Weakness
She laid in her bed, rose colored tail hanging off the bed and touched the cold wooden floor. Hearing a noise coming from outside, the pony pulled her covers up higher. Opening her eyes, it was still dark out and this was a day to sleep in, everything had been covered for the day. I should check it out, something might be bothering Elizabeak.
Another noise showed Fluttershy that was a bad idea and the blue-knit covers flew over her head, body shivering. A mass landed on her elbow, her wings closed as she clenched into a fetal position. The mass moved to her head and a portion of the mass jackhammered her nose.
Fluttershy removed the cover from her head. “What is it Angel Bunny?”
The rabbit hammered his foot again and pointed to house’s main door, inset was a small one for her critter friends to come through. As she looked the door rattled and a boom shook its hinges. A deep voice called from the other side.
The buttercream pegasus flew under her covers at the knock, only sticking her head out at the voice, it knew her name. Oh no! Is somepony hurt? Maybe it’s some poor animal that wandered into the Everfree.
She jumped out of bed, moving across the floor so fast she might as well have been flying. Getting to the door just as another rap shook it. “W-w-who is it?”
“Tis your Princess. We seek your assistance.”
Fluttershy opened the door, expecting Luna but not the others or the armor. Two royal guards flanked the silver armored Princess. All three looking very serious; the same expression as a parent who lost a pet.
“Good morrow Fluttershy. There is an emergency in Bridal Lake that needs your…expertise.”
“A-anything I can do to help.” The startled pony stated, ignoring Angel tugging on her tail to get the pegasus away from the door.
“Get as many of your rat friends together as possible and meet at the portal, thy have one hour.” And in a flash like Twilight’s teleportation but emitting violet light, the Princess and her guards had vanished.
“Oh dear. What do you think that was all about?” She asked the white furry creature trying to close and bar the door.
5:40am
Solar Plexis stood by the portal, making sure no humans passed through it in either direction, or even unauthorized ponies. On the opposite side of the shimmering white puddle stood his brother, Coeliac Plexus, both tense from the shock of the attack. The edges of the room were still covered in incomprehensible white machines, looking more insidious with recent events. Plexis just wanted them out; unsure what kind of threat they posed.
The white standing water of the portal rippled, a sign something was coming through, it was only a moment’s notice but both guards raised their spears just in case. Plexis on the right was left-hoofed; the brothers appeared as mirror images of each other in that instant with their white fur and gold armor.
A lock of carnation pink hair emerged from the portal, touching steps down to the floor; moments later the butter yellow mare followed, the end of her tail still in the portal.
They guards recognized the mare as the Element of Kindness, the last pony they expected to show up at such a site. And as much as they wanted to comfort her, they first had to watch and make sure it really was her.
“Um, excuse me?” It came out soft and thready. “Celestia sent for me.”
The guards knew their jobs and occasionally hated it. They couldn’t comfort the mare or even show compassion, they were the wall meant to defend Equestria and for that you needed to be tough.
“I-I have a letter.” She pulled out a roll of parchment, handing it to Plexus.
His brother nodded. Solar could see the seal from his position, the sigil of Equestria and its mix of the sun and the moon.
“You will need to go out this door, there should be a guard at the end to direct you to Princess Celestia.” The guards raised their spears into a standing position.
As the mare walked past and her tail slid out of the portal, something else came with her, a swarm of mice scurried behind her and flowed like water down the steps. Solar saw his brother fight to remain rooted to the ground. “Rats. Why did it have to be rats?”
“Princess Celestia must have her reasons.” Solar replied, not hiding his grin.
“Just like that Lunar Guard you convinced that Royal Guards were actually Geldings?”
“Not at all,” He said delighted. “It was Foal’s Day, and he was a fool.”
***
Celestia stood outside the research facility, waiting. Her ponies had held up remarkably well. The fires had been mostly put out as well as well ponies evacuated through the upper windows on houses, all the bombs had been located by the front doors. A forensics pony was now going over Rarity’s house, to see why that building had suffered such serious damage, much more than any other building. Several of the bombs had been safely removed for further study, two hadn’t been though. Along with Cherry Blossom getting what she needed.
The sun was just showing itself over the horizon, deep reds and oranges bled through the sky and illuminated the early morning’s damage.
The alicorn made sure it didn’t show on her face, she had to keep the calm visage; it would be too easy to give into hate and then her ponies would follow, destroying everything she’d spent the last few millennia working for.
“Are you really going to risk the kind of turmoil it will bring the pegasus?”
If this is a war, then everypony needs to be ready.
“Like they were last time?” It was smug.
“Princess Celestia?” The low voice of the Element of Kindness was unmistakable.
“Thank you for coming Fluttershy.”
“Is everypony ok?”
Celestia wondered if she had let something slip, some quirk or expression. She had made sure to meet Fluttershy and position where the pegasus couldn’t see the damage. But with the extra guards who didn’t have the same experience hiding things and the pervasive acrid smell of soot, ash, and burnt flesh. No, there could never have been a way to hide this. You know that. She could see the pegasus’ nose wrinkling at the amalgam of smells.
“No.” Celestia had to be honest. “We were attacked. We caught three of them but there may be more. Can you please have your friends search for the rest? There should not be any risk to them. Then I can take you to Twilight,”
There was a look, the pegasus knew and it broke Celestia’s heart. It wasn’t easy to spot on anypony for it didn’t affect their expression, but some of the light went out of the little pony’s eyes, a little more hurt onto a large heart.
“Are you sure none of my friends will be injured?” Her head went from Celestia to her rats.
“We have yet to see the invaders use any lethal weapons and they will be watched by Lunar Guards. They will prevent anything from happening.”
“But you can’t guarantee that. You know what weapons they were holding when apprehended. You know what happens when you corner a desperate animal.”
“I promise you that nothing bad will happen to them.”
“O-okay.” The cream-colored pony turned to her small army. “All right everyone. The rodents who were moments before squeaking to themselves stopped everything and focused solely on the mare. “If you can please find anypony who is not a pony.” The assembled hoard looked at each other, squeaking responses very few could understand. “and please be safe” The pegasus spoke loudly at the mass of white and grey streaming past on the ground and the dark grey in the air. Fluttershy moved forward a step, to try and follow, but nothing more.
“Come along Fluttershy.” Celestia patted the pegasi between her wings. “There is somepony that needs you more.” She moves to gather the energy but lets it dissipate before the spell’s architecture could be formed. “I need to ask one more favor though.”
“Um-m-m, I can try.” Fluttershy said, pawing the ground
“I need you to use the stare on the culprits.”
“Oh, no no no no no, I couldn’t possibly do that. Those are intelligent creatures. It doesn’t matter what they have done, I could never use the stare on a human.”
“Even if it could prevent a war?”
That stopped the pegasi. She started to speak several times before any words came, but when the words came, despite being recalcitrant there was steel in that one word. “No.”
The Princess was not sad and her expression never changed even while the pegasus flinched back. I told you. They are strong. But her inner voice failed to respond to the challenge.
“I can respect that.”
Celestia pulled the magic together to teleport. It wasn’t a simple spell but it was a handy tool for any pony that could use it. Considered a taboo by Zebrica on the belief the body disintegrated itself and rebuilt back up by magic, it was a kind of death. But that was never the case. The body was broken down, would travel within a bubble of energy that moved faster than an eye could see and whose speed was dependent upon the user. Clover the Clever had discovered that playing a game of hide and seek with her mentor in a similar style to how NightMare Moon preferred to travel.
Twilight should be in her room, a special one set up in the Embassy. Celestia constricted the magic around her and Fluttershy, reducing both to their essences and rocketed off to the embassy. The royal alicorn felt for exactly where her favorite student was to no avail. She turned their bubble around while expanding her senses.
“You had to know she would be there, you never placed a guard on her. And you know what will happen next.”
Twilight was at the ‘aid station’ halfway between Bridal Lake and the Embassy where the injured and dead had been taken, where she would have to take the meek pegasus.
They appear in a flash as Celestia takes it all in. Nurses and doctors running around in white stained red jackets, guards reduced to carrying litters with patients. White canvas walls and ceiling constructed in a hurry. Makeshift cots of spears and sheets. The moans and cries of ponies, several bodies hidden under sheets. A velvet mare stood off in the corner, staring vacantly at the organized chaos as tears fell on a ruby necklace clutched to her chest.
Fluttershy ran forward, dodging nurses and corpsmen. Gently grasping Twilight in a hug, hoof running down the unicorn back. “It will be ok.”
The sobs from the purple mare got deeper. “No it won’t.” Twilight whispered, followed by a hacking cough. “She’s dead because of me. Because I failed.” Another coughing fit.
“Just let it out.” Celestia heard a catch in the yellow mare’s throat.
“I was in the kitchen when it went off. I had time to cast a shield. I could have teleported to Rarity, there was a new spell to teleport a pony to me…”
Fluttershy slumped against the unicorn.
Nopony told her. But how could they? They called Rarity’s death not that long ago; there had been signs of life, a faint pulse, eye movement, and then nothing.
Celestia gathered energy around herself again. Fluttershy will convince Twilight to see a doctor. She stared at the deep cuts along the lavender mare’s legs and abdomen; the shield had barely kept her alive, with some of the cuts inches deep.
In a flash she was gone with more preparations to attend to.
4:05am Bridal Lake Embassy, Earth
Avery watched as the guards forced him and Victor to walk at spear point to the Embassy. This was the first chance either human had to see the damage as fires raged and ponies in the distance moved like fairies from spot to spot. Another detonation went off as another house was engulfed by flame. They both kept their expressions neutral, sorrow would look like manipulation. But he still had the knife hidden in his boot and would use it if given the chance.
Stay alive long enough to escape. They have Aiko, and Isao will have escaped back through the portal. No help will come. Avery assessed.
The upper level of the Embassy looked as bad as the village with its busted windows and scorched look from the ground. But, the front doors were intact and upon entering the saw a black form on the ground surrounded by guards, only one or two watching Aiko as she lay on her stomach. A tall unicorn in gold and purple armor watched over everything. With the new guards they totaled a dozen excluding their captain.
Victor moved towards their downed colleague, spears rising as he moved. Avery kept his hands raised to show he was no threat as Victor checked Aiko’s pulse and vitals. Even from his vantage point of a few feet away, Avery could hear her labored breathing.
“Boss, she don’t look so good.” Victor told him, switching to Central American Spanish.
Avery moved forward to Aiko’s other side and helped Victor to flip her onto her back. Watching as the guards tensed, a few more spears pointed their way. Victor always had a knack as a medic.
Victor placed his head on Aiko’s chest, moving his head to get a better listen. “No breath sounds from the left side. She has a punctured lung at least. Think they’ll help?” He moved his head to indicate the guards.
“Doubtful.” Avery turned to the one in shinier armor in Equestrian. “We need to move her. She has a punctured lung and needs help.”
“Why should I help a terrorist? Do you know how many you killed?”
“Then can you get us the stuff to do it ourselves?”
“Why? So you can try to escape?” A guard behind them scoffed, but their leader held up a hoof and watched.
“Looks like we do it ourselves.”
“You still have that knife on you?” Victor asked.
“Of course, but you know what it means if they find out we still have weapons.” Avery looked around, seeing if any pony picked up the word. “And they might kill us. Why do you want to help her?”
“Isn’t escape one thing she is good at?” Victor said. “We need all the help we can get.”
“The kids grow up so fast.” Avery bent down and removed a small knife hidden in the side of his boot, leaving one hand in the air with its palm out. In Equestrian, “Just trying to save our friend’s life.”
Victor took the knife, with its narrow two inch blade.
“What is he doing?” Shining asked in English,on guard but also trying not to appear threatening.
This one has experience. “Something caused her lung to collapse and her chest cavity is filling up with air. If the pressure isn’t released her lungs won’t be able to take in more oxygen and she will suffocate. An incision is made into the chest to relieve the pressure. It would be a lot more successful if you have some medical supplies like a needle and gloves. She is no use to you dead.” At least this will tell us where we stand and if our lives have any value…
While Avery was talking to Shining Armor, Victor took the knife and cut the black silicone above Aiko’s left breast and to her shoulder. He then palpated the area to find space between the second and third rib. “I need something to create a valve here.” A box with a red cross settled down next to him from a pale yellow aura. Inside were needle, gloves, antiseptic, it was a dream of a field kit and all human.
Victor set to work setting up what he needed. Cleaning the area, cutting off the finger of a glove and putting it at the end of the needle. He then inserted the needle until he heard a rush of air and pulled out the needle while leaving in the glove finger as a catheter and taped it in place.
Aiko’s breathing sounded better but still raspy.
“She needs proper medical attention and may have a concussion. Just so you know.”
6:29am Bridal Lake, Earth
“What is the final tally?” Celestia looked down at the guard. She had returned to her burnt and ruined bedchamber. The strong smelled remained with torched wood and melted gold filigree. Several frame still stood on the walls without a canvas. The injured and the ashes of two guards had been removed.
Shining Armor sat at attention, trying to keep his eyes on his Commander. “There are 23 dead, only two of those being guards, with 12 in critical condition. The main cause of death was,” The guard swallowed hard.
“I can read that part later. What about the rest of my ponies?” She listened to her own distant voice.
“36 suffered minor injuries, a few broken and sprained limbs from ponies that jumped out of upper story windows. And 162 suffered no injuries.” Shining Armor looked down at the parchment held in his magical grasp. “Quick Wit has regained consciousness but has no memories of the past day, the rest are still in recovery.”
“You should consider it lucky. Only 71 injuries. They could have killed everypony here with those numbers.”
“Anything else?” Celestia asked.
“Cherry Blossom is requesting access to the infirmary and the morgue but the doctors have denied her access. They are worried she will get in the way with all of her equipment. The prisoners have been contained but the female one seems to be dying.”
“Allow Blossom access to whatever she requires; give her an escort if necessary. And tell her that she will be responsible for any damage.” That will not be necessary; she is the most able with human technology though and the only one skilled with videography. “As for the human,” The Princess had to stop her emotions which said to let the murderer die, but there were better uses. “Send Doctor Horse to her wounds. Tell him to make sure she is in no pain and to give her regular doses of Amicus.”
“Princess? That is magic based. And against your own rules.”
Celestia noticed the hesitation and conflict in his voice. “Because it is magic based her body will break it down, if it works at all. What if it had been your sister instead of Rarity that had died? Which almost did happen. You saw the remains of the kitchen; it was only her quick thinking that saved her. But what if this was part of a larger attack?”
“Understood.” Shining Armor said before turning about face and walking out of her ruined room.
I can’t let it happen again. Not again. Discord. Griffons. NightMare. Sombra and the Old Queen.
Celestia snapped her head up, some sort of magic was emanating from the other side of the door, but this time it was a familiar kind of magic. “Let her in.”
The doors opened and Twilight walked in. Her eyes were still sullen but she had let the doctors apply bandages to her wounds.
“My most faithful student.” Celestia got up to meet her student halfway and they shared a nuzzle. “You look much better.”
“I’m so sorry! I shoul-“
“You did fine. If anyone failed it was me. But what’s done is done. Did you need something?”
Twilight looked down.
“It has been a long day. Why don’t you get some sleep, you do not need to be involved in what is to come.”
“But I want to help. Fluttershy is helping patients. There must be something I can do.” There was a catch in her voice.
Celestia looked at her student, the one she was closest to outside of Luna. She knew when her student was holding something back, so the alicorn waited.
“And I’m scared. What happens if they attack again? What if…” Twilight trailed off.
“If they attack first we may well die. This nation alone has half a million soldiers, a total of one million employed by the military. Our guards number in the thousands only, ponydom is only three million.”
“Can’t we just go back home and block the portal?”
“No. There would be no way to tell what was happening on this world, what new weapons they could deploy. Our retreat would be seen as a sign of weakness. You cannot show that to a predator.”
“You know what they are hiding. This world may be weak magically but it still exists. Except for that spot in Colorado that formed last month.”
“Is there anything I can do? Fluttershy is helping with patients and I feel useless.” Twilight admitted.
“Do you know of any way to disable human technology?” Celestia saw the shock spread across her student’s face. “If this was the first step of an attack, they cannot be allowed to pull of a second one. Tow may not have the power to stop this or may have caused it, if so her next step will be to mobilize her military.”
“But, how can you know that?! There could still be hope.”
“Because it has happened before, with the Griffon Kingdoms.”
“That was never in any history book! They have always been peaceful!”
“I will have the books sent to your room. It was hidden to help maintain the peace.” Celestia admitted. Ponies will need to learn about it now. “How can human technology be disabled? All we will need is a few hours to strike back. You can have a few days.”
“I don’t need it,” Twilight replied despondently. “I already know. But I want to know, why did they have to kill everypony???” Tears streamed down the magenta mare’s muzzle.
“I promise I will find out before doing anything.”
Twilight stared into her Princess’ eyes. “Ok. Their technology is weak to the magnetic field of this planet. If the sun releases some of its plasma, it will hit and compress the magnetic field against the planet causing the field to increase on the surface and can overload power lines just like an overcharged gem and can damage components. But there are safety devices in place they cannot stop something powerful enough although I’m still having trouble with their measurement units which seems haphazard at best.”
“How can you know all this?” Celestia asked her pupil.
“Television. And some books on the subject. There was one talking about a geomagnetic storm that hit Quebec in 1989 that caused a cascade failure and left six million people without power for most of the day.” A twinkling of the old Twilight showing through.
A weakness to their own sun? They show their weakness that easily? Or is it because they all share the same technology. Celestia wondered. “I will have some special training for you and the other elements back at Canterlot Castle. And ask Luna for Aspis, it is an ancient type of shield. You may need to get Mystic’s help on that one.”
6:01am White House Master Bedroom, Earth
President Margarette Tow was awoken by a rap at the door followed by Mr. Sheppard entering the room. There were dark circles under his eyes meaning he had yet to get any sleep which was odd for a man who prided himself on always being fully rested. But that wasn’t the only indicator his white hair was mussed and no guard would let him enter unless there was an emergency.
President Tow blinked a few times to clear her eyes. “What happened?” She threw the covers off and edged off the bed, sliding into a pair of white slippers. She had a day to get ready for.
“There has been a slight, complication with Operation Vikaire.” He was hesitant to answer, another bad sign.
“How bad?” She turned away from the mahogany closet. He handed her a file folder.
The pictures showed the massive pink shield around Groom Lake. It was hard to see past the massive pink blob, but flashes could be seen.
“There were explosions.”
“I thought no ordinance of that scale had been approved!”
“It wasn’t! Someone must have snuck it in and tried to sabotage the mission.”
“If you are not telling me everything.” She let the threat trail off. “We have been friends too long for you to hold out on me now.”
“Yes. Mr. Nakamura refused to leave after the explosions went off. Thankfully though as he is now our only eyes and ears in there. Mr. Sizemore and Mr. Anwar were captured by Celestia herself and nothing has been seen of Mrs. Marcus since she entered the Embassy building.”
“Shit! Now what aren’t you telling me?”
“There was an explosion on the top floor, Celestia’s bedchamber and there has been an increase in guards.”
Miss Tow sat heavily into a padded chair. This could not have gone worse. “Ok, we will have to deny what happened. And sorry old friend, but I can’t save you from this one.”
“I know. It will take a day or so for Celestia to contact you if she hasn’t tried already.”
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Wait, what brown stallion?
why are they attacking equestria?
5761829 Ok, I may have forgotten what is written vs what is planned vs what is up.
And he has not yet been given a name but I know he was there with the changeling in pt 1. Not sure about other instances that are up.
5762005 They aren't, only one of them wanted to provoke and that wasn't the expected outcome.
Lucky them they dont speak Spanish xD
Hmm about the solar flare theory, I suppose it would be a bad step to celestia to use it. There are systems to detect one and shut down critical systems, and military equipment is specially resistant agains EMP and radiation. So she would fry a lot of consumer tech around the world annoying the civilian population
5763455 That is a common misconception. There are different classes of EMP's, in the Cold War there was millions spent by the US to protect its infrastructure against such an attack and hundreds of thousands spent by Russia to make a more powerful bomb to render those defenses useless. The main way solar flares are predicted is also by, looking at changes in the sun, sometimes they aren't caught until really late, but they can move a lot faster given certain conditions. Angle is also important as they can be moved to intersect better with Earth. One last issue would be the huge cost of damages as most civilian technology is destroyed, there could also be fires etc and riots.
5771858 aye, buy since then technology has improved. I dunno about military because, of course, that use to be secret or it is not my area of expertise.But for space domain one of the specification for conputers and electronic systems is the radiation resistance, and those systems operate outside of the magnetosphere. So here I deduce it is possible to make systems that would br enough resistant. Also after the cold war I suppose that the USA army would add that requirement to their contrators specifications.
the point is that it would not be fatal to human kind, mostly annoying and for sure would give arguments to the xenophobics
About the early detection systems, I think that NASA has several satellites dedidacted to study and detect the dinamic of both, the sun and our magnetosphere
Well after this enjoyable nerd-bable
5771876 I love good nerd-babble. That's half the fun of scifi/fantasy and why so many people are no fun. And yeah, it wouldn't be a planet killer. Not a simple one at least, but that also isn't her goal.
Unless it makes the news. 
And yeah, military stuff is kept on the down-low. Probably on some sort of watch list now for trying to research the impact of an EMP which you actually can't find studies on
funny thing is that those xenophobes could also lose face for being the cause of a war, or gain credence for predicting it, or some third side.
5771942 yay nerdbable
Well that is why I use space tech as reference, and we can make a fair assumption that the military has that at least, or mor likely, better
Hmm well it is a lobby which main reaiurce is the fear. After any attack also the show of celestia strenght for sure they would have a lot of pain to work with. Maybe when the water go back to it course there would be people thinking about that. I suppose that would be similar to when their uses nukes for first time