Shadowbolt: Originby Recovery15ChaptersA Strange OccuranceNightmare's Army Voices from the StarsInsanityRebellionFight or FlightOn the RunA Strange OccuranceChapter One: A Strange Occurance It was mid-morning when Princess Starfire awoke. Her purple mane was disheveled, and her grey coat was mostly covered in her "Shadowbolt Commander" uniform. It had been a busy night of schoolwork and play in her room, high in the tower of the royal palace in Batlantis. Hopefully her parents hadn't noticed her being awake last night. She had been up almost all night playing with her telescope, and her parents hated when she did that. Starfire sat in bed, thinking about breakfast and how tired she was when she heard a knock on her door. "Come in," she yelled, wondering who it was. Almost immediately, the door opened and a small yellow mare walked into the room. Starfire didn't recognize this servant, but soon came to the conclusion that she was a slave from a part of the castle she didn't frequent. The mare, meanwhile, hid behind her pink mane in an attempt to avoid the gaze of the Princess. Starfire continued to examine the slave, noticing the lack of wings and any brands whatsoever. Curiously, her cutie mark was of three pink flowers arraigned in a triangle. Starfire wondered what that meant. They sat like this for some time, simply waiting for something to happen. Finally, Starfire decided to talk first. "Who are you,"she asked,"and where is Twilight? You're definitely not her. Are you new to the palace?" The poor mare could barely respond. "I...uh...well...um." Starfire became impatient. "My word, what is your name?" The mare finally responded,"My...my name is Poesy, Ms. Starfire." "Thank you, Poesy," Starfire said, glad to get a name. It seemed familiar for some reason. "Now, where is Twilight Whisperer? She was supposed to wake me almost an hour ago." The mare seemed to be shocked by that question. Quietly she responded,"Ummm, well, she is back at the sleeping rooms. I think she's ill. She looked so awful, and she had the worst cough. So she asked me to take you to your parents". Oh, no! Her parents might had noticed she'd stayed up. "Poesy, would you please help me get ready? I would much appreciate it." The yellow mare nodded the affirmative. Starfire got up and went over to the chest near her bed, grabbed a brush, and handed it to Poesy. While Poesy brushed her dark purple mane, Starfire decided to ask her some questions. "What is your normal job here?" she asked. Poesy suppressed a sigh. "Well, as my cutie mark shows, I love nature. I'm an excellent at gardening and animal care. I usually work in the garden, but I've already taken care of it. That's why I'm able to help out today." Ah. That was where she had heard of this mare. Her mother loved gardening, and had mentioned a "Poesy" during her many rants about her gardens. She had also heard Twilight mention her when they were studying plants last year. "Is Twilight a good friend of yours?" Poesy giggled. "Well yes. She and I have known each other since...." While the mare didn't finish the sentence, Starfire knew how it ended. "Since the slave market," she asked. Poesy made a small sobbing noise and stopped talking. Soon, she had finished brushing Starfire and put the brush down. Starfire thanked her and walked out the door, heading for the throne room. ____________________________________________________________________________________________ Walking into the throne room, Starfire immediately noticed that her father was yelling at a soldier who was standing in front of the throne. Her fathers voice was loud and commanding. "Define broken, Captain Sonar," King Camazotz shouted. The soldier was visibly shaking, afraid that the enraged monarch would kill him. "Well, sir, one of my soldiers dropped the vase, and it broke, sir." The king sighed. "You are decreased two steps in rank, return to your post." The soldier, realizing he would live, was barely able to suppress his excitement. He threw a fast salute, knowing that doing this again would lead in horrendous torture or death. Camazotz ruled with an iron fist, but the slave trade had flourished under his rule. Starfire watched as a blueish Equestrian with a purple and pink mane rushed forward to clean the mess caused by the broken vase. Her father seemed surprised to see her. "Well, well, looks like my little Shadowbolt is finally awake. I would have thought that you would be sleeping off your long night of fun." Crap, he'd noticed her up last night. Oh well. "Is Twilight okay? I heard she was sick," said the king, not a single drop of concern in his voice. He blamed the Equestrians for the banishment and destruction of Nightmare Moon, considered a goddess by the bat ponies. The only thing he cared about was that he now had damaged property, and that she needed to be fixed. "I was just about to ask you about that, Dad," Starfire said. "Would you please send a healer to her? She promised to teach me to fly. Er, to take me to her friend Firefly, who will teach me to fly." "I have given Sparkler orders to....." "Who?" asked Starfire. "The blue slave who just left. Anyway, I asked her to take Twilight a healing potion to help fix that cough of hers. Your teacher should be right as rain. Go find her and tell her to take you for lunch," said her father. Starfire was more than happy to comply. ______________________That night____________________________________________ "That was a fun time wasn't it, Starfire," Twilight Whisperer asked while she got Starfire ready for bed. The pink mare was exhausted after the long day with the child, and her white mane was slightly disheveled from chasing both the young bat pony and Firefly, Twilight's younger sister. "Fun? It wasn't fun, it was awesome! The way Firefly doges and weaves like no ponies business...." Twilight sighed. " Yes, I know. I was there, remember? Now it's time for bed. No arguing, okay?" Starfire crawled into bed, her Shadowbolt costume covering her thin body and keeping her warm. Twilight wished her a good night and left. Starfire quietly got up and crawled over to her window. The stars looke equally gorgeous tonight. Suddenly, though, she saw a white flash, similar to the one given off by a falling star. Spreading her wings, Starfire flew out of her room to investigate. Author's Note WOW!!!!! It felt good to get that out. Please, if you see any grammatical errors, please let me know. Also, to clear some stuff up that might be confusing, I am using 5 of the original six characters, so Twilight and Twilight Sparkle aren't the same character. Hope you enjoyed and please leave feedback!! Nightmare's Army Nightmare's Army Chapter Two: Nightmare's Army About five thousand before Princess Luna became Nightmare Moon, a large population of pegasi rebelled against Princess Nebula, the ruler of Equestria at the time. Among them was Captain Shadow and his stunt team, the original Wonderbolts. They recruited more and more followers, eventually becoming a large force ten thousand strong. These rebels began attacking villages in the dark of night, burning them to the ground. Any and all attempts at negotiations were met with blades, and the rebels continued burning villages and towns. Their leader was actually Nebula's adviser, who made a failed attempt on her life and fled when it failed. In her fury, she turned them into pony-bat hybrids and ordered her armies to slaughter any they found. Over six thousand were killed, and the rest fled to the wastelands. Princess Nebula, thinking that they were all dead, simply sat on her throne and did nothing. About five hundred years later , Nebula abdicated the throne to her children, Princesses Celestia and Luna. Soon afterward, she moved from Equestria to the beautiful city Constallioninople in Saddle Arabia, a booming town on the Marediteranean sea. She had spent the last couple of years of her rule attempting to root out any remaining bat ponies from the Wastelands. When she left, Luna ceased all hunts into the Wastelands, deeming them too dangerous for search parties. However, this didn't stop her from taking interest in the old stories. One day, after a heated argument with Celestia over extending the night, Luna went hunting for them, slowly coming under the influence of dark magic. For two thousand years the bat ponies hid, biding their time and preparing for revenge. During this time, they had destroyed several major Changeling hives and one or two Griffon settlements, earning the eternal anger of both species. Still, they waited for revenge to come. Finally, it came in the form of a black alicorn who showed up at their door. Introducing herself as Nightmare Moon, she proposed a plan to overthrow the rule of Princess Celestia using the army that the bats had raised. However, due to their mistrust of the Equestrians, they initially refused. To convince them, Nightmare Moon performed her royal duty of raising the moon. Now convinced, the bat ponies devoted themselves entirely to her cause and prepared for war. Two weeks later, Nightmare Moon, masquerading as Princess Luna, revealed herself and initiated the attacks on Equestria. Celestia, who had read bits and pieces about the previous war with the bats, contacted Nebula, who pulled some strings and sent Saddle Arabian soldiers to help the cause. But Nightmare Moon had given the bats a critical tool: special armor, emblazoned with a dark blue eye, that gave the wearer with limited battle magic abilities. The body count continued to rise, the civilian towns cowering in fear of the very real possibility of eternal night. After months of brutal and total war, Nightmare Moon was overpowered by her sister. Before she had attacked, though, she laid a spell on the bat pony lands that hid the bats from Celestia's searching gaze. After her defeat, the bat armies retreated to their lands with very important items: slave that they had captured from towns that had been obliterated. The story soon fell into legend, and the bat ponies declared Nightmare Moon a goddess. Utilizing the spell Nightmare had placed on them, they began enslaving nearby pony civilizations. However, the ruling family of their culture was descended from the first rebel leader who had attacked Nebular. His descendants were vicious but well liked rulers, despite their major jerk factor. King Camazotz was no exception, but his brutality was known throughout the kingdom. He once executed a guard for spilling his morning coffee all over his wife's new rug. Under him, the bat ponies flourished and became a great nation, albeit an unknown one. They continued to attack Changelings as well as many pony towns, but Changelings proved to be unreliable as slaves. Eventually, the Changelings found a period of peace they hadn't seen for years. The Griffons, unable to find the lands of the bat ponies, simply continued to live and prosper in peace. In Equestria, the bat ponies were regarded as little more than myth. Starswirl the Bearded took increased interest in them, searching the archives for info on where they might be. Combined with his Amniomorphic spell research, his court duties, stress, a failing marriage, divorce, custody battles, and this weird little blue plant that talked to him eventually drove him insane. Not just insane, but psychopathic to the point of attempting to threaten Celestia for what she knew while using a butter knife and toast. He was arrested and placed in a mental ward for several years, where he wrote three books, a journal, and several research papers. Upon his release, he resumed his duties as court mage and fell in love with a young mare named Starburst, and together they opened Starswirl Coffee and Donuts in Canterlot. Eventually, it branched out across Equestria until Starswirl's death, when it re-branded itself as Star Bucks coffee. Before her death, Starburst created candy she named after herself. Due to a strange spacial rift, the candy vanished and caused Starburst to die of a heart attack By the time Nightmare Moon returned to Equestria, her anger and need for revenge made her forget all about her waiting army, which allowed her to be defeated by six acquaintances wearing sparkly jewelry. Upon reverting to Luna, she continued to not remember the creatures who worshiped her. King Camazotz heard about it from his court servant, Sparkler, who had been in town that night. His initial reaction was of rage, but he realized that the Elements were probably manipulating the goddess and began hatching a plan to use magic given to his family to resurrect his true queen. Author's Note Ok, this chapter has been edited with a suggestion given to me by Shadow_Blaze. I decided to move the character descriptions to the next chapter. Thank you to all of you who at least try to enjoy this, and the next chapter will begin to be written tonight. Voices from the StarsChapter Three: Voices from the Stars Twilight walked out of Starfire's room knowing full well that the filly would probably be out of bed with in moments of her leaving. However, she had more important things to do. While the cough medicine was useful, she preferred Poesy's potions over the terrible doctor's cough powder. Turning the corner, she walked out the palace to the slave quarters. Upon her arrival, she could tell something was off. Normally, she would be hit by the white furred mass of Surprise, but the hyperactive Pegasus was nowhere to be seen. Her friends were already in their small rooms, when normally they were in the small entry room talking about the crap they went through that day. Walking to the room she shared with her sister, she heard crying. She opened the door to find Firefly comforting a distraught Ruby. The red earth pony was sobbing something completely incoherent. Twilight walked over to Firefly and asked, "Why is Ruby so sad? She's never like this." "I don't know," responded the pink Pegasus."She came in about ten minutes ago saying something about Surprise. Then she ended up like this," Twilight conjured up a small rag and gave it to Ruby, who took it and wiped her eyes on it. "OK," said Twilight. "Start from the beginning, Ruby. What happened to Surprise?" . "It was awful, Twilight!" Ruby shouted. "She and I were in the kitchen doing our end of the day cleanup, when this guard walked in and began accusing her of attacking another guard. Surprise denied it, but the guard tried to arrest her. She ended up hitting him, and he called several others and they dragged her away! It sounded like they were taking her to the Cave!" They all shuddered at the name. The Cave was a reformatory deep underneath Batlantis. The slaves had a different name for it: Hell Mountain. The name referenced the original, which was a separate mountain just outside Batlantis. It had been moved about a year ago, when Ruby's big brother, Tex, led a supposedly unsuccessful escape. Most of the slaves involved were caught, but several, including Tex, went missing. Most sane ponies left as raving psychopaths, but Surprise was already crazy. How would she react? ___________________________________________________Meanwhile_______________ Starfire had finally made it to the source of the flash. It was a small crater in her mothers garden. Inside was what appeared to be a necklace with a silver pendant on it that glowed aquamarine. It seemed to be undamaged, but either way, it was very creepy. Her curious mind finally convinced her that fear was just dumb and she finally worked up the courage to touch it. As soon as she did, though, she regretted it. The necklace pulsed and fastened itself around her neck. A green glow poured over her body as the thing seemed to scan her. It took all of Starfire's willpower not to scream. Finally, it ended, leaving Starfire encased in a strange feeling covering. Opening her eyes, she gasped at what she saw. Her uniform had become a beautiful mesh of light metal and fiber. It was still the exact same shades of purple and black, but it gave her a feeling of power. Upon shifting her wings, she discovered something else: two blade-like bands extended over her wings, similar to those worn by guards. Her fore hooves were wrapped in gauntlets with two slits in each. When she focused on them, two wicked sharp blades slipped out. Looking at her wings, she saw the wing blades enshrouded by blue energy. Amazed, she saw the necklace was still on her neck, but it was as if it was part of the armor. Speaking aloud, she asked herself,"What is this?" 'Project Recovery armor unit number 54796475, designated out of service and placed in hands of Recovery agent 15,' came a smooth female voice. Starfire jolted, and looked around for the source. Seeing nopony, she called out, "H-Hello? Who's out there?" 'No need to panic,' came the voice. 'I am AI unit 3649... I mean, I'm Trinity. I mean you no harm. I must say, you have an exceptionally large brain for an equine.' Now Starfire was panicking. The voice was coming fromINSIDE her mind. She spoke up again. "Where are you, Ms. Trinity?" The voice responded with a chuckle. 'Oh, I'm so sorry for startling you. I'm a part of the armor. If you would like, I can appear as a hologram. You know what that is, right?' When Starfire nodded, the pendant flashed, projecting a bright blue unicorn mare directly in front of Starfire. Oddly, it looked like Twilight. When it spoke, the voice matched the mare's lips. 'Now, listen. I don't expect you to believe me, but you may be in danger. I need you to do everything I tell you, ok? Good. now, do you have any questions?' Starfire thought for a minute, then asked, "How do I take this off? I mean, its cool and all, but i'm just curious." 'Easy,' responded Trinity. 'Just tap the pendant. But be aware, I will still be in your head.' Starfire tapped the pendant and sure enough, the armor simply vanished like it had appeared, albeit with out the pain. Turning, she flew off in the direction of her room. Upon arrival, she closed the balcony window and crawled into bed. Almost immediately, she fell asleep. ________________________________________________________________________________ Trinity wasted no time after her host fell asleep. She began digging through memories to learn about the world she was now on. Then, using the pendant's broadcaster and the castle as a satellite, she broadcasted a short message. 'This is AI unit Trinity to AI unit Prometheus. I have landed on a strange world and need assistance. I'm afraid 'Latowee will be here soon. Please, the host I integrated to is a small child. I don't want to put her through the hell you and Captain St... I mean Recovery 15 went through.' Satisfied with her message, Trinity sent it, hoping that the wrong ears wouldn't hear it. Her hopes would soon prove in vain. Author's Note First, I want to give HUGE SHOUTOUT to Shadow_Blaze, my pre reader, for prereading this story. You have no clue how much this means to me. Also, to all readers who disliked, please start giving reasons for disliking. Unless you are a troll. I'm open to criticism but disliking for the sake of it is just wrong. InsanityChapter Four: Insanity Starfire woke up the next morning, exhausted. Her rest had been interrupted by weird dreams about, well, something she couldn't understand. All she could remember was someone speaking what sounded like clipped Equestrian, and dozens of of others around her responding with the ancient language. However, her understanding of the language was minimal. Her ancient studies had only just begun. On cue, Twilight walked in and initiated the daily rituals of grooming. Starfire noticed that her tutor and servant seemed slightly off. When she asked, Twilight brushed it off with a shake of her head. Starfire decided to stop pressing the matter and just continued thinking about the events of last night. She contemplated telling Twilight, but decided not to worry her any further. Twilight finished up and left. Starfire made sure she was gone and grabbed the necklace. Looking at it, she slipped it around her neck and walked out the door. ___________________________________________________ Earlier that morning, Surprise was returned to the slave quarters. Ruby immediately ran over and gave Surprise a large hug. "Oh, Surprise!! We were so worried that something terrible was going to happen to you!" Sparkler gave her a quick nod and ran out the door, not wanting to be late for her duties in the throne room. Surprise smiled sheepishly, and returned the hug. Ruby broke down, sobbing hysterically. Twilight noticed, though, that something seemed off about Surprise. Her mane was smooth and straight, not bouncy like it normally was. Her coat was a grayish color, similar to how she looked after cleaning the old guard barracks. And deep in her eyes, Twilight saw a sight that scared her more than anything had ever scared her before: The look of a killer who was fighting the urge to strike down everything that moved. _______________________________________________________________ Starfire sat in the throne room, doing nothing. Today was Sunday, the day the royal court was open to the public. Sparkler was ushering in bat ponies who had requested audiences throughout the week. Starfire hated these days with a burning passion. She wanted to be outside playing, not cooped up in the stuffy throne room. Her thoughts began to wander back to the necklace and, more specifically, Trinity. 'You are aware I can hear your thoughts, right?' asked the other mind, confirming she was there. 'Again, I will answer anything you need me to.That, or I can give you something to ask questions about.' Before she could say anything, the world blacked out. ***************************************************************************************** When she came to, the first thing she noticed was the body. She was no longer female or, for that matter, any kind of creature she knew. It stood tall on two legs,wearing a heavier variant of the armor Trinity had been in. It was grey and blue, with a large domed helmet. Instead of hooves, it had five appendages, similar to a griffin's forelegs. The room her host was in was a large steel colored cavern. The only decoration was a large table with pieces of equipment strewn all over it. None of it was familiar to Starfire. Several other creatures, similarly dressed, stood around her host, grabbing the weird equipment and putting it in pouches on their armor. The armor of the others, while similar in make to that of her host's, differed in color. A smaller creature stood in front, yelling at them. "Alright, men, this is the most important mission you've faced yet. You are going planet side to recovery several artifacts from a museum before the squid-heads do. The area has been evacuated, so if it breathes, kill it. Are we understood?!" The soldiers responded with a loud "Hell yes sir!" and saluted. The man at the front returned the salute, and Starfire's host watched another armored being, a female, walk forward. "Alright, gentlemen, you heard the old man. Lets move out. Remember, whether we win or we lose...." The creatures spoke as one. "MEMENTO MORI!!!!" Then the world once again blacked out. ********************************************************************** The first thing Starfire registered when she came to was the worried look of everypony in the throne room. Her mother had wrapped a veined wing around her daughter, and was looking at her with the most compassion. Embarrassed, Starfire turned and ran out of the room. When she was safely out of earshot of the others, Trinity appeared. 'I'm sorry, I didn't realize you would do that.' Confused, Starfire asked,"What did I do?" Trinity said nothing for a minute. 'Well, you began twitching a bit. Your mother kept telling you to stop, but you didn't. Everyone noticed, but it got worse. Then you began yelling.' "What was I yelling?" Starfire asked. 'Memento Mori.' _____________________________________________________ The outer area of the Bat pony empire was a chaotic place. Two young changelings, one blue and the other a bright shade of red, were walking through on a scavenging run. It was common for this to happen, because their hive was poorest and least respectable of all the hives. "Hey Dawn!" yelled one to the other. "This look like anything to you?" Dawn walked over to her brother, Cloud Cover, who was lifting an old piece of armor in front of his face. "No, it's too bent out of shape. C'mon, you know mom will kill us if she found out that we were out here." Their mother, Queen Pupa, was kinder than most Changeling queens, but her paranoia of the Badlands was hurting her subjects. Suddenly, a small meteor flew through the sky, crashing down several hundred meters away. Curious, the two children walked towards it. Upon arrival, they saw an iridescent purple pod, similar in shape to sleeping cocoons that all changelings had. Cloud Cover walked closer and reached out a thin hoof-thing to touch it. A panel flew off, and Cloud Cover disappeared in blue light. Walking closer, Dawn saw a large blue creature step out of the pod. She looked and saw her brother's still-smoking corpse in the beast's hand. In it's other hand, it held a purple claw, which was pointed at Dawn almost immediately. She felt the impact of blue fire in her side, and she ducked back, trying not to scream. The creature threw the body on the ground and spat on it. Opening it's jaws into a squid-like shape, the creature spoke into a mic on it's helmet, broadcasting it to an with the technology to hear it. "Ssso, thisss is where the demon'sss little... pet arrived. On thissss gods forsaken planet. Know thisssss, 'Trinity', I will rip your hossst apart to get you. Or my name isn't Vaht 'Latowee." Author's Note Of the chapters so far, this was the hardest to write. Dawn's character was originally going to be in Starfire's place, but less is known about bat ponies than changelings. So, yeah. Thanks again to Shadow_Blaze for pre-reading this story. And to all you others, I hope you enjoy the ride. RebellionChapter Five: Rebellion Starfire paced her room, nervous. Her mother had told her to wait in her room until she could finish the open court. For hours Starfire had pondered what she saw. Trinity stood by, not saying anything. She could tell Starfire was angry with her about the memory, but she couldn't do anything about that. Her hologram cut out when someone knocked on the door. Starfire's mother, Queen Nephthys, walked into the room. "Starfire, are you okay? Your little outburst scared me." Starfire sighed. "Yeah, Mom, i'm fine. I was just, uh, tired. It was nothing." Nephthys put a wing around her daughter, pulling her close. "Now Starfire, you can tell me anything you want. I won't judge you." Starfire paused, wondering if she should tell her mother about Trinity. 'Don't.' she heard trinity think to her. 'She might take it badly. Trust me.' In her already unstable state, Starfire forgot that Trinity was not a pony. "Trust you?! How the hell am I supposed to trust you, Trinity? You should be glad i'm not doing something worse than yelling, you stupid bi-" Nephthys ran out of the room, startled. Starfire and Trinity, realizing what had happened, were silent. "I'm so sorry, Trinity. Its just that, well, you embarrassed me in front of everypony in the court." Trinity appeared, her avatar appearing as if it had been crying. 'No. I shouldn't have shown you that memory. I wasn't sure if it would cause something like that.' "What does it mean?" Starfire asked. 'What does what mean?' "Memento Mori. It sounds like ancient Equestrian, but my lessons aren't that advanced yet." Trinity looked down and said, 'It means "Remember that you will die".' ________________________________________________ Several hours later, Starfire was awakened by loud yelling. She walked out to her balcony and saw flames rising from the Equestrian district of Batlantis. "Trinity, what do you think is happening?" 'Honestly, Starfire, history has given me two possible reasons. One is some kind of accident. The other, uh, never mind.' "Tell me, Trinity." 'Mass murder.' "Seriously, Trinity, where did you come from that would give you cause to think that?" Trinity remained silent. Starfire unfurled her wings and took off, heading for the flames. Almost immediately, a guard caught her and returned her to the palace. Starfire went down to the library, literally bored out of her mind. ___________________________________________- Twilight was scared. Twenty minutes ago, she had heard rumors of an uprising in another town. Apparently, a bat pony named Brown, his sons, and several slaves had raided an armory in Harpmare's Ferry. Not long after, fire began raining down from bat pony shock troopers currently attempting to suppress any slaves who fought. Despite their training, the troops were no match for the now well armed Equestrians who met them. Twilight had watched as members of the main guard flew in and began slaughtering innocent ponies. Twilight turned and ran towards one of the small alleys of the slave district, fire rushing around her. As she ran, though, Twilight heard a voice behind her. "There she is! That's the one corrupting my daughter!!" Then, Twilight knew nothing. _________________________________________________________ The next morning, Starfire awoke. Her first thought was that she was in the library. Then she felt her mother leaned up against her, stroking her head. "Good morning, Starfire. Slept well?" "Yes ma'am." responded Starfire. Her mother smiled, mentioned something about nothing to worry about, and left. Trinity appeared as soon as they were alone.'Something's wrong. I can tell.' "Oh, pish." replied Starfire, rising from the chair she was in. The library had several rooms filled with books, and for some reason, she was in the advanced history wing. "Trinity, why am I in this wing? I can't read these." 'No, but I can.' Trinity said, chuckling. 'I was curious, and merely borrowed your eyes for the night. It was quite fun.' "How did you do that?" asked Starfire 'Well, I asked you to come in here and read. All I had to do then was take temporary control of you while you slept. It wasn't traumatizing, I hope?' Starfire didn't feel different, so she just shook her head and walked out the door. ______________________________________ 'Latowee looked around at the carnage he'd caused. He had found a caravan of what appeared to be several equines with horns. Using his sword, he killed them, taking the horns as trophies. His actions had fired him up, and he took pride in the killings. Had they been his true enemy, he would have taken their whole heads. However, his journey was a long one, and he set off. He had a job to do. ______________________________________ Starfire immediately noticed the lack of Equestrians around the palace. There was no sign of Twilight anywhere. As she walked, she felt Trinity begin to panic. Confused, Starfire asked what was wrong. 'He's here' responded Trinity. 'He's here, on this planet. Oh I thought Captain Stone had ditched him two weeks ago.' "Who?" asked Starfire. Suddenly, she felt a familiar blackness overcome her ************************************************0000**************************** She was in a small cave, blue light streaming out of a small blue orb on the roof. She noticed the strange feeling in her hooves and realized that she was back in the creature from before. Her host's armor had changed. It was red, with a smaller gold visor around the front. On the ground around her host were several similarly dressed creatures, all dead. In its' hand, it held a triangular blade of energy that was pointed at the scariest creature she'd ever seen. Its' dark blue armor was scratched, and it held a similar blade. However, the other creature's weapon was orange, not blue. Her host spoke. "End of the line, 'Latowee. You're going to pay for killing my team, you sick bastard!" "It won't be so easy, 'Captain Stone'. My blade will find your heart, and you will join them in HELL!!!" it spat, swinging its' blade at Stone. For three minutes, they sparred, until the creature sliced off Stone's right arm. Screaming, he went down, clutching the stump that remained of his arm. A voice broke through his helmet as the creature ran. 'This is AI Prometheus, assigned to Recovery 15. He is down, I repeat, Captain Stone is down.We are at dig sight Alpha Two Bravo. Captain stay calm. Help is on the way.' **************************000********************************* Starfire awoke and sprinted down the corridor. Her mind was made up: tell Twilight about Trinity ASAP. Turning the corner, she ran into her mother, who was standing with several guards. "Starfire! Where are you off to in such a rush?" "Nowhere, mom." Starfire said, lying through her teeth. "Well, ok. I'm just going to wrap up some business, then I'll get dinner ready. And don't you worry. After this, no one will hurt you." Nephthys walked away, and Starfire continued running. She continued the search for hours, until she was too tired to move. Finally admitting defeat, Starfire walked down into the dungeons for some quiet. Once down there, however, she heard voices raised. "Death to the corrupter!" "Nay, damnation!" Curious, Starfire stealthily walked toward the source. Trinity kept telling her not to, but Starfire wouldn't listen. Arriving, she saw a large crowd gathered around one of the pit cells. Suddenly, she heard a panicked voice, so familiar it caused Starfire's fur to rise. "Please, no, d-don't hurt me!" yelled Twilight in fear. "My name isn't Trinity, It's Twilight Whisperer. I don't know what you think I did!" A cloaked figure stood above Twilight, an ax in it's mouth. It appeared to whisper something to Twilight, who stiffened. Then, it raised the ax over its' head and.. "NOOOO!" yelled Starfire, racing towards the executioner. She was so enraged, she didn't notice the faint turquoise glow that surrounded her. Her hoof made contact with the executioner's neck, making a slicing sound. Starfire stopped, her ears deafened by the collective gasp in the room. She looked and saw her father, a mixture of revulsion and fury on his face. Starfire looked at herself, and gasped as well. The armor, perhaps spurred by aggression, had snapped on around her. Looking at her hoof, she realized that the hidden blade within had snapped out. It now retreated into its' sheath, covered in blood. Turning, Starfire looked at the executioner, and froze. Its' hood had fallen off, revealing a gem encrusted crown resting on her head. Her throat, mangled beyond belief, made gurgling noises as she tried to speak. Finally she collapsed, unconscious. Starfire grabbed Twilight and ran, leaving the room full of bat ponies to mourn the loss of one of the most well known ponies in Batlantis. Queen Nephthys. Fight or FlightChapter Six: Fight or Flight Twilight was in shock. Not only had innocent little Starfire killed her own mother, she was wearing some sort of body armor.They were running through the palace, hiding from every guard they saw. Finally, they made it to the streets. Running towards the gate, Twilight saw what used to be many of her friends. They were all dead, brutalized and in the center of large pools of blood. Starfire was crying as she thought of what she'd done. Already, bounty posters were up for for her. Most of them only had a reward for dead. Trinity was no help either, seeing as she had spoken none since the moment they saw Twilight in the dungeon. "Alright, stop!" they heard Twilight yell. Turning into an alley, they rested for a while. Trinity appeared and bowed to the startled pink Unicorn. 'So, you're Twilight Whisperer. Starfire has thought a lot about you. I'm sorry, but i'm pretty sure that I caused this mess. Starfire's mother must have seen me speaking to her after her outburst in the throne room,' Trinity said. "Wha-what are you?" Twilight gasped. "Are you a ghost? And where did Starfire get that armor?" 'Well, I heard you asked questions, but I thought nothing of it. Well, i'm an AI, or Artificial Intelligence. I was in storage on board a small frigate when we were attacked. I was jettisoned and crashed here. The armor that Starfire is wearing is actually meant for another species, but I was able to modify it for her use.' "Twilight, the important thing is to find your friends," interrupted Starfire. "My father will no doubt go after them. Where would they go?" Twilight thought for a minute. "Well, we planned for a potential escape. They're probably in one of the alleys-" Starfire was suddenly tackled by a white and red blur, and thrown to the ground. The blur resolved itself into a blood covered pegasus, with a straight blonde mane. She was holding a knife in the feathers of her right wing, and had an enraged look on her face. Starfire punched her with as much strength as possible, knocking the mare out. Twilight gasped, recognizing the mare. "That's Surprise! That must mean the others are nearby." As she said this, Twilight was hit with the full force of her sister, Firefly was followed by Ruby, Poesy, and Sparkler. After the reunion, Firefly came and looked curiously. "Who's this? I've never seen this armor before." Starfire reached up and pulled of the helmet of her armor and smiled at the group, who all recoiled in shock. "Is she going to turn us in?" asked Poesy. "Of course not!" yelled Starfire. "I can't go back there anyway, so what's the point of me taking you back?" 'Calm now, Starfire,' said Trinity, a calm expression on her face. 'You haven't told them yet. I understand you're in stress, but infighting won't help us in any way." "Fine." Starfire responded. "Now how are we getting past the guards?" ______________________________________________________________ After careful consideration, it was decided that Firefly and Surprise would fly the others out. Starfire, being too young and small to carry any of the others, would fly over watch. Soon, they were all out of the city and on their way. That is, until Ruby asked a question. "So, now that we're out of there, where are we going?" The entire group stopped, realizing the truth of that statement. Twilight had planned as far as the alleys, but never had she expected to actually escape! 'May I make a suggestion?' asked Trinity. Starfire looked at Twilight, who nodded the affirmative. 'Great. I was reading through some of your history, and noticed a safe haven that might be suitable. I believe it was called the Crystal Empire.' ___________________________________ Camazotz walked through the dungeons, still reeling from the events of earlier. His daughter had defended an EQUESTRIAN!!! He closed his eyes, once again seeing the blades of Starfire's armor piercing his wife's neck. He opened his eyes, looking at the door he was in front of. It was marked with an ancient Equestrian mark, specifically from the arcane language. Translated, it meant "Dark Necromancers". The Necromancers were devoted followers of Nightmare Moon, and were descended from the fifty or sixty unicorns who had joined the ancient rebellion. Before Camazotz could knock, the door was opened by an older unicorn stallion. His black coat, once beautiful, was now a dirty grey. Camazotz nodded and spoke: "Greetings, arch-mage Night Haunter. Is your master here?" "Of course," hissed Haunter. "He has been expecting you." "Good, then I will not keep him waiting," replied Camazotz, who walked towards the second door. It opened onto a normally dark room, but today was different. It glowed a hue of purple, the same color as a filly sized lump of dark energy. Standing above the lump stood a youthful looking stallion. His coat was also black, but was sleek and shiny. The pony turned, bowing to Camazotz. "Welcome, my lord. I hope that I can solve the problem with that... assassin who killed your wife." Camazotz sat. "Yes Grand Master Midnight. I think you can. What do you have for me?" Midnight gestured towards the pulsing mass. As Camazotz watched, it began to rise into the air gaining limbs and a horn. The glow finally resolved into a grey green filly, with a red and green striped mane. "Well, the assassin ran off like a thief. Who better to steal her back than the best thief known to our kind. And here she comes, here she comes... Starscream!" Midnight's laughter rang through the castle, spooking all who heard. Author's Note Ok, i have placed a reference to an old Transformers TV series in here. If no one finds it, I will be slightly disappointed. If you can name the EXACT series, i will give you my respect. On the RunChapter 7: On the Run Starscream shuddered as she awoke. Her last memory was of being executed by Queen Nebular. Starscream had been only eight, but her skills as an assassin and thief were unmatched. As she stood, Camazotz smiled. "Yes, she'll do. Commendable job, Midnight." Midnight chortled and spoke to the filly. "Now, miss Starscream, I'll bet you want to know why you're here, hmm? We have a job for you." Starscream turned and phased into one of the watching mages. When she spoke, the voice of the mage rang out. "I am read. Tell me who thou wants dead." _____________________________________________ That night, the escapees slept in a small cave just south of the Bat Pony capital. Starfire watched the stars until fatigue finally overtook her, and she descended into a dream filled sleep. As she drifted, she didn't notice the descending fireball that impacted several miles away. *************************************** It was another memory,the last thing Starfire wanted to see that night. Captain Stone was wearing a shirt and jeans. He was standing in front of his armor, nodding his head. He looked into the visor, and Starfire finally saw his face. He appeared to be young, Starfire estimated, about Twilight's age. His eye were a bright green, and his close-shaven hair was a brownish-black. What disturbed Starfire, though, was his right eye. It was a black sphere, with a red light the center. A scar ran across the eye, explaining how it was lost. She would have looked more had a voice not caused her host to turn. "Hey, Noah? You in here Captain? We're going to start game night, but we have a tie. Ya wanna play Solitaire or Mortal Kom..." "Mortal Kombat." Said Stone, interrupting the other soldier. "We don't have Solitaire, Caleb." The other soldier just waved his hand and left. Starfire felt the memory ending, and braced herself for what was sure to be one hell of a morning. *********************************************** Starfire awoke to the blazing sun pouring into the cave. She was the last to awake for breakfast. Ruby had prepared what looked like soup, and the others were crowded around a small fire. When they noticed Starfire, the six mares fell quiet. Twilight reached for a brush, but Starfire grabbed it in her hoof. "No, Twilight, I can get it." Starfire began brushing her mane, noticing that her armor had retreated back into the amulet. Soon, she joined Twilight at the fire. After eating, the fire was put out and belongings packed. With a heavy heart, Starfire left her Shadowbolt costume behind. She knew it would only burden them if she overheated in it. About half an hour later, the group set off in the direction relayed by Trinity. ___________________________________________ "We're lost, aren't we?" It was a simple question, but everyone cringed at it. They'd been trekking for over a month, and not a single settlement had they passed. Poesy had only asked for Ruby, who was unable to ask for herself. Psychological stress, Trinity had called it. Her mind had been so damaged that she could barely speak. Her mind seemed fine, though. It was Surprise that worried them. Countless times, Surprise had indirectly threatened Starfire, using both word and image. When a bat pony scout had located them, Twilight simply tied him up. He had vanished later that night, and Surprise had been found shivering in a pool of blood. A set of hoof-prints led away, but they vanished at a cliff. As a result, Firefly had begun keeping a close watch on the white pegasus. Today was the same as always. They were wandering through the badlands, trying to find anywhere to hole up. When Starfire rounded a corner, she felt a spear pressed to her neck. A very deep voice accompanied it. "Now, don't you move a single hair, ya hear?" Starfire whispered the affirmative,and the stallion continued. "Good. Yer gonna tell yer friends to step out wit' their hooves up, and you won't say any more, got it?" Starfire nodded and spoke. "Twilight? Could you or Poesy step out here?" The spear immediately retracted, as though to strike. "Lying BITCH!!" yelled the stallion. "Poesy is still enslaved by you and your species, so DON'T TEST me..." The voice cut off as Poesy spoke. "Tex?" _____________________________________________ Tex and Poesy had been dating when he had vanished, but she kept it together in order to comfort Ruby. The twenty-six surviving escapees had begun a settlement in the Wastes, determined to help other escapees. However, Tex required Starfire to cover up her wings in beggars rags, so that the other townsfolk didn't kill her. The party spent several days in the town, aptly named Sanctuary. Eventually, though, they began planning to leave. Fortunately, Tex had offered to accompany them, if only to be with Poesy. Several weeks later, the band left Sanctuary, promising to tell whoever currently ruled the Crystal Empire about the town. Several days later, the band was camping in what appeared to be an old battlefield. Starfire was keeping watch over her sleeping friends, chatting with Trinity about what Mortal Kombat was. She proceeded to show the young mare a video clip of a championship match between a red ninja and a large brute of a man with a mask. Before the match finished, though, Starfire grabbed from behind. Looking behind her, she saw twenty to thirty Bat pony slavers. They proceeded to grab the others, herding them back to a camp. Poesy and Ruby were trembling in utter terror as the bats began whipping Tex into near unconsciousness. Before they could finish, a creature straight out of hell grabbed one of the slavers and stab it with a small blade that appeared disturbingly similar to the blades on Starfire's armor. Trinity began hyperventilating, or what AI do instead of hyperventilate. Starfire realized that it was the same creature from her dreams, the one Captain Stone referred to as "Vaht 'Lataowee". The creature descended on Starfire, screeching in a strange language. However, before it could continue, it was tackled by a young looking green pegasus stallion with a knife attached to his front hoof. The two began sparring as a strange bug-like creature with red eyes directed the mares and the half-conscious Tex to run. Starfire, however, activated her armor and charged the slavers. As she chased them off, she saw the green stallion go down. However, as she watched in horror, the stallion was enveloped in green fire. When the fire dissipated, Starfire got a glimpse at the most amazing thing she'd ever seen. The being was several heads shorter than the Elite, with black armor instead of blue. The helmet was similar to that of a royal guard's, with a gold visor. Upon its' chest was what looked like a crystal heart, with a red skull in the center. Starfire felt a sting on her side, and began to become woozy. As the green creature pulled out a blue blade of energy, Starfire recognized who it was. Captain Noah Stone, the soldier Trinity had showed her. Right after making the connection, Starfire blacked out. ____________________________________ When she awoke, Starfire realized that she was in a hospital bed. Sitting in front of the door, his back turned, was the green pegasus from before. He was talking to somepony nearby, but Starfire couldn't tell who. "Excuse me, sir, who are you? And where am I?" The stallion turned, revealing a blue pegasus standing next to him. He looked at Starfire and smiled. Trinity suddenly appeared, with a shocked expression. 'Prometheus? Is that you?' The blue pegasus smiled and nodded. The green stallion began speaking. "So, you're who Trinity was talking about in her broadcast. My name is technically Noah Stone, but that's a human name. Please, call me Northern Stone." Starfire gasped, and Stone continued. "You are in a medical station just inside Equestrian territory. You were hit with a poison dart, which somehow knocked both you and Trinity unconscious. You've been unconscious for about a week, but I can officially say that you're safe." "Where in Equestria are we?" Starfire asked. "And where are my friends?" Stone waited, then spoke. "Well, your friends are okay. Tex is slightly concussed, but he's the only majorly injured member of your party. As to your first question, you are now in the portion of territory commonly called the Crystal Empire." Author's Note This is by far the worst chapter so far. If you have problems with it, please tell me.
A Strange OccuranceChapter One: A Strange Occurance It was mid-morning when Princess Starfire awoke. Her purple mane was disheveled, and her grey coat was mostly covered in her "Shadowbolt Commander" uniform. It had been a busy night of schoolwork and play in her room, high in the tower of the royal palace in Batlantis. Hopefully her parents hadn't noticed her being awake last night. She had been up almost all night playing with her telescope, and her parents hated when she did that. Starfire sat in bed, thinking about breakfast and how tired she was when she heard a knock on her door. "Come in," she yelled, wondering who it was. Almost immediately, the door opened and a small yellow mare walked into the room. Starfire didn't recognize this servant, but soon came to the conclusion that she was a slave from a part of the castle she didn't frequent. The mare, meanwhile, hid behind her pink mane in an attempt to avoid the gaze of the Princess. Starfire continued to examine the slave, noticing the lack of wings and any brands whatsoever. Curiously, her cutie mark was of three pink flowers arraigned in a triangle. Starfire wondered what that meant. They sat like this for some time, simply waiting for something to happen. Finally, Starfire decided to talk first. "Who are you,"she asked,"and where is Twilight? You're definitely not her. Are you new to the palace?" The poor mare could barely respond. "I...uh...well...um." Starfire became impatient. "My word, what is your name?" The mare finally responded,"My...my name is Poesy, Ms. Starfire." "Thank you, Poesy," Starfire said, glad to get a name. It seemed familiar for some reason. "Now, where is Twilight Whisperer? She was supposed to wake me almost an hour ago." The mare seemed to be shocked by that question. Quietly she responded,"Ummm, well, she is back at the sleeping rooms. I think she's ill. She looked so awful, and she had the worst cough. So she asked me to take you to your parents". Oh, no! Her parents might had noticed she'd stayed up. "Poesy, would you please help me get ready? I would much appreciate it." The yellow mare nodded the affirmative. Starfire got up and went over to the chest near her bed, grabbed a brush, and handed it to Poesy. While Poesy brushed her dark purple mane, Starfire decided to ask her some questions. "What is your normal job here?" she asked. Poesy suppressed a sigh. "Well, as my cutie mark shows, I love nature. I'm an excellent at gardening and animal care. I usually work in the garden, but I've already taken care of it. That's why I'm able to help out today." Ah. That was where she had heard of this mare. Her mother loved gardening, and had mentioned a "Poesy" during her many rants about her gardens. She had also heard Twilight mention her when they were studying plants last year. "Is Twilight a good friend of yours?" Poesy giggled. "Well yes. She and I have known each other since...." While the mare didn't finish the sentence, Starfire knew how it ended. "Since the slave market," she asked. Poesy made a small sobbing noise and stopped talking. Soon, she had finished brushing Starfire and put the brush down. Starfire thanked her and walked out the door, heading for the throne room. ____________________________________________________________________________________________ Walking into the throne room, Starfire immediately noticed that her father was yelling at a soldier who was standing in front of the throne. Her fathers voice was loud and commanding. "Define broken, Captain Sonar," King Camazotz shouted. The soldier was visibly shaking, afraid that the enraged monarch would kill him. "Well, sir, one of my soldiers dropped the vase, and it broke, sir." The king sighed. "You are decreased two steps in rank, return to your post." The soldier, realizing he would live, was barely able to suppress his excitement. He threw a fast salute, knowing that doing this again would lead in horrendous torture or death. Camazotz ruled with an iron fist, but the slave trade had flourished under his rule. Starfire watched as a blueish Equestrian with a purple and pink mane rushed forward to clean the mess caused by the broken vase. Her father seemed surprised to see her. "Well, well, looks like my little Shadowbolt is finally awake. I would have thought that you would be sleeping off your long night of fun." Crap, he'd noticed her up last night. Oh well. "Is Twilight okay? I heard she was sick," said the king, not a single drop of concern in his voice. He blamed the Equestrians for the banishment and destruction of Nightmare Moon, considered a goddess by the bat ponies. The only thing he cared about was that he now had damaged property, and that she needed to be fixed. "I was just about to ask you about that, Dad," Starfire said. "Would you please send a healer to her? She promised to teach me to fly. Er, to take me to her friend Firefly, who will teach me to fly." "I have given Sparkler orders to....." "Who?" asked Starfire. "The blue slave who just left. Anyway, I asked her to take Twilight a healing potion to help fix that cough of hers. Your teacher should be right as rain. Go find her and tell her to take you for lunch," said her father. Starfire was more than happy to comply. ______________________That night____________________________________________ "That was a fun time wasn't it, Starfire," Twilight Whisperer asked while she got Starfire ready for bed. The pink mare was exhausted after the long day with the child, and her white mane was slightly disheveled from chasing both the young bat pony and Firefly, Twilight's younger sister. "Fun? It wasn't fun, it was awesome! The way Firefly doges and weaves like no ponies business...." Twilight sighed. " Yes, I know. I was there, remember? Now it's time for bed. No arguing, okay?" Starfire crawled into bed, her Shadowbolt costume covering her thin body and keeping her warm. Twilight wished her a good night and left. Starfire quietly got up and crawled over to her window. The stars looke equally gorgeous tonight. Suddenly, though, she saw a white flash, similar to the one given off by a falling star. Spreading her wings, Starfire flew out of her room to investigate. Author's Note WOW!!!!! It felt good to get that out. Please, if you see any grammatical errors, please let me know. Also, to clear some stuff up that might be confusing, I am using 5 of the original six characters, so Twilight and Twilight Sparkle aren't the same character. Hope you enjoyed and please leave feedback!!
Nightmare's Army Nightmare's Army Chapter Two: Nightmare's Army About five thousand before Princess Luna became Nightmare Moon, a large population of pegasi rebelled against Princess Nebula, the ruler of Equestria at the time. Among them was Captain Shadow and his stunt team, the original Wonderbolts. They recruited more and more followers, eventually becoming a large force ten thousand strong. These rebels began attacking villages in the dark of night, burning them to the ground. Any and all attempts at negotiations were met with blades, and the rebels continued burning villages and towns. Their leader was actually Nebula's adviser, who made a failed attempt on her life and fled when it failed. In her fury, she turned them into pony-bat hybrids and ordered her armies to slaughter any they found. Over six thousand were killed, and the rest fled to the wastelands. Princess Nebula, thinking that they were all dead, simply sat on her throne and did nothing. About five hundred years later , Nebula abdicated the throne to her children, Princesses Celestia and Luna. Soon afterward, she moved from Equestria to the beautiful city Constallioninople in Saddle Arabia, a booming town on the Marediteranean sea. She had spent the last couple of years of her rule attempting to root out any remaining bat ponies from the Wastelands. When she left, Luna ceased all hunts into the Wastelands, deeming them too dangerous for search parties. However, this didn't stop her from taking interest in the old stories. One day, after a heated argument with Celestia over extending the night, Luna went hunting for them, slowly coming under the influence of dark magic. For two thousand years the bat ponies hid, biding their time and preparing for revenge. During this time, they had destroyed several major Changeling hives and one or two Griffon settlements, earning the eternal anger of both species. Still, they waited for revenge to come. Finally, it came in the form of a black alicorn who showed up at their door. Introducing herself as Nightmare Moon, she proposed a plan to overthrow the rule of Princess Celestia using the army that the bats had raised. However, due to their mistrust of the Equestrians, they initially refused. To convince them, Nightmare Moon performed her royal duty of raising the moon. Now convinced, the bat ponies devoted themselves entirely to her cause and prepared for war. Two weeks later, Nightmare Moon, masquerading as Princess Luna, revealed herself and initiated the attacks on Equestria. Celestia, who had read bits and pieces about the previous war with the bats, contacted Nebula, who pulled some strings and sent Saddle Arabian soldiers to help the cause. But Nightmare Moon had given the bats a critical tool: special armor, emblazoned with a dark blue eye, that gave the wearer with limited battle magic abilities. The body count continued to rise, the civilian towns cowering in fear of the very real possibility of eternal night. After months of brutal and total war, Nightmare Moon was overpowered by her sister. Before she had attacked, though, she laid a spell on the bat pony lands that hid the bats from Celestia's searching gaze. After her defeat, the bat armies retreated to their lands with very important items: slave that they had captured from towns that had been obliterated. The story soon fell into legend, and the bat ponies declared Nightmare Moon a goddess. Utilizing the spell Nightmare had placed on them, they began enslaving nearby pony civilizations. However, the ruling family of their culture was descended from the first rebel leader who had attacked Nebular. His descendants were vicious but well liked rulers, despite their major jerk factor. King Camazotz was no exception, but his brutality was known throughout the kingdom. He once executed a guard for spilling his morning coffee all over his wife's new rug. Under him, the bat ponies flourished and became a great nation, albeit an unknown one. They continued to attack Changelings as well as many pony towns, but Changelings proved to be unreliable as slaves. Eventually, the Changelings found a period of peace they hadn't seen for years. The Griffons, unable to find the lands of the bat ponies, simply continued to live and prosper in peace. In Equestria, the bat ponies were regarded as little more than myth. Starswirl the Bearded took increased interest in them, searching the archives for info on where they might be. Combined with his Amniomorphic spell research, his court duties, stress, a failing marriage, divorce, custody battles, and this weird little blue plant that talked to him eventually drove him insane. Not just insane, but psychopathic to the point of attempting to threaten Celestia for what she knew while using a butter knife and toast. He was arrested and placed in a mental ward for several years, where he wrote three books, a journal, and several research papers. Upon his release, he resumed his duties as court mage and fell in love with a young mare named Starburst, and together they opened Starswirl Coffee and Donuts in Canterlot. Eventually, it branched out across Equestria until Starswirl's death, when it re-branded itself as Star Bucks coffee. Before her death, Starburst created candy she named after herself. Due to a strange spacial rift, the candy vanished and caused Starburst to die of a heart attack By the time Nightmare Moon returned to Equestria, her anger and need for revenge made her forget all about her waiting army, which allowed her to be defeated by six acquaintances wearing sparkly jewelry. Upon reverting to Luna, she continued to not remember the creatures who worshiped her. King Camazotz heard about it from his court servant, Sparkler, who had been in town that night. His initial reaction was of rage, but he realized that the Elements were probably manipulating the goddess and began hatching a plan to use magic given to his family to resurrect his true queen. Author's Note Ok, this chapter has been edited with a suggestion given to me by Shadow_Blaze. I decided to move the character descriptions to the next chapter. Thank you to all of you who at least try to enjoy this, and the next chapter will begin to be written tonight.
Voices from the StarsChapter Three: Voices from the Stars Twilight walked out of Starfire's room knowing full well that the filly would probably be out of bed with in moments of her leaving. However, she had more important things to do. While the cough medicine was useful, she preferred Poesy's potions over the terrible doctor's cough powder. Turning the corner, she walked out the palace to the slave quarters. Upon her arrival, she could tell something was off. Normally, she would be hit by the white furred mass of Surprise, but the hyperactive Pegasus was nowhere to be seen. Her friends were already in their small rooms, when normally they were in the small entry room talking about the crap they went through that day. Walking to the room she shared with her sister, she heard crying. She opened the door to find Firefly comforting a distraught Ruby. The red earth pony was sobbing something completely incoherent. Twilight walked over to Firefly and asked, "Why is Ruby so sad? She's never like this." "I don't know," responded the pink Pegasus."She came in about ten minutes ago saying something about Surprise. Then she ended up like this," Twilight conjured up a small rag and gave it to Ruby, who took it and wiped her eyes on it. "OK," said Twilight. "Start from the beginning, Ruby. What happened to Surprise?" . "It was awful, Twilight!" Ruby shouted. "She and I were in the kitchen doing our end of the day cleanup, when this guard walked in and began accusing her of attacking another guard. Surprise denied it, but the guard tried to arrest her. She ended up hitting him, and he called several others and they dragged her away! It sounded like they were taking her to the Cave!" They all shuddered at the name. The Cave was a reformatory deep underneath Batlantis. The slaves had a different name for it: Hell Mountain. The name referenced the original, which was a separate mountain just outside Batlantis. It had been moved about a year ago, when Ruby's big brother, Tex, led a supposedly unsuccessful escape. Most of the slaves involved were caught, but several, including Tex, went missing. Most sane ponies left as raving psychopaths, but Surprise was already crazy. How would she react? ___________________________________________________Meanwhile_______________ Starfire had finally made it to the source of the flash. It was a small crater in her mothers garden. Inside was what appeared to be a necklace with a silver pendant on it that glowed aquamarine. It seemed to be undamaged, but either way, it was very creepy. Her curious mind finally convinced her that fear was just dumb and she finally worked up the courage to touch it. As soon as she did, though, she regretted it. The necklace pulsed and fastened itself around her neck. A green glow poured over her body as the thing seemed to scan her. It took all of Starfire's willpower not to scream. Finally, it ended, leaving Starfire encased in a strange feeling covering. Opening her eyes, she gasped at what she saw. Her uniform had become a beautiful mesh of light metal and fiber. It was still the exact same shades of purple and black, but it gave her a feeling of power. Upon shifting her wings, she discovered something else: two blade-like bands extended over her wings, similar to those worn by guards. Her fore hooves were wrapped in gauntlets with two slits in each. When she focused on them, two wicked sharp blades slipped out. Looking at her wings, she saw the wing blades enshrouded by blue energy. Amazed, she saw the necklace was still on her neck, but it was as if it was part of the armor. Speaking aloud, she asked herself,"What is this?" 'Project Recovery armor unit number 54796475, designated out of service and placed in hands of Recovery agent 15,' came a smooth female voice. Starfire jolted, and looked around for the source. Seeing nopony, she called out, "H-Hello? Who's out there?" 'No need to panic,' came the voice. 'I am AI unit 3649... I mean, I'm Trinity. I mean you no harm. I must say, you have an exceptionally large brain for an equine.' Now Starfire was panicking. The voice was coming fromINSIDE her mind. She spoke up again. "Where are you, Ms. Trinity?" The voice responded with a chuckle. 'Oh, I'm so sorry for startling you. I'm a part of the armor. If you would like, I can appear as a hologram. You know what that is, right?' When Starfire nodded, the pendant flashed, projecting a bright blue unicorn mare directly in front of Starfire. Oddly, it looked like Twilight. When it spoke, the voice matched the mare's lips. 'Now, listen. I don't expect you to believe me, but you may be in danger. I need you to do everything I tell you, ok? Good. now, do you have any questions?' Starfire thought for a minute, then asked, "How do I take this off? I mean, its cool and all, but i'm just curious." 'Easy,' responded Trinity. 'Just tap the pendant. But be aware, I will still be in your head.' Starfire tapped the pendant and sure enough, the armor simply vanished like it had appeared, albeit with out the pain. Turning, she flew off in the direction of her room. Upon arrival, she closed the balcony window and crawled into bed. Almost immediately, she fell asleep. ________________________________________________________________________________ Trinity wasted no time after her host fell asleep. She began digging through memories to learn about the world she was now on. Then, using the pendant's broadcaster and the castle as a satellite, she broadcasted a short message. 'This is AI unit Trinity to AI unit Prometheus. I have landed on a strange world and need assistance. I'm afraid 'Latowee will be here soon. Please, the host I integrated to is a small child. I don't want to put her through the hell you and Captain St... I mean Recovery 15 went through.' Satisfied with her message, Trinity sent it, hoping that the wrong ears wouldn't hear it. Her hopes would soon prove in vain. Author's Note First, I want to give HUGE SHOUTOUT to Shadow_Blaze, my pre reader, for prereading this story. You have no clue how much this means to me. Also, to all readers who disliked, please start giving reasons for disliking. Unless you are a troll. I'm open to criticism but disliking for the sake of it is just wrong.
InsanityChapter Four: Insanity Starfire woke up the next morning, exhausted. Her rest had been interrupted by weird dreams about, well, something she couldn't understand. All she could remember was someone speaking what sounded like clipped Equestrian, and dozens of of others around her responding with the ancient language. However, her understanding of the language was minimal. Her ancient studies had only just begun. On cue, Twilight walked in and initiated the daily rituals of grooming. Starfire noticed that her tutor and servant seemed slightly off. When she asked, Twilight brushed it off with a shake of her head. Starfire decided to stop pressing the matter and just continued thinking about the events of last night. She contemplated telling Twilight, but decided not to worry her any further. Twilight finished up and left. Starfire made sure she was gone and grabbed the necklace. Looking at it, she slipped it around her neck and walked out the door. ___________________________________________________ Earlier that morning, Surprise was returned to the slave quarters. Ruby immediately ran over and gave Surprise a large hug. "Oh, Surprise!! We were so worried that something terrible was going to happen to you!" Sparkler gave her a quick nod and ran out the door, not wanting to be late for her duties in the throne room. Surprise smiled sheepishly, and returned the hug. Ruby broke down, sobbing hysterically. Twilight noticed, though, that something seemed off about Surprise. Her mane was smooth and straight, not bouncy like it normally was. Her coat was a grayish color, similar to how she looked after cleaning the old guard barracks. And deep in her eyes, Twilight saw a sight that scared her more than anything had ever scared her before: The look of a killer who was fighting the urge to strike down everything that moved. _______________________________________________________________ Starfire sat in the throne room, doing nothing. Today was Sunday, the day the royal court was open to the public. Sparkler was ushering in bat ponies who had requested audiences throughout the week. Starfire hated these days with a burning passion. She wanted to be outside playing, not cooped up in the stuffy throne room. Her thoughts began to wander back to the necklace and, more specifically, Trinity. 'You are aware I can hear your thoughts, right?' asked the other mind, confirming she was there. 'Again, I will answer anything you need me to.That, or I can give you something to ask questions about.' Before she could say anything, the world blacked out. ***************************************************************************************** When she came to, the first thing she noticed was the body. She was no longer female or, for that matter, any kind of creature she knew. It stood tall on two legs,wearing a heavier variant of the armor Trinity had been in. It was grey and blue, with a large domed helmet. Instead of hooves, it had five appendages, similar to a griffin's forelegs. The room her host was in was a large steel colored cavern. The only decoration was a large table with pieces of equipment strewn all over it. None of it was familiar to Starfire. Several other creatures, similarly dressed, stood around her host, grabbing the weird equipment and putting it in pouches on their armor. The armor of the others, while similar in make to that of her host's, differed in color. A smaller creature stood in front, yelling at them. "Alright, men, this is the most important mission you've faced yet. You are going planet side to recovery several artifacts from a museum before the squid-heads do. The area has been evacuated, so if it breathes, kill it. Are we understood?!" The soldiers responded with a loud "Hell yes sir!" and saluted. The man at the front returned the salute, and Starfire's host watched another armored being, a female, walk forward. "Alright, gentlemen, you heard the old man. Lets move out. Remember, whether we win or we lose...." The creatures spoke as one. "MEMENTO MORI!!!!" Then the world once again blacked out. ********************************************************************** The first thing Starfire registered when she came to was the worried look of everypony in the throne room. Her mother had wrapped a veined wing around her daughter, and was looking at her with the most compassion. Embarrassed, Starfire turned and ran out of the room. When she was safely out of earshot of the others, Trinity appeared. 'I'm sorry, I didn't realize you would do that.' Confused, Starfire asked,"What did I do?" Trinity said nothing for a minute. 'Well, you began twitching a bit. Your mother kept telling you to stop, but you didn't. Everyone noticed, but it got worse. Then you began yelling.' "What was I yelling?" Starfire asked. 'Memento Mori.' _____________________________________________________ The outer area of the Bat pony empire was a chaotic place. Two young changelings, one blue and the other a bright shade of red, were walking through on a scavenging run. It was common for this to happen, because their hive was poorest and least respectable of all the hives. "Hey Dawn!" yelled one to the other. "This look like anything to you?" Dawn walked over to her brother, Cloud Cover, who was lifting an old piece of armor in front of his face. "No, it's too bent out of shape. C'mon, you know mom will kill us if she found out that we were out here." Their mother, Queen Pupa, was kinder than most Changeling queens, but her paranoia of the Badlands was hurting her subjects. Suddenly, a small meteor flew through the sky, crashing down several hundred meters away. Curious, the two children walked towards it. Upon arrival, they saw an iridescent purple pod, similar in shape to sleeping cocoons that all changelings had. Cloud Cover walked closer and reached out a thin hoof-thing to touch it. A panel flew off, and Cloud Cover disappeared in blue light. Walking closer, Dawn saw a large blue creature step out of the pod. She looked and saw her brother's still-smoking corpse in the beast's hand. In it's other hand, it held a purple claw, which was pointed at Dawn almost immediately. She felt the impact of blue fire in her side, and she ducked back, trying not to scream. The creature threw the body on the ground and spat on it. Opening it's jaws into a squid-like shape, the creature spoke into a mic on it's helmet, broadcasting it to an with the technology to hear it. "Ssso, thisss is where the demon'sss little... pet arrived. On thissss gods forsaken planet. Know thisssss, 'Trinity', I will rip your hossst apart to get you. Or my name isn't Vaht 'Latowee." Author's Note Of the chapters so far, this was the hardest to write. Dawn's character was originally going to be in Starfire's place, but less is known about bat ponies than changelings. So, yeah. Thanks again to Shadow_Blaze for pre-reading this story. And to all you others, I hope you enjoy the ride.
RebellionChapter Five: Rebellion Starfire paced her room, nervous. Her mother had told her to wait in her room until she could finish the open court. For hours Starfire had pondered what she saw. Trinity stood by, not saying anything. She could tell Starfire was angry with her about the memory, but she couldn't do anything about that. Her hologram cut out when someone knocked on the door. Starfire's mother, Queen Nephthys, walked into the room. "Starfire, are you okay? Your little outburst scared me." Starfire sighed. "Yeah, Mom, i'm fine. I was just, uh, tired. It was nothing." Nephthys put a wing around her daughter, pulling her close. "Now Starfire, you can tell me anything you want. I won't judge you." Starfire paused, wondering if she should tell her mother about Trinity. 'Don't.' she heard trinity think to her. 'She might take it badly. Trust me.' In her already unstable state, Starfire forgot that Trinity was not a pony. "Trust you?! How the hell am I supposed to trust you, Trinity? You should be glad i'm not doing something worse than yelling, you stupid bi-" Nephthys ran out of the room, startled. Starfire and Trinity, realizing what had happened, were silent. "I'm so sorry, Trinity. Its just that, well, you embarrassed me in front of everypony in the court." Trinity appeared, her avatar appearing as if it had been crying. 'No. I shouldn't have shown you that memory. I wasn't sure if it would cause something like that.' "What does it mean?" Starfire asked. 'What does what mean?' "Memento Mori. It sounds like ancient Equestrian, but my lessons aren't that advanced yet." Trinity looked down and said, 'It means "Remember that you will die".' ________________________________________________ Several hours later, Starfire was awakened by loud yelling. She walked out to her balcony and saw flames rising from the Equestrian district of Batlantis. "Trinity, what do you think is happening?" 'Honestly, Starfire, history has given me two possible reasons. One is some kind of accident. The other, uh, never mind.' "Tell me, Trinity." 'Mass murder.' "Seriously, Trinity, where did you come from that would give you cause to think that?" Trinity remained silent. Starfire unfurled her wings and took off, heading for the flames. Almost immediately, a guard caught her and returned her to the palace. Starfire went down to the library, literally bored out of her mind. ___________________________________________- Twilight was scared. Twenty minutes ago, she had heard rumors of an uprising in another town. Apparently, a bat pony named Brown, his sons, and several slaves had raided an armory in Harpmare's Ferry. Not long after, fire began raining down from bat pony shock troopers currently attempting to suppress any slaves who fought. Despite their training, the troops were no match for the now well armed Equestrians who met them. Twilight had watched as members of the main guard flew in and began slaughtering innocent ponies. Twilight turned and ran towards one of the small alleys of the slave district, fire rushing around her. As she ran, though, Twilight heard a voice behind her. "There she is! That's the one corrupting my daughter!!" Then, Twilight knew nothing. _________________________________________________________ The next morning, Starfire awoke. Her first thought was that she was in the library. Then she felt her mother leaned up against her, stroking her head. "Good morning, Starfire. Slept well?" "Yes ma'am." responded Starfire. Her mother smiled, mentioned something about nothing to worry about, and left. Trinity appeared as soon as they were alone.'Something's wrong. I can tell.' "Oh, pish." replied Starfire, rising from the chair she was in. The library had several rooms filled with books, and for some reason, she was in the advanced history wing. "Trinity, why am I in this wing? I can't read these." 'No, but I can.' Trinity said, chuckling. 'I was curious, and merely borrowed your eyes for the night. It was quite fun.' "How did you do that?" asked Starfire 'Well, I asked you to come in here and read. All I had to do then was take temporary control of you while you slept. It wasn't traumatizing, I hope?' Starfire didn't feel different, so she just shook her head and walked out the door. ______________________________________ 'Latowee looked around at the carnage he'd caused. He had found a caravan of what appeared to be several equines with horns. Using his sword, he killed them, taking the horns as trophies. His actions had fired him up, and he took pride in the killings. Had they been his true enemy, he would have taken their whole heads. However, his journey was a long one, and he set off. He had a job to do. ______________________________________ Starfire immediately noticed the lack of Equestrians around the palace. There was no sign of Twilight anywhere. As she walked, she felt Trinity begin to panic. Confused, Starfire asked what was wrong. 'He's here' responded Trinity. 'He's here, on this planet. Oh I thought Captain Stone had ditched him two weeks ago.' "Who?" asked Starfire. Suddenly, she felt a familiar blackness overcome her ************************************************0000**************************** She was in a small cave, blue light streaming out of a small blue orb on the roof. She noticed the strange feeling in her hooves and realized that she was back in the creature from before. Her host's armor had changed. It was red, with a smaller gold visor around the front. On the ground around her host were several similarly dressed creatures, all dead. In its' hand, it held a triangular blade of energy that was pointed at the scariest creature she'd ever seen. Its' dark blue armor was scratched, and it held a similar blade. However, the other creature's weapon was orange, not blue. Her host spoke. "End of the line, 'Latowee. You're going to pay for killing my team, you sick bastard!" "It won't be so easy, 'Captain Stone'. My blade will find your heart, and you will join them in HELL!!!" it spat, swinging its' blade at Stone. For three minutes, they sparred, until the creature sliced off Stone's right arm. Screaming, he went down, clutching the stump that remained of his arm. A voice broke through his helmet as the creature ran. 'This is AI Prometheus, assigned to Recovery 15. He is down, I repeat, Captain Stone is down.We are at dig sight Alpha Two Bravo. Captain stay calm. Help is on the way.' **************************000********************************* Starfire awoke and sprinted down the corridor. Her mind was made up: tell Twilight about Trinity ASAP. Turning the corner, she ran into her mother, who was standing with several guards. "Starfire! Where are you off to in such a rush?" "Nowhere, mom." Starfire said, lying through her teeth. "Well, ok. I'm just going to wrap up some business, then I'll get dinner ready. And don't you worry. After this, no one will hurt you." Nephthys walked away, and Starfire continued running. She continued the search for hours, until she was too tired to move. Finally admitting defeat, Starfire walked down into the dungeons for some quiet. Once down there, however, she heard voices raised. "Death to the corrupter!" "Nay, damnation!" Curious, Starfire stealthily walked toward the source. Trinity kept telling her not to, but Starfire wouldn't listen. Arriving, she saw a large crowd gathered around one of the pit cells. Suddenly, she heard a panicked voice, so familiar it caused Starfire's fur to rise. "Please, no, d-don't hurt me!" yelled Twilight in fear. "My name isn't Trinity, It's Twilight Whisperer. I don't know what you think I did!" A cloaked figure stood above Twilight, an ax in it's mouth. It appeared to whisper something to Twilight, who stiffened. Then, it raised the ax over its' head and.. "NOOOO!" yelled Starfire, racing towards the executioner. She was so enraged, she didn't notice the faint turquoise glow that surrounded her. Her hoof made contact with the executioner's neck, making a slicing sound. Starfire stopped, her ears deafened by the collective gasp in the room. She looked and saw her father, a mixture of revulsion and fury on his face. Starfire looked at herself, and gasped as well. The armor, perhaps spurred by aggression, had snapped on around her. Looking at her hoof, she realized that the hidden blade within had snapped out. It now retreated into its' sheath, covered in blood. Turning, Starfire looked at the executioner, and froze. Its' hood had fallen off, revealing a gem encrusted crown resting on her head. Her throat, mangled beyond belief, made gurgling noises as she tried to speak. Finally she collapsed, unconscious. Starfire grabbed Twilight and ran, leaving the room full of bat ponies to mourn the loss of one of the most well known ponies in Batlantis. Queen Nephthys.
Fight or FlightChapter Six: Fight or Flight Twilight was in shock. Not only had innocent little Starfire killed her own mother, she was wearing some sort of body armor.They were running through the palace, hiding from every guard they saw. Finally, they made it to the streets. Running towards the gate, Twilight saw what used to be many of her friends. They were all dead, brutalized and in the center of large pools of blood. Starfire was crying as she thought of what she'd done. Already, bounty posters were up for for her. Most of them only had a reward for dead. Trinity was no help either, seeing as she had spoken none since the moment they saw Twilight in the dungeon. "Alright, stop!" they heard Twilight yell. Turning into an alley, they rested for a while. Trinity appeared and bowed to the startled pink Unicorn. 'So, you're Twilight Whisperer. Starfire has thought a lot about you. I'm sorry, but i'm pretty sure that I caused this mess. Starfire's mother must have seen me speaking to her after her outburst in the throne room,' Trinity said. "Wha-what are you?" Twilight gasped. "Are you a ghost? And where did Starfire get that armor?" 'Well, I heard you asked questions, but I thought nothing of it. Well, i'm an AI, or Artificial Intelligence. I was in storage on board a small frigate when we were attacked. I was jettisoned and crashed here. The armor that Starfire is wearing is actually meant for another species, but I was able to modify it for her use.' "Twilight, the important thing is to find your friends," interrupted Starfire. "My father will no doubt go after them. Where would they go?" Twilight thought for a minute. "Well, we planned for a potential escape. They're probably in one of the alleys-" Starfire was suddenly tackled by a white and red blur, and thrown to the ground. The blur resolved itself into a blood covered pegasus, with a straight blonde mane. She was holding a knife in the feathers of her right wing, and had an enraged look on her face. Starfire punched her with as much strength as possible, knocking the mare out. Twilight gasped, recognizing the mare. "That's Surprise! That must mean the others are nearby." As she said this, Twilight was hit with the full force of her sister, Firefly was followed by Ruby, Poesy, and Sparkler. After the reunion, Firefly came and looked curiously. "Who's this? I've never seen this armor before." Starfire reached up and pulled of the helmet of her armor and smiled at the group, who all recoiled in shock. "Is she going to turn us in?" asked Poesy. "Of course not!" yelled Starfire. "I can't go back there anyway, so what's the point of me taking you back?" 'Calm now, Starfire,' said Trinity, a calm expression on her face. 'You haven't told them yet. I understand you're in stress, but infighting won't help us in any way." "Fine." Starfire responded. "Now how are we getting past the guards?" ______________________________________________________________ After careful consideration, it was decided that Firefly and Surprise would fly the others out. Starfire, being too young and small to carry any of the others, would fly over watch. Soon, they were all out of the city and on their way. That is, until Ruby asked a question. "So, now that we're out of there, where are we going?" The entire group stopped, realizing the truth of that statement. Twilight had planned as far as the alleys, but never had she expected to actually escape! 'May I make a suggestion?' asked Trinity. Starfire looked at Twilight, who nodded the affirmative. 'Great. I was reading through some of your history, and noticed a safe haven that might be suitable. I believe it was called the Crystal Empire.' ___________________________________ Camazotz walked through the dungeons, still reeling from the events of earlier. His daughter had defended an EQUESTRIAN!!! He closed his eyes, once again seeing the blades of Starfire's armor piercing his wife's neck. He opened his eyes, looking at the door he was in front of. It was marked with an ancient Equestrian mark, specifically from the arcane language. Translated, it meant "Dark Necromancers". The Necromancers were devoted followers of Nightmare Moon, and were descended from the fifty or sixty unicorns who had joined the ancient rebellion. Before Camazotz could knock, the door was opened by an older unicorn stallion. His black coat, once beautiful, was now a dirty grey. Camazotz nodded and spoke: "Greetings, arch-mage Night Haunter. Is your master here?" "Of course," hissed Haunter. "He has been expecting you." "Good, then I will not keep him waiting," replied Camazotz, who walked towards the second door. It opened onto a normally dark room, but today was different. It glowed a hue of purple, the same color as a filly sized lump of dark energy. Standing above the lump stood a youthful looking stallion. His coat was also black, but was sleek and shiny. The pony turned, bowing to Camazotz. "Welcome, my lord. I hope that I can solve the problem with that... assassin who killed your wife." Camazotz sat. "Yes Grand Master Midnight. I think you can. What do you have for me?" Midnight gestured towards the pulsing mass. As Camazotz watched, it began to rise into the air gaining limbs and a horn. The glow finally resolved into a grey green filly, with a red and green striped mane. "Well, the assassin ran off like a thief. Who better to steal her back than the best thief known to our kind. And here she comes, here she comes... Starscream!" Midnight's laughter rang through the castle, spooking all who heard. Author's Note Ok, i have placed a reference to an old Transformers TV series in here. If no one finds it, I will be slightly disappointed. If you can name the EXACT series, i will give you my respect.
On the RunChapter 7: On the Run Starscream shuddered as she awoke. Her last memory was of being executed by Queen Nebular. Starscream had been only eight, but her skills as an assassin and thief were unmatched. As she stood, Camazotz smiled. "Yes, she'll do. Commendable job, Midnight." Midnight chortled and spoke to the filly. "Now, miss Starscream, I'll bet you want to know why you're here, hmm? We have a job for you." Starscream turned and phased into one of the watching mages. When she spoke, the voice of the mage rang out. "I am read. Tell me who thou wants dead." _____________________________________________ That night, the escapees slept in a small cave just south of the Bat Pony capital. Starfire watched the stars until fatigue finally overtook her, and she descended into a dream filled sleep. As she drifted, she didn't notice the descending fireball that impacted several miles away. *************************************** It was another memory,the last thing Starfire wanted to see that night. Captain Stone was wearing a shirt and jeans. He was standing in front of his armor, nodding his head. He looked into the visor, and Starfire finally saw his face. He appeared to be young, Starfire estimated, about Twilight's age. His eye were a bright green, and his close-shaven hair was a brownish-black. What disturbed Starfire, though, was his right eye. It was a black sphere, with a red light the center. A scar ran across the eye, explaining how it was lost. She would have looked more had a voice not caused her host to turn. "Hey, Noah? You in here Captain? We're going to start game night, but we have a tie. Ya wanna play Solitaire or Mortal Kom..." "Mortal Kombat." Said Stone, interrupting the other soldier. "We don't have Solitaire, Caleb." The other soldier just waved his hand and left. Starfire felt the memory ending, and braced herself for what was sure to be one hell of a morning. *********************************************** Starfire awoke to the blazing sun pouring into the cave. She was the last to awake for breakfast. Ruby had prepared what looked like soup, and the others were crowded around a small fire. When they noticed Starfire, the six mares fell quiet. Twilight reached for a brush, but Starfire grabbed it in her hoof. "No, Twilight, I can get it." Starfire began brushing her mane, noticing that her armor had retreated back into the amulet. Soon, she joined Twilight at the fire. After eating, the fire was put out and belongings packed. With a heavy heart, Starfire left her Shadowbolt costume behind. She knew it would only burden them if she overheated in it. About half an hour later, the group set off in the direction relayed by Trinity. ___________________________________________ "We're lost, aren't we?" It was a simple question, but everyone cringed at it. They'd been trekking for over a month, and not a single settlement had they passed. Poesy had only asked for Ruby, who was unable to ask for herself. Psychological stress, Trinity had called it. Her mind had been so damaged that she could barely speak. Her mind seemed fine, though. It was Surprise that worried them. Countless times, Surprise had indirectly threatened Starfire, using both word and image. When a bat pony scout had located them, Twilight simply tied him up. He had vanished later that night, and Surprise had been found shivering in a pool of blood. A set of hoof-prints led away, but they vanished at a cliff. As a result, Firefly had begun keeping a close watch on the white pegasus. Today was the same as always. They were wandering through the badlands, trying to find anywhere to hole up. When Starfire rounded a corner, she felt a spear pressed to her neck. A very deep voice accompanied it. "Now, don't you move a single hair, ya hear?" Starfire whispered the affirmative,and the stallion continued. "Good. Yer gonna tell yer friends to step out wit' their hooves up, and you won't say any more, got it?" Starfire nodded and spoke. "Twilight? Could you or Poesy step out here?" The spear immediately retracted, as though to strike. "Lying BITCH!!" yelled the stallion. "Poesy is still enslaved by you and your species, so DON'T TEST me..." The voice cut off as Poesy spoke. "Tex?" _____________________________________________ Tex and Poesy had been dating when he had vanished, but she kept it together in order to comfort Ruby. The twenty-six surviving escapees had begun a settlement in the Wastes, determined to help other escapees. However, Tex required Starfire to cover up her wings in beggars rags, so that the other townsfolk didn't kill her. The party spent several days in the town, aptly named Sanctuary. Eventually, though, they began planning to leave. Fortunately, Tex had offered to accompany them, if only to be with Poesy. Several weeks later, the band left Sanctuary, promising to tell whoever currently ruled the Crystal Empire about the town. Several days later, the band was camping in what appeared to be an old battlefield. Starfire was keeping watch over her sleeping friends, chatting with Trinity about what Mortal Kombat was. She proceeded to show the young mare a video clip of a championship match between a red ninja and a large brute of a man with a mask. Before the match finished, though, Starfire grabbed from behind. Looking behind her, she saw twenty to thirty Bat pony slavers. They proceeded to grab the others, herding them back to a camp. Poesy and Ruby were trembling in utter terror as the bats began whipping Tex into near unconsciousness. Before they could finish, a creature straight out of hell grabbed one of the slavers and stab it with a small blade that appeared disturbingly similar to the blades on Starfire's armor. Trinity began hyperventilating, or what AI do instead of hyperventilate. Starfire realized that it was the same creature from her dreams, the one Captain Stone referred to as "Vaht 'Lataowee". The creature descended on Starfire, screeching in a strange language. However, before it could continue, it was tackled by a young looking green pegasus stallion with a knife attached to his front hoof. The two began sparring as a strange bug-like creature with red eyes directed the mares and the half-conscious Tex to run. Starfire, however, activated her armor and charged the slavers. As she chased them off, she saw the green stallion go down. However, as she watched in horror, the stallion was enveloped in green fire. When the fire dissipated, Starfire got a glimpse at the most amazing thing she'd ever seen. The being was several heads shorter than the Elite, with black armor instead of blue. The helmet was similar to that of a royal guard's, with a gold visor. Upon its' chest was what looked like a crystal heart, with a red skull in the center. Starfire felt a sting on her side, and began to become woozy. As the green creature pulled out a blue blade of energy, Starfire recognized who it was. Captain Noah Stone, the soldier Trinity had showed her. Right after making the connection, Starfire blacked out. ____________________________________ When she awoke, Starfire realized that she was in a hospital bed. Sitting in front of the door, his back turned, was the green pegasus from before. He was talking to somepony nearby, but Starfire couldn't tell who. "Excuse me, sir, who are you? And where am I?" The stallion turned, revealing a blue pegasus standing next to him. He looked at Starfire and smiled. Trinity suddenly appeared, with a shocked expression. 'Prometheus? Is that you?' The blue pegasus smiled and nodded. The green stallion began speaking. "So, you're who Trinity was talking about in her broadcast. My name is technically Noah Stone, but that's a human name. Please, call me Northern Stone." Starfire gasped, and Stone continued. "You are in a medical station just inside Equestrian territory. You were hit with a poison dart, which somehow knocked both you and Trinity unconscious. You've been unconscious for about a week, but I can officially say that you're safe." "Where in Equestria are we?" Starfire asked. "And where are my friends?" Stone waited, then spoke. "Well, your friends are okay. Tex is slightly concussed, but he's the only majorly injured member of your party. As to your first question, you are now in the portion of territory commonly called the Crystal Empire." Author's Note This is by far the worst chapter so far. If you have problems with it, please tell me.
