Rise

A story by somedude726

RISE

Chapter 11: The Fight Begins

Sarge took a look through the binoculars, getting a better view of the mountains in the distance. Setting it to full zoom, he noticed something that he couldn't mistake, something you'd see in a fairy tale-- it was a large, colorful castle up on the side of one of the mountains. With several spirals going up into the air, gold all around, windows with a size enough for a giant, Sarge couldn't even comprehend the sight. "Why is there a castle? Do they still make castles?"

It didn't stop there, however. Around the outskirts, almost hidden from the size of the castle, were houses. Buildings. It was as if there was an entire town around the castle up there. Being so far away, he couldn't tell for sure, but Sarge could've sworn the roofs were thatched, and looked somewhat medieval. It went together with the fact that there was a castle, but, why? Sarge and his squad were past the times of medieval, by thousands of years. At the closest edge of the town, the one facing the squad, Sarge barely made out what seemed to be a small, wooden station. Taking a moment to examine it, he could tell something was going on. What it was, he didn't know. But it didn't look good.

Shaking his head, he gave Johnson the binoculars back and sighed. Sarge knew now, they had to get answers, fast. He found himself questioning many, many things, including where on Earth they could be, if they were on Earth at all. He felt as if his own sanity was going out rapidly, and it didn't help at all.

"Alright. Let's just get to that cottage, squad. Castle is now secondary objective, that's Zone Bravo. Move out..."

Discord flew to the skies above Canterlot. He had finally finished making his plans, setting up his army. In just a few moments, the city would be just a pile of ashes. He smiled, thinking of it all. Discord had been planning this for years, years of being in that horrible stone prison of his. Queen Chrysalis had finally come to his aid, one faithful day. She came in the disguise of Princess Celestia, and removed the damned thing. This happened just a few months before Discord started to pull off his plan. The weeks after his release were spent fabricating the lie that Discord never escaped, and setting up execution. Discord, and Chrysalis were both pleased and astounded as Discord had used his chaos magic, and successfully found another universe, much like their own. This universe was one in which Equestria was in a futuristic time, with ponies riding carts that flew on their own, machines that could control the weather without the work of pegasi, and countless other new things. But no, it wouldn't work. Discord knew what he was looking for, he was looking for a world that was different. That wasn't Equestria. A different species than ponykind. Might as well go all in with this new magic, right?

Discord searched universes as if it was nothing. He and Chrysalis stood in a large, dark tent with a pool taking up most of the space. This pool, on the outside just looked like normal water for anypony to just jump in, but it was not. Discord created the pool in order to look into any other worlds that are out there. He would summon a birds-eye view of random coordinates from different worlds into the pool, and it would show. It wouldn't be known, of course. Discord took extra caution to make sure there was no way that the view would be visible to the different worlds.

It took him long, weeks, a month even. But Discord finally found something that pleased him. It was a world similar, yet not at all to their own. The planet was called Earth, just like their own. It was populated by a species called 'Human'. They were intelligent, could speak, and had advanced technology. After some research, Discord found this world had extreme amounts of his favorite little thing... chaos, of course. What sold him on this world was the wars, the one going on in its present to be specific. The events that appeared throughout the years of the fight struck him as interesting. Very, very interesting.

After finding information about the wars, and the Human Earth, Discord knew it'd work. He began work on how he would summon the creatures from the world. The soldiers who would put everything on the line for their nation. The protectors. The fighters. The brave 'people' who would do anything for their families. They would help, for sure.

The days after finding Human Earth were ultimately successful. Discord was able to summon objects from the world, food, books, and some of their technology. It was less than a week before the day he would make his attempt at overtaking Canterlot that he finally tried summoning a Human. Discord didn't try soldiers yet, just anyone would do, to see if it would work. And, well, in short, it did.

***

Celestia circled around the human, standing before her in the train station of Canterlot. "Is this our final dance?" he asked her, moments before. Was it? Is this all? How it ends?

The human put up his arms and moved the extra digits into a ball. He backed away, and moved around the Queen of the land.

"I don't know what the fuck you are. But I know you are dangerous. To me, to Equestria, and to yourself. You might be the Princess, or the Queen, but really, I don't give a shit," he began.

Celestia raised an eyebrow as to where he was going with this, still circling around him.

"If you make yourself out to be a threat to..." he looked around, seeing ponies watching from a distance. Some hiding, some covering their children's eyes. "...anypony here, or myself, I'll show you what humans can do. I don't care if you lead this place, I will do whatever it takes to protect these good ponies."

The Changelings that ran with the Queen readied for attack. Crouching down on their hooves, they glared daggers into Jason. He, to put it in something he would say, didn't give a shit.

"So now, what will I do? I will show no fucking mercy. For what you, yes, YOU, done to me, and my planet!" he shouted, causing Celestia to flinch back.

"You, you did it didn't you? You're the reason I'm here, right? You... you're the reason all my friends and family are living in a hellhole right now, aren't you?" Jason stopped, and waved a finger in Celestia's face, and awaited a response.

"You'd be half-right, I guess." Celestia smirked, and said back.

"Oh, half right? Then that's good enough for me. Do you know what happened where I'm from? You do, right?" Jason crossed his arms, and slowly walked closer to the tracks, as he heard a distant roar.

"Okay, so, first of all, I've lost family to your shit." he didn't give Celestia a chance to reply. "Oh yeah, I did. So much crap has happened, I mean, where do I start..."

Celestia attempted to protest, but Jason stopped her before she could say anything. "Haha, no, fuck you. You will speak when I give you permission. I'm talking right now."

The roar got closer, as he spoke. Celestia could hear it, and so could the ponies. Jason stood right on the edge, now, facing Celestia.

"But y'know, maybe now isn't a good time. I've gotta go. I think I have a good amount of answers, now. I'll back, Celestia. I will see you again." Jason spread his arms, and... stood. He did nothing. Waited.

And waited.

Until the source of the roar from the tracks came into sight. "Adios!"

***

Okay, let's fucking do this! The train flew down the tracks, and didn't stop. Good, whoever was driving this train realized it's a good idea to keep moving. Hopefully this train was going to Ponyville. There's some ponies I have to talk to, and god knows what other places there are. Ponyville was the least dangerous place I can go right now.

I spun around, and got a good look at it. It of course, was somewhat small, for the ponies I'd assume. Really, it just looked like the last one I was on. Orange, and small. It had a metal edge, and right over that was a small indent leading to the flat roof of the train. Well, it's now or never!

I bent my legs slightly and jumped as high as I could, towards the train. The wind of the train speeding down hit my face, and sorta only added to the cold I already felt. The orange train's speed was spectacular, if I actually do this without dying or something that'd be a hell of a feat.

I extended my arms, and reached to the edge. And, I goddamn grabbed it. Hanging on the side of the train, it left the station and onto the tracks of the mountain. It went down a slant, and from what I could tell, leaded to Ponyville. With the rain and sharp winds, it was nowhere near what I'd call easy to stay on. My fingers kept slipping, before reflex kicked in and I grabbed back onto the railing. I could barely make out through blurred view the faces of many, many surprised ponies.

Looking to my right, I seen Celestia now chasing the train, flying, but I already had a head start. Seeing this, I realized I need to move. I pushed my arms up, as my body started gaining enough height to get to the top. I pushed a leg up and on the indent, and picked the rest of my weight up and over. I slid on top, and stumbled a bit before getting my feet straight. Huh. I'm standing on top of a speeding train trying to get the fuck away from a crazy Princess pony. And she's going to chase me. When did I decide to star in an action movie?

Celestia landed on the train and moved closer to me. "YOU ARE AT FAULT FOR RUNNING, HUMAN! GIVE ME THE ELEMENTS, OR WE WILL KILL YOU!" she screamed, taking slow steps.

"We!? Who's we!? I don't see any of your precious subjects with-- oh, you mean those.. oh." So she did have some sort of backup. A lot of backup. Remember those bug pony things with the blue eyes? Yeah, apparently they also come in hordes.

Hundreds of the damned things flew up behind Celestia, and stayed in the air, glaring at me. Again. 'Shiiiiiit.'

"These are Changelings... the army of Queen Chrysalis. Tell us the location of the Elements, and you don't need to see what they can do!" she shouted again.

"Screw you am I telling you where they are! Throw as many of these Shitlings at me as you want, I'm getting the hell out of here! I don't care how long it takes, or what I'll have to do, but I'm going back to Earth! This isn't Earth, this is NOT how things happen!" I shot back.

Celestia shook her head in dismay, and signaled for one of the Changelings to move in front of me. It didn't exactly seem hostile just yet, so I only took a step back. Was that a stupid idea? Dunno, probably.

And now for the most odd thing I've seen here yet. The Changeling stood up on its hind legs, and started to... morph. The forelegs extended outwards, grew slimmer, and its color changed to one resembling mine or Daniel's. Human skin color. The hind legs did the same thing, longer and looked like a human leg. The forelegs then grew fucking hands, fingers and everything, as the rest of its body changed. The torso grew higher to make it seem like a bipedal, as then clothes just materialized onto the legs and torso. Familiar clothes. The body looked familiar to an extent, too. But then, the head of the Changeling finished the transformation. What'd it change to? As should be somewhat obvious at this point, it just went and changed into a human. But who?

It... oh god, it was her. The girl from earlier. She hadn't said much, and I hadn't said anything to her. She just stood next to Daniel, and Matthew, not doing anything. Looking away. But now, she was different. Worse.

Her clothes were ragged and dirty. She didn't have her shoes, and as such her bare feet were wet and cut. Her hair flew in the wind, before getting patted back down by rain. She slowly stepped forward, wobbling in each stride.

"A.. Amy..?" I asked.

She looked up to me with sad eyes, and frowned. Oh god.

"Jay.. help me.. I want to go home.." she responded, walking closer. Oh no...

"I get it. You want me to sympathize with her, before she eats me or whatever, right? This isn't Amy... right?" I looked past Amy, only to find that Celestia and the horde of Changelings disappeared. Oh.

"Jason... please..." she started tearing up, and kept moving closer to me until she was right in front of me. She hung her head, and I only wanted to do something... help her...

Help the girl...

She needs you...

you need her...

Uh.

HELP THE GIRL...

SHE NEEDS YOU...

YOU NEED HER...

What the fuck?

DO SOMETHING, JASON!

I'm fucking done. I'm hearing voices now. Nope. Nope nope nope. Nope. Noooope.

"I'm so sorry." I whispered, before spinning right around and running once again.

Where are you going? Are you just going to leave her in the cold?

Tears came to my eyes, now. The train was moving straight, going through a pathway on the mountain. Ponyville was in sight. I hoped I was close, but I really couldn't tell.

SELFISH! You only want to help yourself! You won't help your closest friends! You can't protect them, you can't be there for them!

The wind picked up as I ran even faster on the now-getting slippery train. Why am I hearing voices!?

You can't help anyone! You can't do anything! You won't go home! If you do, you will just die! What makes you think the blue pony will take you back!? You know nothing of this world! It's a false hope!

I kept running. Just three more cars and I'll be at the front. No looking back now!

Who are you, Jason? A man, or nothing?

"IT'S NOT HER! IT'S NOT HER!" I screamed, at the top of my lungs. It echoed throughout the mountains as I reached the end of the train. I couldn't go anywhere, now. I fell to my knees, and clutched my head.

How do you know that? Do you not remember there is magic here? She could have been teleported for all you know! It was her!

"NO!"

My head burned with the pain of a thousand knives, as the voice kept speaking. I couldn't take it. This was too much. Too damn much. Why was this happening? Am I finally going crazy? Was that actually Amy back there?

"Jason... is that you? Oh my god, what's going on?"

I heard her voice again behind me. I looked behind me, and seen, well, her. Amy, or something in her body, looked at me worried. She looked more or less the same, ragged dirty clothes, cuts all over, but she had shoes on this time. They were still tied, but not as neatly as she usually would tie them.

"I... I was at my house... then the TV started working for a second... but it felt like it was talking to me..." she began. I stayed facing forward.

"Wh-whoever it was, said I'm going to a place called Equestria... and I just woke up here. Why are we on a train? Where are we? What's going on?"

"I don't know."

***

Echo Squad found themselves alive after the inevitable blast. They awoke in a small house, a cottage of sorts. The cottage was fully intact, in no way damaged. The squad was littered all over, one found themselves in the bathroom, one spread out on the kitchen table, one underneath the coffee table, etc.

"Echo? Anyone here?"

"Echo-Two... on the kitchen counter..."

"Echo-Three-- FUCK, MY HEAD!"

"ECHO-FOUR IN THE BATHROOM!"

"Echo-Five, reportin' for duuu-- is that a bunny?"

"Echo-Six here. Anyone know why the fuck I'm on the ceiling fan?"

Echo-One stood up from being on the railing leading upstairs. Everyone seemed to be downstairs, except for Echo-Four and Echo-Five. "What happened?" was all he could think. Standing on a stair, he took his radio out from a pocket and started speaking into it.

"All Units, this is Echo-One. Can you read me? I am alive. Five others of Echo Squad are also well. We need evac, now. Cannot pinpoint location. Over." he spoke, and waited.

"Ah yeah, I tried that. Got some static, but no--" Echo-Four began, as he left the bathroom.

"Echo-One-Actual! Fuckin' hell! This is Alpha-Ten-Actual speaking! Where are you guys? Alpha-Five, Six, Seven, Eight and Nine are with me, but we're in the middle of batshit nowhere. About to move into a small cottage, over."

"Are you kidding me!?"

"Alpha-Ten-Actual, we are in a small, very colorful house. There are animals all over the area. Rabbits, birds, you name it. Compass is giving me nothing, and I can't get coordinates. Other than that, we have no idea. Marking this Zone Alpha, we're about to move out, over."

"Copy that Echo-One-Actual. Moving into the cottage now, over and out."

***

"Target is on train, moving to Zone Bravo-One, Ponyville. Who's that with him?"

"Didn't the Changeling morph into her?"

"Yeah, but we're standing down for a minute, remember? The Changeling shouldn't be there."

"Maybe Discord finally made her meet Jason again. He was always 'waiting for the right moment' to wake her up."

"True. Wonder if he'll meet the rest soon?"

"What? Of course not."

"Well hey, I don't know what's going on. I just do what I'm told."

"I still sort of think we shoulda backed out on this one..."

"Whatever... you heard the man. I think he's a man, anyway, never seen the guy. He said there's a nice reward in it for us. Take the shot, Alpha-Two."