Timelapse

by Stik

Chapter 3

Twilight watched in horror as Rainbow Dash picked up speed, barrelling down through the high clouds. The early morning sun-rays shone against her feathers, glittering off the light iridescent coating. While her loyalty was commendable it was the most foolish thing to do at the time, they’d just seen how dangerous these… things were.

The pegasi had been flying practise formations high up in the sky ever since the sun rose, as far as she could tell just for show than anything else, but now it looked like they actually meant business. So many ponies had died already, and Twilight couldn’t bear anymore bloodshed.

Truth be told, she was beginning to doubt her initial conclusion that these peculiar, frightening monsters were Discord’s creation at all. They appeared to operate independently, and their motives were completely opaque. She could see some of the logic in their actions, as technically Twilight had attacked them first, and in their attempt to capture her they had not killed a single pony. The only deaths had resulted from what could probably be construed as self-defence.

Now that she was their hostage they seemed peaceful enough, content to keep to their strange rectangular buildings and shiny tents and let the rest of the town go about its business, provided they kept their distance. As far as she could tell they had no interest in taking anything the town had, not that there was a lot left worth taking after Discord’s handiwork. If Twilight’s freedom was all that was required as collateral to keep the others safe then she was happy with that situation. They had not treated them badly at all, a couple of the strange beings had been bringing them food and water, and the weather was not yet cold enough that they were uncomfortable in their plain metal boxes.

But now Rainbow Dash was literally charging in headfirst, without first using her head for its primary purpose – thinking. Twilight looked about nervously, wondering if she should teleport out of the prison and try to stop the overly courageous pegasus before she hurt herself and those that followed. The risk was great, however – so far their captors weren’t aware she could teleport, and she wanted to keep a few tricks in her mane for emergencies. Beyond that, she was aware her obedience was required, it was clear their captors could easily destroy them if they wanted, definitely best to try not to cause a nuisance, at least until they learnt more about their situation.

The bipedal creatures were starting to take notice, pointing and raising their weapons threateningly. Twilight was aware they could use them in multiple ways, initially they had used fast moving pieces of metal that could pierce a pony right through, but almost at once they’d switched to some sort of magic-like weapon that merely hurt a lot and left ponies twitching on the ground. Hopefully they would continue to do so, even if Rainbow did look truly terrifying, followed by a flight of ponies in whatever battle dress they could scrape together.

Too late Twilight realised what Rainbow was up to, and she cried out in dismay as the rainbow shockwave spread across the brightening sky followed by a crack of thunder. If Rainbow’s plan was to cause chaos then she had certainly hit the mark, so to speak. All around the alien encampment people were running and shouting in their strange language. Yet more of them were pouring out of the buildings, weapons in their hands. Twilight’s heart sank as a few more pegasi fell heavily to the ground, convulsing violently. There would be many broken bones after such falls.

The sonic rainboom did seem to have had some effect, she noted. Many of the powerful artificial lights around the area flickered out as the shock passed, and almost all the guns fell thankfully silent. From the trees and streets nearby there came the sound of cheering, and hundreds of earth ponies and unicorns came charging into the compound, all fighting to get to the centre. A little flare of pride bloomed in her chest, her ponies were coming to rescue her.

Unfortunately they were far outmatched in combat, the two legged creatures that looked as though they should be so unsteady on their feet were agile and ruthlessly efficient in their actions. Many of them had knives, she observed with a nervous gulp, and they were every bit as deadly with those as they had been with the guns, slashing and punching and incapacitating in no time at all.

She craned her neck, trying to watch the sky through the holes in the box, Rainbow was turning around, preparing for a second attempt, and Twilight willed her silently to back off. Encouraged by the efficacy of her first attack, she charged down toward the ground with renewed vigour, a cocky grin across her face as the shock cone began to form in front of her.

Abruptly there came a terrible sound from behind her and Twilight jumped in alarm, turning back in time to see Rainbow Dash fall from the sky, trailing blood and feathers. Twilight was out of her cell in a heartbeat, the spell coursing to the tip of her horn before she had even had time to think what she was doing.

“Rainbow Dash!” she cried helplessly, re-materialising with a pop of displaced air just in time to cushion the pegasus’ fall with a quick burst of magic. “Oh my goodness, oh my goodness, oh my goodness,” she moaned, looking at the bleeding injuries with rising waves of panic burning through her veins.

“It hurts so much, Twilight,” Dash said, shaking all over and trying to move her tattered wing.

“Just, just, keep still, Dash, we’ll find somepony to help,” Twilight babbled, looking around frantically. In the background that terrible weapon was thundering away still, spitting red hot pieces of metal across the sky with deadly accuracy. “It’ll be okay, okay. We’ll fix this, somehow.” She looked up to the sky, tears in her eyes. “Oh, Celestia, where are you? We need you so much.”

When she looked back Rainbow’s eyes had closed, squeezed shut against the frightful world around them, full of noise and pain and terror.

“Don’t you leave me here, Rainbow Dash,” she said fiercely, shaking her friend urgently. She looked over her shoulder, crying for help, but the only ponies nearby were those she had been imprisoned with, still in their cage, and none of those would have been able to help much either.

The sound of marching boots and shouting alerted her and she turned around in time to see a group of the creatures running for them, weapons held threateningly. She leapt in front of Rainbow Dash, head down and horn charged with a telekinetic spell. A low, threatening growl began in her throat unbidden, a sound she didn’t know she could make.

A strange thing happened, however, when one of the smaller aliens suddenly ran out to meet them, halting their progress. Twilight narrowed her eyes suspiciously, watching the scene unfold. The solitary monkey-like creature turned to face her and approached cautiously. She growled deeper and he stopped, hands raised to either side of his head. Twilight could not see any weapons on this one, just a large satchel of sorts slung over one shoulder.

He bent down at the knees, slowly lowering one hand and scratching something in the dirt at his feet. Twilight allowed her gaze to drift from his face and tried to see what he was drawing.

Words! Drawn in the damp mud as if by a filly who had only recently learnt her alphabet, but it was recognisable.

‘Help. Assist.’ It said. Was the creature really offering to aid her? As if to back his words up he stood and pointed to Rainbow Dash, then mimed putting his freakish… fingers… around his thigh and squeezing.

“Survive,” he said hesitantly, the word barely recognisable coming from his alien mouth, then again, louder: “Survive.”

She took a risk and stepped aside, aware she had run out of options, and was rapidly running out of time as well. Rainbow Dash let out a whimper as he took a step closer, swinging the pack down from his shoulder. Twilight inched closer to her friend, whispering calming words even though she felt none of it herself. Her heart thundered in her chest, the blood pounding in her head and her horn throbbed uncomfortably from holding the spell there for so long.

Monkey, as she had named him, stepped closer and knelt down, rummaging in his bag of things, and Twilight tried to quell the curiosity that made her crane her neck. Rainbow tried to scoot backwards, only hurting herself more. Her words were incoherent and mumbled, and she looked about on the verge of passing out. Twilight fought back tears as visions of the years they had spent together flashed before her mind’s eye. It felt as if reality was slipping away, everything she held dear was being stripped from the world piece by piece.

Monkey was saying something again, she realised, and she focused on him, trying to understand what he was saying. Many words and syllables, none of them really made a sentence though, and she shook her head, completely at a loss.

“Hurt. Big hurt,” he said, completely butchering the sounds and at the same time miming poking at his own leg. “Limit! Agh - hinder? Slow, move?”

“I don’t know what you’re saying!” Twilight exclaimed, pawing at the ground angrily. Time was running out, and Monkey shook his head in resignation and turned back to his unusual patient. In his hand was a length of rubbery tubing, and he proceeded to tie it in a loop around the top of Rainbow’s leg.

Rainbow was so far gone that she seemed not to notice, and Twilight stroked her face nervously, trying to keep eye contact with her, letting the strange being work. She was at least confident he was actually trying to help now, although why was certainly unclear.

All of a sudden Rainbow was very much awake, and screaming extremely loud while thrashing her forelegs about. Twilight cried out with her, caught off guard, and snapped her head around to see Monkey poking around in the gaping hole in her leg with some fearsome looking tool. The sickly smell of burning flesh and fur wafted over and she resisted the sudden impulsive urge to blast him away with magic. The rational part of her could see that he was cauterising the wound, a necessary evil no matter how much it hurt.

Rainbow whimpered in her embrace, throat too hoarse to cry anymore. Twilight nuzzled her, tears flowing again. The whole encounter had taken little more than a minute, but it felt as if an hour had passed.

Monkey stood up again, slinging his bag back onto his shoulder. “Survive,” he said again, pointing towards the town and holding Twilight’s gaze. She gaped at him for a moment before nodding curtly and hopping to her hooves. She carefully picked Rainbow up in her telekinesis and with an intense amount of concentration and another ‘pop’ was gone.

Moments later the pair re-appeared in the general hospital, barely able to find room to stand for the number of ponies scattered everywhere, laid on the floor, slouched in the corners, sitting on benches and tables. Gurneys and equipment were strewn everywhere, and everywhere ran ponies who looked as though they hadn’t slept in days.

Alerted by a scream Twilight turned to see Rarity hopping over injured ponies, having spotted the pair. She took Rainbow in her own magic and Twilight sagged, the energy completely drained from her.

“She’s lost a lot of blood, Rarity,” Twilight said sadly, her eyes still wet. “I’m afraid.”

“Come,” Rarity said, her voice low and commanding. Twilight got the impression she had seen so many terrible things in the last couple of days that she was mostly beyond shock or emotion by that point. She followed meekly through the crowded hospital towards the back rooms where various surgeons and nurses were trying their hardest to save lives.

“What happened, Twilight?” Rarity asked quietly off to one side as a couple of Ponyville’s most eminent medical professionals busied themselves around the unconscious form of their close friend.

“Oh, Rarity, I thought I was doing the right thing. If I stayed there, as their prisoner, they might leave us alone. I think… I think they just want us to leave them alone. But… but Rainbow thought I needed rescuing. She made them very angry.”

Rarity hugged Twilight tightly as she began to cry again, huge racking sobs that shook her body. “Shh, my dear, that is Rainbow to the very letter, Loyalty indeed. You must not blame yourself.”

“But I could have stopped her, before it was too late,” Twilight wailed, drawing concerned looks from some of those nearby. Rarity stroked her mane soothingly. “This is all my fault.”

“It is not, Twilight Sparkle, and I won’t allow you to take this on your shoulders. What has happened has happened, there’s no changing that now. We can only try our hardest to fix it.”

A harried looking young stallion, barely old enough to be out of school, rushed up and began talking urgently to Rarity in hushed tones. “I’m so sorry, my dear, but they need me. I have to help. There are so many ill, and still more missing.”

Twilight pulled herself up straight and sniffed back her tears. “I know. Go and help, and thankyou.”

“She’ll be okay, I promise.” Rarity gave her a sad smile before dashing off. Twilight took one last look at Rainbow, surrounded by doctors, before trotting miserably back outside into the cool morning air. Apart from the pitiful cries of the injured behind her the morning was peaceful, most of the ponies that were awake had been involved in the attack, she gathered, and were still on the other side of the town. Even from here she could hear that the sounds of fighting had calmed, her ponies subdued depressingly easily.

She trotted briskly back through the deserted town, trying not to let the dismal appearance of the ruined town drag her spirits much lower than they already were. In the daylight the extent of the mess was much clearer, and it seemed as not a single building had escaped damage of some sort. Fortunately only a small number were actually uninhabitable, but the cleanup operation was going to take months.

The run helped clear her head a little, and after smoothing down her frazzled mane she trotted at a casual pace back into the sky-monkey’s compound. They all turned to watch her as she made a bee-line for the centre of the camp. Monkey was still there, and was gesturing wildly with another of his kind. From their body language and hissed words it sounded very much as though they were arguing.

They turned on catching sight of her, and Monkey began pointing and talking faster again. Twilight steadied her nerves and tried to keep her pace without faltering. Several of the others nearby had raised their weapons again and she wondered if they were afraid of her. Maybe they were angry? Did they mean to kill her? She remembered back to the gesture Monkey had given her and decided trying to emulate it by sitting back on her haunches and holding her forelegs up, looking around nervously to gauge the reaction. The aliens seemed to relax a little, and a few made noises that sounded suspiciously like laughter.

She fell forwards to her hooves again, the position was certainly not comfortable, but it seemed to have had the desired effect. This time they made no move to stop her as she strode purposefully towards Monkey, stopping a couple of paces from him and holding his gaze.

“Survive,” she said with a nod, enunciating her words clearly. Perhaps he could at least learn how to speak that word properly this time. The ghost of a smile flickered over his face, barely noticed.

She hesitated, taking in the scene. The individual he had been arguing with was watching them intently, and she observed that he was dressed differently to most of them. Sudden realisation dawned; this was their leader! And Monkey had disobeyed him, when he let her go free. Now he was getting a telling-off, like Cheerilee with her disobedient foals.

“Thankyou,” she said, bowing down for a couple of heartbeats. Monkey smiled at her again, and said something in his own language. She stood, and turned to Leader. “No more fighting?”

She spoke as clearly as she could, with exaggerated pauses between her words. Clearly these creatures had already begun to decipher common Equestrian, and maybe they would be able to understand her. The two sky-monkeys glanced at one another, but it didn’t look as if there was any immediate comprehension.

The adrenaline in her system had finally burned off, and exhaustion and more than a little despair was starting to set in as she plodded back over to the containers. With the remains of her energy she teleported herself back inside the container, to the general gasps of the assembled sky-monkeys.

“Hey sugarcube,” said Applejack, moving over to lie facing Twilight. She offered a weak smile. “How’s RD? That was a mighty brave thing you did, going out there.”

“I think she’ll be okay. She… she might not fly again, but she’s alive.” Applejack breathed a sigh of relief and almost immediately began to ask a barrage of questions, but Twilight closed her eyes and laid her head on the cold metal floor. “I know you have a thousand questions, and I’ll try my best to answer them all, but right now I think I just need to sleep. I’m sorry.”

Applejack ducked her head guiltily and left her to rest, glaring daggers at any of the other ponies who looked as though they would dare try to disturb her.

Her sleep was not very refreshing, her dreams, usually a welcome escape from the trials and stresses of everyday life, particularly now as a princess, had turned quite sour, filled with visions and sounds that she really didn’t want to see again. Living through the nightmare once was enough, reliving it again and again in the dream-world was too much.

“…Evening water gravity quickly quick quicker over under beyond,” a mare’s voice said from outside the cell, confusing Twilight immensely as she drifted back into the waking world. “Tube kicking pencil.”

There was a recognisable giggle and Twilight was suddenly very awake. “That’s a good one,” Pinkie’s voice continued, her seemingly unbreakable spirit as high as ever.

“What in Tartarus is happening?” she groaned, climbing to her hooves wearily. Applejack and several of the other ponies were standing on one side of their cell, watching out through the small makeshift windows.

“Magnificent thunderous mouse paws,” continued the cheerful voice, which Twilight finally recognised as belonging to Lyra Heartstrings. She stood beside Applejack, peering through the same hole with one eye and bumping up against the ever-present Stetson.

“Ah don’t rightly understand mahself,” the former farmer replied, shrugging her shoulders. “They’ve been at it fer hours, though. That Lyra sure is a strange pony.”

“I’d say she’s the normal one in that box,” Twilight said with a giggle, and Applejack grinned back.

Twilight continued to observe, head cocked to one side. Monkey was out there, looking just as tired as she felt, despite her short snooze, and he had several others with him. Two of them were pointing all manner of devices at Lyra, who had been allowed out of the cage and was sitting peacefully on the battered grass as though nothing was amiss. She seemed to be reading from a big flat device one of the sky-monkeys was holding up while the other was sitting on a metal stool and fiddling with a similar device he held in his lap.

Monkey caught sight of her and gave her a little wave, hesitant at first but smiling when she raised a hoof in reply. He made to leave his group and walked across to her cage. Behind him Lyra was still spouting off random words, seemingly happy to continue indefinitely.

“We are learning the… saying… of your speech,” Monkey said to her, by way of explanation. His pronunciation was terrible, and it took Twilight a moment to realise he was actually speaking Equestrian at all. When he repeated the words, slower and more carefully it suddenly clicked.

“That’s… actually quite impressive,” she said, blinking at him. This felt a little bit like a dream. It had only been half a day since they had arrived. “I mean… how? Lyra’s taught you? Did she use magic? I don’t know…”

“Twilight,” Applejack said, nudging her side. “Yer babblin’, again. Ah don’t think he understands you. Sometimes ah can’t understand you.”

“I’m sorry,” she breathed, feeling that flutter in her chest that usually indicated there was some interesting New Research to be done. She shook her head and peered back at him, he certainly looked confused, although admittedly it was difficult for her to read his emotions. His brow was furrowed in concentration: that peculiar, freaky furless skin creased and wrinkled. How did it get that way? Do they shave it all off? Maybe it’s genetic? Or a reaction to…

She took a deep breath. Focus, Twilight!

“I am impressed,” she said, slowly and clearly, trying to search for the right words, the simplest ones. “I am… happy at this event. Maybe we can stop fighting, and talk instead?”

He chewed his lip for a moment, brow furrowing further, then began to nod. “We do not wish to you fight.” He paused thoughtfully, seemingly aware he had made a mistake. “To fight you.”

Twilight grinned widely, this was the official beginning of actual communication between a new species that had descended from beyond the stars! Actual aliens! One of the biggest moments in Equestrian history was being made this day, and she, Twilight Sparkle, was the first to speak with them. Well, first if you didn’t count Lyra babbling a stream of nonsense.

The sky-monkey started to return her goofy grin, and she suddenly had a vision of how ridiculous she must look. She tried to calm down, running a hoof back over her mane to try and smooth it back, it felt scratchy with mud and lack of proper care. She winced. Technically she was a member of the royal family now, a representative of the state and the entire planet. She must present herself accordingly, how would Celestia or Luna deal with this?

Luna would probably shout at them so much that they would run away, she decided with a smirk. Celestia would have remained cool and welcomed them, yes, that was it, calm and dignified. Mind, if she had been here no doubt none of this would have happened. Twilight swallowed guiltily, unable to shake the sense of responsibility for attacking them.

“Uh, Twi, sugercube, are you alright? You’ve got the strangest looks on yer face…”

She cleared her throat. The alien was watching her expectantly, and some others had gathered around, pointing more metal slabs and devices. She felt a growing sense of intimidation and pushed on quickly before she crumbled into cowardice. “On behalf of the royal alicorn sisters, I welcome you, Monkey, and your fellow, uh, fellows, to Equestria,” she said, somewhat awkwardly. It had sounded less dorky in her head. “Umm.”

He stared at her for a moment, trying to decipher her words, and she decided that, in her excitement, she had probably spoken too quickly again. She opened her mouth to repeat it more slowly, but he spoke first, slow and with some hesitation.

“I fear we maybe have being poor guests.” His smile had gone.

Twilight visibly deflated, it had been all too easy to pretend that she wasn’t in a cage, and hadn’t just delivered her best friend to a hospital, and that their town wasn’t riddled with bulletholes and soaked in the blood of the innocent.

“Additionally, name is not ‘Monkey’.”

Oh my gosh, Twilight thought, eyes wide, I shouldn’t have said that…

“I’m sorry!” she began frantically, this was definitely not how the first communication between their races would have gone had Celestia been here!

She was cut off by him grinning, and a low chuckle escaped his lips. “My name is ‘Riley’. We are ‘humans’. I know you as ‘Purple Horse’.”

Twilight stammered and could hear Applejack sniggering behind her. “First, we are ponies, not horses,” she lectured in response, a bit quicker than she should have done. “And my name is Twilight Sparkle. Princess Twilight Sparkle, in fact.”

“We are pleased to meet you, miss Sparkle,” Riley replied, gesturing to the others around him with an arm. “I see no reason for to remain in that cage. You may join us, if you are wishing it.”

Twilight looked back at the doors behind her, locked (quite firmly, it turned out - they still bore the marks of Applejack’s furious kicks). “The doors are closed,” she said, somewhat pointedly.

“We both know that is not stopping you,” he countered, and she gulped, they already knew she could teleport about, but clearly they wanted to study her, and she was a little uncomfortable with the prospect of being under the microscope instead of behind it for once.

“I think… I’m quite comfortable in here, thankyou very much,” she managed, and Applejack jabbed a hoof in her side, as if to ask what she thought she was doing.

Riley smiled, a cold twist of his lips this time. “Miss Sparkle, are you… in charge… of this town?”

“No,” she answered honestly. “I’m the librarian. Our mayor is... Missing.” She yelped as Applejack poked her in the side again and stepped forward.

“Beggin’ yer pardon, sir, true that she ain’t the mayor, but she does speak fer us all. And I, fer one, would very much like to get outta this box.”

Riley looked confused, clearly Applejack’s accent was too much for him. He looked back to Twilight, “come out here, Twilight Sparkle, and all yours we will release,” Riley offered, another grin on his face. Twilight glared at him from her prison.

“Fine.”

With a pop she appeared on the other side of the wall, materialising a hoof’s width in front of Riley. It hadn’t had quite the effect she had intended, as even stretching her neck the tip of her horn only came to midway up his chest, and she ended up wasting a perfectly good Severe Glare on his stomach.

The sudden teleport spell at least caused some gasps from around, including a cheer from Pinkie. Twilight wondered absentmindedly if they would ever let her out. There were low murmurs all around, and Riley stumbled back a few feet, both hands pressed against the side of his head and a look of intense pain on his face. Twilight immediately worried she had actually stabbed him with her horn, teleporting close to other ponies was generally to be avoided, overlapping with them would be messy, but she had so desperately wanted to make a statement. He didn’t appear to be injured…

Riley shook his head slowly from side to side and blinked slowly a few times, finally refocusing on the unicorn.

“Did that… hurt you?” she asked, a little incredulously and leaning forward with narrowed eyes.

His reply was slow in coming. “It did cause… some discomfort, yes.”

“I’m sorry,” she murmured. “I shouldn’t…”

He dismissed her apology with an irritated wave of his hand. “Do not… worry. I almost expected something similar. Next time, please… keeping some little distance.”

She shuffled backwards a few steps, feeling a little deflated, yet at the same time sensing a brief rush of excitement at the realisation that they were not entirely unstoppable, clearly her magic or perhaps simply being close to them was causing some sort of problem. Behind her some other men were moving to the rear of the cages and Riley fixed her with an intense stare.

“If release you we do, do we have the promise you will cease your attacks? We leave by next setting of the sun, if we are working undisturbed.”

Twilight nodded and sat on her haunches, one hoof over her chest. “You have my word, Riley.”

Riley held her gaze for some time before looking over her shoulder to the men behind the cage, giving them a curt nod. She heard the sound of heavy locks being drawn and the sound of hooves on metal and then compacted mud. Applejack came to stand beside her, and a pink blur hovered just off the side of her vision. It felt good to have her friends with her again, they gave her strength, made her feel whole again.

Riley was still watching her. “Thankyou. And, we are sorry,” she continued, looking down at the ground and searching for the right things to say. “We… I… deeply regret attacking you, but I feared we were under attack again.”

“Again?” he repeated, head to one side.

“This isn’t the place to talk about it,” she said with a deep sigh, seeing the nervous faces of the freed ponies watching her.