06 - Moments in Time
Week 5, Tuesday-Friday
“C’mon Flare! I’ve seen Marines fresh out of boot do better than that!” Sergeant John Heinrich shouted.
“Sshut it! I’m a proud member of Her Mejeshty Celeshtia’s Royal Guard!” Flare bellowed incoherently before falling to the floor in a clatter of armor.
Heinrich shook his head, before taking the filled shot glass and tossing back the shot. “Fucking lightweight,” he laughed as he put away the bottle of Jameson, “he only put away three goddamned shots.” The Marine then realized the other problem that had presented itself. “Ah crap, now I gotta drag your sorry ass back to your room, fuck me.”
Twenty minutes later, Heinrich had managed to drag the unconscious captain back to the room set aside for the ponies on the trip. The room’s other occupant looked up as the human entered the room.
“So, how is he?” The pony’s English was halting, but a definite improvement over four days ago when they’d met.
Once again, Heinrich was taken aback by how smart these ponies were. Sure, he couldn’t remember how long it’d taken him to learn words, but it hadn’t been a week and a half, that much he was certain of. “Three shots and no vomiting this time at least.”
Captain Shimmer whistled. “Better than last time.”
Heinrich nodded. “One of these times he might even be able to stay awake!” The two shared a laugh as Heinrich heaved the passed out captain onto his bunk. Flare didn’t even move, only letting out a rasping snore as Heinrich shook his head in amusement.
It had been like this for the past four days while the task force assigned to the USNS Comfort made its way down to Brazil to assist in rebuilding Rio and the other cities damaged by the fighting. The rebel army units had overwhelmed those still loyal to President Henriques within five days of deserting; though no sign of the former President could be found. The common theory was that he’d either been crushed beyond recognition when the Presidential Residence had collapsed, or that he’d skipped town into one of the remaining friendly countries nearby. The military had turned over command to the emerging Free Brazil Council, and had returned to Rio to root out the favela gangs in two more days of bitter fighting. The city was a ruined mess, but the gangs had been wiped out or gone into hiding.
The task force had picked up the Equestrians and their strange cargo at Panama, the crew initially confused by only receiving one pegasus, one unicorn and a large box. Word came down from the brass that more ponies would be arriving once they reached Rio, though no details were given on how.
“So when will we ar… arrive? Is that word?” Shimmer frowned as he struggled to remember the words he’d been drilling on to be able to communicate.
“Yea, you got it.” Heinrich found it both hilarious and adorable that the little bastards were trying so hard. “Well, I’m gonna head out, make sure to point Flare to the bathroom when he wakes up.” The two laughed again as the human walked out of the room.
…
“You understand why this must be done, yes? The merciful God in His wisdom put Man upon this earth to govern it and all that walk upon it. For another species to hold itself as Man’s equal is blasphemy against His will.” The speaker’s voice was soft, yet carried an undeniable weight of authority.
The figure kneeling on the floor lifted his eyes to try and make eye contact, only for the robed figure to step further into the shadows of the darkened church. Ducking his head in apology, the young man continued staring at a point on the floor. “I… I understand Father. I will do as you ask.”
“Good. Here, take this.” A heavy envelope fell to the floor. “While true men of God need not worldly things, we understand your situation well. Upon successful completion of your task, you will receive the other half of your payment.”
The young man opened the envelope with shaking fingers, to reveal a series of folded bills. Counting them swiftly, he stuffed the envelope into his backpack. Rising to his feet, he clasped his hands together and bowed to the priest. “I thank you for this opportunity to serve the Lord. May His Will be done.”
“In His name we pray. And again, I am deeply sorry for your loss. But remember my son, the pain of this world is but passing compared to the everlasting glory that will be yours in Heaven. Go with God, my son.” The young man nodded and left the church. Once he was sure the boy was gone, the shadowed figure took out a phone and dialed a number. Once the buzzing stopped, he spoke only four words, “The bush is burning.” He then quickly took the phone apart, removed a small chip from it and ground it underfoot. Turning, he hurried through the building to the back door, slipping into the maze of alleys that made up the bulk of the favela.
…
“C’mon now, easy does it… and there, that’s perfect!” Flare shouted as the forklift gently set the box down in the middle of the open space on the dock. A crude chalk outline formed a broad circle approximately sixty feet in diameter. A Marine came forward with a crowbar, but Flare waved him off with a hoof. “I’ll take it from here, if you’d all take a few steps back.” The unicorn’s horn lit with a fiery orange glow that reached out to envelop the box. With a series of snaps and pops, the nails were all yanked out and deposited in a neat pile to the side. Flare could hear the human’s muttering in awe and allowed the barest trace of a smile to cross his muzzle as he floated the box sections away and stacked them neatly, exposing the contents to the humid air.
The Beacon Stone stood proudly, all twelve feet of it seeming as polished as the day it was made despite its age. Flare trotted a slow circle around it, making sure everything was in place before looking to the assembled Marines.
“I’d take a few more steps back, and don’t look directly at it.” Once the humans had complied, some nervously shielding their eyes, Flare turned back to the stone. His horn lit again as he cantered forward and touched a rune in the shape of a winged spiral. The stone suddenly thrummed, a subsonic vibration causing the Marines to cringe as ground itself began to quiver. The other runes suddenly flared a bright, painful azure and the Marines realized that the light was actually projecting the shapes onto the ground, forming a large, intricate pattern. With a sonorous boom a beam of light shot into the sky, fading from view in seconds. The Marines started to relax when suddenly the air split with a series of thunderous bangs, a flurry of beams of light descending onto the different runes. The air reeked of ozone and crackled with power as the beams resolved themselves into the shapes of ponies. Once the light faded, an earth pony stallion trotted over to the exhausted Flare, giving him a friendly smile.
“Heavy Lifter of Canterlot Civil Construction at your service!” the brown coated stallion brushed some of his yellow hair out of his eyes. “Gotta tell ya, I think next time we’ll just walk.” Everypony present started laughing uproariously while Heavy leaned in toward Flare. “What do ya think’s bothering them?”
Flare turned to see the Marines all staring open-mouthed at the sight of one hundred twenty ponies appearing out of thin air. “Dunno… They’ve likely not seen a mass teleport on this scale. I’ve only heard rumors of the Beacon Stones myself.”
Looking around, Heavy finally started appreciating the scale of both the city and the work that was ahead of him and his crew. “These humans don’t mess around, do they? I heard this was all done in just a few days?”
Flare nodded. “That’s what I’ve heard, anyway.”
Heavy whistled. “Well, we’re here now, so it’s up to us to show em how ponies get it done! ALRIGHT CREW, LISTEN UP! REMEMBER WHAT THEY TOLD US BACK IN CANTERLOT! STAY TOGETHER, DON’T WANDER OFF, AND YOU FOLLOW ANY ORDERS GIVEN BY ME, YOUR TEAM LEAD OR A GUARDPONY. UNDERSTOOD?” A chorus of assents was shouted back at him and he nodded proudly.
Flare smiled, “Alright then, I’ll leave them in your capable hooves.” He turned and trotted over to where the Guards were formed up into a tight group, Captain Shimmer speaking with them. The unicorns broke ranks and reformed in front of him, ears turned forward in anticipation. “Alright, I know everypony heard this from General Dusk, but I’m going to say it again. These CCC ponies are our responsibility while we’re here. I’ve been told that the risk is minimal, but we’re in an unknown place so as far as we are concerned anypony who’s not dressed like them,” he pointed a hoof to the Marines, “are to be treated with caution. Keep your eyes peeled and magic to a minimum, we don’t want to hurt anypony out of hoof.” The unicorns all nodded and dispersed amongst the CCC workers, while Flare trotted over to where Sergeant Heinrich was finally getting his mouth closed. “Everything alright?”
Heinrich shook his head. “Not particularly, I just watched a laser light show drop over a hundred ponies out of the sky. How exactly does that thing work anyway?” He pointed to the Beacon Stone, which had lost its glow and once more looked like a carved rock.
“I’m not sure what your word for it would be, but we call them the ‘Beacon Stone’. The stories I’ve heard tell that somepony who has both can travel from one to the other instantly, like you saw now.”
“Damn, that’s pretty crazy.” Heinrich turned to the other Marines. “Alright, I want a twenty-four hour detail on this thing. No one comes near it without my permission, no exceptions. Do I make myself clear?”
“SIR YES SIR!” The assembled Marines shouted.
…
Miguel was tense as the two ponies finished setting the wall into place. One bent down and picked up a hammer while the other positioned a nail with its hoof. With a swing of its head the first one struck the nail firmly, allowing the second to release it. A few minutes later the last nail was hammered in and the wall finished, the two working together seamlessly. With what could only be a cheer, they clapped a forehoof together much like a high five. As they trotted past him, one smiled at him and stopped, muzzle working oddly for a few seconds before it spoke.
“Hi!”
Miguel simply stared at the pony, his expression blank. After a few seconds the pony’s smile grew strained and it shrugged with an apologetic look on its muzzle as it hurried after its companion.
“Fucking abominations.” He muttered to himself, though for a second he couldn’t feel the same hatred he’d had in the days after Marina died. It had been a favela gang’s RPG that blew the building up with her inside, but that didn’t help as he’d cradled her broken body in his arms. He’d seen the ponies as a threat before, but Marina had always chastised him for thinking that, quoting him passages from the Bible to counter every verse he’d cited. That God would choose to take her over him made no sense, and he’d wandered aimlessly in his grief for days. He’d sought solace in prayer, and that was when he’d found one of the few churches to survive the attacks. The priest had comforted him, and reminded him that he must rise above his grief. Above all, he could not lose sight of his convictions and his faith. The favela gangs were a scourge and deserved to be eliminated, but the far greater threat was the non-humans trying to insinuate themselves into society. When word came that the abominations would be trying to come to Brazil the priest had asked Miguel if he would be willing to strike them a blow to remind them that not all men were spineless cowards, and Miguel had immediately accepted. They had spent hours planning, figuring out how to strike the blow to have the maximum effect. The knowledge that the United States was sending Marines put a damper on how much they could effect, but he could still pull off a strike.
All that was left was for him to select his target.
…
“Great work today Tall Beam! At this rate your team’s gonna have your sector done ahead of anypony else.” Heavy smiled and cuffed his youngest team leader on the shoulder.
The crimson mare blew some of her light green mane from her eyes and grinned. “The boys know their job; I just keep their hooves to the road.”
“’Atta girl, keep it up. Speaking of stallions by the way, rumor has it a certain Guard Captain’s had his eye on you.”
If the mare hadn’t been crimson already, she would have been now as she dug a hoof at the ground. “Has Shi… I mean, have you heard him say anything?”
“Ah, you’re a terrible liar Beam, and I suppose if I had heard anything, he was thinking to ask you out to celebrate if your team finishes first.” Heavy chuckled as Beam blushed an even deeper crimson. “Just keep your team on focus girl; you ain’t in first place yet. My team’s not too far behind yours and I want that pile of bits.”
“Oh you’re on Heavy! Just you see, my team’s gonna be done and back by the Stone for lunch before you’re even halfway through your sector!” Tall protested with the fire back in her voice as she trotted ahead of Heavy, swatting him playfully with her tail as she did.
The pair reached the area set aside for the ponies, passing the two Marines standing guard outside the building and nodding a greeting as they pass through the double doors. The interior was brightly lit, several low tables set up for the ponies to eat at, and a serving station off to one side. Getting their food, a mix of vegetables and orange slices, along with a single apple each, they found themselves a table near the Guard tables.
As Heavy ate, he could see Tall shooting glances at the Guard table whenever a certain pegasus captain wasn’t looking, and looking over could see that captain trying to do the opposite discreetly. Both ponies were failing miserably, and Heavy finally nudged Tall. “Darlin’ I’m getting tired of watching you two swivelin’ your heads all the time, if you wanna piece of ‘im, go for it!”
“Can it Heavy, I’ll do it when I’m ready!” Tall was on her hooves now, boring her legendary glare into his eyes, and Heavy fell back, raising his hooves apologetically.
“Alright, alright, have it your way… just tryin’ to help a friend out is all.”
Tall snorted, sitting back down and finishing her dinner quietly. Once she was done, she took her tray to the disposal bin and left the building in a huff.
Across the room, a pegasus captain watched her go with a heavy sigh, only to feel a hoof dig into his side. Turning, he saw a unicorn doing his best to pretend he hadn’t seen or done anything.
“For the love of the Sun, cut me a break Flare!” Sky Shimmer snapped.
“Hey, it’s not my fault that you’re having a case of Shy Colt Syndrome.” Flare snickered, ducking the hoof that Shimmer tried to smack him with. “If you’re interested, go for her, I’m sure any foals of yours will look good by her.”
Shimmer choked on the mouthful of salad he was eating and cuffed Flare with his wing. “Shut it! I’m not in the mood for foals yet, I’m only thirty!”
Laughing, Flare shrugged. “If you say so buddy, if you say so.”
…
“Ugh, the smell of this city, you’d think these oo-mans would have done a better job of keepin’ the place clean…” Sledge spat as he muscled a piece of debris out of the way.
“Stop complaining Sledge! The faster we get this work done the sooner we can take a break. And they’re called humans, get it right!” Tall bellowed as she pulled a new wall section over.
“Sorry boss.”
“You don’t even know what sorry is! The humans who went through here were kind enough to make sure we were dealing with the sections that had no bodies, so the least you can do for em is remember what they’re called!” Tall left the wall section for Sledge to secure, checking in on the rest of her team and nodding her satisfaction at their progress. As she walked past an alley her ear pricked to the side as she thought she heard something.
“Yo Bull, did you hear that?”
Bulldozer looked up from the rubble he was pushing out of the way. “Nope, can’t say I did. What’d it sound like?”
Tall took a hesitant hoofstep down the alley, both ears now pointing forward. “I dunno, sounded like…” The sound came again, and now she recognized it, one of the words that she’d first learned to listen out for.
“H… help.” The voice was faint, yet the word was unmistakable.
“Somepony needs help. I’ll check it out while you go get some of the Royal Guard. Round up the rest of the team while you’re at it.”
“You got it, be careful boss.” Bulldozer galloped off toward where the rest of the team was, while Tall Beam picked her way through the maze of buildings. She was amazed at how densely packed the structures were, some even built on top of each other.
“And I thought Canterlot was overpopulated.” She muttered irritably, her ears on a swivel as she tried to pinpoint the source of the voice.
“Help…” The voice was louder, coming from around a corner.
Tall broke into a gallop, navigating the piles of debris and turning the corner. She could see a pile of debris in an open area, an arm lying limply over it. Urging her legs to run faster, she crossed the broken arch that led into the open space and slowed to a trot as she approached. Cursing internally at her lack of knowledge of the human language, she remembered the basic greeting and decided to improvise.
“How are you? You be okay?” She hoped she’d gotten it right.
“I… I think so.” The arm started to move, pushing the human’s body up. The other moved out of sight, presumably to help with trying to move.
“W-Whoa there, slow down. You could be hurt.” She relapsed into Equestrian, scrambling up the debris and gently pressing down on the human. As she cleared the debris, she could see they were holding something in their hand. It was a rope, which she saw ran around the length of the area to a piece of rubble wedged into the base of the arch she’d entered through. Looking back to the human’s hand, she saw it yank hard on the rope, dislodging the chunk and collapsing the archway. Backing away, she started breathing heavily as she looked for another way out, seeing none within her reach. Hearing the scrape of metal on stone, she turned her wide eyes back to see the human pulling something from under the pile he’d been lying on. She remembered seeing the humans back by the Stone carrying similar looking weapons, but this one suddenly seemed to radiate malice.
“W-What are you g-going to do to me?” She stammered while she backed into a corner, a stream of urine soaking the ground underhoof as she lost control of her bladder.
The human didn’t say anything, only walking toward her and raising the weapon to point directly at her.
…
“And you just left her by HERSELF?” Captain Shimmer bellowed, a sudden surge of fear spiking through his body.
“She said she’d be fine!” The stallion’s words were lost as Shimmer leapt into the air, rocketing back to the Stone. Spotting Flare walking out of the building the guardponies used for their quarters, he dove in hard and landed with a heavy thud.
“Sky? What’s…?” The unicorn was cut off as Shimmer thundered forward.
“It’s Tall Beam; she went off on her own, following a voice crying for help. I’m going to go find her, you follow with as many Guards as we can spare.” Not waiting for an answer, Shimmer sped back into the air, beelining over the buildings for where Tall Beam’s team had been working.
“By Celestia…” Flare murmured before jolting into action. “ALRIGHT! THE FIVE OF YOU THERE! GET YOUR FLANKS IN GEAR; WE’RE MOVING OUT IN THIRTY SECONDS! FIRST LIEUTENANT DAWN BREEZE, YOU GUIDE US IN!” Flare turned as Sergeant Heinrich walked over, a look of concern on his face.
“What’s going on?”
“One of our ponies wandered off by herself, looking for someone calling for help. We’re going to find her.”
Heinrich nodded. “Then we’re coming too.” He turned back to the Marines that were starting to gather. “GET YOUR SHIT TOGETHER; ONE OF THE PONIES IS MISSING. WE’RE GOING TO FOLLOW THE UNICORNS AND WE WILL BRING HER BACK SAFE!”
The Marines jumped into motion as well, and soon Flare led the five unicorns, followed by the squad of Marines, after Shimmer. The unicorns soon outpaced the Marines, who at least had the pegasus overhead to provide a sense of direction.
Meanwhile, Shimmer was now well and truly worried. He’d found Tall Beam’s work crew easily enough, and they’d shown him where she’d gone off, but the packed in buildings made spotting from the air impossible. Darting in and landing, he carefully made his way down the alleys until he saw a pile of rubble blocking the path ahead. He was about to turn around when he heard something coming from beyond the pile that made his blood run cold. Tall Beam’s shaking voice was stammering out pleas for mercy. He slowly and quietly clambered up the pile, stopping to sneak a peek when he reached the top. He could see a male human dressed in old, dirty clothes, and holding a weapon similar to the ones the Marines had been carrying. The human was pointing it at a shaking Tall Beam, whose eyes were wild with fear, a patch of wet ground underneath her. His mind weighed his options, but his heart told him only one made any sense. He snapped his wings out and arrowed into the open area, landing in front of Tall Beam. The human shouted in shock and tightened the finger sticking under the weapon. Shimmer closed his eyes and braced himself, but nothing happened.
Miguel cursed as he pulled the trigger again, before realizing he’d left the safety on. Flicking it with his thumb, he leveled the AKMS at the new arrival. He remembered seeing these ponies at the US base, flying random patrols over the different work crews. He hoped that its armor wouldn’t be enough to stop his bullets before it attacked.
“C-Captain Shimmer? I-I’m so s-sorry, I heard this human calling for help and I came to see if he was hurt and…” Shimmer cut her off, backing up so he was completely blocking her from the human.
“It’s going to be ok Tall Beam. I won’t let him hurt you.” Shimmer turned his cold blue eyes to the human. “You do not have to do this. We mean you no harm. Let us go.”
Miguel nearly dropped the rifle as the new pony started speaking English at him. He’d expected it, but that didn’t make it any less frightening. He didn’t reply, only keeping the rifle aimed toward them. What the pony said next, however, shook his resolve even harder. The pony’s eyes softened and it spoke a single word.
“Please.”
The rifle started shaking a little in Miguel’s hands. His mind raged against the rest of him, urging him to pull the trigger, to shoot the abominations and be done with it. Yet, something stayed his hand. His vision swam a little as a wave of nausea gripped him. He swore he could almost hear Marina’s voice on the edges of his hearing expressing disappointment in the situation he had chosen. He could hear the priest’s words warring with hers, warning him of the insidious influence of the Devil’s minions. But looking at the two ponies in front of him, he was struggling to see the Devil’s hand in this. The ghost of Marina’s voice pointed out that if anyone was doing the Devil’s work, it was him. The priest’s voice reminded him of his sacred duty to God, to strike down those that were corrupted by the touch of Satan. He struggled with them for a few minutes more, but then reached his decision with a heavy sigh. He started to lower the rifle when something suddenly struck him in the chest like a sledgehammer. As he fell backwards his finger tightened instinctively on the trigger. The gun barked three times, the sound ringing in his ears. He hit the ground hard, and after getting his breath back, pushed himself to a sitting position and looked in horror at what lay before him.
Tall Beam watched in terror as the human was struck, wincing as the weapon barked and spat three bursts of light from its end. She screamed as something that burned red-hot dug a furrow through her foreleg, and something wet splattered against her face. Opening her eyes, she shrieked again, her own pain forgotten.
Captain Shimmer lay on the ground in front of her, bleeding heavily. She realized in horror that whatever the weapon spat at them had punched clean through his armor. One had entered his chest at an angle, exiting just behind his withers. The other had done even worse damage. It had struck his right wing clean at the joint, nearly tearing the limb off entirely. She rushed forward, collapsing at his side and nuzzling at his neck and muzzle. She smiled tearfully as he opened one eye to look at her.
“Are…. you a-alright?” His voice was ragged, his breathing shallow.
“Y-yes. You saved me.” She nuzzled him harder as his eye started to close. She was dimly aware of other forms galloping past her, and one stopping on the other side of Shimmer, but her whole world was reduced to keeping that eye open. “Sky Shimmer… stay with me, please… don’t leave.”
“…oved you, had to keep you safe.” His voice was fainter, eyelid stubbornly closing.
“You did, please stay awake.” His eyelid shut with a dreadful finality and she screamed denials, tears pouring from her eyes as she tried to wake him.
Miguel had gotten to his feet and tried to run, but felt another blow strike his back, this time from a real object that hurled him to the ground and pinned him there. Desperation giving him strength, he rolled the form off of him and started to rise, only to realize he had nowhere to go. Five gold-armored unicorns encircled him, joined by another pegasus. A sixth unicorn was next to the one he had shot, the crimson one sobbing on the ground. The unicorn lifted its head and looked at him. Miguel recoiled at the rage in those eyes as the unicorn’s horn lit with a blinding orange light and he felt something grip him tightly.
The aura surrounding him hauled him inexorably upwards until he floated a foot off the ground, his legs twitching feebly in an attempt to escape. The grip tightened, and his hand finally released the AKMS, the rifle falling to the ground with a clatter. His breathing grew steadily weaker as the crushing force started to collapse his lungs, and his vision swam as he began to feel light-headed. He felt his skin begin to tingle and itch, but before long the itch became a burn and he began to struggle frantically. He heard the sound of boots on concrete and twitched his eyes to see a US Marine climb over the pile of rubble, assault rifle turning towards him, then to the unicorn with the glowing horn.
Sergeant Heinrich took in the scene quickly, realizing the danger the young man was in. Hurrying to Flare, he tapped the pony urgently. “Flare, that’s enough, let him go.” When the unicorn didn’t answer, he punched his shoulder. “THAT’S ENOUGH FLARE! LET HIM GO! YOU’RE KILLING HIM!” Flare seemed to not hear, but after a few seconds the unicorn released his magic, Miguel falling heavily to the ground. Heinrich breathed a sigh of relief, turning to see the grievously wounded pegasus laying still, the sobbing pony beside him with a graze on her foreleg.
“GET ME A STRETCHER OVER HERE NOW! WE GOT ONE PONY DOWN, ANOTHER WOUNDED!” The Marines moved to comply but Flare stood in their way, eyes still burning with anger. Heinrich knelt and put his hand on the captain’s shoulder. “Flare, let us help him.”
The unicorn glared at him. “If he dies, it’s your fault.” But he moved to the side and allowed the Marines to lift Shimmer gingerly onto the stretcher. Heinrich nodded his thanks, before getting to his feet and walking to stand over Miguel. Rolling him over roughly, he pulled a cable tie from his belt and secured his hands before hauling him to his feet.
“What’s going to happen to me?” Miguel asked, his voice trembling.
“If you’re lucky, you’ll live.” Heinrich shoved the young man ahead of him as the group hurried back to the docks.
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Well things certainly went balls up, it wasn't too bad. While Miguel was about to do something horrid, he stopped himself in the end and that's what counts. I really hope someone calls out the unicorn that launched that preemptive attack that caused it all.
Holy crap! This is getting WAY intense! Keep up the good work!
Anyone got any awesome sauce? This guy needs a bottle of the stuff!
But yeah, something tells me things are about to go south...
So Flare beats the shit out of the kid and hits him with a whammy of magic!cancer, and it's Sergeant Heinrich's fault that he might die? Really? Holy shit.
Hopefully he gets called out for it.
I'm disappointed in Miguel, he should have killed everypony!
Joking, but really, the plot thickens. x)
Congratulations!
Really good! I like the human-pony relations in this story as well. Tracking!
(Why do people say that, it pops up in your message box
)
*Christian facehoof*
Seriously, if this continues, I'm going to have to pull out my Bible and explain why these people are full of shit. God would NEVER want this. Christ told us to love one another.
Matthew 22: 37-40
Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’[a] 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments
And now, Megadeth:
Brother will kill brother,
Spilling blood across the land
killing for religion,
Something I don't understand.
Also, author, I mean NO offense by this, but do oh have something against Christians? You just seem to be focusing on us over the others. Not getting all victim-y, just curious.
360678 I don't actually, and no offence taken. In the continuity I've built for this story to take place in, Islamic fundamentalism has died down due to a number of events ranging from the devastation of Iran's military forces to the Iran Uprising that overthrew the clerics and started down the road to a more secular government to the economic collapse of 2021(and no, I'm not an economist, I'm just making these events up to help explain why my world is the way it is); and Christian fundamentalism has risen sharply in a number of countries as the world economy continues to sputter it's way along. I chose to have this rise follow a more sped up version of Arab Spring, in that the younger generation is tired of it, and finally snaps in Brazil with the food shortages.
You did hit the nail on the head in that shooting innocent creatures, be they humans or ponies, is definitely against the core idea of the Bible. However, as with all things, people turn a blind eye to what they don't want to see and use what they do want as justification for their actions, such as attempting to kill ponies wholesale.
Once this arc comes to a close, the religious fervor will begin to take a backseat, but still be present. I guess my original purpose in having it surge to the fore is that when confronted with something so huge as to defy rationality(like a dimension of multicolored, magic-using ponies appearing in the Pacific), people tend to cling even tighter to their beliefs, and fanatics most of all.
I didn't intend to offend anyone, and if i did I'm sorry. I only based Henriques off of someone I knew from a long time ago.
360848
Oh, no, not offended at all! In fact, I somewhat agree on the people clinging to beliefs too hard. I hunk what bothers me is I CAN see people acing like this, and it hurts. As a Christian and as a
Human, it hurts to think that people who share my faith would act like that. People who claim to believe in a Man whose overall message was one of humility, peace, and love. And it's happening in real life. Anyone who thinks "God hates fags" has severely misread the Bible. God would NEVER want someone to be forced into believing. And if anyone reading this has ever been persecuted by someone who claims to share my faith, I'm truly sorry.
Bah, his is getting to deep and serious. More magic ponies, STAT!!
And then.
fc09.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2011/320/d/9/shit_just_got_real_by_dbzsgtjustin-d4ge0j2.jpg
That, my friend, is awesome.
As for what's happened, shit is now really going to hit the fan. Because now...if I understood that one section correctly, they're going to have proof that Magic is Thaumatic Radiation...
Hey, wait a tic, wasn't Thaumatic Radiation something they talked about in Finding Your Wings? Is it simply because the word sounds different in English that she didn't recognize it? I am now confused.
dam i love it
361220 Amen, I for one as a Christian would Introduce ponies to two my favorite Past times. Anime/anga and Video Games!
My friend you have made a great story! However I do have a bit of an issue with the idea of the church saying celestia is the spawn of the devil. Personally I think that if Equestria appears in our world that it would be political fanatics who would try to kill her, because she is preaching love and friendship and understanding instead of totalitarianism