starting to fade. The toll was evident in her eyes and the numerous cuts on her body, where the shield had failed to fully deflect a knife.
Two were dispatched by a rampaging Silver Charge and Pinkie Pie while the final reaper made a last stand against Luna. He charged the night princess recklessly, knife out in front. Luna countered the only way she could, she lowered her horn and pierced the alien in the chest before he could react. Luna’s face looked more like a macabre horror show as the reaper fell to the ground.
The woods fell silent. A quiet sobbing could be heard echoing around, but it was hard to tell where it was coming from. Jorund was still where he fell, trying to crudely apply his own first aid from the abandoned kit. Aurora was holding a bandage on Applejack’s flank to keep the bleeding down. She called out for Fluttershy but the only response was the continued sobbing of the distressed pegasus.
Rainbow Dash gingerly went off in search of Fluttershy, only moving as fast as the patched hole in her chest would allow. She found her sitting next to a ditch, with the omni tool discarded, trying to wash off the blood stains with the muddy water from a puddle.
“We’ve been looking for you. Applejack needs your help.”
“No pony needs my help...*sob*..I didn't mean to...” she said, trying desperately to remove the blood.
Rainbow Dash was torn between forcing Fluttershy to help Applejack or trying to console the distraught pegasus. She picked up the offending tech and put it in her saddle bag.
Putting a wing around Fluttershy she said quietly, “We can talk about this later, but right now we need your help.”
Without further resistance Fluttershy allowed herself to be led over the tree where everyone but Luna had gathered. Jorund had propped himself against the tree with a thick gauze bandage on his shoulder. Applejack was on the ground with Aurora holding a bandage on her right flank just above her cutie mark.
Seeing that her friends were ok and being cared for, Twilight’s concern drifted back to Luna. She last saw her leaving the battle covered in blood but she wasn’t sure whose blood it was.
***************************************************************
Twilight found Luna pacing round the creek bed.
“Leave us alone Twilight Sparkle. We do not require thy presence!” Luna shouted, her eyes still glowing.
“But Princess..”
Luna ignored Twilight’s plea and walked away.
Not wanting to disobey a royal command Twilight made her way back to the last place she saw the group, when she nearly collided with Rarity as she rounded a tree.
“Darling, where have you been? Have you seen the Princess? You had us all worried”
“Down at the creek bed and yes,” Twilight replied efficiently.
Rarity gave her a knowing look, “What happened?”
“Nothing happened, she just said she wanted to be left alone,” Twilight replied sourly.
“Sometimes when a pony says she wants to be left alone, she means it, but other times it can be a cry for help from somepony too proud to ask.”
Twilight read quite a few psychology textbooks when she first got to Ponyville, with the hope that they would teach her some of the social nuances that she lacked. Unfortunately they went into much detail about the pony psyche and lacked the practical usefulness that Twilight was looking for. Even when they did provide an answer it usually came well after the use-by date.
“I don’t know Rarity. She looked fairly sure of herself.”
“Hold still for a moment darling, you have so much mud on your face it’s like you’re wearing a mask.” Rarity said, as she tried to clean Twilight’s face.
“A mask! Rarity you’re a genius,” Twilight exclaimed as she bolted back in the direction of the creek.
“Why, thank you...I think...” Rarity yelled back.
***************************************************************
Twilight cantered up to the top of the creek embankment. The night princess was still pacing around below between the puddles of water and the small stream that was the creek at this time of year.
“Princess, I think I understand...” Twilight said as she took a step on to the downgrade. Her hoof slipped and snagged on a tree root, sending her crashing to the bottom.
Luna looked over and saw the purple unicorn lying face down in a puddle of murky water. When Twilight looked up the caked mud mixed with some of the blue blood that was still in her mane. With the pathetic scene in front of her last of Luna’s rage ebbed, replaced with concern and guilt.
“Twilight, are you alright?”
“Ugh, I think so,” Twilight replied as she gingerly returned to her hooves.
“Come with me.”
Luna led Twilight over to the small flowing creek and with her magic, dampened a piece of cloth and began to remove the dirt and blood from her mane.
“Princess, I don’t think you really wanted to be alone,” Twilight began, trying to tread a fine line between helping and what she saw as being a rebellious subject.
Luna busied herself with the cloth and didn’t answer. Her face was saying ‘I thought that was obvious’ or ‘You’re perilously close to being exiled’, Twilight wasn’t sure which.
When Twilight was mostly cleaned up Luna turned the cloth back on herself trying, haphazardly, to remove the muck. Twilight took over the cloth with her own magic, which she found surprisingly easy despite Luna’s recent display of power. The princess simply sat down and waited patiently.
While Twilight was never as good at grooming as Rarity, she was able to slowly bring Luna’s appearance back to an acceptable standard, if one ignored the numerous shallow cuts from the recent battle. When she’d worked her way around to the alicorn’s face she noticed it was already damp.
“Princess, are you, crying?”
“I’ll be -- fine Twilight,” Luna replied, her voice wavering.
“You don’t look fine to me!” Twilight quipped before immediately putting her hoof over her mouth before she could say else.
Whether it was exhaustion from the battle, fatigue, or Twilight sudden outburst; something inside Luna snapped. Like a dam cracking under pressure, a flood of emotions were released as she began to sob uncontrollably into her hooves.
Twilight recoiled, not exactly sure how to handle this sudden change. Normally she would make some excuse about needing to catch up on study and then make a hasty departure, now she had nowhere to run, and was all out of excuses.
“Uh...It’ll be ok Princess.”
“I’m...-sob-...not your princess, Twilight,” Luna replied softly.
“That’s silly, you’re the Princess of the Night, co-rule-”
“No Twilight. You saw the real pony today out in those trees. -sob- I’m not a princess, I’m a monster, and I don’t even know if I’m in control anymore.”
“It’s ok Princess, everyone loses control at times-”
“You don’t understand. I didn’t become Nightmare Moon because I was consumed with rage. My anger opened a door. Nightmare Moon was the result the aliens trying to control me.”
“But you weren’t under their control, were you?”
“I don’t know. I could hear the voice inside my head screaming for control but I pushed it away. Instead that voice filled me with an unending anger and amplified my magic. They turned me into Nightmare Moon a thousand years ago, and I nearly let it happen again today.”
“The voices are getting louder and harder to push away now, I don’t know who I am anymore.”
Twilight was stunned. Suddenly it all made sense, Jorund, Nightmare Moon, Luna’s earlier battle with the Reaper forces. The glow in their eyes wasn’t ocular magical saturation, it was the alien’s control mechanism.
