Spitfire groaned and let her head hit the surface of the solid oak desk in front of her. Each day, if that unit of measurement was even valid anymore, seemed longer and longer than the last. Each day also brought a new problem or problems, ones she had to solve.
“So what should we do, Captain?” The voice of one of her lieutenants, Fleetfoot, came from across the room. Raising her head only reminded the veteran Wonderbolt of the ugly reality of the situation they were in.
Fleetfoot, Lightning Dust, and Silver Zoom all stood across from her. Where at one point they might have worn the iconic yellow and blue flight suits, now they wore something of a mix between that and royal guard attire. The jumpsuits were covered by the golden plates of Equestria’s finest, hastily painted with a blue lightning bolt pattern to better mimic the colors of the Wonderbolts.
“We can’t have ponies rioting everytime they miss a meal.” Spitfire concluded with a heavy sigh. “I know it’s rough outside, but we can’t let Cloudsdale fall into chaos. Not like the world down there.” She pointed a hoof at Lightning Dust. “Take who you need and shut it down. Knock some heads if you have to, I just don’t want this happening again.”
“Gladly.” The sadistic grin that the turquoise pegasus gave before leaving didn’t release any stress from Spitfire, instead it only added to the pile. Doing these things wasn’t easy and compromising one's own values and beliefs for the greater good was not good for the spirit.
When the terror started somepony needed to take control and in lieu of a governing body with a spine, the Wonderbolts had restored order to the third largest city in Equestria. Keeping that order meant needing more bodies, which meant drudging through the retired members of the team and washouts. The quality had dropped, same with the attitude of the group, but Cloudsdale was safe.
Celestia, she missed Soarin so much.
“Fleetfoot, organize more scouting parties. Start sending them out further; Ponyville, Sire’s Hollow, Appleloosa. I don’t care, just get us more food however you can.” Spitfire received a nod and a salute before she flew out of the room. “Silver, go help her.” The last of the three commanders of her force gave a salute before leaving. She was left alone again, like it seemed she was more often than not now.
The Captain of the Wonderbolts got up from her desk, assuming that a view of the city would help lift her spirits a little. Making her way over to the window and dropping her shades over her eyes, she looked out over the domain that had become hers.
From the highest office in the Cloudisseum, she could see everything. There were spots in the cloud city that were becoming a bit thin. The near constant sun was taking a heavy toll on the unique architecture of Cloudsdale and without the ability to move around Equestria to get more water there was only so much they could replace. It was worrying, but not as pressing as the food situation.
Pegasi had almost always relied on the surface dwelling races, specifically earth ponies, to supply their cloud cities. So while it offered them a sense of security from most threats, right now that just happened to be the rampant unicorns on the ground, it also left them dependent on others. Their fortress was under siege and supplies were running low.
About two weeks ago the intense rationing started. Before then they had focused on limiting purchases of certain goods, but now they were in full lockdown. No more buying food, it was given to families by armed guards in the city square and nopony except her Wonderbolts were permitted to fly...not that the ponies of the city liked that. The riots were becoming more common, just the common pegasus tired of eating once a day and having a limited supply of water.
Spitfire understood, she just didn’t care anymore. This needed to be done or else the whole city would starve, they would be left with a city of bones like so many others they had found on the surface. She wasn’t about to let that happen to her city.
“I deserve to fly…” She concluded, cracking her neck and launching herself out of the window. She had been cooped up in the Cloudisseum for so long, either training her new recruits or organizing things for the city. She deserved to get out and spread her wings, enjoy the fruits of her own labor.
The sun baked cloudscape shone beneath the omnipresent star above. If she shut off her brain and focused on the wind beneath her wings she could almost imagine it was any other summer day. Just getting out brought a smile to her features.
“Finally come down from your fortress, Hurricane?” An insult was hurled at her from the ground.
“Oh so you can fly but we can’t?” Another.
“Tyrant!”
Spitfire screwed her eyes shut and clenched her jaw. None of those ponies understood what she was doing, they were more concerned with being comfortable and happy. Right now those things came second to safety. Rationing, restricting airspace, cracking down on these riots and protests, they were all to keep them safe! The ponies of Cloudsdale may not like it or realize it now, but they would in time. They had to.
She would talk with her lieutenants about making some posters and reading material to pass around town to better explain things. They needed the populace to understand that they needed to cooperate with the Wonderbolts to survive.
She couldn’t lie to them and say they just needed to hold out, though. They needed to be honest with themselves and admit that there was no help coming, there was no hope for the outside world. They needed to find their own solution, maybe create an annex on the surface below Cloudsdale to grow their own food…but that would take time. Time that was already running out.
‘Ponies need hope.’ That’s what Soarin told her when this all started, when he was still around. Look where holding onto that hope and deluding themselves had gotten them...with starving foals and an angry populace.
“I don’t need this…” Spitfire muttered to herself as she banked hard right to turn around and head back to the Cloudisseum. She might just stay in her office for the rest of the day, focus on one of her books or further plan out the annex.
BA-WOOOO
Well honed instincts kicked in, a reaction to the warning horns sounding. Spitfire slammed on the breaks and hovered, spinning in place and looking for the source. There were horns in the four cardinal directions to warn of any incoming threats. Once or twice a herd of those monsters had passed below the city and fired a few volleys from below. There was supposed to be one horn, signalling the direction where the herd was coming from.
Instead there were horns from all directions.
Spitfire sped off towards the nearest edge of the city, just wanting to get a glimpse at the ground below. All across the city her Wonderbolts were taking to the sky and heading to the fringes of their home, all ready to defend what was theirs. She was halfway towards the horn on the eastern side of Cloudsdale when she first saw what the warning was about.
Two specks were on the horizon and rapidly approaching the city. They were both massive. One was a harsh white, like a sheet of snow under the sun, and the other was jet black. They were flying and chasing a squad of her Wonderbolts right towards Cloudsdale.
“What is that?” When Spitfire’s hooves hit the clouds she was joined by Fleetfoot. Her de-facto second in command squinted her violet eyes to try to parse out what the UFOs in the distance were. “Is that Surprise and Blaze? They shouldn’t be back from Canterlot so soon-”
“From where?” Spitfire rounded on her subordinate, pushing her to the ground. “What did I say about sending anypony there?!” She roared down at the other pegasus, only turning her head to check on the threat. They were gone. Whatever they were had disappeared in the few seconds it had taken for Spitfire to yell at Fleetfoot.
“It’s closer than bucking Appleloosa!” Fleetfoot got up from the clouds, straightening out her armor and glaring right back at Spitfire. “You might be too scared to send ponies there, but it needed to be done! It’s better than risking ponies by sending them out into the middle of nowhere! Distance means danger!”
“I was scared for a reason!” Spitfire shouted back. “I-”
Spitfire was interrupted by a howl that shattered the sky, the weaker pieces of cloud around the immediate area falling away from the violent roar. Her reason for not sending ponies towards the capital became ever more apparent as it shot from below the city and hovered overhead.
The beast was well over twenty feet tall as it hovered before them, what looked to be a pure white coat in the distance was now revealed to be dusty and spattered with dark red, almost black, stains. A mane of literal fire trailed down the back of the thing, an acrid black smoke trailing behind it. Dark red, almost black, eyes with bright yellow pupils studied the ponies before it with a disdain Spitfire had never seen before. Its mouth was filled with sharpened enamel, the front fangs well over six-inches and dripping with a black slime. The horn that erupted from that plume of fire it called a mane was well over five feet long and sharper than any sword in existence.
“Sweet Celestia…” Fleetfoot commented. Only one of those words seemed to be correct.
A blinding golden light built at the spear that poked from the monster’s head.
Spitfire moved, Fleetfoot didn’t.
Where one of her oldest friends had just stood a moment ago, now there was nothing. No ash, no cloud underneath, no remains. A pillar of corrupted fire had wiped Fleetfoot from existence, and there was another building.
There were no coherent thoughts surging through Spitfire’s mind, nothing she could say or call out to her underlings. For the first time in her decade long career, she was panicking. Spitfire’s wings pushed her through the city, just wanting to put distance between herself and that thing that was once the princess of the sun.
The clouds underneath the mare burst open, a pitch black horn being the first thing through. It clipped Spitfire, leaving a deep vertical wound from her sternum up to her back. It sent the veteran flier into a tailspin as she hit the ground and tumbled.
The thing that clipped her was a few feet shorter than the monstrous Celestia, but it was still giant nonetheless. Its coat was as black as night, her long mane and tail a field of stars. A pair of enormous leathery bat wings whipped up fierce winds as they propelled the monstrous princess of the night through the very foundation of Cloudsdale. That was the only glimpse that Spitfire got of it before it dove down straight through the clouds again.
The screams of ponies rang through the skybound fortress, dozens of pegasi taking off from the doomed island in the air. But as soon as they took off, a golden lance of pure fire swept through the air and left none of them behind.
Spitfire tried to stand, blood slowly turning her golden coat red, but was forced back down from the pain. Breathing was hard, that horn had definitely done more than scratch her. It wasn’t the best position to be in, not in the slightest.
Some ponies tried to fight back, batter their bodies or makeshift weapons against the colossal bodies of the twisted sisters. Some were lucky to be swatted away by powerful hooves on the end of the spindly legs, others were caught in the jaws of the two and disappeared into a fine red mist.
Another pass through the city by Princess Luna fractured the already strained foundation of the once proud home of the pegasi of Equestria. Chunks of Cloudsdale fell away, drifting off through the sky away from the main bulk. It was coming apart at the seams and there was nothing left to do.
One of Celestia’s beams of light passed by Spitfire, missing by only a foot or so. The pure heat of the blast burned away some fur and feathers from her toned and well-worked body. She screamed in agony as every nerve in her body felt like it was on fire, screaming was the only thing she could do now.
The bit of Cloudsdale she had landed on fractured and started to fall. With the last bit of her focus and consciousness, Spitfire clung to it. As the newly liberated cloud drifted away from the city, Spitfire drifted away from the waking world. A cacophony of howls, screams, and the sound of magic ripping clouds and ponies asunder sung her to sleep.
Oh no.........Celestia and Luna went Daybreaker and Nightmare. This.......just got infinitely worse.
I wonder.....Are Chrysalis, Thorax, and the rest of the changelings vulnerable to turning? They are able to maipulate magic similarly to unicorns and alicorns, after all.
Well, that was horrifying. You do an amazing job with the descriptions btw, keep it up.
Wait....doesn’t chrysalis have a throne that negates pony magic? Or is it past that part in the timeline? I bet there are pieces of it somewhere and could be crafted into some kind of Alicorn killing weapons or used as shields that project a sphere around the piece depending on how big it is. Just some thoughts
...Well shit.
Not only have the Sisters turned, they've become their Nightmare variants.
Not only have they become their Nightmare variants, but they're using what seems like their full power with no restraint, or are even more powerful now!
The two of them just wiped out Cloudsdale in the span of five minutes!
Hammer of Dawn has been authorized for use.
"Hell Followed" indeed in this case.
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maybe not...yes they use magic but it comes from a different source. Given the nature of the changeling throne, it stands to reason said throne negates or repels ley line energy (which is the cause of the mutations) and changelings were still able to use their magic despite being in range of the throne. Ergo, the changeling magical source is not ley line related
And I thought the pegasi would be relatively safe. You're right in that all it would take is 1 alicorn to destroy it.
Not totally sure about what happened in the beginning of this plague. I'm betting Discord yeeted himself and fluttershy out of existence the moment he sensed something amiss. Its very likely twilight was teh typhoid mary of this disaster, but the real mystery is why the unicorns are digging. to get at the leyline? not sure why, since the disease seems to be spreading quite nicely, unless they're not really targeting ponies but magic in any form.
10829996
The description of Elytra last chapter indicates this is post S6-finale.
On a side note I could picture Discord yeeting Fluttershy into his alternate dimension to keep her safe.
I could also see Fluttershy getting pissed that she wasn't there to help Ponies when they needed her.
Also as of today “And Hell Followed” has been in the feature box for a WEEK STRAIGHT!
You guys are crazy! This support is amazing!
10830033
You deserve it, dude. Thank you for making such an engrossing story!
So far with no leads or clues as to what's causing all of this (or I'm blind), I would probably guess that wherever Twilight got sent to by the friendship map is the source.
Thanks... I hate it.
(Not you or the chapter itself; very well written. Just the fact you... Well, you know.)
I have no words. A bastion has fallen, one of the few unspoken hopes that could have led to Equestria's salvation.
Even without the sisters in Canterlot, it is by no means safe. It's a city filled with Feral nobles and unicorns after all. What's worse is that the sisters are now actively hunting. Unlike their unicorn counterparts, the two alicorns are more than a simple "threat". They are death incarnate, an unstoppable force that would make nightmares like Xenomorphs and Terminators look like childish playthings.
And what's worse is that they seem smarter than the others. They followed their prey all the way back to their nest before striking, and even Twilight planned for the unicorns to take positions on rooftops and keep at least one unicorn in each house, as evident by Vinyl and Trixie.
I've never read a more bleak and hopeless story than this one.
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People were wondering what Celestia looked like and how Luna was doing. I had to oblige.
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No, Daybreaker and Nightmare implies some level of sapience and therefore a capacity for reason and mercy, (however limited it may be). These, however are just engines of destruction, no more able to hear please for mercy than a wild fire or a hurricane.
At this point I only see one option, the survivors need to head to whats known as the twilight zone. The twilight zone is an area on a tidally locked planet, which Equis essentially is now, where the sun is in a permanent state of setting and therefore making the temperature more bearable.
Might be time to let Tirek out, (then figure out a way to yeet him into another dimension when he's done)
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I meant more in their physical forms.
10830062
oooooo smart
Well Fleetfoot, your insubordination just cost you not only your life, but the lives of hundreds or even thousands left in one of the only few safe places left in Equestria.
Expect to get kicked in the plot for eternity in the afterlife.
There's always that one idiot with the all-consuming compulsion to rebel without thinking in a sad attempt to assert dominance during a crisis. And in this case two more who thought "lets lead the biggest threats on the planet straight home".
I'm starting to wonder if Twilight tapped some kind of more bestial version of the Nightmare. I'm also pretty sure at this point that she's effectively the "broadcaster" for whatever's going on. She's the element of magic, after all, and whatever this is spreads via magic. I mean she was obviously patient zero but I think she's the actual active conduit for whatever it is that's infecting the planet's magic.
What the...
WHAT IS THAT COVER ART?!?
SHE LOOKS LIKE SOME RESIDENT EVIL ARTIST RESKINNED TWILIGHT
Jesus Christ, I am now intrigued and scared for my life should I decide to read this.
10830176
Do it. Read it.
Well it's good to see Celestia and Luna are getting along and enjoying themselves.
Likely not the retirement they were planning on though.
10830186
There's a lotta little things you gotta try in this world...some of those just involve destroying entire cities.
I saw the cover art, the description and damn, now I am intrigued. This is my first fanfic in over 3 years. Hope you continue with this
...
...
What in the...
Jesus Christ...
I need some therapy of myself after this...If not for the nightmares, then for my messed up psyche for actually enjoying this in a rational way and not enjoying this in a perverted and highly questionable insanity way
God, this story. I can't stop reading it. Every chapter tears me apart even more but I just. Can't. Stop. I haven't been this engrossed in a story in ages. Please, I'm begging you, just give the ponies left one win. Bravo, baero, bravo.
10830205
Uh...hmm...*looks at chapter currently being written*...yeah...
Hey, a thought just occurred to me.
Other people before me have commented that Rainbow might turn into one of the monsters due to her attempting a Sonic Rainboom. And, well, we don't know how the castle affects those who are "Infected" for lack of a better term. From some things (Having some of the Unicorns stay in homes, having others hide), it seems to be some sort of Hive-mind type thing with the Alicorns as a focal point; like Synapse Creatures for the Tyranids from 40k. So, what if, and this is a long-shot here, Rainbow Dash transforms, but doesn't become completely feral. She has access to the Hive-mind, but is not subsumed by it, and is able to sort of look into the Hive to see at least some of what is going on.
I don't know... I just want SOMETHING to go well for the Survivors. This could just be something to try and help them reverse this.
Er… Dear author, I’d like Spitfire to survive this, is this too much to ask in a story where you casually leave 90% of the ponies we know and love as mindless monsters and rotting corpses? Pretty please?
On a more serious note though, the particular thing about a full blown apocalyptic setting is that death of characters loses much of its emotional impact that it would have on readers in most stories. It strikes harder when you’re not looking for it, but you also grow numb when the death toll hits so high that it just becomes a simple number. I’m not saying this is a bad thing, because normally I sure as hell wouldn’t be able to handle all those ponies massacred.
10830229
I mean, Spitfire isn't dead yet.
10830210
That had better be a good 'yeah' my heart is thundering over here
10830235
10830231
Yeah, you didn’t actually say she died just then, but still, wanted to be sure, because killing off ponies casually is just what this story does.
Or maybe by “yet” you mean the first thing you wrote in the next chapter is how someone found her dead having lost too much blood.
10830231
wait wtf, what do you mean "yet"????
10830259
Hey, we all die sometime.
Ha! Last time i was thinking exactly about "what if" Celestia and Luna chased some pegasi back to Cloudsdale, i doubt i can predict the future (again) but i now wonder about the rest of the world's state and characters, as the setting seems to take place around Season 7, that means Equestria already reached out to other species... poor Gabby probably got sent to Canterlot to check on why the Sun stopped moving
Just a flesh wound, Spitfire will be fine. Odds of her floating down to Ponyville and being saved by Dash? Also, really? Three Wonderbolts surely wouldn't be so stupid but then I guess this is what desperate times cause, recklessness and mistakes. Fleetfoot you are an idiot and deserved to live longer to see the error of your ways.
Wellllll shit.
Having finally sat down and binge-read what you currently have, I can officially say this is one damn good mystery (and gorefest) you have created. Can't wait to see where it goes next.
10830464
Glad you enjoyed it so far! There's more to come!
I don't usually like zombie stories since when set in the modern world they make zero sense. The cause travels to fast, the military is to ineffective and modern communication methods go unused to name three.
But in Equestria? bad enough with magic blasting unicorns but flying and magic spamming zombie gods? that's just pure nightmare fuel.
Ima keep it straight with you chief... that was f*cked. Cloudsdale gone? Spitfire potentially dead? And Soarin... poor Soarin. You've done it Doc'. Ya killed my Hope. Congratulations.
10830497
Hope? What's that?
you killed fleetfoot...... :(
what happened to Lightning Dust, did she make it and save Spitfire? i hope so.
10830552
Seeing as Cloudsdale getting attacked is 100% her fault, Fleetfoot deserved to die. Same could be said for the rest of the Wonderbolts too.
This is why the military should never be in charge. Not without an even higher authority to keep them in line. You get what Cloudsdale was before it fell, when you do. Or even worse.
I agree that I think the Changelings are safe from the infection, and ignoring the facts already mentioned- one not turning, the Changeling Throne blocking ley-line magic and not Changeling magic, I think I have an idea on the why.
So, I imagine that both Unicorns and Changelings have internal magic reserves for magic uses. Well, I imagine that when a Unicorn casts a spell; either ley-line magic is drawn to augment/combine with internal magic to cast the spell, all of the magic used is internal with the ley-line soon providing magic back to the Unicorn as mana regen, or both.
With Changelings however, I bet all their magic comes directly from emotion-energy. This would mean that they're both probably more dependent on internal reserves and any magic-regen would come from emotional energy.
Of course, it won't stop them from starving due to losing much of their 'food' resources.
Also, this most likely means that Discord's magic involves ley-lines in some way if even he was affected by the Throne, so its probably best that he stay away from everyone to prevent being corrupted.
Damn. I was really hoping Luna had avoided this fate somehow.