War of the Worlds

Chapter 6 - Canterlot

When Twilight and her friends entered the city of Canterlot she noticed bodies lying in the road, their outlines softened by the black dust, all was still, houses locked, shops closed – but looters had helped themselves to wine and food, and outside the jewellers gold chains and watches had been spilled on the pavement. Although the windows of various buildings had been blown out, the damage to the city itself was surprising little. As they continued on they came across an impact crater with a cylinder lying empty in the centre, “this must have been the cylinder that Midnight had talked about” Twilight thought to herself.

They rounded the next corner only to find their way blocked by the fallen body of a fighting machine, it seemed to be heavily damaged and the green glass of the eye like windows had been smashed; one of the derogatorily dubbed ‘Martian’ pilots was hanging out of the damaged hood, dead. “Is it...dead?” Fluttershy squeaked; Twilight slowly approached the downed colossus and its dead operator; she stopped a few paces in front of it and studied it intently.

She could now see that the dark brown/black material that she had originally thought was the creatures skin was in fact a suit, there was a large metal tank strapped to its back; with two tubes running from the top of it into the ‘head’ of the suit, near the grate like thing that she presumed covered its mouth. Its two green, saucer shaped eyes had dimmed slightly, and then Twilight noticed that two jagged shards of glass from the window had pierced the suit somewhere near the creatures abdomen, likely killing it. As she approached further she noticed a small pool of blue liquid on the ground near the Martian body, Twilight sniffed it and said “Blood, but not pony blood”.

“They may bleed a different colour to us, but they still bleed, I wonder what they look like under those suits?” Midnight mused aloud.

“Hey, what’s that?” Rainbow Dash asked pointing at a splattered trail of the blood leading away from the fighting machine and into a shop beside it. The group followed the trail and entered the shop, the lights were off so the place was dim; as Twilight looked around she could see that it was a boutique. There were all manner of stunningly spectacular cloths, many of them stained with blue. They followed the trail to the back of the shop where they found, propped up against the back wall, a Martian, wounded but still very much alive.

As soon as they were in sight its two green eyes locked onto them and a puff of green smoke came from the grate over its mouth, “is it alive?” Fluttershy squeaked from behind Twilight.

“I think so” Twilight said, before approaching it further, the Martian studied her, “can you understand me?” Twilight asked it slowly, the Martian just stared at her with those luminous green – disk like eyes, and if it felt anything at all it didn’t show it. Twilight then noticed the growing pool of blood forming around where the Martian lay; and the piece of green glass that was sticking out of its abdomen, she turned back to her friends and said “I think its hurt pretty bad”, just then the Martian made a gurgling sound and its ‘head’ fell forwards, the eyes diming.

“It’s dead, we should move on” Midnight said before turning around and walking out of the shop, his tone seemed to indicate that he was upset, Twilight followed him and witnessed him buck the fighting machine hard with his hind legs, his hooves made a loud clang and dented the gleaming surface, but this seamed only to infuriate him further.

“Midnight” Twilight said softly, Midnight looked up and saw the lilac mare standing in the doorway and the rage in his blue eyes melted away as he looked at the ground.

“Twilight I….I didn’t mean to….I wanted to….” Midnight stammered still not looking up at her.

Twilight approached him and put a comforting hoof on his shoulder and asked softly, “Midnight what’s wrong?” Midnight looked up at her touch and Twilight noticed just how beautiful his eyes were, they weren’t the deep blue of most guards, his were a light watery blue, and Twilight found herself lost in them.

“I should have been ready Twilight” Midnight said, “I should have done something, I should have been able to do something…anything, I should have stopped those buckers in Ponyville!” Midnight said shaking with anger.
“Midnight, it’s not your fault, no pony could have predicted the attack” Twilight said comfortingly. Midnight looked up and stammered.
“I wanted to protect Equestria, I wanted to protect y….you.”

Twilight felt her heart pound in her chest, “m..me?” she stammered, privately she thought, ‘is he saying what I think he’s saying’.

Midnight looked at her, right into her violet eyes and said “Twilight, I know that I’ve only known you for a couple of weeks, and there hasn’t been time for us to properly get to know one another…but…I care about you Twilight, I really do”. Then he kissed her, Twilight didn’t even have time to process what he had just said before she felt his lips meet hers, at first she didn’t know what was happening, and then she began to kiss him back, enjoying the feeling of his lips on hers.

When they broke the kiss Twilight spent a few minutes with her eyes closed, remembering the feeling, the taste, the smell, and the feeling that for a few glorious minutes she wasn’t in a war torn city, under attack by creatures that used technology immeasurably superior to theirs. When she finally opened her eyes; she found herself looking deep into Midnights watery blue eyes and only a single word escaped her lips “wow”.

Then she heard giggling behind her and turned around to see Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Applejack looking at them from the doorway, they both blushed a deep crimson and looked away as Pinkie continued to giggle.
Soon after the group set off for Canterlot castle, Twilight and Midnight walking slightly behind the mane group, side by side, their tail’s slightly intertwined.