A Different Sunset: The Battle for Ponyville

by Evowizard25

Part 1

Inside Sugarcube Corner

Time Turner’s day had been going so well….Okay, that was a lie, but it wasn’t horrible. He had woken up, eaten breakfast (a nice bunch of blueberry muffins provided by the ever so talented Ditzy), went over today’s schedule, and assisted Bon Bon with preparing Lyra for the day. It was the standard routine since he’d started living in Ponyville. Honestly, even though the small town was wonderful, he missed the old days; running, fighting, problem solving, more running. He would grin when he remembered the running. Oddly, that was his favorite part. The adrenaline, the way his hearts would nearly beat out of his chest, hearing the frustrated cries of charging foes. All in all, a day in the life of a Time Charger.

Today he was returning to those roots and he hated it. Oh yeah, the exhilaration was there, but so was the dread. This wasn’t happening in some far off land, or on another planet all together. No, this was happening in Ponyville; his home. It was THEIR screams of pain and agony, not the ones of complete strangers. He had grown close to the denizens of this quiet town and he swore to Celestia to protect them. That’s what he was going to do. ‘Even if I have to kill all of these heretics myself.’

Inquisitor Time Turner’s gaze peered over the town map. He and several of the town’s officials and militia were standing around this one table, peering over the map. Sugarcube Corner hadn’t been their first choice as a base of operations, but seeing as the Town Hall was deemed unsafe, they didn’t have much of a choice. ‘On the upside, at least we have something sweet to snack on.’ He thought idly, as the sweet smells that abounded the abode assaulted his nose. His stomach rumbled. He had gone a while without eating, but that wasn't important now. He could eat later, after their victory.

The map was specially enchanted to show the troop movements and positions. At the moment, he could sigh in relief, as Ditzy’s house still sat well within the ‘safe’ zone. ‘Thank Celestia.’

“How could this happen?” Mayor Mare was pacing back and forth. Her mane was frazzled from both stress and how much she had been rubbing her head in frustration in the short time of this event. Turner had always liked her. She was a kind, reasonable mare who knew how to get her job done. She just…sometimes let the stress get to her; like now for example. Her daughter, Lady Justice, was the same, but a lot more level headed. She was currently watching the proceedings, waiting to be of assistance. “We had everything under control.”

“Apparently not,” Time Turner turned to look at the town’s head of security, Night Watch. He was a brown earth pony stallion, with a gray mane in the style of a Mohawk; Just don’t call it that. He hated the term with a passion. His cutie mark, shown on top of the black pants he wore, was a law enforcement badge. The stallion was wearing the standard light blue shirt and buckle of lawponies. Time Turner found him to be rather temperamental and hot-headed. The older pony (at least he looked older. The Time Charger had several centuries more on his part.) grit his teeth in annoyance, when the Inquisitor’s gaze fell upon him.

“Now look here,” he shot at him. “I checked and double checked every inch of this town before the celebration. Maybe we should ask the militia? Let’s hear how they screwed up.”

“HEY,” Thunderlane cried out. He was a rather young Pegasus stallion. Given his grey furcoat and white Mohawk, some could have mistaken him for Night Watch’s son. He was brash and daring, similar to the local weather manager. He had no battle experience and had only been given his current position because of his father, who was a leading official in Cloudsdale. His golden uniform was crinkled and thrown on at the last minute. He had been off duty when Nightmare Moon showed up. “My soldiers had everything under control, until that she witch showed up. Don’t go blaming us for something out of our control.” He turned to look at Vinyl Scratch, who was rubbing her head, obviously trying to stop a major headache. Nightmare Moon’s magical surge attack had definitely left its impression. “How about little miss chaos over here? How do we know she didn’t fly off the crazy end and summoned her here?”

“Oh and I just told the bitch to attack me,” Vinyl growled. While Time Turner was reluctant at first to work with the forces of chaos, over the several millennia he’d served under Celestia, he learned to respect them. Vinyl was no different, though she was at least far more sane then most chaos cultists. “That makes a lot of sense. Wait, no it doesn’t.” She pointed at Bon Bon. “Ask little miss perfect over here. She was supposed to keep daemons away with her prayers.”

“Let us stop this blame game here, follower of chaos,” Bon Bon narrowed her eyes. The time charger had always respected the priestesses of the sun. They were level headed and kind individuals…Bon Bon was an odd case though. She was a little more temperamental then the usual sun priestess. “You’re accusations hold no water when thrown at the followers of truth.”

“Gentlecolts and ladies,” Mayor Mare butted in before the argument could escalate. “We have more serious problems at hoof.”

“The mayor is right,” Time Turner touched a hoof to the right side of the map, where the dark blotches (enemy troops) were most prevalent. “The enemy seems to be trying to break through our right flank. Our forces are too strained to properly hold out the area for long. Any suggestions on how to remedy this?” The Inquisitor already had an idea, but he just wanted to hear out everypony before saying it aloud.

Night Watch worked his jaw as he thought. “We could move the squad I have outside to that area. They won’t do much good just standing out there anyways.”

Time Turner nodded. “Yes. I also suggest equipping some of the civilians with firearms and armor.”
The response was immediate.

“WHAT!” Night Watch reeled back.

“No way dude,” Priestess Vinyl Scratch was shaking her head, profusely. “I’m not sending civies out there.”

“Same,” Thunderlane said, to which Bon Bon nodded.

“Turner,” Mayor Mare spoke up. He would have been surprised by her calling him by name, instead of his title, but they were friends after all. “We don’t have to resort to that. We can always…”

“Do what?” He cut her off. “We don’t have many choices at the moment, my dear mayor. I’ve fought against the forces of darkness once before and let me tell you this. Whatever cruelty or despicable deeds you thought rogue chaos magi could do, think again. Cultists of darkness are ten times more cruel and a thousand times more efficient. They will rip your very soul from your bodies and feed it to their accursed daemons. Civilians are just fuel to them, so I think it would be proper and allow the good civilians of Ponyville the chance to fight back. Don’t you agree?”

The others were silent for a moment, before silently agreeing. “Good,” Time Turner sighed. He dreaded the action himself, but it was necessary. Just then, his acolyte, Lyra Heartstrings, came into the room. If he had one word to describe her it would be ‘strange’. But that wasn’t really anything bizarre, given that she had been raised by “domesticated” diamond dogs. “So, were you able to get any word out?”

“Not a one, master,” Lyra shook her head. “Our communications have been jammed.”

“What,” was the collective cry of everyone.

“Even our telepathic spells can’t seem to work,” Lyra shook her head in disbelief. “They have us completely and utterly cut off the from outside.”

“But what of our majesty?” Bon Bon asked. “Surely you can at least contact her, stroke her presence, something.”

Lyra shook her head. “We can’t reach her…It’s almost as if she has vanished.”

“HERESY!” Night Watch barked. “Our goddess can’t just vanish. You’re making that up.”

“Night Watch,” Bon Bon seethed. Time Turner hid back his own seething remarks, content to let the priestess handle this. “If you call Lyra a lying heretic one more time, I swear, I will throw you out the window this very instant.”

Night Watch scoffed. “I thought you priestesses were pacifists.”

“Only when it suits us,” Bon Bon’s expression darkened. Time Turner knew she wasn’t the best mare to agitate. He’d seen first hoof why that’s a bad idea.

Lady Justice put a hoof on her shoulder. “Priestess Bon Bon. Now isn’t the time to lose your head.” She sent a glare over at Night Watch, who withered under it. “Neither is it yours.”

“My daughter is right,” Mayor Mare had taken a seat, breathing in and out heavily to calm her nerves. “Now isn’t the time to lose our heads, unless you want that. Then be my guest and walk right out the door. I’m sure some cultist would be happy to help you.”

Time Turner blocked out the rest of the argument. ‘How can they block us so effectively?’ He pondered. He stared at the map, losing himself to his thoughts. He delved into his massive stockpile of memories, trying to bring something back up to the surface. ‘The last time something like this was….’ His eyes widened. “No…” he muttered softly.

“No what master?” Lyra asked. She was sitting diligently beside him.

“No, no, no…” He quickly pulled out his sonic-screwdriver. He was hoping he was wrong. With a quick press of a button and twist of the knob, the little device hummed to life. The rest of the ponies present looked over at him, curious as to what he had discovered. Turning it ever so slightly to the left, the humming grew even louder. “They…They have them.” He couldn’t believe it. He just couldn’t believe it. ‘I don’t want to believe it.’

“Have what?” Thunderlane asked.

“Zone Markers,” Inquisitor Time Turner sighed, slumping in his chair. “ZMs for short.”

“And they are?” Mayor Mare raised an eyebrow.

“During the Great War,” Time Turner tried to hide the bitterness when discussing the topic. “The alicorns were fighting a race known as the Trawsians. The Trawsians had no magic you see. They had to rely on their science in order to fight. One of their inventions was the ‘Zone Markers’. Devices designed to block any and all enemy magic or mundane means of contacting outside of the area. Obviously, they’ll have the perimeter staked out, in case any of us try and escape and get word out.”

“So, like, they’re using these ZMs to cage us,” Vinyl stated, to which Time Turner nodded. She huffed. “Nopony cages Vinyl Scratch.”

“There isn’t much we can do until we destroy those markers,” Time Turner explained. “We won’t be getting any reinforcements any time soon, since nopony outside of Ponyville knows what’s going on. And until then, the enemy can just….” Time Turner’s eyes flew open. ‘How the hay did I forget that?’ He quickly turned to the two priestesses. “For Celestia’s sake, pray!”

They looked at him in confusion, before a loud ‘pop’ and the loud sounds of clashing metal and ranting. “PRAISE NIGHTMARE MOON!”

“Horse-apples,” Time Turner swore. ‘Prayers. Why the holyflank did I forget about the prayers?’ He got out of his chair, unsheathed his power sword and touched the ancient rune on the blade. It hummed to life, emitting a soft glow.

Suddenly, the wall was smashed into wall, blowing back the assembled ponies. Time Turner was pitched to the side, thanking himself lucky it wasn’t anything more than a simple spell. Debris and dust kicked up into the air, making it hard to see.

In from the entrance came what he expected; a Nightmare soldier. He was decked out in black armor reminiscent of Celestia’s own guardsponies. The similarities ended there. While a normal guardspony radiated peace and security, a soldier of Nightmare seethed with hate and death. The time charger felt repulsed just being in the same area as one. Their aura was wicked and demented, the same for the armor. The helmet had several had the look of a rhinoceros and it’s armor was inscrolled with various sayings written in the language of darkness. The soldier was made to be intimidating, but he had faced many of his ilk before. 'Cannon fodder.'

In one of its front hooves it carried a battle axe. Raising it on high, the soldier declared “Death to the sun touched.” And raced over to end him.

Time Turner just had enough time to jump to the side, avoiding the first strike. Drawing from his centuries worth of expertise and knowledge of prior dealings with the forces of Nightmare, he knew exactly how to handle this attacker. Quickly rolling back to his feet, he took an aggressive posture. The soldier turned to him and charged. He smirked. ‘As expected.’ At the last second, right before the soldier made impact, he raised himself on his hindlegs, twirled around the blow (not as graceful as a ballerina, but it did it’s job) and lopped off the head from the shoulders. The sword cut through armor and bone like it was butter. Since it was an enchanted blade, it singed the flesh so it wouldn’t bleed.

Looking over at the others, who were busy dusting themselves off, he spoke. “Lady Justice, send word to all positions. Have their priestesses or anyone of the churches praying. It’s the only thing that can keep this from happening again.”

Lady Justice nodded. “I’m on it.” She swiftly picked up a phone and used her hoof to rotate the dial over the according numbers.

“Lyra,” Inquisitor Time Turner barked. His assistant perked her ears, ready for her orders. “Go play.”

Lyra grinned deviously. She stood up on her hind legs and howled. While Time Turner was able to fight upon his back legs, it was uncomfortable and he could only do it for a very short time. Lyra, however, had a lifetime of experience and parents who could do so easily. Igniting her horn, two magical yellow hands formed over her front hooves. Cackling like a maniac, she ran out of the hole in the wall.

“Alright,” Vinyl started after her. “Play time.”

Bon Bon quickly pulled her back. “No Vinyl. Nightmare Moon’s spell is still affecting you.”

“No it’s not, see,” Lighting up her horn, the unicorn mare smiled…only for it to short-circuit and black electric pulses ran around her horn. Vinyl’s face scrunched up in pain, before the curse stopped. She growled in frustration and stomped her hoof. Looking to the heavens, she cried with all her might. “DAMN YOU NIGHTMARE MOON!”

Time Turner sighed. ‘Hopefully Bon Bon can keep her out of trouble.’ “If you’ll excuse me, I have some markers to destroy.” With that, the time charger inquisitor was off.

Comments

[predatornc]

First Comment and also....HANDS

[Honeytongue]

This story really is quite an epic gripper (needs more attention). Kinda makes me think of this idea I had for an A/U based on the Ring of Fire/1632 series, except with Ponyville (haven't really put too much thought into it yet though). Mainly that history is effected by the actions of many, rather than the deeds done by a few individuals.

[NobodieZ]

Good work. Will we see Trawsians in the future?