//------------------------------// // Steel Clad // Story: The Cold of Winter // by Fedora //------------------------------// Medley found herself shoved suddenly, in an event that startled her into alertness. How long had she been resting there? She lowered her head again, hoping to get some more rest before it was time to go. A second shove ripped her totally from her slumber, and she stood up angrily to confront whoever kept prodding her. “Come on!” a voice shouted, “We have to leave!” “Alright,” she mumbled, “I’m up, I’m up. Don’t rush me.” “No, we have to rush! We’re under attack!” Medley was physically pulled into a trot by Derpy, who was following after Lyra. Medley found her own hooves and broke into a fast gallop of her own. There weren’t any more Synax floating about, nor were loud alarms blaring as she would have expected. The normally white walls were now flashing bright scarlet in a sign of alarm. She wondered at first where all of the others had gone. Lyra was at the head of the group, and barrelled down the adjacent hall at full throttle. There wasn’t space for either of the pegasi to fly to match her speed on hoof. Somewhere behind Medley she heard the first sound indicating the attack. Something crashed behind her in the distance, and she made out the sound of broken glass hitting the floor. A ceiling panel dropped down in front of Lyra and a series of plastic tubes hung loose. Not wanting to slow, she parted them with her magic and ran through the center, leaving it open just enough for Derpy and Medley. The parts of the complex they were running through bore the signs of a conflict. Blackened scorch marks from the discharge of energy weapons covered walls and freshly made rubble dotted the ground. By now Lyra had gotten a bit too much distance ahead of the others. She rounded a sharp corner and disappeared, with Derpy and Medley trying to play catch-up still. When Derpy reached the corner seconds later, she nearly crashed into a wide-eyed Lyra. Medley skidded to a halt ungracefully, and felt her hooves fall out from under her as she hit her side. A gray hoof pulled her back up. “Other way!” she shouted, “Go! Go now!” The three ponies dashed back the way they had come. The sound of clanking, metallic hooves echoed from the direction they were now fleeing. In the background, a mechanical voice could be heard giving orders. Derpy was now at the back of the fleeing trio and shot a backwards glance to where they had just been. Bulky silver ponies with hollow eye sockets now filled that end of the corridor, marching in pursuit. They couldn’t go back to the rec room, or they’d be trapped. Instead, Lyra took them in a loop that would lead toward the control center. Hopefully, the Synax had rallied there and they’d be able to get behind some defenses. Something bright ricocheted off the wall just above Derpy’s head. She saw a blackened streak from some sort of energy weapon. Another bolt struck the ground near her hooves and made her jump mid-gallop, nearly tripping over her own legs. They passed by the elevator-like opening, and Lyra tried to recall the way back to the control center. The trouble was, each corridor was so similar that she couldn’t tell which led where. From somewhere up ahead, weapons fire could be heard. Smoke filled the far end of the current passage, and it was impossible to tell what lie beyond. Lyra stopped. She heard metallic clanking again, and not just from behind. The shadowy silhouettes of armored bodies and the unmistakable bars on each side of the head appeared amid the smoke. They couldn’t go on that way either. “We’re trapped!” Medley cried, seeing the new squad of cyberponies coming from up ahead while the echoing noises of the ones in pursuit grew louder. They were trapped indeed, in a narrow hallway with no way out. Lyra scanned the ceiling, hoping to see the passage from before that led deeper into the complex but appeared to be above. It wasn’t here. A thought struck her. “Everypony, quick- to that elevator.” Though no buttons appeared on the wall like a traditional elevator, the doors slid open when the nearest pony- in this case Medley- approached. The Cyberponies who had been pursuing them were in sight now, leveling their weapons. “Over here!” a voice shouted. Both groups of Cyberponies turned their attention to the smoky haze, where a tall curly-maned pony stood. Using the Doctor’s momentary distraction, Derpy and Lyra jumped through the open doors. **** The air was freezing. The space they now occupied looked like a room made out of timbers, and was dark. Cracks of light poured in through gaps in the wooden walls. Derpy tried to move about, only to find something cold and metal blocking her way. “Lyra, some light?” Lyra’s horn revealed a set of haphazardly placed garden tools, and a wheelbarrow with half a load of dirt still sitting inside. In the corner of this space were several burlap sacks, and one of them was spilling out seeds onto the cold soil beneath their hooves. “This looks like a garden shed.” Derpy marveled. “What’s a garden shed, and why is it in this elevator?” Medley snipped, ducking her head down. “You don’t have garden sheds in Cloudsdale? How do you grow vegetables?” “We don’t.” Medley replied. Being the first one to get into this space, she was also the first one to try to find the door. Upon opening it natural, albeit dim sunlight illuminated the inside of the garden shed and revealed the outside world. Unlike the somewhat rocky surface of the planet they were on, this place was like a backyard in Ponyville. Snow was piled up a good six inches all around, and didn’t look like it had been disturbed save for a few rabbit tracks stopping at a hole in the wooden fence around the yard. The three stepped out. The first thing anypony noticed was that on the other side of the garden shed was a snow-covered forest as deep as any of them could see. No corridors, no burn marks, and certainly no Cyberponies. “W-what is this then, some kind of trick?” Medley stammered, “What’s going on?” “I… er.. I think we’ve been transported.” said Derpy, “There must have been a teleporter or something inside that room, not an elevator.” “But where to?” wondered Lyra. She stepped into the yard, making tracks in the undisturbed snow. The two pegasi stretched their wings, flying up over the roof of the small cottage the yard belonged to. Spread out before them was a little street with a few houses, adjacent to a much longer street that led into the center of town with a close cluster of snow-covered roofs. “We’re in some kind of village,” Derpy hollered down to Lyra, “Looks like Equestria.” They swooped back down for a landing. Derpy was quick to got to the garden shed once more, opening the door to make sure that no Cyberponies had appeared. “That’s really weird,” she said upon finding an empty shed, “Why would it take us back home? How did it know to do that?” Medley shivered. The freezing air was starting to really set in, and the dim sky promised that night would soon be upon them. As puzzling as the transporter had been and still was, they had to get somewhere warm. She didn’t need to voice it. Lyra and Derpy both shook and shuddered from the chill. They moved around to the front of the cottage. No lights were on inside, nor did any smoke rise from the chimney. Medley made her way to the door and knocked on the brass knocker several times, waiting for a response. None came. “I… uh… guess we should try somewhere else?” she suggested. The others seemed to agree. The nearest house down the street was also darkened and lacked chimney smoke. The yard was devoid of tracks in the snow. The ponies looked up and down the snow-covered road and noticed that there were no hoofprints other than their own in the snow, and no carriage ruts. Nopony had been through since the snow had fallen. After having tried the door, Medley started to get the sinking feeling that something was going on. The adjacent street was similarly devoid of any signs of life. The ponies continued onward at a quickened rate, hoping to find some sign of the town’s inhabitants in the center of town. They couldn’t all be gone. “This is really strange,” admitted Lyra, “What are we gonna do if there’s nopony around at all in the entire town?” Medley looked skyward. It had grown even darker by now, and the flakes of snow falling were growing larger and heavier. “Probably we should camp out in some space that isn’t a house, like the public library or post office or something.” Derpy shook her head. “What, you disagree?” “No,” said Derpy, “That’s not it. It’s just really weird. I don’t like it.” **** In a remote part of Whitetail Woods, an army of Changelings was swelling in numbers. Little over a week prior the invasion force had been a scattering of tents, but now a greater part of the forest’s center was teeming with life. A series of heavily guarded campsites contained the bulk of Changeling troops. Their attack would occur very soon. The innermost in the network of camps belonged to the royals and the senior officers. A group of ten changelings and one disheveled-looking equinoid gathered around a table upon which a map of Canterlot was laid out. “If we take Coltchester by night and house them there for a fortnight, both Hearth’s Warming and the New Year celebrations will be finished.” pitched one of the Generals, “The night before our full-scale invasion we’ll post a quarter of our total attack force here and here. That way there will be no way in or out of the city for the ponies.” “I like the plan,” the Wolf said from the other side, “But if your majesty will allow…” “Go on, let’s hear it.” “I would suggest that it would be wiser to invade during the first blizzard after Hearth’s Warming, even if it’s before the New Year. The snow will prove a greater tactical advantage than you think. From the ground it provides more of a hindrance than it does from the air, so you will have the upper hoof over the Royal Guard in that respect.” The discussions continued late into the night. The Generals and the Wolf were not on the same wavelength, and each time one would suggest a course of action the other would try to change something crucial to the plan. They were making progress, but very slowly. At some point very early in the morning, the King felt his eyes growing heavy. They were planning to move their forces as a whole tomorrow, and he wanted to be fully rested and in his right mind. “Let’s halt discussion until we reach Coltchester.” he said. The time was 3:00 AM. Some heads nodded in agreement. The Generals were getting tired as well. The Wolf leaned against his blue box in the corner of the tent. As the military changelings and the royals left for their bunks, he smirked to himself. Opening the doors to his time machine, he disappeared inside.