> My Little FEAR [First Encounter Assault Recon] : Slow-mo is magic > by JustDing > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Interval 01- Incoming and meeting > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Becket!" The bloodied, broken phantom in front of his face was staring directly into his eyes, while the creature and the man were struggling for a pistol. The muzzle of the weapon was pointed at Beckett`s forehead. "Help me!" The phantom was... has been Harold Keegan, a member of Dark Signal; which was an elite strike team of Delta Force operatives. Because of the influence of Alma, a powerful psionic girl, he changed into said phantom. He was a good man and cared about his teammates. But that had been all past. Michael Becket used his full strength in his hands to point the end of the pistol at Harold's left temple. "I'm sorry...", he muttered. Bang! Harold's body fell to the ground and vanished into thin dust. Michael stood there for a second, hesitant at the death of his teammate, his friend, who was killed by his own hands. But he had to do it. And now he had to stop Alma. He reached for the last lever in the console before him and he pulled it down. Then he felt weakness in his body and he catched a glimpse at a figure at top of his body. He realized it. Alma had him, and she can have all the "fun" she wanted. But suddenly, she was pushed back by an invisible force. Alma looked surprised and anger appeared on her face. Michael's vision was surrounded by a faint blue, then darkness. His conscious was lost... Ponyville, Equestria, in another universe, 5 minutes ago It was a wonderful day in Ponyville, the small bright village of easy-going ponies. The sun, which was raised by Princess Celestia, shined warmly at the ground and the hearts of the townsfolk, who shine just as bright. The ponies were going after their work and everything was just like any other day. 1 minute later The sky turned into a dangerous red, and the clouds were moving themselves to a center area over the everfree forest. A lavender unicorn, Twilight Sparkle, stood on the balcony of her library. She has never, ever saw something like this in her whole life. It looked dangerous and beautiful at the same time. Next to her stood a terrified dragon. It was her personal assistant, Spike, who watched the scene, too, with mouth agape. "Wha... Whats this, Twilight?" Spike asked shakily. No response from the stunned wise-mare. "TWILIGHT!" Spike yelled. "Huh? What? Oh, Spike, don't scare me like that!" Twilight shook in her place, taking her eyes away from the clouds for a split second to glance at the young reptile. As she gazed back at the clouds, which were now starting to spin around a big glistening bright sphere, Spike was quickly forgotten again. "W-what is happening over there?" "I don't know, Spike. Twilight replies, eyes reflecting the scene like mirrors. "The magical interference to burst the pegasi weather-block is doing far more than that, and the crimson sky could be the residue from chaotic magi-charms. But this doesn't look-" Suddenly, a bright flash from the sphere crashed down into the forest. It caused a very loud bang and a light pressure wave. "WHAAAAAAAA!!?" both were screaming in shock. After the flash, the sphere disappeared into nothing as the clouds scattered. The sky turned back into the blue just like minutes ago and the sun shined on the ground once again. It is like nothing just happened. But all ponies in the town were shocked, although no physical harm was caused on a pony or a house; even in the place where the flash crashed in, there was no smoke or rising monstrosity. "That... was definitely not normal. I need more in depth knowledge into this, and the only place that would be is where-ever that stuck.",Twilight said to herself, "Spike! Where are you? We must write a letter to the princess!". No response. Twilight trotted back into her library and looks for Spike. There he was, in his basket. His shakes were rattling even the floorboards with his terror, his whimpers hit Twilights heart. "Spike, sshhh, it's over now," Twilight said in as smooth and comforting tone as she could handle, given the circumstances. Slowly, he climbed out of his basket and looked through the window to the sky. After he realized that the sphere and the spinning clouds and the sky are blue, he let out a sigh of relief and wiped at his eyes quickly, masking his fear. "Wow, that was scary... Okay, letter to the princess,right? What I should write?" Canterlot, Princess Celestias Castle Princess Celestia, a white alicorn with a mythically breezing mane was on her balcony as the sky turned red. She stands there still, mouth agape. The door in her room quaked open and Princess Luna, kin the the heavenly sun goddess, but with blues and stars atoning her coat and mane, as well as smaller than her sister, run into Celestias room; with fear evidently written on her face. Princess Celestia turned around and embraced her sister in a hug. "It's okay, it is gone now..." Celestia tried to calm down her sister, her tone and calmness more practised and mastered. Luna wascrying, tears are falling down from her eyes onto her sister's shoulders. Suddenly, a letter appeared in front of Celestia and fell to the ground. Celestia picked it up with the magic all horned ponies contain, opened it and started to read. "Ah, it's from my faithful student Twilight Sparkle." At that moment, Luna had calmed down as she asked "What did she wrote?" "She asks for permission to investigate the place where the magic surge met land. I will let her, but she must take her friends with her." Luna hung her head down and whispered "I do hope she will do the right thing, if there is indeed something..." Everfree Forest Music "Oooh..." Michael Becket woke up slowly and tried to open his eyes, but winched immediately. The sunlight was much too bright, compared to the dark and bloodied halls had been trudging through the last days. "Is... is this heaven?" he asked to himself, as his eyes adjusted to the bright sunlight. "Well, no clouds and no shiny gates. Then why the hell a forest?" he looked around carefully and tried to get up on his feet. "Well, at least'm not dead, my weapons are still here." He still had his Patten PK470 Assault Rifle, HV Hammerhead, Vollmer Ultra92 Automatic Shotgun and Raab KM50 Sniper Rifle, some grenades and a proximity mine. The weapons he carried before he encountered the evil-turned Harold Keegan. Ammo stocked in the high numbers. "I have to find where I am." INTERVAL 01 INCOMING AND MEETING He tapped the side of his visor and a small map appears in his vision, but they were showing the "NO MAPDATA/UNKNOWN LOCATION" error. "Shit, this is awkward..." shrugging and with no further plan, he picked a direction and walked, hoping to find a way out of the strange forest. Fluttershy's cottage "Fluttershy! Get out here now! We gotta investigate something in the Everfree Forest and we can't do that with you being a chicken!" Rainbow Dash yells, "We need you! If we are encountering some weird alien dude then you should be able to calm it!" "NO!" "Wha..? But we're going with you! Me, Applejack, Twilight, Rarity and Pinkie Pie!" "NO!" Rainbow Dash sets out a heavy sigh and faces the rest of her friends, having nothing for them but a empty shrug. Twilight lifts an eyebrow for a second, "Alien?" she asked. "Hey! It could happen!" The purple mare dropped her head in annoying defeat. "Ok, we are going without her... Rainbow Dash?" "Yes?" "I want you to fly above the forest and look for strange beings. Is that clear?" Rainbow Dash saluted and yelled "Sir, yes, sir!" and flew away. Twilight said "And the rest... with me!" "Okay!" all the other of her friends said in unison. And they walked into the forest... Rainbow Dash PoV Rainbow Dash needed less than one minute to fly to the scene. As she approached, she saw that there was no damage done, just a small crater that appeared to have strange marks in it. She landed next to the crater and soon she found strange foot tracks next to it which are completely unrecognisable. The tracks were leading deep into the forest and in the direction of Ponyville. She stood there for about a minute, to digest the image of an alien which may be lurking around in the forest and was walking directly to the town. "Ha! I knew it! Aliens! Dash thinks to herself. If I can catch them and bring them to Twilight... Ooh her face will be priceless!", A big grin appears on her face. She took off, searching for the creature. Five Minutes passed by and now she could see something moving in the forest. She approached carefully, not to draw the attention of the alien to herself. It looked extremely odd. It walked on two legs, like a diamond dog, but it had no fur. One could place it as a hairless monkey. It wore what seems to be heavily padded clothes. And then they were this strange... gadgets it carried on its body. Long and slightly rectangular shaped, they looked to be made mostly with metal and a few glass pieces. She wasted no time. She increased her speed, sticking low to the ground, trying to tackle the alien and call her friends for help. She was so close to the creature now... Michael Becket PoV Michael Becket had been walking for about fifteen minutes, but now suddenly he felt something approaching behind him, fast. "Oh great!" Slow-mo On The world around him seemed to slow down by the rate of five. His vision stretched a little bit and was tinted in a very faint green. He turned around, only to see a cyan pegasus with a rainbow coloured mane just two metres away, approaching fast. Then he does the right thing. He side-rolls to the right and ducks down.  Slow-mo Off The pegasus watched in horror as the creature dodges to the side with an incredible speed. At first, it was impressed, but after milliseconds it realized that it was still on full speed. And the tree in front of it came nearer and nearer... *CRASH* *CRACK* "AAAAAAAAAH!!!!" "...looks like hell finally got to me. I'm insane, right?" Michael asked to himself. He turned around to the pegasus who winced at the ground, with a dislocated wing, a small spot of blood appears on its wing. "It's voice... it's, it's, a female? Okay, enough of the bullshit, please." The pegasus mare looks with tear filled eyes at Michael, as he approached. "H-hey! You s-stay away, you monster! I'm not- owch.", she winced at him. Michael's jaw dropped as he heard that pegasus speaking. He wanted to say something, but suddenly the bushes behind him were starting to shake. He looked behind himself and saw a pack of wolves that defy nature. Instead of the rugged fur most of the fearsome beasts had back home, these were covered in wood, of all things. The wolves were starting to circle around him and the pegasus mare, but they were mostly looking at the injured pegasus. But they do care about killing Michael if he stood in the way. The were growling at him, as he stood in front of the injured pegasus. Michael wasted no time, he knew what he needs to do. He take out his Semi-Automatic Shotgun, checked the chamber if it's loaded and aimed at the nearest wolf. Normally, he would never hurt or kill an animal. But there's something about this place that- A wolf jumped on him, to no avail. *BOSH* The head of the wolf exploded in a shower of green blood, followed by splinters and pieces of brain... "AAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!" "Rainbow Dash!" gasped everypony as the scream echoed around. Seconds later, a loud thunderclap occurs, which only caused the panic to truly set in. One moment later there were more such sounds and a loud yell. But the yell did not sound like Rainbow Dash... "Let's go girls!. She's in trouble!" Applejack yelled, to move the girls on. She carried a long rope with her, ready to catch the thing that possibly endangered RD. They were approaching the source of the sounds, and now they could see the most terrifying scene they could of possibly imagined. In a clearing there were several bodies on the floor, each one surrounded by a pool of their own blood. It is not possible to recognize what the bodies were from the head, but the tangle of sticks and tree sap gives the evidence needed. And in the middle of the massacre, there lied the strange creature, holding a metallic stock in his hands. A timberwolf was standing over him, biting in the stock and knocked the stock away from the alien. Then the wolf tried to snap at the alien's limbs, but the creature held the head of the wolf back with his hands. "Argh! You want to taste me? Taste my boots, you son of a bitch!" with this words, the alien started to kick in the wolf's face. They all were surprised that this alien could speak flawless Equestrian. The timberwolf whimpered, let go of the creature and fled back into the deep woods of the forest. Some seconds passed by, and the alien stood up and walked to the injured Dash. "Don't you dare touch her, you filthy animal!" Rarity screamed. The thing spun around and saw more ponies, his eyes widening in shock and extreme confuseness. But he did not attack, or made another attempt to do something. Instead of that, he held up his hands in the air and said "I... I just... h-how... What the fuck?" Each group stared curiously, yet hesitant, at each other for a minute. It felt like a hour. Finally, Twilight looked to her friends and they all give a nod to her. She took a few shaky steps forward and said unsurely "Hello... my name is Twilight Sparkle. Welcome to Equestria. Could you, umm, could you please step away from my friend?" "Yep, now I'm officially fucked by Satan.", Michael thought to himself. He thought about what he could say to her. Then he get the idea by starting with the easiest thing for a greeting. "Hello, Mrs... Twilight... my name is Michael Becket, and I just want to help your little friend here," he pointed at the cyan pegasus mare, "Your friend tried to tackle me, but instead she crashed in a tree and she dislocated one of her wings and..." He is cut off by Twilight after she realized that he just wanted to help. "Wait, what?! Quick, don't worry about that. We must get her to Fluttershy immediately!" 10 minutes later None of the ponies said a word during the trip to Fluttershy's cottage. Either they were shocked about the sight of mangled bodies which they saw before, or they were taking care of Rainbow Dash, who was being carried by Michael Becket on his back. Applejack pretty impressed by his strength in his body. She thought about how much the creature had to train it's body to defeat a whole pack of timberwolves alone. But everyone had a question in their mind: How he could managed to avoid being tackled down by Rainbow Dash? Nopony ever before was able to do that! They arrived at Fluttershy's cottage, and quickly Twilight knocked at the door and yelled "Flutteshy! We need your help! Rainbow Dash is injured!" "Ok, I'm coming", Fluttershy yelled - or, more accurately, said at normal volume - back and opened the door, "I'm here and... EEP!" When she saw Michael with his bloodstained suit, she fell back on her haunches and curtained herself behind her mane. She was too scared to speak and tried to avoid eye contact with Michael. "Fluttershy, sweetheart, now it isn't really the time to be so shy. Somepony here is injured." says Rarity and pointed at RD with her hoof. Immediately, Fluttershy nearly flied back onto her hooves and pointed at her couch. "Lie her down there!" she commanded and quickly left to retrieve her first aid kit. Michael trotted over to the couch and placed the injured pegasus down carefully. Fluttershy flew over to RD, no longer minding Michael who stood next to her. All of her senses were focused on her friend. "Her wing is dislocated and I have to put the joint back in, but I don't know if she can stand the pain..." "I think I have a solution," Michael said and brough out a syringe from his pocket, "This is a painkiller, and it should help with the pain, so that you can relocate her wing." "Oh... ok." she muttered, she could not follow what he said. A few careful minutes of pushing and pulling at bones, and Rainbow Dash's wing was back where it belongs. Now Rainbow was still under the effects of the painkillers while everyone else were sitting in Fluttershy's living room, looking at each other as various animals watched them. "So, I think everyone has questions for you. I suggest that one pony asks you a question, you answer it, then it's your turn to ask something. Okay?" Twilight questioned. Michael thinks about it, and said shrugging "Okay, sure. So, what's your first question?" Twilight nearly leaping at the chance and did not give the others a second to respond "What are you? I've never seen a creature like you before!" "I'm a human. Distant cousin of apes, genetically speaking. Now it's my turn: what are you? Are you horses, or what?" She giggles "Nearly, we are not horses. We're ponies." Michael raised an eyebrow, so Twilight continued "There exists four different types of ponies. As you can see, I'm a unicorn. Rarity here is also a unicorn. Unicorns are known for preforming feats of magic, focused through our horns. Then we have earth-ponies, like Pinkie Pie and Applejack. The earth-ponies are responsible for growing plants, harvesting them, tending the earth, and other earth or metal based professions. Pegasi are responsible for the weather. They can move clouds and decide when it rains or snows with a small amount of magic they focus through their bodies. And lastly we have the alicorns, ponies with both wings and a horn. They are very powerful, mostly being ages old and can control vast amounts of magic that can put the entire unicorns population to shame! Our princesses, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, are alicorns whose ages span thousands of years. Celestia raises and sets the sun, Luna raises and sets the moon. A few more alicorns are known around the place, but none have the importance as the princesses do." Michael's face changed from surprise to confuseness "What, stop. You have magic? Pegasi can control the weather? Two ponies are responsible for day and night!? What the hell is this world?" "Don't you have magic in your world? Look, I will show it to you!" With these words, Twilight began to levitate a glass in front of Michael. Michael face did not change. He did not even seem to be impressed. The only change is a slight grimace as strange interference starts sparking from his ear phones. "Doesn't look like magic to me..." "WHAT?!" gasped everyone as he says that. "What? This doesn't look like magic to me. I think it's something that is called... telekinesis. And where I came from, it has devastating consequences." "Darling, I can assure you that this is magic, and not this 'telekanessis' as you say. But, just so we're all on the same page, could you maybe detail the story a bit so we can understand?" Rarity asked gently. "I... I don't want to talk about that right now... please... next question." muttered Michael as some gruesome memories came up in his mind. The ponies around him could see a mixture of anger and sadness on his face. "Why are you wearing clothes? Do you wear clothes all the time? What are you wearing now?" asked Rarity curiously. Despite being a bit bothered from Michael's previous comment, she tried to steer the conversation to something else. Besides, that outfit he has on is already sparking new ideas within Rarity's mind. But at first, it needed to be cleaned before she could make up any new idea. Michael smiled "Well, my face is barren of fur for a reason. Humans lack large growths of hair. If I ran around naked, I could easily get a cold; and I'm wearing a combat suit at the moment." "A combat suit? Are you a guard or some kind?" "What? No, I'm a Delta Force member of an elite strike team, called 'Dark Signal'." he explains. Quizzical looks are all he is rewarded with. He sighs, rubbing his forehead slightly. It's like a foot soldier, but a very dangerous one who does very particular jobs." It's now Pinkie's turn to ask: "Do you like parties?" "Huh... what?" "I said, do you like parties, silly. I want to throw a- I mean, think about a party for you!" Michael looked over to the other mares, who gave him all smiling nods. "Yes...?" "HeheeheeeYAAAAAAAA! PARTY!!!" and Pinke disappeared in a pink blur. "Is she always like that? Looks like she eats too much sugar!" Michael determined, totally surprised. "It's just Pinkie being Pinkie." Twilight said as it was the most normal thing on the world. Surprising everyone, Rainbow Dash, who had finally woken up during the questioning, took her turn to ask Michael something. "Hey, I'm kinda sorry again for trying to tackle you down. But how you could manage to dodge me with that awesome speed?" Michael chuckled slightly and gave a wide grin, then he explained "I'm capable of react at a super-human levels that proceed all recorded maximums of human performance. This ability is called 'Slow-mo'. When I use this ability, the world around me seems to slow down by at least five times the normal, while I can still react and move in normal time. While it's very helpful in life-threatening situations, I can just use it for a few seconds." Twilight looks with a surprised face at him. "Not even the Princesses are capable of that kind ability." Twilight muttered to herself. "Is that good or bad?" he asked. "I don't know. I have to inform the Princess later about this." Michael realized the orange mare staring at him and asked, but friendly "Is there something?" "What?", she started to blush, "No, ah was just wondering how strong ar'ya! Can ya' buck a tree?" "Buck a tree?" Michael and asked himself if she swapped the first letter of a very particular word. "I men'... kick a tree? Yar' legs ar' lookin' pretty strong!" "Thanks, but I think not.", Michael said surprised, almost laughing at this compliment, then he looked over to Fluttershy, who, without a immediate distraction, is once again trying to remain hid beneath her mane.. Michael decided to try to break the ice, smiled to her and says "What do you want to know about me?" "I-I... want to kn-know... if it's okay for yo-you... what are you eat-eating? I... saw... that you... ha-have omnivore te-teeth..." she squealed as she said 'teeth'. Shit, he thinks, Now they're all going to go nuts... "Oh dear Celestia, he eats the meat of others?" Rarity gasped. "Thats disgusting. How you could do so something terrible?" Rainbow Dash yelled. "If ya eat anypony, then ah will com' to ya and buck ya sideways!" Applejack growled. "I'm sorry... I didn't want to... EEP!" Fluttershy cried. "But I don't have to eat meat. If I get all necessary nutrients over vegetables and fruits, I'm going well! Please, don't screw me over because I can eat meat." Michael said. All the ponies give him a few more cautious looks. "Look, I'm a intelligent creature and I won't eat anything that is sentient." That made all ponies sighing in collective relief. Michael wanted to turn their attention away from what humans eat, so he asked "What's with those tattoos on your rear ends?" "These? These are called 'cutie-marks'. They are represent our special talent. Mine is magic." Twilight said. "And mah's is for growin' and harvestin' appletrees!" Applejack exclaimed. "Mine is the ability to find and collect rare stones, but since I gave most away, ponies have started to resemble them with generosity!" Rarity gently said. "Mine is for speed and controlling weather, but the ponies know me for my awesome loyalty!" Rainbow Dash said, making a salto in the air. Her wing is fully regenerated. "Uhm... mine is... for kindness. I c-can also speak to animals..." whispers Fluttershy, her speech slowly becoming more stable as she gains trust in the large creature. "Um... do ya' have a cutie-mark?" Applejack asked curiously. "No. Humans don't have cutie-marks or any other representation of their special talent." Michael said flatly. "Oh, I'm so sorry darling," Rarity said to him, "But if you have a special talent, what would it be?" "Special talent... Well, maybe it would be by rugged handsome looks." he chuckled to himself, "Okay, jokes aside, I seem talented as a soldier, assaulting and protecting and stuff." "Oh, that's great. My brother Shining Armor is captain in the royal guards. It would be a pleasure for him to meet you later." Twilight said, "And that leads me to my question, do humans have weapons?" "I hoped you didn't ask that, but whatever..." Michael said. Those ponies before him seemed to be a peaceful race and weapons, he thought, did not mix up so well here. With this words, he put all his weapons on the table. The ponies were approaching them in curiosity. "They are don't looking sharp or dangerous... boring!" Rainbow Dash yawned. "Well, these weapons are called firearms. They are not made for close-battle, except for the shotgun," he pointed at the long stock in the middle, "They fire little metal pieces like this," he pulled the magazine out from his assault rifle, pulled out a bullet and held it in front of the ponies, so everyone get a good sight on it, "This is called a bullet casing. There's a powder in it which explodes when the little area on the rear of the casing is hit. The explosion pulls the bullet out of his casing and it exits the muzzle of the weapon at a very high speed." "Faster than me?" Rainbow Dash asked. "I don't know how fast you can fly, all I can say is that the bullet will hit the sound-barrier and beyond. If the bullet hits a target... well, the bullets can easily pierce through skin, bones and flesh, causing heavy injuries and death," then he pointed at the sniper rifle, "The same, but for longer distances, the fire rate is slower and the bullets are bigger than the shotgun. Rainbow Dash saw the shotgun in action. It fires little pellets, but hundreds per shot. And at last the HV Hammerhead. It fires radioactives flechettes at a very high speed. Strong enough to pin a enemy to a wall." Michael looked up from his explanation to see the horrified expressions on the ponies. So much damage, caused by little pieces of metal. But Twilight went on "And what about these balls?" "These are called grenades. If there's a group of enemies, you pull out the pin of a grenade and throw the grenade at the enemies. After three seconds, the grenade will explode, causing very heavy damage or death to the enemies. These type with the flash on it, are called shock grenades. You can use them to pin down enemies by not harming them. And this is called fire grenade. It causes a burst of fire, like the name says. And this is a proximity mine. It can stick on almost every surface. If an enemy gets too close at the mine, boom, you know what happens." With this, he ends his presentation with a face, in which everypony can see that he didn't enjoy it. "It's... well it's pretty late. Maybe we should search a place for him to sleep?" Twilight tries to change the subject. She knew that soldiers always have weapons, but those were unknown to her. Applejack held a hoof in the air "He can sleep in' mah' barn!", she looked over to Michael, "If that's okay for ya'..." "Yes, I would really appreciate that. Thank you very much. I haven't slept since the last three days." "Well, what are waiting here for?" Applejack grinned and yawned. Sweet Apple Acred, ten minutes later Before they went to the farm, Rarity cleaned Michaels suit with her magic, so he looked not like a foul bum creature and secondly, she could make up new ideas. Now it looked like it was just issued, all the stops of blood and scratches cleaned and repaired. The trip to the farm wasn't special. There were some ponies who looked terrified by the sight of Michael. Some were whispering about a bald monkey, diamond dog and more, but Michael wasn't paying attention. Michael Becket and Applejack were standing in the barn after the too long a walk. There was an old oversized bed and a commode. "This is more than enough, thank you." "Well, if ya' need something, just lemme know!", Applejack said, "Sleep well, we have a bunch of work in the morning!" "Okay, thank you very much", he replied, "Good night!"   "Good night."she said back. And with that she trotted off, leaving him alone. Michael looked around and went to his bed and sat down on the edge. He thought about the situation in his world and the fate of his teammates... just as someone knocked at the door. Michael walked over and opened the door. There stood Rainbow Dash, who looked at the ground. "Oh, hi... I'm going to the bed at the moment, but whatever. Why are you here?" She blushes "Umm... sorry, but I've gotta thank you. You saved my life, which is pretty awesome." "Oh that was nothin- umpf" , she hugged him. "Thank you" she whispered in his ear. Michael was stunned. After some moments, she let him go of him. "Do you want to hang out with me tomorrow?" she asked him playfully. "Well, we will see... I have something to do tomorrow, I don't know. But after I've finished it, you could show me around here. Is that okay?" "Ok, see ya tomorrow." she flew off and takes into the air. "Ciao" He closed the door and lugged himself over to his bed, again. He practically crashed on it from exhaustion. After some moments, he drifted off into sleep, finally after three days of fighting for his life... Ponyville, Library As she get home, she immediately informed Spike about the newcomer. He just nodded at her words. Then she wrote a letter to the Princess: Dear Princess Celestia, I found a new creature in the Everfree forest today. He is the cause of the incident earlier. The creature is a species called 'human' , but don't worry. His name is 'Michael Becket', he seems nice and he means no harm to pony kind, although he has brought some weapons with him from his world that far exceed anything we've even dreamed of.He saved Rainbow Dash from a timberwolve attack and I think we should learn more about him. Maybe you could come to my library tomorrow? Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle She finished the letter and hold it over to Spike, who burnt the letter to send it to the Princess. But Twilight was still a little nervous. How will the princess react to him? Will she ban him from Equistria? And if she did, what reasons could she have for it? "Nah, I'm just overreacting again. Everything will be fine!" she talked to herself. Suddenly, Spike held his stomach and he burped out a letter from the princess. He opened it and started to read. "My faithful student Twilight Sparkle I received your letter. I thank you that you informed me about the human. I visit your library about thirteen o'clock and talk to him, please ensure he's there to meet me. We will try to discover his reasons for arrival here and if we can pramit his stay. Also please note that I have to read his memories to ensure that he conceals no important information. Yours sincerly, Princess Celestia" Twilight sighed in relief. "That's good. Hopefully his reasons for being here are peaceful, I'd hate to think what he could do with those weapons. Guess I'll worry about it tomorrow, got to get enough sleep to greet the princess tomorrow." Canterlot, Princess Celestias castle, lower floors A lonely pegasus guard walked through the corridors. All the other guards were guarding the outer sectors of the castle or were sleeping. He trotted over to the next crossing, as he heard someone crying. The sounds of crying were coming from the corridor to his left. "Who's there?" he asked carefully. Sobbing answered him. "It's okay. I'm here. Please come out. I don't want to hurt you!" The sobbing stopped. A good sign, he thought. He walked into the corridor. It is too dark to see but he continues a bit quickly, eager to help. Suddenly, his right hind leg stuck in something. "Perfect, damn Field and Frost are probably playing a prank on me with glue... okay, guys, you got me!" he exclaims. But this was not a prank. His mood changes from annoyed to concern. "Guys...?" he whispered. To his shock, all his other legs were sticking to the floor as the substance spreads out beneath him. "HELP! SOMEPONY, PLEASE HELP!!!" he screamed in fear. But his yelling was swallowed by the deepness of the castle. His lower body was dragged down into the floor, as he felt a severe pain on his hind legs. He feels the skin being sliced and blood oozing, but the sharpness did not stop as it cutted tendons and muscles. The guard shrieked in pain and horror, as suddenly a creature emerged from the floor. The void of it is eyes and mouth seem to swallow the world. It's earthly blood encrusted arms reach up, blades like kitchen knives making up it's ten fingers. The creature lungedout with its hands at the throat of the guard. Blood splits the air and rained down upon the spotless walls and carpet, staining them with death. The poor pegasus tried to yell again, but he only managed a quiet gargle as his own blood made his way down to fill his lungs. This is the end, and with his last thought, he hated it. The creature made a distorted deep scream and dragged the lifeless body of the guard into the ground. SPLAT!!! A shower of blood and fleshpieces exploded from the black stain in the floor. Then, suddenly everything was quiet. The corridors were back in their stillness like before. Only a big, red puddle with meat chunks around it was the only witness of what happened just seconds before... > Interval 02- Awakening > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ponyville, Sweet Apple Acres "Michael! Wake up!". Michael's eyes were open within a split second, he jumped from his bed and reached for his assault rifle and readied it "What is happening?" "Wohaa... relax, everything's fine. Come on, we are having breakfast!" Applejack said. "Oh man, never wake me up like that again! When you woke me up like that, I thought we were being attacked!" "Hehe... I'm sorry, but there's nopony attacking somepony." Michael mumbled something under his breath as he put the assault rifle aside, before fe fellowed the orange pony. As they were stepping in the kitchen, he met the rest of her family. A green pony with white mane was sitting in a rocking chair; a pony with blonde mane and a red fur trots over to the table and a little red-maned filly with yellow fur and a ribbon in her mane. They all are looking with big eyes at Michael. "Don't worry guys. He came to our world yesterday and he means no harm to us. His name is Mishel Begget and he is a Hyooman!" Applejack explained calmly, "And Ah talked about him yesterday." 'Mishel' could not help himself but chuckling at her southern accent. "Well welcome to our little farm, big guy! Feel yourself like home! My name is Granny Smith." exclaimed the green old pony. As she said 'home', Michael's face freezed for an blink of an eye, but the old pony's eyes were good enough to notice it. "Oh, is something wrong, big guy?" "Nothing... just... nothing," he muttered. But Applejack knew it better. She feels that he is lying. As the element of honesty, she could always feel it when someone is lying. "You're lying. Please tell us the truth," she looked into his grey eyes to find any signs of thruth or further lying, but he was avoiding the eye contact. Applejack just shrugged, she could not force him to say the thruth. Then she started to introduce the two other members of her family to Michael.  "This is ma brother Big Mac. He is one of the strongest pony in the family.", Applejack explained as she moved next to her brother. "Yup!" Michael chuckled shortly at his name, thinking about McDonald's BigMac. "And this is ma little sis' Applebloom." she turned to the little yellow filly,"Say 'Hi' to the human!" "Hello!" Applebloom chirped. Michael could not deny it but finding her freaking adorable. After finishing breakfast which was REALLY DELICIOUS for him, Michael and Applejack were going out, to a apple tree. "So, now we hit the core. We are going to applebuck. At first I'll show you. Then it's ya turn!" with that words, she turned around and gave the tree behind her a strong kick with her hindlegs. All apples from the tree were falling down to the ground. "Now ya'! Buck that tree!" she pointed at a random tree. Michael asked "With bucking, you mean... kicking. Not f-" "Yeah. Kick this tree." He walked away from the tree a  few metres, then he sprinted at it. Just metres away from the trunk, he jumped in the air and he bicyclekicked the tree. The years of martial-arts training in the Delta Force apprentice clearly paid off. Some pieces of the tree's rind were chipped away. All apples and a big tree branch were falling to the ground. Applejack stood there, mouth agape. "Dude, how did ya' do that. That was... whoa! Tell me how ya' learn that! And tell me the truth!" "Okay... but please don't go mad! Promise me that," he said. He feared of losing their trust, since he finally found peace in this place. "Okay! Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in ma' eye!" she put a hoof to her right eye. Michael was surprised "What was that for?" "Well, that was da' Pinkie Promise!" Applejack said. "Hmm, whatever, just don't get mad!" Michael takes a deep breath, then he said "This legs killed more enemies as you kicked trees... I think..." Applejack was mentally stunned "So ya'... killed..." "Yes, but it was self-defense and duty in one...," he said. Applejack shook her head "It's okay, it's okay... you don't have look so rigid. Equestria has been filled with wars, too!" "MICHAEL!!! APPLEJACK!!!" shouted someone. They turned around and spotted a lavender coloured pony running to them. It was Twilight. As she was with them, she panted "The *gasp* Princesses are... coming. *gasp* You must come... to my library..." Ponyville, Library Pinkie Pie was not in the library. Twilight said that she has work to do. After some minutes after arriving at the library, a golden chariot which was carried by two white pegasi, landed outside of the tree library. Two large creature ponies thingies with crowns, wings and horns were stepping out from the chariot. Michael spotted them through a window. Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. They entered the library... Michael sat on a chair at a table and waited for them "Ah... finally." As the Princesses spotted Michael, they were shocked. None of them has expected a living being like him. Michael just stared at the Princesses, then he stood up, walked and held a hand to them "It's a pleasure to meet you, ma'am!" He stood on eye-level with Celestia. She just looked at his hand. She knew the gesture, but she has never seen a hand before. "Oh sorry, ma'am!" he excused. He took his hand back, stood straight and saluted in front of her. "Huh? No no...," she chuckled, "It's not that. I just was wondering what... whatever. Welcome to Equestria, Sir Becket. It's a pleasure to meet you, too." "Sir Becket? No, I'm in the position of a sergeant!" "You're are a soldier? Well, that makes it easier! We are here to say that we can send you back to your world and..." but she was cut off by Michael. "No." "What?!" says everypony "I said No!" Princess Celestia was shocked, "But you have a family in you world..." "Died long time ago..." Michael said monotonously. "Your friends?" Luna asked, terrified. "Murdered by a...eh..." he tried to find the right words for 'psionic insane girl'. "Anyone you are close?" Luna asked again "They all ARE FUCKING DEAD!!!" he said aloud, before he looked around, "...sorry, but the last times were so rough for me." "Oh dear... if you don't mind can I read your memories?" Princess Celestia, feeling pity for him. "Hmph, you can, but you won't be happy with that what you'll find..." he said flatly. Celestia raised her horn to his forehead. Just as the tip of her horn hits his forehead, her eyes goes wide as the memories were flooding from his brain through her horn into her brain. She knew now EVERYTHING. Well, almost... She could not bear the memories, she snapped her head back as she started panting heavily. "Princess Celestia!!!" everypony yelled. "What you've done to my sister?" Luna exclaimed angrily. "I didn't do anything! She was the one who read my mind!" he said, taking some steps back. Slowly, Princess Celestia digested the memories and swallowed the knot in her throat. "Tia! Are you alright?" Luna asked worriedly, still shooting death glares to Michael. "Uhm... yes... I didn't expect so much memories in such a short time... and the contents of them..." she muttered and stood up, "I know it's not the right time, but we must get to my castle as soon as possible. We need to discuss a lot in peace." "Okay, if there's nothing more." Michael said. He was eager to explain a lot to the ruler of this country since she could help him more than the mares he met. "But under one condition..." Canterlot, Princess Celestias Castle After a fast trip to the castle with the golden chariot, the group of ponies and a human were walking through the corridors of the castle. "It's okay that you put value on protection, but why did you take your... Assault Rifle with you?" Twilight asked, looking at said weapon on Michael's back. "A soldier like me never let his guard down." he said. INTERVAL 02 AWAKENING As they arrived at the throne hall, Princess Celestia leapt up with her wings and sat down at her throne. At that moment, a group of Royal Gaurds in golden armor came in the throne hall. Along with them was a white unicorn with blue mane, clad in heavier-looking and iron armor. "Shining Armor!" Twilight exclaimed, runned to her big brother and embraced him. She did not saw him for a long time. The unicorn smiled widely. "Hey Twily, I am so happy to see you" Shining Armor said and looked up to Michael, "So that's the human you talked about. Well..." Michael takes a few steps forward to Shining Armor and salutes. Shining Armor returns the gesture with a big grin in his face. "At least he shows respect" he determined "So, Mr. Becket, what's your position?" "Uuh..." Michael was surprised, to be asked of his status in military by a magical pony "My position is Sergeant" Shining Armor was impressed. "Do you have combat skills?" "I have Combat skills in firearms and close-battle!" Shining Armor did not know what he meant by firearm, but close battle made his ears perking up. Michael was not a magical creature, so Shining Armor believed he had the cards with his magic if it comes to a fight. "Then show me something. But not here right now..." he looked to Princess Celestia, who gave him a nod, "Okay, come with me, Sergeant Becket!" After some minutes of walking, they were outside in a big training area. There were already some recruits who were practicing with wooden swords. "So, just for today, show me some of your close-battle skills! Take it as a training." Shining Armor exclaimed. He picked up two wooden swords with his telekinetic grip and threw one to Michael. But he did not catch it. "Hey, what's with you?" Shining asked. "I don't need a sword. And of course I don't need my weapon right now, too." he says and put his AR on the ground "But you just want to test me?" "Yes, or do you have problems? I don't mean to force you." "Nono, let's do it." "Yeah, come on!" Shining yelled, grinning widely. Twilight then rembered about yesterday. Michael had a very special ability... "Are you sure about this? I forgot to say that he has a special ability...", Twiligth warned, but Shining Armor waved a hoof dismissely. Shining Armor began to circling Michael, but he just stood there. Michael really did not know how to make the first step and he didn't has any weapon. But then he remembered what the trainer in his apprentice said... If you don't have a weapon, then use the enemy's weapon against himself! Slow-mo On He just walked to Shining. As Shining noticed him approaching quickly, he swiped his sword from from top to bottom, but Michael dodged his attack with ease. Then he kicked the sword away in mid-air, releasing it from Shining's telekinetic grip... then he just grabbed the sword with his hands, rushed to Shining, tackled him down and held the sword at the captains throat. Like a XXL combat knife... or not. Michael thought. Slow-mo Off Even Celestia's jaw dropped as she spotted Shining loosing. Twilight was surprised, normally her brother would win in a sword-fight... Shininig was stunned. That was too fast for him. Michael released him "Are you okay?" Shining stood up and said "Yes, I am...Whoa, that was impressive! How did you learn that? And what is the special ability Twily talked about?" "Well, the ability your sister talked about is called 'Slow-mo'. Just think of the enemys move slowly around you and you've got the time to kick them all hard."  Michael explained with a grin. Shining said smiling "Hey, that was cheating." They both shared a laugh, as suddenly a female servant pony rushed to them, screaming the whole time... "AAAAAAH!!! HELP!!!" "What is it, Serving Star? What's the matter?" Celestia asked worried. But Serving Star just manages incomprehensible words, while gasping heavily. "Please, calm down...," Celestia said, but it sounded more like a order. Finally, she calmed down, took a few deep breaths and said "I-I s-saw... I-I-I walked... *deep breath*  I just walked through the lower floors of the castle as suddenly I smell decay. I fo-followed the smell, when I saw-w that corridor. In the middle of it, there was a... big spot of blood and some chunks of...somepony!" She looked like she was about to hyperventilate, but Twilight casted a paper bag and gave it to her. Michael's comlink gave a quiet metallic screech as her horn began to glow. The poor pony took it and used it to calm down her breathing. Fluttershy rushed to Serving Star, hugged her, trying to calm her down. "Okay while you calm her down, we are going to the lower floors of the castle." Celestia said and moved on. Princess Luna, Shining Armor, Twilight, Rainbow Dash, Applejack and Rarity followed her. Michael picked up his AR, and followed them. They were walking down stairs and corridors. Suddenly, Rarity held her snout and said "Aaah, what's that for a awful smell?", as she screwed up her face. Celestia sniffed and immediately closed her eyes in disgust  "We are close..." At the next crossing, they went  to the right and spotting the crime scene. In the middle of the corridor, there were big patches of dried brown blood. Maggots were crawling around the pieces of flesh. It is an horrible sight. "Ohmygosh... what by tartarus happened here?" Luna asked horrorfied. Michael stepped to the biggest patch of blood... *SCREEECH* His feets were surrounded by a black liquid, he could not move them. A creature emerged from the ground, the same creature which killed the guard, and began instantly to lung out at Michael... Everypony shrieked in horror, and Shining Armor started to summon a magical blast, directed at the creature... but he was interrupted by a steady rhythm of loud thunderclaps, which sent all ponies again in shock. Then they are hearing a high-pitched scream. When they all opened their eyes, they all sighing in relief. Michael still stood there, the muzzle of his AR was smoking, twelve empty bullet casings were surrounding his feets. The monster was nowhere to be found, instead there was a small crater in the floor, a few inches deep. "Well, that was new!" Michael muttered, walking to the group of terrified ponies. "Wha-what was that?" Twilight asked panting. "I don't know, but I know the cause." he said back. "Who or what is the cause. Please tell it us!" Princess Celestia said, fearing more of those creature which can hurt her and Luna's folk. "...Alma..." -Music (Please open a new Tab)- "Who is Al-" she asked, as everypony, with the exception of Michael, were pinned at the wall by a invisible force. Michael's goggles were scrambling heavily at that moment and the comlink in his ear emitted such a loud cracking noise he feared of losing his ability to hear. Rainbow Dash tried to struggle herself free with her wings, but to no avail. And Applejack tried to stood on all four on the wall, but she could not move her legs. The Princesses were not moving, but they were looking around with their eyes wildly in shock. Rarity just screamed in terror. Shining couldn't see, he lied on his stomach. The air was somehow orange as a thin humanoid creature stood in the end of the corridor. In one instant, she stood in front of the ponies. Everypony were getting now a clear sight of the humanoid creature. It stood on two legs like Michael and had long, black hair. It's skin was dirty brown, like the skin from the creature in the floor. It's eyes were missing and the lips of it's mouth look dried. From all what the ponies can see, the creature looks like it died a long time ago... Celestia and Luna were then trying to summon an very strong offensive spell, but their horn were just emitting some harmless sparkles. Alma was blocking their magic! Michael could not believe what he just saw. Alma is here! She was teleported here, too! And she was about to finish these ponies off, so he thought about a plan... "Hey, you bitch. You want me? I'm here!" Michael yelled, trying to get Alma's attention.  With effort. Alma turned to him and looked him dead in the eyes. Michael hoped that he could draw Alma's attention away from the ponies. But Alma shook her head... and pointed with her finger at... ...the Princesses... She had already new interests in these powerful beings. "NOO!" yells Twilight and uses her full force to shooting a sparkling beam at Alma. Twilight was known for magical outbursts in emergency cases. But Alma just disappears and reappears in an blink of an eye in front of her... Twilight was hurled against the ceiling. It did hurt her much nor she received an injury, but it was strong enough to send a message through her brain. Never mess with Alma. (Stop Music Here) With all at once, it was over, like nothing happened. The Princesses, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Shining Armor and Rarity were falling from the wall to the ground with wicked thuds. Twilight fell on her belly. THAT hurt her. She was crying as she rubbed her aching belly. The rest of the group were standing up made her way to her. Michael took care of her by patting her back, trying to relax her and return from the shock. "I wasn't able to do something... but how... and why?" Celestia muttered to herself. Michael released Twilight, stood up and said "Because she control brains like a pro. In other words, she can take over your brain and mind and play around with it like a kitten with a cotton ball." "What else she can do?" Applejack asked terrified, but also slightly angry due of the creature that hurled her against the wall. "She can summon fire, create apparitions like the monster in the floor, telekinesis, causing hallucinations and, for which she is quite famous, liquefying the flesh of living beings in split of seconds." Michael explained, not taking his eyes away from the sobbing Twilight, "You all could be glad that she didn't murder one of us..." "Oh... dear..." Princess Luna is stunned. She is ready for anything anytime, but LIQUEFYING the flesh of a living being, that is too much for her. She felt the world around her spinning and in the other moment, she fell to the ground. Michael felt a little bit guilty about that. "Oh... no... Luna!" Celestia exclaimed and picked up her wavering sister "Okay, this is a serious situation. I want you all go back to Ponyville and wait for further instruction. Now, go go go!" Even in a life threatening situation and after, she keeps her head clear... Ponyville, 30 Minutes later 18:30 The group of ponies and a human were walking through Ponyville, not heading for the library - they are heading for Sugarcube Corner. Rainbow Dash said that Pinkie Pie prepared something, but each of them knows WHAT she prepared. And they needed it now... "Where are we going?" Michael asked. He thought about the barn or the library, but he did not know this place. Instead of answering, they kept their mouths shut and entered the bakery... "WELCOME TO PONYVILLE, STRANGE CREATURE!!!" shouted a crowd of ponies. In a reaction of shock, Michael flipped over a table, found cover behind it, unlocked and readied his AR. "Whoa, whoah! This is not the Making-Friends-Into-Swiss-Cheese-Party! This is a Welcome Party!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed, but smiling as she trotted over to his cover and tapped on his weapon, in a order of putting it away. "Hu?" Michael looked around. His senses were expecting him a crowd of Replica Soldiers or some other kind of a nasty surprise. "Sorry.", he said as he put his AR on his back and put up the table again. This was followed by the best party they ever had, even for Michael. He never was on a party of this type. And he can feel now something that he has not felt in a long time: Happiness. He felt that he would love this place. > Interval 03- Intruders > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rainbow Dash woke up early, eager to fulfill her promise, namely to show Michael around the town. It would have been a big thing for her, but she felt she have to do something for him since he was the one who rescued her. As she arrived at Sweet Apple Acres, she spotted Michael carrying a basket filled with delicious apples. He had wore off the upper part of his combat suit, leaving a plain grey t-shirt. Michael woke up earlier than RD. He wanted to do something, to not to be a trouble for Applejack's family. Additionally, the applebucking trained his thigh muscles. And carrying all those baskets trained his arm muscles, so it was a everyone-wins-situation. "Okay, Big Guy. Just these baskets, then we are done for today!", she exclaimed to him. He had done a great work, the rest of the trees could come the next days.  He nodded to her. Then Michael spotted Rainbow Dash and waved to her "Good Morning, Rainbow Dawdler!" "Good Morning, Bucket!" she retorted, "When we're ready?" "Twilight offered me to come over her library for learning about equestrian society, then we can start the tour. You okay with that?" Michael said huffing as he put the basket on a cart. "No problem, I'll wait for you there.", she said before she headed to said direction. After a couple of minutes, Michael and Applejack finished their work. Michael washed his hair from the dirt of the work before he went to the library. Ponyville Library, a hour later Michael sat on a couch, several books were lying on the floor next to his feet. Twilight asked questions about Alma, and Michael answered them. For example, what Alma had been before or why she possesses great magical power. "Alma has been born with those power. And her powers are not magical." Michael said while he read a book about the princesses. She wanted to get more information about Alma, and she wanted to send this informations to Princess Celestia... then the princesses can figure out how to destroy/kill/banish/calm down/whatever Alma. "1000 fucking years?! Princess Luna was banished on the moon for 1000 years? Oh my fucking god! Ooops... sorry!" he exclaimed without any warning. "Yes, and Princess Celestia will do the same on Alma if she tries to hurt somepony again.", Twilight said, "And why are you so upset of 1000 years banishment? Okay, 1000 years banishment are a hard penalty, but what else was Princess Celestia supposed to do as her sister transformed to Nightmare Moon?"" "There are many ways to change someone's mind. If I were Princess Celestia, I would have slapped Nightmare Moon's face and gave her one year house arrest.", Michael said. "Don't make jokes about that! Princess Celestia was broken after that!" Twilight snarled. Michael pointed with his finger at face and said "Do I look like I make fun of this?" Twilight winced a little. His expression was stern like a rock, almost menacingly. "No...okay, if that's a better solution...what about Alma? Did you tried to banish her?" "No, but we contained her. This was not the best solution, because she can seperate from her body. And do the same things like before. How I can say it... she's a incarnated ghost." Michael said as he closed the book and read another one. "Wherever Alma appears, she causes paranormal activities." "What are paranormal activities?" she asked curiously. She never heard these words before. "Activities in your environment that aren't normal...like...eh..." Michael said, but stopped because there are so many types of paranormal activities. "Clouds that are moving by themselves is not a normal activity in our world.", Twilight said, remembering the incident two days ago when Michael appeared. "Sounds normal to me..." Their discussion was interrupted by a loud knocking at the door. "SPIIKEE!! There's somepony at the door!", Twilight yelled, but there was no further need to opening the door, because the pony, who knocked on the door, bursted the door open and yelled "THEY'RE COMING!!! THE DIAMOND DOGS ARE IN THE TOWN!" "... what are Diamond Dogs?", Michael asked counfused. "You know it when you see one.", Twilight yelled, as she rushed from her couch. "Are these dog thingies dangerous?" Michael asked as he went out from the library. "Yes." Twilight yelled behind her should as she galloped to the market place, to help out the civic militia. That was all intel Michael needed. Scared ponies plus dangerous beings. His duty as a Delta Force Sergeant was needed now. INTERVAL 03 INTRUDERS "We are making a big booty again today! These stupid ponies are so weak and stupid!" one of the Diamond Dogs roared which looked like a pitbull, holding a big sack in his paws. They were on their way to Sweet Apple Acres to pick some food from a very known mare. He was along with four other Diamond Dogs on a hunting trip for stocking up their own inventory with food. "Ya are stealing nothing today!" a mare yelled behind them, holding a rope between her theeth. The Diamond Dogs turned around and yelling "Ah... our good, old friend Applejack. Today, you are willing to give us your savings and 600 apples!" "And why I should do this?" Applejack let the rope spin around in the air, ready to catch the first Diamond Dog. "If you refuse, we will KILL you!" with this words, the leader of the Dogs drew out a crossbow and aimed at Applejack. Her eyes widened in shock. She never expected that Diamond Dogs were so willing to kill. She assumed they must be from another group than the Diamond Dogs they met as they rescued Rarity. She dropped the rope and said "Okay... easy fella, you won. Just wait a moment." She turned around to get back in the house and bring the objects the Diamond Dogs wanted.... "You will not give your savings these bastards!" someone yelled. The Diamond Dogs turned around and gasped as their eyes met the shape of a creature they never saw before. Michael stood a few metres in front of them. He had his combat suit on, Patten PK470 Assault Rifle in his both hands and Vollmer Ultra92 autoshotgun on his back. He looked like a enormous warrior who you don't want to mess with. He let the sniperrifle and the hammerhead back in the barn. The leader of the DD's gasped in surprise, then he laughed menacingly and roared "You bald monkey are trying to stop us? Go back to your jungle where you belong, before we ripping your body apart!" "No, just be a good doggy and go back where you came and nobody get hurt or killed! This is my first and last warning!" he said calmly. Although he knew that they propably will not reconsider, he tried to settle this down. "Mishel? What the hay are ya thinking?" Applejack yelled. She did not understand why he brought himself in such a dangerous situation. But she also did not knew that this was daily routine for him. The leader laughed again "Oh, this is your pet? I'm sorry, Applecrap! But I know a better place for him... in our stomaches!"  Michael looked in the face of the leader, then in the face of Applejack, then back to the leader "Oh, look, we have a bad ass over here... Applejack, go into your house and bring your family to safety." Applejack nodded and rushed into her farmhouse. The leader got angry and pointed at the next Diamond Dog who looked like a bulldogg "YOU!!! Rip Applecrap's pet apart! After that you can kill Applecrap and her family!" The Diamond Dog barked, sprinted and pounced to Michael. But before the dog pinned him down, he met Michael's feet which was doing the holy performance of a perfect roundhousekick. A loud and sickening crack from the neck of the dog was and the dog was send through the air once again. The dog fell then to the ground and lied there, unmoving... "You will regret this.", the leader said growling, then he said to his minions "Go and find a way into the house. And kill these ponies!" His minions were finding the easiest way into the house, namely through the windows. "It's now you and me. I know your flying feet trick and I won't be so fooli-" the dog said, but Michael let him never finishing his sentence. *POW!!!* His right half of his head explodes, brain-mass scattered on the ground. The impact of the 5.56 NATO round threw him backwards on the ground. Michael sprinted immediately after that job to the house and jumped through a window. He rolled off the ground in the kitchen and released a short burst at a Diamond Dog who was waiting for him. "Three dead, two to go!" Michael said to himself, smirking a little bit. He somehow missed those intense fights. Then he proceeded to run through the hallway of the house, as suddenly another dog jumped out from a closet and Michael was pinned down on the ground. His AR was knocked away. His attacker managed to bite him once in his arm. Michael let out a short yell of pain, but then he punched the dog in the snout, eliciting a quiet crush sound. The dog jumped away, letting go off him. It's snout was bleeding as the dog stood up. Michael stood also up, and draw out his shotgun. The dog wiped the blood from it's snout like a dog version of Bruce Lee, then it charged in rage at Michael... he squeezed in response the trigger of his weapon, as the dog was just inches from him away... *BOSH* *SPLAT!!!* A shower of blood, guts and bones occurs. The body of the dog was dismembered by the shrapnels of Michael's shotgun. There is nothing left of the dog, just a big red stain of blood and some gibs. Somehow the force of the 2020's shotgun increased ludicrously. "AAAAAAH! IT GOT ME!!!" Michael turned around, the scream came from a room next to him. But it sounded male. He bursted through the door, just to see a wild kicking Big Macintosh, who was being attacked by the last diamond dog. The diamond dog bite him in the right hindleg and shook his head wildly in order to rip off a piece of flesh. "AAAAAAH! PLEASE HELP ME!!!" Michael Becket squeezed the trigger of his shotgun again, aiming at the lower body of the Diamond Dog. It's lower body said goodbye in a shower of bloody rain, the dog bled out quickly. Big Macintosh gritted his theeth in pain. His right hindleg had several biting marks and was bleeding. "We must get you immidiately to the Hospital, Big Mac. But where's Appleja..." Michael was interrupted by an screeching noise. A door in the floor opened and Applejack, Applebloom and Granny Smith were stepping out. They were hiding in a secret room, while Big Mac tried to hide the handle of the door with something and bring himself in safety, but he was surprised by the diamond dog. "Brother!" Applejack yelled and checked her brother's wound. "I'm fine," he muttered, trying to smile, but the pain in his hindleg made him hissing in agony. "No, you aren't fine. We must get to the Hospital to check if we were infected with rabies." Michael said after he was hugged by Applebloom and Granny Smith. Ponyville Hospital The ponies in the town managed to strike back at the diamond dogs- with minimal casualties. Nurse Redheart looked at Big Mac's wound, than at Michael's wound. Then she said "Well, I can sterilize and bandage your wound, Mr. Becket, but...," she turned to Big Macintosh, "...your wound is quite big. We need to observe it for a few days." Big Mac let out a loud groan and fell on his bed in frustration. Some can say, he was one of the Hospitals most regular customer. Michael sat up from his chair and said "I'm sorry, dude. But you were quite good at protecting your family." Big Mac smiled in response. Michael stepped out of the room and met Applejack and Applebloom in the waiting room. They surrounded him "Thanks again, Mishel'. Thanks a lot. Ya saved us and our  little farm. But hows' goin' Big Mac?" "Ya saved our flanks! Ya were awesome as horseapple!" Applebloom squeaked. "Applebloom! Language! Sorry... again, what's up with BigMac?" "He will need to stay a while here, but otherwise he's okay...," Michael said. "Oh thank Celestia", Applejack sighed, "Okay, Sugarcube, but at first you cleaned the mess in our house, then we meet Twilight in her library." "Oh no..." Michael groaned and facepalmed. He never had to clean the mess he caused. Ponyville Library, a while later As they stepped in the Library, the rest of the mane six were already there, waiting for him. "So, what was happening on the farm?" Twilight asked. She was helping fighting off more diamond dogs on the market place when Michael was being on the farm. Michael answered "Applejack's existence was threatened by some diamond dogs, but I solved the problem... did the princesses wrote something?" "Yes, that's the reason why I called you all. Shortly after Michael leaved the library, Spike received a letter from the princesses. They wrote that they didn't encountered Alma or something paranormal again, which is rather strangely..." "Well, that's her tactic!" Michael said. "Tactic? What do you mean with tactic?" Twilight asked. "Well, at first she cause panic, then she does a nap, so that everyone thinks, that she isn't here or there anymore... and with all sudden, she slaps in your face with her horror," Michael explained, "And nobody will know WHERE she will start." "That is... not good," mutters Twilight. Pinkie Pie just started to bounce around and said "If Alma comes here, I will throw a party for her, too!" All of them gasped loudly. "No, Pinkie." "What.... don't she like being happy?" she asked, mane deflated, pure sadness in her voice. "Wait, do you didn't tell her about Alma?" Michael said. "No, we haven't yet," was the response from Rarity. "Ok, listen Pinkie. Alma might be a human and a newcomer, but she is... well..." Michael tried to find the right without hurting her. "Say it to her. We all're grown mares.", Rainbow Dash said. "Okay, she's only happy when she can kill everyone with her power." Michael said quickly, but he regrets it a little bit since he did not know how a person... pony like her would took it. "Aaah, now I understand!" Pinkie said as her mane went back to it's puffy fluffy condition "So Alma is a undead paranormal supernatural being that consists of pure rage and hatred on all living beings? All clear. Stay away from her as much as possible and avoid her at all costs. I got it." Michael blinked in surprise "...yeah... that hit the nail pretty well." then he looked to Rainbow Dash. The cyan mare laughed at Michael's face "It's just Pinkie being Pinkie. Don't think even try to think about it." "Okay..." All of them were hoping that this was not the calm before the storm... Ponyville Hospital, Later in the afternoon "GET A DOCTOR OVER HERE IMMEDIATELY!" Nurse Redheart yelled, "PATIENT 113 HAS A HEAVY PANIC ATTACK!" With that, Doctor Whooves galloped through the Corridors, holding a syringe in his mouth. As he bursted through the door, Nurse Redheart exclaimed, holding a hoof to him "No need for this now. He calmed himself down, but he's awake. Maybe we could ask him what happened." "Ok!" the Doctor put the syringe on a table and walks over to the patient. Then he asked "We are here and nopony can hurt you. If you want, you can tell us what happened." The patient looked into the eyes of Nurse Redheart and Doctor Whooves, then he took a deep breath and said "Ah hope ah will not get thrown in the psychatry. So, now I'm starting. Ah' was sleeping as Ah' heard something. I woke up and opened ma' eyes but Ah' couldn't see somepony. Suddenly, the light went off for a few seconds, Ah swear Ah' could heard somepony whispering, then the lights were turned back on and then... then..." "What was then? Please tell us." Whooves said calmly. "Then it was over there!" he pointed with his hoof to the cupboard, "It was sitting there, and spinned violently with his faceles head! But that was not the scary part, suddenly the light went off and on again. An... And my bed was surrounded by them! Ah saw three crawling around the ceilin'! And everyone of them spinned with their head! Then Ah' screamed and you showed up!" Doctor Whooves and Nurse Redheart were stunned. Maybe the disinfectants have too much alcohol in it. "Ah. That was just a side effect of the disinfectant we used on your injured leg. It was just an illusion!" the doctor explained. "Whoah. Then Ah'm cool with it. Boy, ya have some pretty strong stuff here!" he laughed. The doctor and the nurse were starting to smile. Then they trotted away from the bed. "Good Night!" the patient said . "Good Night, Mr. Macintosh!" the nurse said, still smiling as she close the door. The patient turned over to his side and closed his eyes, trying to get some sleep. In one thing the Doctor was wrong. The desinfectant has much alcohol in it, that was correct. But that wasn't an illusion... > Interval 04- A new job > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The next Day (Sunday, if this day exists in Equestria...)   Michael woke up at 7:00, when Applejack knocked at the door of the barn loudly "Mishel. Wake up! Breakfast! Today is the great day." "Did I miss something or why I can't remember about this?", he groaned. He was half-asleep and about to pass out into wonderland again. Applejack knocked again, eliciting another groan of frustration from Michael. But she just chuckled in response. "Oh, yes. We didn't told ya! Okay, once in a week, we are all hanging out together and have alot of fun!", she explained, "And you are with us, since ya are part of our group!" "Mmmmfine..." Michael grumbled. He did not liked it to be awoken so early. Ponyville Park, a little bit later "Wow, I've never been in a picknick like this," Michael said happily. They were in the park, sitting on a big sheet. Everypony and Human had his own plate. Pinkie Pie brought the food, it was mostly sweet pastries. Rarity lied on a couch and was reading a book. Rainbow Dash wore her black sunglasses. She was trying to look cool with it, but Michael's goggles looked far more cooler. Of course he did not wearing them at that moment. Fluttershy said nothing. She felt unsure to Michael yet. Well, she knew that he meant no harm, but she was still scared about the fact that he killed Diamond Dogs. Of course, she did not like Diamond Dogs at all, but they were still sentient, living beings... "What are we doing after that?" Michael asked. "Well, after the picknick we are going to show you the town. We haven't done it, yet." Twilight said smiling. "Sounds good to me," Michael said, while eating one of Pinkie's cupcakes, "Ok, thank you very much!" "And after that, I'll make some new clothes for you. It looks absolutely horrorfying wearing the same clothes every day." Rarity said. Suddenly, a thought appears in Michael's mind... He really needed a job. Working on the farm was quite nice, but he did not wanted it for the rest of his life. And he wanted to pay Rarity back after he get his new clothes. After the picknick, the mane six were showing Michael several places of Ponyville. "...and this is the town hall. When Major Mare helds a speech, all ponies of the town are meeting here. And when the princesses are here, we are inside," explains Twilight. "Oh, and this is the restaurant. We can eat there tomorrow if you want." Michael says "Oh, thanks, but I think, tomorrow is the time to search a job for me." "Oh... what do you have in mind?" Rarity asked, hoping that he would ask her for a job in the boutique. His hands would be really helpful... "Well, I will ask Shining Armor for a place in the royal guards," he said. *GASP!* "Why not? I'm a trained Sergeant!" The next day Michael cell phone alert ringed around seven o'clock. He wanted to get as soon as possible to Canterlot. The distance in the air was not very significantly great, but travelling by train need a long time. After picking up his stuff and making sure his money -they called it 'Bits' like the short version of the german beer brand Bitburger-, he left the barn and went to the trainstation of Ponyville. INTERVAL 04 A NEW JOB "MISHEL!" shouted somepony. He turned around and he spotted a approaching orange mare.  Applejack. "Ya can't just go away without saying something," she said panting.  "I know but I have to catch the train. And I don't wanna be late," he explained. "Well, okay. We'll see us around. Should Ah tell the girls something later?" asked Applejack smiling. "Yes, send them my best greetings. And thanks for all! Even you!" Michael said. Applejack cared a lot of him, he would never forget that. He promised to himself that he will pay her later for all her help. Applejack started to blush. "Hehe... thank ya. Ah will tell them!" Not a minute later, the train finally arrived at the trainstation. Michael stepped in and says waving with his hand "See ya' later!" Applejack yelled back "Okay, howdy!" After some moments, the train left the station, driving to Canterlot... Canterlot, Princess Celestias Castle, 12:00 Michael stood in front of the castle. He whistled loudly. He never saw a castle like this before "That's a haul of an castle". This was the first time he saw it from outside. When he came by the first time, they landed directly in the courtyard of the castle, which was not very special. At the gate were two pegasi royal guards, doing their jobs, namely guarding the gate. Maybe it would have been easier by equipping the gate with a thick bullet proof metal door, but whatever. As Michael approached the gate, they were blocking his path with their wings "What are you? Who are you?" "I'm the human Seargent Michael Becket, and I want to speak with your Captain Shining Armor," he answered with a neutral glare. Suddenly, the pegasi were saluting and the left one said "Sorry, Sir. We didn't know you, Sir! Shining Armor said that if you come by, we should let you in. Michael returned the gesture and says "Stay calm, privates. You are just doing your jobs. So just tell me where to go to your captain." Some minutes later Princess Celestia sat in her throne, reading letters which came from the foreign lands, as she heard a knock coming from the big doors.  "Please come in", she said and smiled as she realized it was the newcomer, "Aah. It's Seargent Becket. Its a pleasure to meet you again. I heard from the incident yesterday. How I can help you?" Michael stepped forward and saluted. Then he said "Sorry, if I disturb you, but I want to speak with Captain Shining Armor." "You want to speak with me?" Shining says, coming down from stairs and trotting up to Michael. "Yes. I want to ask you for a place in the royal guards," Michael said. Everypony in the room is surprised. A human asks for a place in the royal guards... that's new... Shining Armor thought. After some moments of thinking, Shining said "Why not? You are a skilled and brave warrior. I saw it by myself... and at least we might could learn a lot from you. And it seems that you are the expert here for... er... strange incidents." "That's a good decision, Shining Armor!" Celestia said smiling. She stood up from her throne and said to Michael "I welcome you as a new member to the royal guards." "Thanks, your highness. But one question: Did you saw or feel something strange in the days after the thing with Alma?" "Mmmh... we didn't saw her after that, but sometimes we have short strong headaches...and Luna had a bad nightmare last night." "Sometimes, I have short headaches, too. But they are occuring since I'm responsible for great magical shields..." Shining said, just saying his own opinion. Canterlot, Princess Celestias Castle, Royal Guards Sector Everypony cheered at the news. A human sergeant was joining the royal guards!  "Well, I want you to show him the same respect as you show it to me! If somepony doesn't like the idea, he can talk with me. Is that clear?" Shining ordered as they were in the training room of the Royal Gaurds. Everypony nodded. Shining turned to Michael "For your first day, can you tell us something about human combat techniques? For example, clearing a room?" "Well, okay I will try my best to explain much as I can. But the kowledge I have is for humans.", Michael said. "That doesn't matter right know. You can do everything to tell us something about this," Shining waved a hoof. Michael then started "Ok. I saw that crossbows exists in this world. So, what would you do If somepony shoots at you with a crossbow?". He pointed at Shining Armor, who replied "I would cast a spell, which protects me with a magical shield." "Ok, Unicorns would use magic. What would you do?" with that, Michael pointed at a pegasus royal guard. The pegasus said "I would fly away, or protect myself with my wings" Michael continues "So that means, you would proctect yourself with something that you have with you or you can do, right?" Everypony nods. "I have learned to use my environment as my protection. This is called 'Creating Cover'," Michael said. Quizzical looks. "Ok, I see you don't understand at all what I mean with that. So, Shining, could you please stand in this corner?" he ordered, "I want you to aim with a crossbow at me, but don't shoot." Michael sit up and walked to a large wooden table, which stood next to a door. Shining took the crossbow with his magical grip, trotted to the corner and aimed at Michael. "So, for example, you walk through this door. Then you see a unexpecting enemy in the corner to your right. To your right next to you is a furniture, in this case a table. Instead of casting spells or using wings, it's more efficient to create cover." with this words, he flipped over the table with his strong arms and rotated it at the same time in the direction of Shining. Then he ducked behind the plate of the table. "The enemy can't hit me now... I hope." Everypony was impressed. This way was far more easier than magic or wings.  Especially magic, which need a great amount of stamina. "And what then?", one of the guards asked Michael smiles and said "Then you can wait for better weather." Everypony laughed at his words. "Ok, back to serious. You can move across the room and use the table as a shield, or kick it to the enemy. But I would prefer the first option," Michael said, "So, that's all what I can you tell about 'Creating Cover'." Shining and his guards were mumbling to each other. Then Shining said "This way of protecting yourself is far more easier than the way we normally use. Thanks for this! Back to topic. Well, you all know that I will marry Princess Cadence in... Oh, sorry, Sergeant Becket. You don't know it, so I will explain it again for you. I will marry Princess Cadence in a week, and I don't want any security gaps. I will cast a magical shield around the whole castle. Sergeant Becket, you will take the point at this day. You seem to be very organized and level-headed." "Understood!" "So and now, we are going through the castle and search for security posts." Shining ordered, preparing the first moves for the safety for that special day.          Over the next 5 hours, they were all walking through the castle. Michael suggested that he could position himself on one of the towers with his sniper rifle and search for flying intruders. Shining said "Good idea, but how you want to communicate with the other guards?" "With this little gadgets here!", Michael said and put some comlinks out of his pocket, "You put these in one of your ears and then you can talk to each other, no matter how far they are away." Then he thaught them how to use the comlinks correctly. Shining and his guards were amazed as they were thaughthow to use such advanced devices. "Royal Guards!" someone yelled. All were turning around and spotting a dark blue alicorn with a crown walking up to them. It was Princess Luna. And she did not looked very happy "Listen. The hospital in Pony sent a emergency call. It was very unclear what's the reason, but we must go to Ponyville immediately! Me and my sister will following you." Ponyville, 30 minutes later, late afternoon The hospital is surrounded by a crowd of ponies. The mane six are there, too. There were talking wildly about what happened in the Hospital. The alerts went on and off after a few minutes and the doors were somehow blocked. But nopony came up with a good solution or a proper explenation. A black chariot was carried by 4 pegasi royal guards as it flew over the crowd of ponies. In the chariot were Shining Armor, two unicorn royal guards, the princesses and Michael Becket. The unicorns were equipped with swords and crossbows, while Michael Becket was equipped with his AR and Automatic Shotgun. As they were only 15 metres above the ground, Michael lowered himself down with a rope he found in a box in the chariot and run to the entrance of the Hospital. He tried to open the doors, but furniture behind the doors blocked them . "Oh man, not again!" he yelled annoyed. -Music (Please open a new Tab)- After some moments the chariot landed and all ponies stepped out. The Royal Guard quickly surrounded the princesses to provide their safety. But Shining Armor was a little bit angry to Michael since he did something without asking permission. "You could wait!" Shining said sternly. "I know captain, but there's no time for this." "Okay... Sergeant Becket, report!" "The doors are blocked. We must search another..." Michael said, but suddenly his goggles were scrambling and his vision was blurred for some moments. "Oh shit... Captain, we encounter paranormal activities. Going in the Hospital is not a good idea right now." Michael said warning. He knew what it meant to be in a area filled with supernatural beings. "No, Sergeant Becket. We have to move in there and rescue civilians." Shining retorted harshly, stomping on the ground to punctuate his order. "Whatever you say, we are going with you!" a pony yelled behind them. Twilight Sparkle. Shining Armor yelled "NO! Twily! You are not going in there! It's too dangerous!" "The last time you met paranormal activities, you survived, but maybe not a second time. The same for the rest of the mane six!" Michael said. He remembered very well the incident when Alma got them... "But ma' brother is in there... and... and... Michael...could protect us!" Applejack cried. She wanted to get her brother out of there as soon as possible. "But Shining Armor and Michael are right. Sorry, but I can't let you in there," Princess Celestia said Shining Armor was thinking over the situation, then he said"I will go with Seargent Becket." Princess Celestia said "Mmh okay, but just one thing. I will enchant Michael's goggles, so that we can see, what he sees." With that, Celestias horn began to glow and a bright aura surrounded Michael's goggles. After some moments it stopped and a orb of the size of an football hovered in front of Princess Celestia. She could see now through Michael's vision. "What are these for signs?" Princess Luna asked confused. "Well, the bars at the left side are showing my current health and vest status, while the numbers to the right are showing the ammunition for my weapons," Michael explained and reached in one of his pockets, "And take one if these, so we can communicate." Michael gave both princessess a comlink. "What's this?" Celestia asked. "It's a little gadget from my world, and you just put it in one of your ears. When I'm inside the hospital, you can communicate with Shining Armor and me." Then Michael turned around and walked to the hospita, weapon at the ready. Shining Armor galloped to Michael and said "You take the point." "Roger that." Michael said and went around the corner of the Hospital. "Where are we going?" asks Shining Armor, "The entrance is on the other side." Michael just says "The entrance is blocked, so we create our own little entrance. Wait here." and slammed a window with the backside of his AR. Then he jumped through and rolled off on the floor. Dangerous darkness surrounded him as he found himself in a patience room, so he activated his flashlight which was mounted on his AR. "Sector is clear. Come in, Captain." Shining Armor jumped through the window, landing on his legs. Looking around "This looks not good..." "Princesses, can you hear us?" Michael said through his comlink. "Clear and loud, Sergeant. Please proceed." Celestia said back through her comlink. Michael's goggles were scrambling and he caught a glimpse of a ponified shape in the edge of his vision. It stoof in a corner of the room. As he turned around, it disappeared in a puff of energy and a short but loud grunt was heard.   Shining saw it, too. "What the hay was that?!" Shining yelled. "Specters..." "What is a specter?" asks Princess Celestia. As Pinkie Pie heard this, she started to bounce joyfully on the ground "Is Nightmare Night in the hospital?" "A specter is the psychic leftovers of living beings. They are turned aggressive by the influence of alma..." Michael explained through the comlink. Pinkie Pie immidiately stopped her bouncing just as she heard this "Are Specters... dangerous...?" "From the informations I get from Michael, EVERYTHING which involves Alma is absolutely life-threatening and deadly... even for alicorns..." Princess Luna said to the pink party pony who went quiet. Michael and Shining were walking through the door out of the room. The smell of decay filled their nose/nostrils.Shining activated his comlink and said "We smell rotting flesh. Something very bad happened here..." "Rotting flesh...? Oh no... please be very careful now. We don't want to lose you!" Celestia said worried. As Michael made some steps forward, he stepped in something wet and emitting a wet 'splot!' sound. He looked down and was greeted by the sight of a large pool of blood. But not just blood. Around the bloody stain are written words. The words were saying: 'Help us!' 'Make it stop!' 'It hurts!' 'I am happy.' 'Its not right...' Michael groaned, then he said "This is going to be very funny..." > Interval 05- True Horror (+18 warning) > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- -Music (Please open a new Tab)- INTERVAL 05 TRUE HORROR "What is going on? Do you know what's going on? Becket, tell us!" Princess Celestia worriedly as she saw the bloody words in the orb. "I think, some ponies in the Hospital were driven insane....", Michael said through the comlink. But it was a familiar sight for him, the words were written by minds shouting for vengeance. The princesses and mane six were gulping. Some insane ponies killed other ponies and used the blood of their victims to write words. Such a crime was never done before in Equestria. Michael and Shining were stepping forward through a bloodstained corridor. The lights were on, so there was no need for Michael's flashlight. The corridor ended in a great doorway. On the wall next to it was a sign, and it read "Newfillys Sector". This sector was intentend for newborn fillies, who were overwatched by nurses for some days to find possible diseases. As they were approaching, they could hear the crying of a little filly. "Come on, Michael. Let's help the littly filly and get it out from here!" Shining said, wanting to leave this scary place as soon as possible and bursted through the door. Michael followed him steadily, weapon lowered. But he had a very bad feeling... The room had a door at the left side and a big window. Behind the window was a large room and in there were several little beds for newborn fillies. But the beds were empty. And somepony stood in the room, sitting on the ground on it's haunches, the back of the pony faced the glass... Michael recognized instantly, who the pony in the room was. "Nurse Redheart!" he knocked at the window, "We are here to rescue survivors. Open the door and come with us!" No response... She was holding something in her forelegs. Suddenly, Michael and Shining were hearing again the cry of a little filly. It came from the newborn filly room. So Nurse Redheart was holding a little filly in her forelegs. Shining Armor yelled "You rescued a filly? We must get you and the filly out of here as soon as possible! It's not safe here anymore!" No response... The filly cried... Michael's comlink scrambled a little bit. "Nurse Redheart?" asks Shining Armor confused. Suddenly, the lightbulb in the room where Nurse Redheart was, cracked witout any warning, sending a few sparkles on Redhearts body. Michael and Shining were exchanging confused looks. The room was  filled with darkness for some moments... AAAAAAAAAAAAAEEEHHH!!! Nurse Redheart's body slammed at the window, screamed the soul out of her body while brown blood expelled from her wide open mouth. The window remained unbroken, but Michael and Shining could see her body clearly. The fur of the pony was burnt and the skin changed it's colour to a silverish-grey. Her left eye was missing, but her right eye hung out from the socket, but it was still connected with veins and nerves to the brain. And she held something in her hoof... It looked like a filly's spine and the head was still attached to it, but with it's skin removed. She held it like a grotesque sceptre in her gnarled foreleg. Shining jumped back in shock and started to pant heavily. Michael remained calm, as training took over his body, and fired a load of shrapnels of his shotgun at the window. *BOSH* The window shattered in thousand pieces. The shrapnels were still strong enough to tear the head of the nurse apart. But it just dissolved in thin dust, like the rest of her body... Outside at that moment, all ponies were jumping away from the orb, some were screaming and others ran away in shock. Then the sounds of a thunderclap came from the hospital's windows, echoing over the whole ground. Princess Celestia yelled in the comlink "CAPTAIN ARMOR, SERGEANT BECKET!? WHAT THE HAY IS GOIN' ON IN THERE?!" "Shit, it looks like Alma made some phantoms...," Michael said in disbelief. He did not expected to be confronted with Alma's appariations so quickly. Michael looked to Shining Armor. He was lying on the floor, panting heavily and tried to digest what happened just seconds before. As a captain of the Royal Guards, he has been trained for everything, like unexpected attacks or war like situations. But that was something he will never understand. Michael looked through the shattered window into the room. The room had changed... All beds were not empty now. In every bed lied the mangled corpse of a little filly. The signs on the beds were still readable and Michael could read the names of it. Stardust Filly of Starshine He looked over to the next bed... it was a twin-sized. Pound Cake Pumpkin Cake Fillies of the Cake family The next... Violyn Adopted filly of Lyra and Bon-Bon Michael stopped looking at the names as he heard cries of pain through his comlink. Shining Armor had finally calmed himself down and stood up on his legs. He shook his head, saying "I don't know what are you thinking, but I want to get out NOW!" Shining turned around and raised his hoof to open the door. *GROOOORCH!* Michael saw something through the windows of the door. It stood on four legs, had no fur and red glowing crimson eyes... "SHINING! GET YOUR FLANK AWAY FROM THE DOOR!" Michael shouted. *GROOOORCH!* Shining heard that sound, too, and backed away from the door... The creature looked like a pony... almost. It's mane and fur was burnt, like that from Nurse Redheart. But it's eyes were red. The creature started to run through the corridor to the door. It was very fast and every step it did, it leapt up from the floor a little. Before it hits the door, it leapt high in to the air... *CRASH!* *GROOORCH!* However, the creature didn't bursts through the door. But it did such an damage to the doorhinges, that they could not be opened anymore. Michael tried to protect his face with his arms and Shining Armor rushed behind him, his brave shrinked to nothingness. The creature looked at his work at the doors, then it jumped through a grid into a ventilation shaft which was embedded in the ceiling. Michael and Shining could hear the sounds of grinds in the ceiling above them. Shining began to charge up his horn and Michael aimed with his shotgun at the ceiling. Silence... "Where is it?" Shining Armor asked. *CRACK* Like on clue, the pony creature broke through the ceiling and tried to attack them both. Shining turned around instantly and bucked the creature in the head. It flew backwards through the room and through the window in the newborn filly room. But it recovered fast and sprinted to Michael. Slow-mo On Michael saw what was coming to him. He dropped his shotgun and moved his hands in front of him in a defensive matter. As the creature grabbed his throat, while standing on his hindlegs, Michael did a very special move. He punched in the creauture's face with his elbow, breaking it's jaw. Then he raised his right leg and kicked at the side of the creature right knee, breaking it, too. Slow-mo Off This whole action took less than 1 second, from the perspective of Shining Armor. The pony creature lied on the floor, screaming and spasming messely. Michael picked up his shotgun and pushed his left feet at the creature's throat. It went limp but his eyes are still wide-open and it looks to Michael. "My, my, what do we have here?" Michael asked, smirking but also disgusted at the sight of such an creature. Before the creature could do anything funny, he released another load of twelve gauge. *BOSH!* The body of the creature vanished into thin dust, similarly to Harold Keegan's... Shining needed some time to recover and get his train of thoughts back, then they were walking through the newborn fillies room, trying to avoiding sight with the mangled corpses of the fillies. "For Fausts sake..." Shining Armor muttered and wiped a tear away as he spotted the bodies. Some of them were so disformed that they just looked like a piece of meat on sale in a griffon market. There was a door in the other end of the room. Behind it was another hallway leading to the doctor quarters. And on the floor lied a brown unicorn stallion with a white kittle. It was Doctor Whooves. He was still breathing and looked over to them. "Let's help him.", Michael stated as he put his shotgun on his back. Both were approaching the stallion. But soon as they were just a few feets away from him, he was suddenly thrown against the ceiling by an invisible force. (Stop Music here and open this in a new Tab!) Then the doctor was smashed against the wall. Shining could hear the doctor's bones breaking. *SPLAT!* Blood, shattered bones and organ pieces were raining on both of them as the doctor's body was somehow ripped apart. Then, suddenly, the lights went off. Michael activated his flashlight, but to his dismay it flickered. At the place where the doctor lied before on the ground, stood a ponyfied white and blinking figure, a pony-specter. Michael switched immediately to his AR and shoot a short burst at the pony-specter. A loud grunt was heard and the pony-specter dissolved in a puff of energy.  *WUUUUOOOOOOSSSSCCCHHH!!!* A telekinetic wave approached them. Several objects were sent flying through the air and a book hit Shining's head. He rubbed the place on his head briefly before he looked up to Michael in fear. Michael knew what was to do. "FUCKING RUN!!!" Michael shouted and sprinted through the hallway. It was the almost same situatin that happened in the school. Shining went into a wicked gallop. A pony-specter comes through a wall nearby and hovered up to Shining. It dissolved in smoke as it hit Shining, but several lacerations appeared on his body, even under the armored places. Shining stumbled and fell on his side. He screamed in unrestrained pain. *WUUUUOOOOOOSSSSCCCHHH!!!* Again, a telekinetic wave hit them. Michael was thrown from his feets. He heard the yelling of Shining and he crawls to him and picked the whimpering Captain of the Royal Guards up on his back. He turned around briefly... He saw a humanoid creature walking up to them in a steady pace. A rippling aura surrounded it, creating the border of death. No doubt, Alma was chasing them. "Hold thight!" Michael yelled as he stepped forward. Some more pony-specters were approaching them, but Michael moved his AR from the left to the right side, emptying his magazine and finishing off all specters. *CLICK!* His AR ran out of ammo. He pulled out the now empty mag, grabbed a full from his pocket, pushed it in and slammed the bolt at the left side of the weapon with his flat hand. The end of the hallway came closer and closer as well as Alma. Michael could already hear her incoherent whispering. But he could made out words like Suffer or Wait. Pinned on the wall were several ponies who survived, still breathing heavily and moaning loudly. One of them was slammed against the opposite wall as Alma walked past him. The pieces of flesh rained upon her but they were quickly vaporized by Alma's aura.          *SPLAT!*          Michael threw his whole wheight against the door at the end of the hallway, trying to open it. But the door did not budge... "Okay, let's do the hard way!" he said and gave the door a strong kick with his right leg. The place where his foot met the door was dented due of the impact. Without looking around, he rushed through the door, turned around and closed it... Silence. Michael let Shining to the floor and examined his wounds. They were not deep, but a good amount of blood expelled from them. "It's okay, I think I can take it...", Shining muttered, hissing in pain. Michael looked at his wound in thoughts, then he took out a syringe -the almost same type he had used on Rainbow Dash- and showing it Shining "I'm not a doctor, but I think this will help you." With that, he sticked the syringe in the captain's shoulder and injected the content of it. The syringe contained a red liquid which could heal the most injuries on someone's body. Instantly after, Shining felt better "Thanks..." But the hopes of getting Big Mac out of there alive were getting smaller and smaller... Princess Luna saw Shining's state on his body and Michael's horror in his face. So she said, pointing at two pegasi royal guards "You there! Go through the upper windows and find and help Seargent Becket and Captain Shining Armor!" They were nodding and then they leapt up to the upper windows. Some shatter sounds later, and they are inside. "I think this was not a good idea, Lulu.", Princess Celestia said, but Luna acted like she did not hear anything. "Seargent Becket? We send some help to you... they should arrive any moment!" Princess Luna said through her comlink, "They are in the upper floors and they will help you to search Big MacIntosh." "That was a VERY bad idea, Princess... you will see why!" Michael said, already lost his hope for the 'help'. He and Shining found a stairwell and went in. As they stepped out from the stairwell in the upper floors, they could hear wild hoofsteps around the corner in the hallway. "Let me alive!!!", a stallion screamed frantically. Shining knew from the voice who could it have been... "Silver Shield! We are here!" Shining galloped through the hallway. Michael followed him and prepared for the worst. Silver Shield, a grey unicorn with silvery looking mane, runned around a corner while panting heavily. "Silver! Stay calm and..." Shining said, but it was too late... *SPLASH* Within a split of second, the whole flesh of Silver Shield was liquified. The bloodstained skeleton fell to the ground smoking and still wearing the standard issue royal guard armor. Alma appeared between the mess briefly before she disappeared again. Michael looked away from the gruesome scene and said "This the reason why I didn't choose the direct way to Big MacIntosh's room... don't ask." Shining Armor's eyes goes wide, then he vomited on the floor. He barely lost his consciousness. Michael had said that Alma was able to liquify someone's flesh. Maybe it was not so gruesome in thoughts, but now it punched in his stomach. And he did not want to know what happened to Silver's friend... -Music (Pleae open a new Tab)- Princess Luna looked with wide eyes in the orb, feeling terrorfied. Then she looked away and started to cry silently. She felt guilty for the deaths of two Royal Guards. What will their families say? Princess Celestia just kept looking at the orb in disbelief. Somehow she could feel Alma's mighty presence radiating to everywhere. And it felt cold, filled with hatred and pure unleashed anger. "Princess! We are in front of Big Mac's door!" Michael reported. Everypony were sighing in relief. Even Luna calmed down a bit. There was still some hope... Michael placed his right hand to the doorknob and grabbed it. Shining stood behind him and prepared for the best... and the worst. They both inhaled deeply, hoping to see Big Mac alive... But before he could turn the knob around... FLASH! "What?", they both said in one unison. A blinding white light blinded their vision for a moment. As their vision became clearer and clearer, they realized that they were still standing in front of Big Mac's door. "Michael? What happened? We can't see through your vision, there was a flash or something.", Celestia said. Michael checked his goggles after her sentence. "We encountered the same flash but my goggles are working properly! What... THE HELL?!" he said as he turned around. The hallway behind them... changed. The walls were dirty green and the ceiling was much higher now. On the left wall were three closed doors, each one has a little grid in the middle. On the right wall also three doors in the same design. Michael and Shining glanced at each other before Michael said "Come, we have no other choice...". And so they walked through the hallway slowly and carefully paying attention to any sound and movement. Shining charged his horn up again but this time ready to shoot at anything which was not Michael or Big Mac. Michael hold his shotgun at the ready, moving from the left to the right side with the sights and scanning the area in front of him.          OOOOOH!          "Princess Celestia, did you hear that? Shining whispered through his comlink, but he kept the energy in his horn. Princess Celestia remarked "Yes, but please describe what you two are seeing. We still can't see through Becket's vision." "Okay, uum... we are in a big hallway," Shining tried to describe, "On each side are three doors, with a grid in it. It looks like a part of a psychatry... We are looking now through a grid of one of the doors... Oh god!" In the room stood a rusty and old bed, made of iron bars. On the bed sat a female pegasus. She weeped bitterly and swung forth and back with her upper body. Michael took a look through the grid... "There's somepony in it...WHAT THE ...?!" Michael exclaimed. He could not believe his very own eyes. Michael took off his goggles and rubbed his eyes, then he put his goggles back on his nose, looking through the grid in the room once again. Cyan fur. Rainbow-coloured mane. Wings... where are the wings? Michael activated his comlink "Princess? Is Rainbow Dash with her friends?" After some moments, Michael heard Celestia's voice "Yes, she's here with her friends... and who is the pony in the room?" Michael was stunned "I can't believe myself... but Rainbow Dash is in this room..." "But... how..." Celestia muttered. She looked at Rainbow Dash who was with her friends. Michael looked to the ground and found a sheet of paper "I found a page... looks like a report!" "Please read it." Princess Celestia said. Michael read it out loudly. Name: Rainbow Dash Age: 21 Reason for arresting: Lost her sanity, because she lost her wings in the 'Pinkie Incident'; she was the leader of a unethical factory. He dropped the sheet in disbelief and moved to the next door as he could hear Celestia In the middle of the room stands a white unicorn with a levender-coloured mane. Rarity. She was in the room, her whole body was quivering madly and she shook her head like she was to show "No!". She muttered crazily "It was... just... an... new... idea... for a new dress... heheh... Hahaha!" "Michael, we can see through your vision again, distorted, but clear enough.", Celestia determined,"Hmm... the pony looks like... *Gasp!*" Another sheet of paper, this time it was sticking on the door. Michael grabbed it and began to read, but for himself. Name: Rarity Age: 23 Reason for arresting: [REDACTED] Next door... A pink pony sat in a chair, which stands next to a wall. She had pink flat mane and her cutie mark were three coloured ballons. It was Pinkie Pie, but she looked somehow not herself. Shining grabbed the sheet of paper, which sticked on the door and started to read. Name: Pinkamena Diane Pie Age: 21 Reason for arresting: Tried to cannibalize equestrian citizen Rainbow Dash (she is in treatment now, too). "That's... crazy," Shining said. He gave the sheet to Michael, who takes it and read it, too. Michael  then walked the next door and grabbed the sheet of paper immediately. He heard knocking from inside the room. Name: Fluttershy Age: 22 Reason for arresting: [REDACTED] several animals. Michae dared to look through the grid. A familiar yellow pegasus stood in the room, her pink mane fell straight to the ground. She touched the wall with her forehead, then she lunged out with her head, held this position for a few moments... and slammed her head against the wall with full force. The wall had already a bloody stain on the place where she knocked her head against it, it was also dripping. *BUMP!* Shining asked "What is that sound?" but Michael just shook his head. He did not wanted to further scare him. Walking to the next door, he picked up the report and read. Name: Applejack Age: 22 Reason for arresting: Lost her sanity due to the loss of her ground and family. Suddenly, he heard a loud cry, filled with absolutely unrestrained pain and sorrow. It sounded like a mix of a cry of pain and a moan. Michael spotted a orange pony mare with blonde mane. Applejack sat on the edge of her bed, next to her lied her cowboy hat, and she wrapoed her forelegs around her chest. She weeped bitterly. Each cry from her was long and loud. Michael stared at the scene in the room. He never seen anything so sad. Before he realized it, his eyes were watering up, but he quickly wiped it away with his left hand... Shining left Michael and trotted to the last door. The grid was too high for him, so he reared up on his hindlegs. He spotted a familiar pony in the room, but before he recognized who could it be... The phantomized Nurse Redheart appeared behind the grid and stared with her empty eye sockets at Shining. He let out a yelp of fear and jumped away from the door, but he managed to grab the report with his telekinetic grip. Shining sat on the floor on his haunches and heard a grinding sound from the door. He looked back at the grid, where a metal plate moved behind it, blocking the sight. He blinked several times before he dared to look at the report. Name: Twilight Sparkle Age: 22 Reason for arresting: Misuse of magic, Betrayed the princesses "NO!" Shining cried. The Princesses and the mane six could not catch their breath. Finally, Twilight collected herself together and said to the princesses "I don't understand! I would never misuse magic or betraying you two!" "We know, my faithful student! This is... ah, Michael! Please explain this to us!" Princess Celestia said panicked, her mind could not bring up the proper definition for all this. But Michael knew what was going on and says "These scenes are mind tricks made by Alma. Either she is just screwing around with our minds or these are... phrophecies... but I hope not..." "Is that all what Alma can do with our minds?" Princess Celestia asked. "Sorry for disappointing you... but no...this is just a little piece of her cake," Michael said back monotonously. Finally, their trip stopped on the other end of the hallway. There was a metallic door, but it looked clean and new. Michael grabbed the doorknob and turned it around. Then he walked in the room, followed by Shining... FLASH! (STOP music here!) "Hay, nurse. What took ya so long? Ah pushed the friggi'ng button for almost a century now and...," Big MacIntosh exclaimed, but he stopped as he realized WHO were stepping in his room, "Big Guy? Captain? What are ya doing here? Ah expected somepony else! And why are ya drenched in tomatoejuice overall?"          Big Mac! I'm so glad that you are okay!" Michael exclaimed. Of course, he did not know the farmpony very well, but good enough to feel happy to see him alive. Big Mac snorted, then he said "Yeah, Ah'm okay. Ah'm SO ALIVE to buck the nurse in her flank so hard, that she will change her name to Nurse Redflank!" Shining sighed and said "Yep, he's definitely okay..." Michael activated his comlink and said "We found Big MacIntosh... he's alive... a little bit TOO alive...†Applejack cried of joy. Her big brother was alive! Oh thank Celestia... The rest of the mane six were also happy. Michael and Shining finally made it to rescue Applejack's brother. The whole now smaller crowd of ponies sighs in relief... Some moments later, Princess Celestia said "Okay, now get him out of there!" "No problem!" Michael said through his comlink. Shining and Michael promised themselves to not to tell BigMac what he had survived. Maybe later. *CLIRR!* A window in the upper floor bursted and a rope fell down. Then a big red-coloured pony with blonde mane stepped out from the window and lowered himself down with the rope. Applejack ran to her brother, tackled him to the ground and hugged him hardly. "Woah, little sis! Ah've never saw ya so happy!", Big MacIntosh laughed. A few moments later, Shining lowered himself down, followed by Michael. As Applejack spotted Michael, she jumped off from her brother and tackled Michael down, pinning him on the ground. He did not had the time to prepare himself, she came with all sudden. Then Michael's face was covered by kisses from Applejack and she cried "Ah don't know how to thank ya!" Michael stopped immediately Applejacks kissing assault with his hands. Kissed by a pony was new and also uncomfortable for him. He knew that she was just happy and thankful but he was just doing his job. And he did not wanted to be returned with something intimate, this was totally against his line. "Just stop kissing me and go down from me. I would really appreciate this.", Michael said friendly, but determined. Applejack nodded and jumped off from him, leaving his place to sat up. Then Applejack turned to Shining, who prepared to be tackled down. But Applejack just trotted to him and hugged Shining "And of course, thank ya, too!" Shining's cheeks went red, then he says "Yes... uhm... no... problem..."  He knew that he would have ended up dying in the Hospital without Michael's help. "Captain Armor, Seargent Becket, please, come to us!" Princess Celestia yelled. Michael and Shining walked up to them, leaving the stunned Big Mac alone as his friends were telling him what happened in the hospital. Princess Celestia looked to Michael, then to Shining, then she said "Words are not enough to describe what you have experienced today. But you rescued the brother of Applejack, the bearer of honesty. I really, REALLY appreciate that, but I don't know how to thank you... and..." She trailed off, thinking of the ponies who were murdered coldly by Alma. Michael tried to change the subject, then he said "You don't have to thank me, I only did my job!" Princess Celestia get back her train of thoughts, then she said "Okay, but you both still deserve something... I will send later a letter to you. I want you to stay in Ponyville." "Hmm... fine.", Michael said. What then happened, that was not expected by anypony. Suddenly, Michael's head started to hurt violently. He grabbed his temples with his hands and suppressed a grunt of pain. It felt like someone shoot needles through his skull. At the same time, Shining Armor started to scream in agony as he felt the same pain in his head. "Becket! Shining! What is happening?" Celestia asked in shock. She looked up as well as Luna, only to found themselves not anymore in Ponyville. They all four were standing on a hill, two cooling towers were in the seen in the distance. On the hill was a tree and a swing hung from it. Weird white blinking bipedal creatures surrounded them. Celestia and Luna did not have the tiniest clue where they are, but Michael knew it better... With an instant, Alma stood in front of Michael and attacked him. She grabbed him by his throat in one instant, moved forward to his face and opened her mouth... She only startet to scream very loudly, defeaning her victim's ears with pure rapture of noise. Michael shivered from the pain, but he managed to loose her grip before he pushed her away not so gently. He had to resist her dark influence... Within a split of a second, they were back in ponyville, in front of the hospital. Michael and Shining could not stand any longer and they fell to the ground. The colours in their vision were twitching rapidly. Shining could hear someone calling his name, while Michael heard Alma's voice... You all can't hide from me... > Interval 06- Travel > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- *GASP!* Michael woke up with all sudden and he literally beamed himself from... a couch?   "Hmm, that can't be right. I was in Ponyville when I collapsed..." he thought to himself... He looked around. He was in a big room, the couch was too big for him, a commode stood at a wall. On the commode stood a crown... now he knew where he was... "Oh, you are awake!" a feminine voice said. Princess Celestia peeked from the open door into the room and shoot a smile to him. Michael smiled weakly back in response as he rose up from the couch. "How did I get here?" Michael asked as he looked on his watch, realizing that he was out for an whole day. Princess Celestia coughed as she stepped in the room, then she said "Well... after you... passed out... Shining Armor recovered, but you still laid on the ground, so I decided to bring you here." Michael was surprised, then he says "Uhm... thanks Princess. And I think I'm myself again." "No Problem. This day is a very important day. You know already about the upcoming marriage of Shining Armor and Princess Cadance, right?", Princess Celestia said. Michael nodded. "Okay. Princess Cadence is waiting for us in the Crystal Empire. We will bring her to Canterlot and set up everything for the wedding." "And what have I to do with it?" Michael said questiongly. Princess Celestia smiles "You will come with us. I saw your skills and I think it is the best for us all when we have a brave companion." INTERVAL 06 TRAVEL "Okay," Michael said and then he smelled something, namely himself, "But I really, REALLY need a shower..." Canterlot, Trainstation "Hey, Becket. How do you do?" "I'm fine, and you?" Michael asked Shining Armor. "M'okay, too, but I'm still a little bit shaken..." Shining answered in a whisper. They were standing in the trainstation in Canterlot next to each other and were waiting for the train. The princesses were chatting about something and Michael could hear some words like 'Powerful', 'Alma' or 'Elements of Harmony'. There were also some guards, but they stood like statues and not even blinking. "Just don't think about it..." Michael said and looked again for the train. He tried to change his way of thoughts "Where's the Crystal Empire?" "Near the cold norths, but it will be a long ride.", Shining said to Michael. The unicorn looked on the human's back and spotted a weapon he did not saw before. He already knew the autoshotgun, but this one looked more heavier and also bulkier. "What's this for a weapon on your back?" Shining asked. "Think of a rapid-firing crossbow which fires flechettes instead of arrows.", Michael said, trying to not to confuse the pony. But Shining seemed to still not get it as he gave him a funny face before looking elsewhere. Some moments later, the train stopped in the station. It looked like a narror-gauge railway for children. "What in the heck is this?" Michael said, feeling like he was deported back to kindergarten. "This is the friendship express, one of the best and fastest trains in Equestria.", Princess Celestia said, waving with her hoof to the wagon. "Friendship... express... you don't say.", Michael muttered as he stepped in after Princess Celestia and Princess Luna disappeared in the wagon. "This has something to do with the magic of friendship.", Shining Armor said. "I'm not a magical pony, so I doubt I would understand something of that magic.... by the way, your 'magic' mess up my gadgets.", Michael said as he took a seat. Not some moments after, the train began to move and drove to it's destination... A few minutes passed by and Michael could see the fascinating landscape of Equestria. Wide orchards, high mountains and wonderful little towns. And the best part, no war with replicas, no air filled with bullets and mainly... Michael sighed in realization that he almost forgot Alma. It was a matter of time until she flood Equestria with her paranormal shit. Something caught his eye and he turned his head. It was the princesses blowing mane. He looked at it interested, then back to the window, which was closed and then back to the mane of the alicorns in front of him. Princess Luna noticed his looking and asked him "Michael, is everything okay?" He chuckled and shook his head, "I always saw your mane flowing, but now I'm asking myself why and how's doing it. It looks like it has a life of it's own... or did you hide somewhere a fan?" He looked to the left and right sides, but he found nothing. Shining Armor and some guards were chuckling. Even the princesses were laughing. "That was a serious question...", Michael said, raising an eyebrow. . Princess Celestia smiled and said "Well, that is the effect from the shampoo which we use... the shampoo is named Mane and Shoulders Breeze Effect." "And why do you want flowing mane?" Michael asked. Princess Luna starts to explain "At first, it looks beautiful. Secondly, it improves our presence in public...," she started to blush, "If you want, you can touch my mane..." Michael looks confused and a little bit nervous about the thought to touch her flowing mane "Okay." and touched Luna's mane. It felt like he touched flowing water, but in a solid, smooth way... Princess Luna sighed a bit, not of surprise or something, but his stroking felt good. "Uuumh... feels weird, but interestingly..." Michael stated and retrieved his hand, then he joked, "Maybe I can get one of these shampoo for my hair." They laughed together a little bit, because it would has been unnecessary for him due of his short brown hair. But suddenly, a conductor pony bursted into the wagon. Michael spun around, grabbing his penetrator. But he pony just yelled "THEY ARE ATTACKING, THEY ARE ATTACKING!" Shining Armor was the first who spoke "Who is what attacking?" "The Dragonfire ponies are attacking the train! They know that you're here, Princess Celestia!" the conductor yelled. Without saying any further words, he unlocked his HV Hammerhead, eliciting a loud 'shosh' sound from the weapon as it build up pressure. It was a gas operating weapon, which fires radioactive flechettes at very high speeds. Shining stared at it, this weapon could fire flechettes? Suddenly, the window next to Michael and the Princesses bursted. A armored, black coloured with blue mane, pegasus assassin flew through the window and tried to attack Princess Celestia. He raised his long knife he held in his right forehoof... and then he was suddenly slammed against a seat, several glowing flechettes in his body. The assassin death rattles while looking , then he went limp. Princess Celestia looked in shock at the dead assassin, then back to Michael who looked like he did not gave a single shit. "What? He was about to kill you." "But...but...but..." Princess Celestia stuttered, but looked up as she heard something... Some knocks on the ceilings were coming from the ceiling. More attackers were on the wagon and trying to find a way inside. Michael said as he put his goggles on "There are more of'em! Stay here until I say the clear." "But what did you do?!" Celestia finally said the words, pointing at the dead assassin. "My job." Michael said flatly before he closed the door of the wagon. He spotted more soldiers coming from the other wagon, but he took out his shotgun and wedged the doorhandle with it. This should have hold long enough for a while. He climbed on top of the wagon and spotted more pony soldiers. They were preparing for another futile tactical entry through another window, despite the fact that the train was on full speed and the strong breeze could shove them off the wagon. "Hey, you!" Michael shouted over the sound of the wind to the ponies. The train was surprisingly fast, he expected it's speed a little more than thirty kilometres per hour.          -Music (Please open a new Tab)-          The leader of them, a unicorn stallion with fiery red coat, spotted him. His jaw dropped at the sight, before he pointed at Michael "Who and whatever you are, don't dare to stop us." "I wanted to ask you if you could just surrender." Michael said calmly. "No, our plan of killing Celestia will prevail and nopony will stop us. Not even you. So-" the leader said, but a flechette stopped him in the middle of his sentence as Michael fired at him. The flechette brought out a lot of his brain mass out from behind his head. The pony behind him get a lot of it in his face, who responded with screaming in shock. The soldiers were looking in horror at their leader falling to the ground, spasming. Then they looked back to Michael, who said finally "Anything else?" The soldiers were growling in anger and one earth pony soldier in black armor rushed to Michael and tried to slice him half with a longsword. Michael dodged the attack and kicked the pony at his chin hardly. The pony fell from the wagon and slammed against an upcoming pole. His body was ripped open and the side of the wagon was drenched from the pony's intestines. Michael could swear to himself that he heard someone screaming in the wagon. Slow-mo On Another pony, this time a unicorn with black mane and red fur, aimed with his crossbow at Michael and shoot, but then the pony looked in horror as Michael managed to catch the arrow with his hand in mid-air. Michael threw the arrow lazily to the ground, aimed through the red-dot vision of his weapon and squeezed the trigger. Each shoot was a well-placed headshot. Slow-mo Off After less than 2 seconds, the whole group on the wagon has been defeated and Michael jumped forward from the current wagon to the next one. He grabbed the ladder and slided down. Next to him was the wagondoor and he stepped in the wagon. Dragonfire ponies were in the wagon, bothered with the door which was wedged by Michael's shotgun. As they heard the wagondoor opening, they turned their heads to the intruder. They spotted Michael and a pony with a crossbow aimed very quickly at him and shoot an arrow at Michael. The arror buried itself in Michael's body armor. The archer cheered in joy, but it died down as he spotted the arrow did not bothered Michael the slightest. "Your crossbows are pretty outdated. What do you think of THAT?" with this words, Michael shot four flechettes at the archer. The archer was instantly nailed against a wall. The first flechette pierced his throat, the second pierced his right lung, the third pierced his left forehoof and the last pierced his stomach. All other ponies were looking in horror at their on the wall nailed comrade, but they did not reconsidered and thought about to flee... instead, they attacked Michael all at one. Michael finished the first three off with his hammerhead, but then the digits were showing '00'. He runned out of ammo and reloading the weapon would take too long. Michael dropped his weapon and backpedaled out from the wagon. But before he slammed the door shut, he threw something back in the wagon... The soldiers were trying to buck the door open, but the door remained closed. "Hey, the bald monkey dropped his weapon!" one of the soldiers yelled. They find Michael's hammerhead, but of course, it was empty. Then they approached the little ball. One of them, a unicorn, picks it up and examined it "Looks like a gem or something..." *CRACK* *FIZZLE* All soldiers were screaming in pain and shivering all over their bodies. Michael had threw a shock grenade back in the wagon. Then all soldiers lost their consciousness. Michael just opened the door, walked over the ponies to his Hammerhead and picked it up. He took out out the empty magazin and put a new in. The digits were then counting up to the number '25'. He locked the door from inside, walked through the crowd of unconscious pony-soldiers. He opened the wedged door by breaking the glass with his elbow, then taking his shotgun from the handle. Then he walked back to the royal wagon, where the princesses and the royal guards were waiting. "For the sake of my sister, we so glad that you're okay!" Princess Luna exclaimed. The window next to her was drenched in blood at the outer side. "What is now with the Dragonfire Ponies?" Princess Celestia asked sternly. "Don't worry about them, they won't you bother anymore... except for a few in the wagon in front of us." Michael said as he sat down, taking deep breaths as he took off his goggles. "You killed more of them? But why? It is against the rules of Equestria to kill ponies!" "And they tried to kill you. Never heard of duty? Never heard of self defense?" Michael said without looking up. "He's right, Tia. He has just done his job to protect us." Princess Luna said, looking to her sister. "If that's so...did you do this... duty on your world, too?" Princess Celestia asked quietly. "Yes, and that's the only reason why I survived." Michael said back. Princess Celestia looked into his eyes, quietly, then she looked out from the window and saying nothing. Shining Armor commanded some of his guards to remove the body of the dead assassine, before he leaned over the Michael and whispered "Dude, in opposite of the princesses, I found you pretty bad-ass." Crystal Empire, a few hours later "Aaah... my eyes.", Michael said. Everything sparkled, despite it was afternoon, in his vision and he held his left arm in front of his face. But after some moments, his eyes adjusted to the sparkles.  "Shiny!" a feminine voice exclaimed. Michael turned around and spotted a pink alicorn with colorful mane galloping up to them. The pink alicorn did not noticed him yet, her eyes glued on Shining Armor. The pink alicorn was none other than Princess Cadance. She hugged Shining Armor and kissed him. "A long time not see.", Shining Armor said smiling. "Yeah, I missed you so much.", Princess Cadance whispered lovingly. "Hello Cadance." Princess Celestia said smiling. "Hello Celly, hello Luna, hello Royal Guards whose names I don't know.", Princess Cadance giggled like a filly. Then she turned to Michael Becket who looked in awe at the buildings made of crystal, before his gaze met the crystal tower... at that point, he had almost lost his jaw. "Shiny, wha- er, who is that?" Princess Cadance asked slightly panicked. "Don't worry, he's cool. His name is Michael Becket and he is a species called human. To keept it short, he end up in this world, showed excellent combat techniques and joined the Royal Guards." "Hello Mr. Becket. My name is Princess Cadance and I'm the ruler of the Crystal Kingdom, which is also known as Crystal Empire. How are you?" Princess Cadance took Michael's hand and shook it wildly. She has been referred as a 'modern' princess, who adapted quickly to the modern world. "Well, I had better times..." Michael said while scratching the back of his head. As Princess Cadance heard his words, she did her duty as the princess of love, namely by leaping at him and closing him into a heartful hug. Michael stumbled a litte but kept his balance "And what is that for?" Princess Cadance looked up to him questiongly "Why you don't return the hug?" "At first, you belong to Shining Armor and-" Michael said, but he was cutted off by the unicorn  who laughed "Nah, don't worry. She is the princess of love. Giving hugs is her specialty. I love it when she's doing that, because she cares about everypony." "Ooookay... and secondly, the whole thing is more complicated than you'ld expect." "Ah okay...",Princess Cadance said as she let loose of Michael. Some minutes later and the train left the trainyard. The princesses, Shining Armor and Michael Becket sat together in a part of the wagon. "What is the need of this conversation?" Princess Cadance said, now looking extremely serious. "A few days ago, I was teleported here. How I don't know but that's not the matter. The real matter is, another one was teleported here. She... was a human, but now she is something far more..." Michael said slowly. "Who is it? And what does it means 'Was a human?' and 'Psionic'?" "Her name is Alma Wade and she is a psionic girl... or woman, because she can change in form. To make it easy for you to understand, she bears a lot of mighty power. Secondly, she is absolutely evil and third, she is a incarnated ghost." "Yesterday, and it is thrilling for you, she is responsible for the death of a lot of ponies in the Ponyville Hospital. And there can be more, if we don't do anything quickly." Shining said, sounding dead serious. Princess Cadance expression fell like water as she heard that. A lot of ponies lost their lives in Hospital, a peaceful place where everypony can heal up from their injuries. "And why you don't use the elements of harmony?" "We will do it so when she appears the next time, but we don't know when and where..." Princess Celestia said, "We had to encounter her twice, and she can block our magic." "Our magic? But we are alicorns." "That doesn't matter for her, as she is an master of brain control." Michael said. For the rest of the journey, Michael continued to tell Princess Cadance everything about Alma. The train arrived in Canterlot around midnight, the royal sister had to set the sun and raise the moon in the train. The stunned soldiers were brought to the dungeons and have been later intorrigated by Princess Celestia. > Interval 07- Descend > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- INTERVAL 07 DESCEND The next day... It was a little after 6 o'clock, but the sun was already raising and the moon was setting slowly. Michael took his rounds through the castle, holding his AR sideways with safety switched on. He kept his gaze forward, but he thought about a very obvious topic, namely Alma. There were so many questions in his mind, like how did she get here? And mainly, how did HE get here? His way of thoughts was interrupted with all sudden as he bumped into somepony. "Do you have tomatoes on your eyes... oh, hell, excuse me, Princess Luna!" Michael said surprised. Princess Luna shook her head in amusement "No harm done." "Your coat is so dark, I couldn't take notice of you.", he said back, half-joking half-serious. "Do you have a problem with my coat?" Luna hissed in acted anger. "No, I was just joking." Michael held both of his hands up. "Me too." They both laughed together for a while. Luna's emotion have never been so free as before. After a while, their laughing subsided. "Ok, how is about the security for the upcoming marriage in two days?" she asked as she wiped the last tear from her eyes. "Well, I have reckoned the best tactical positions for Royal Guards, so I'm to hundred percent sure that we have the best security on this day." "This is perfect. Due of your heavenly work, you are allowed to have the days off until the marriage, okay?" "Yes, and thank you, Luna." Ponyville Michael had taken the next available train to Ponyville, to see the mane six and telling them he was okay. They might had worried a lot about him and they yet did not know about his actual state. "Next stop is Ponyville. Alight from the train's left side, please and have a nice day.", the conductor pony said loudly through the wagon, but friendly. Michael stood up just before the train stopped slightly with a jerk. He stepped out and looked around. The Ponies in the town, despite the horrorfying incident, were looking forward on doing their jobs as much as possible. Some ponies looked over to him, waving their hooves at him. Michael waves back, smiling. He gained the trust from the locals. His plan was originally to walk to Twilight's library, to lern something about magic. He knew he would not understand magic at all, but it might help him. Knocking at the door of the library, he could hear Twilight's yelling "SPIIIKE! There's somepony at the door." "Someone.", Michael thought for himself. The door was opened by the little dragon called Spike. "Yo, Mick!" Spike said as he greeted the human with a salute. "Hello Spike, I hope I don't disturb anything, but could I borrow some books about mag-" "Who's Mick? I've never heard of a pony with this name before...", Twilight said curiously, but as she spotted Michael, she beamed right in front of him "OHMYGOSH, I'm so happy to see you okay! What happened? You passed out after you talked to Princess Celestia." "Well, I don't wanna talk about that, but I just wanted to ask if I could borrow books about magic... magic for dummies, for example." "How do you know about that book... wait a minute! No, better, you come in!" Twilight said before she motioned him to enter her house. But before he could even move his feets, he heard a sound. A very suspicious sound. Like a approaching jet. "Oh crap, not again!", Michael groaned. Slow-mo On Michael stepped to the left. A cyan pegasus mare flew past him with a ludicrous speed. Michael gave her a look that said 'You will never learn from your mistakes!' *CRASH* Slow-mo Off Rainbow Dash crashed right into Twilight and they hurled together into her bookshelves and all books were falling to the ground. "You and your bu... Slow-mo ability! I hate it!" Rainbow Dash yelled. Michael facepalmed, then he asked "Why are you trying to tackle me? I did nothing to you!" Rainbow Dash stood up from the pile of books while Twilight was complementing about her behavior and she looked up to him "Well, I wanted to ask you if you could hang out with me." "At first, you could have asked me nicely and witout any kamikaze-style stunts. And secondly, if you want to hang out with me, then we hang out all together." "Oh, that's great! I suggest we could go to Sugarcube Corner. Pinkie Pie will be amazed to see you." He picked up a book named 'Magic for dummies' "And I've found the book I have been in seek." "Where did you go after you woke up?" Twilight asked while they walked to the bakery. Michael remembered what Princess Celestia said to him. He should not say a single word about the wedding. It was intented to be a surprise for Twilight when she get the news that her brother will marry with Princess Cadance. "I'll tell when we are in the bakery... Hmmm, I really miss Pinkie's sweet pastries." Michael hummed in thougths. Soon as they stepped in the bakery, they were met with a pink blur, but Michael, thanks to his hightened reflexes, could spot Pinkie just galloping very fast and erratic. "OhmichyImsogladthatyoureokay! Whatdidyousawinyourdreams, didLunacameto you, didIappearedinyourdreams? Ohmygosh, Iheardofthedragonfireponiesthattheytriedtokillprincesscelestia, butyoukickedflankthatwasawesome" that was the bombardement of Pinkie's incredible word generator called mouth. Michael thought for a moment the he answered with ease "Hello, Pinkie. No, I didn't dream of anything while I was unconscious. And nobody... eh nopony don't have to worry about the Dragonfire ponies anymore." RD's and Twilight's jaws were so agape, a APC could have driven into their throats. Pinkie just giggled "Okie-dokie!" and disappeared in her basement to bring a sack of flour, to bake fresh cupcakes. "Did... you understand her?" Michael raised an eyebrow and said "Uhm... yes?" Rainbow Dash asked him "How?" but instantly regretted it as he answered "...slow-mo...?" She groaned and said harshly "Don't talk about that slow-mo again..." "So," Twilight asked, trying to change the subject, "Where you have been?" Michael said flatly "Crystal Empire." Twilight's eyes are lighting up "Oh, what did you do in the Crystal Empire?" Michael remembered Celestias words... Don't talk about Princess Cadance or the wedding. "Sightseeing," Michael answered. "What did you saw?" asks Twilight, already feeling that the conversation will come to one-word answeres from him. But then Michael really started "Well, the first thing I saw were crytals, then a tower made of crystals. Princess Celestia talked about a Crystal Heart... made of crystals, too. Did I mention the crystals? And the ponies looked like they were made of crystals. I saw houses made of crystals, streets made of crystals. The Crystal Empire really deserves his name! Hell, even the name was made of crystals!" Twilight raised an eyebrow, while Rainbow Dash laughed the hell out of her body "GAHAHA! You're sooooo funny, Bucket! HAAAAHHAHA!" Pinkie appeared next to Michael and asked him, while bouncing "Michy? Could you please help me with a sack of flour? My muscles are so weaky-leaky, but your muscles are so strong. I really want to have muscles like yours, but sadly I don't have." He stood up and said "Of course! Just lead the way!" Pinkie bounced the stairs to down her basement, followed by Michael. Michael feared her that she would stumble and fall down the stairs, but Pinkie was way too good for just falling over some stairs. She switched the lights on in her basement and pointed at a door "The sack of flour is in there." Michael opened the door, which sign read 'pantry larder' and went into the room. There were many shelves and many objects were placed on them, like sacks of sugar, apples and of course, flour. Just as he was about to pick it up, the light in the room where Pinkie was, started to flicker. Michael turned his head to Pinkie, who said "Don't worry, the electricity is quite tricky here." Michael picked up the sack and turned around. The light flickered again and for the blink of an eye, he saw Alma in her child form standing behind Pinkie. -Music (Please open a new Tab)- *FLASH* Michael found himself in darkness. Looking around, still holding the sack of flour, he found the darkness everywhere. To the unrealistic part, there where a lot of burning fireplaces here and there. As his mind was reckoning the situation, he could hear a high pitched shriek. A grey creature floated right up to him. It did not have legs, it looked like they were ripped off and it's eyes were glowing in a poison yellow. A nightmare. Michael knew that fighting with bare hands against one of Alma's appariation would end fatal for him, so he decided to drop the sack of flour and ran like hell in a random direction of the darkness. Suddenly, he slipped over something and tumbled. He prepared for the incoming blow of a massive face-plant on the non-existent ground. Instead, he fell further down... *SPLASH!* He fell in a pool. As he emerged to the surface. he tasted... blood? He looked around and gasped as he realized of what the liquid consisted in which he was swimming. The pool was filled with warm, fresh blood. A pony skeleton was swimming nearby, it's hindlegs were missing. Panic overflowed Michael's body. He was used to see a large amount of blood, but he had no idea what was going on. Suddenly, he heard a voice... "There's something in the water..." Michael did not have a idea what that meant and where the voice came from. He had to find a way out but the area around the pool was covered in darkness. Then he realized what the voice meant... He dived down in the blood. However, the blood was clear like water as he dived... he found a quadratic hole in the bottom of the pool. Seeing there was no other option, he swam through it... And landed face-first on a tiled hard ground. Michael waited for the incoming pain in his face, but it was not occuring. Michael stood up and looked around. He was in a corridor, which looked surprisingly to that of a hospital. His gaze wandered to the ceiling... he closed his left eye as something dripped into it. He rubbed his hit eye and looked up again. He found a dripping large bloodstain at the ceiling. It emitted a noise that sounded like deep gargling or down-pitched death rattles. "Oh, please... somepony help me..." Michael looked to the source of the sound. It was Pinkie Pie. She was sitting in the other end of the hallway, crying her eyes out. "Oh Shit... Pinkie! Please don't move! I will be right there!" Michael said worried as he went to her. Without any warning, all lightbulbs in the hallway cracked, leaving him and Pinkie in total darkness... *SPUNK!* Michael stretched his arms forward, to feel his way to Pinkie, but his hands just found cold walls... with all sudden, the light went on again. RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAWWWWRRRR!!! Pinkie stood on her hindlegs in front of Michael, while she quivered all over her body madly. Her once so sad face was flushed away, replaced with wide open eyes and a ear-to-ear smile. Then whole parts of her body were spinning in different directions. Michael flinched and took some steps backwards... *SPLAT!* The bloody explosion was strong enough to threw him almost from his feet. Michael covered his face with his arms. Then everything went quiet for a moment... A chuckle was heard and he removed his arms from his face. Alma stood in the mess which was Pinkie, chuckling like a innocent little child. *FLASH* Michael was back at the basement, standing in the pantry larder, holding a sack of flour. "Michy, come. I need the flour!" Pinkie giggled. Michael dropped the sack and wailed with his arms, trying to find something to get a hold on it. The object was an shelve and he put his balance on it, while he inhaled deeply. Pinkie realized that something was wrong and she rushed to Michael "What's wrong, Michy? What happened? Did I do something wrong? Had the sack too much wheight?" Michael sat down on the ground and said through his breaths "No *gasp* its not because *gasp* of you..." Pinkie moved to his side, to give him companion and waited until his breaths returned to normal. "What happened?" Pinkie asked. But instead of answering her question, he stood up, picked up the sack of flour and went out of the basement. Pinkie followed him and dragged the sack where she needed it as Michael dropped it near the kitchen. "What took you so long down there? I could bring 5 sacks of flour in 10 seconds flat," Rainbow Dash said, but then she spotted Michael's face, "Bucket? What happened? You look like you saw a ghost down there!" Michael shook his head and says "Uhuh... sort of... to be honset, I suffered a very strong hallucination down there..." "What...a...hallucination?" Twilight asked "Do you have psychosis... oh, sorry, I don't mean to offend you!" Michael looked up to her and said "No, but I was thinking of kinda things like that. But those hallucination can happen to anyone within... Alma's reach..." They chattet a little together until Pinkie served the fresh hot cupcakes. The sweet taste of pastries drove their thoughts away from Alma as they enjoyed Pinkie's amazing work. After that, Michael decided to get back to Canterlot as soon as possible, but he had promised that they will meet alltogether in a few days... Back in Princess Celestias Castle It was just one day before the wedding. Shining and Michael were discussing about the positions of he guards, while they are walking to Princess Cadance's room. "Two guards will protect Princess Celestia. Princess Luna will be on the same tower where I am," Michael said. "Fine. I will cast a magical spell which that creates a great magical shield around Canterlot" Shining said. As they opened the doors to Cadance's room, they could see her on her balcony, staring at the sky. "Luna always do such a great work..." Cadance whispered in awe. She heard steps behind her and turned, smiling to Michael and her prospective husband Shining "Good afternoon, you two. Do you enjoy the starry night?" "Hello, my dear. Sorry, but we have prepared the dinner," Shining said, "Are you happy about the upcoming wedding?" Princess Cadance's squealed in joy "Yes, of course, Shiny!" and she rushed to Shining's side. Then she looked to Michael "Do you feel well?" "Yes, much better than before. But I'm still worrying about Alma's presence on this world..." Outside the castle... "Yes, Cadance... enjoy your last minutes with your Shiny..." a cloaked figure snickered. It's voice sounded like two vocal accords at the same time. The figure floated outside a window and watched Cadance movements. "What the... is that?" the figure said as it spotted Michael. He had put his weapons away before he went to the dinner with the princesses and captain of the Royal Guards. "Whatever, this thing is not on my list. As long it won't disturb my plans, I won't do anything to it.", the figure shrugged. Then it spotted a security gap... namely the open balcony of Cadance's room. The figure flew up to there and disappeared in the room... > Interval 08- Possession > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Princess Celestia already sent a letter to Twilight to invite her to the wedding of Shining Armor and Princess Cadance. She believed that her most faithful student would be very happy about it. "And you really told nothing to her about the wedding?" Princess Celestia asked sternly. "I swear I said nothing!" Michael said, then he laughed "Ask Twilight!" He turned to Shining who stood next to Princess Cadance "I feel so happy for you two. Congratulations!" and held hand to Shining. "Oh thanks you very much, Michael! And I hope you'll find your soulmate, too.", Shining smiled and shook Michael's hand with his hoof. "Won't happen, m'not interested.", Michael said back. Shining gave him a odd face, but then he shrugged. Then Michael held his hand to Princess Cadance. But she looked in disgust at the appendage in front of her and backed away a little. She said "Yeah, Yeah... thanks!" Michael thought This is not the Cadance I know... aah maybe she is tired! Then he shrugged and went out of the throne hall, back to his chamber. This day was really important. Shining Armor gave him the point, that meant he was responsible for the whole security for Canterlot, the church and for Princess Celestia. As he opened his cupboard, filled with his armory, a knock was heard on the door. "Come in.", Michael said. The door opened and a white pegasus Royal Guards came in "A command from the princess. You should escort Twilight and her friends to the castle." "Understood!" Michael said, while he grabbed his AR. Then he stepped out from his chamber... Canterlot, Trainstation Michael walked through Canterlot. On almost every building he positioned a Royal Guard, each one has been equipped with a crossbow, a sword and a spear. Michael chuckleed to himself "Looks like I exaggerated a little... and that's a pretty big shield...", he looked up to the sky. A large pink coloured sphere engulfed Canterlot. This shield was casted by Shining Armor, which can hold back ANY living beings who has bad in it's mind. Michael shuddered "I hope that this shield will not attract Alma..." He waited at the trainstation. After some minutes the train arrived and the mane six were stepping out. Pinkie Pie bounced up and down "We're here! We're here!" Rainbow Dash looks around and exclaimed in wonder "Woah, what's with all the guards?" "To make sure that no bad guys are disturbing the wedding!" The ponies were turning around and a smile appeared on their faces. "MICHAEL!" they were yelling in unison. He seemed a little bit surprised by the fact that they were so happy to see him. "Well, I'm here to escort you to the Castle. Just follow me," he said and turned around. Twilight said to her friends "Enjoy the town. I will go with Michael and have a talk with my brother..." Michael raised an eyebrow, why her friends should wait? But he considered this for something private, so he shrugged and walked with Twilight back. While they were walking back to the Castle, Twilight told him that each of her pony friends has a unique objective for the wedding "...and Fluttershy's birds will give a little concert!" "...Aha...," Michael said, not taking his eyes away from the street. "And Applejack will be responsible for catering the staff and the guests," Twilight continued. "Mmmmmh...," Michael hummed as he thought about Applejack's applepastries, "...it looks like you aren't very happy. What's the matter, Twily?" Twilight looked to the ground and snorted "My brother didn't said something personally to me about the wedding. That's not fair! And who's Mi Amore Cadenza?" Michael rolled his eyes "You'll see..." As they are stepping in the courtyard of the castle, Twilight suddenly yelled "I've got something to say to you, mister!" With an instant, on every place at the big wall, spears were appearing and Shining Armor looked down to the courtyard from a wall. He recognized Michael Becket and... his sister Twilight Sparkle. He smiled at his sister to her then he looked to Michael. With a hoofsign, every spear disappeared and Shining took off his helmet. "Sergeant Becket. I will take it from here! Bring Mi Amore Cadenza to the west bridge!" Shining yelled down to them. Michael saluted, waved 'seeyoulater' to Twilight and walked away. As he went upstairs, he could hear the yelling of Twilight and the explenations of Shining. "I thought that Twilight will not be happy..." Michael wondered.  He walked over the westbridge, as the sphere suddenly emitted a *WHOBBLE* sound. At the same time, his comlink gave a short but loud interference. After that it looked more pink. Michael looked up "Uuuh...I hope that Alma didn't notice that..." After a bit of more walking, he stood in front ofPrincess Cadance's door and he knocked at it. "Who disturbs my rest?" a voice snorted in the room. Yep, she's totally tired. "It's me, Sergeant Becket. I should bring you to the west bridge!" Michael said. "Aah... the Michael... wait a moment!" Cadance said. After some moments, the doors were opened by a green aura. It was Princess Cadance and she wore her crown on her head and a snobbelish expression in her face. "Bring me there!" she commanded to Michael. Michael nodded and went off, followed by Cadance. As they arrived at the west bridge, Shining and Twilight were already there. To his utter surprise, Twilight jumped happily around Shining, while she sang joyfully "You will marry Cadance! You will marry Cadance!" Michael raised an eyebrow. She had been angry to her brother and now she bounced around him like Pinkie Pie... "I hope I'm not interrupting anything important.", Princess Cadance said and looked to Shining questiongly. Twilight immidiately jumps front of Cadance amd starts to sing a rhyme "Sunshine, sunshine, ladybugs awake! Clap your hooves and do a little shake!" and she showed her...eh, hindquarters to the flabbergaster Cadance. Princess Cadance looked puzzled "What are you doing?" Michael's alerts were ringing. Something here was very wrong... and it was not Twilight's goofy dance.. "Cadance. It's me, Twilight..." she said but Cadance just trotted past her, totally ignoring her hoping eyes "Aha..." Michael narrowed his eyes and he looked at Cadance. Shining embraced Cadance with his right foreleg and he said "I have go to get back to my station, but Cadance will be checking in with all of you to see how things are going. I think I speak for both of us when I say we couldn't be more excited to have you here. Right, dear?" She looked to Shining lovingly and said "Absolutely!" Then she looked to Twilight and Michael and gave them a menacing look. That's it!!! INTERVAL 08 POSSESSION Michael responded this look with the 'I will watch you!' gesture. Princess Cadance just shrugged and trotted off with Shining. Now Michael was sure that something very bad is happening. "Did you see that?" Michael asked to Twilight. "What?" Twilight said, who rested her forelegs at the bridge's barrier. She was confused. She was totally sure that her former babysitter would recognize her... "Her look... this wasn't the Cadance I know..." Michael muttered, "I can figure out later what's going on. I must go to my position to secure the area. See ya later, Twily!" "Yes, bye...", Twilight muttered in thoughts. Michael Becket went back to his room and opened his cupboard. He took something out... His Raab KM50 Sniper Rifle and some spare ammo boxes. He checked if his rifle was working by pulling the bolt back and forth and squeezing the trigger. *CLICK!* Of course, the weapon was not loaded right now... he pushed a new ammo box in and pulled the bolt again back and forth, reloading and reading his weapon. A mix of a click/grind sound satisfied him. Before he went out, he switched his weapon to 'safe'-mode. Princess Celestia was already on the top of the tower -on a balcony- and looked through a telescope to spot any weird or unnatural happenings in Canterlot. She hears his steps, turns around and spotted Michael. "Oh hello, Michael. It's kind of you that you visit me... what's that?" Princess Celestia asked as she spotted his sniper rifle. "Hello, ma'am. I will secure the area from above of enemies. This is a weapon called anti-materiel sniper rifle, .50 cal BMG and 10x magnification scope.", Michael said. "Sorry, but I don't understand anything of that..." Princess Celestia, smiling in confuseness. "Long range weapon with big caliber rounds, with a attached 'telescope' with 10 times magnification. Meant for use against military materiel, but who cares... Celestia's jaw dropped tunnelwide. Michael just walked to the edge of the balcony, readied the bippod of his weapon and searched for movements in the air and on the ground... Some hours later The sun was already setting. Princess Celestia horn had glowed, before she continued looking through her telescope. Michael did a short break and played a little bit with his weapon... he was bored and did not know what to do when there were no suspicious incidents around him. His eye caught a glimpse in the corner of his vision. It came from a place of the sphere around Canterlot. "Movement... wait, its just Princess Luna...", Michael said. Princess Luna flew through a hole in the shield and up to them. "Rest, my sister. As always, I will guard the... oh, hi Michael! I am so happy to see you!" Princess Luna said. Princess Celestia chuckled "Hello, Lulu. Thank you for coming. I'll go to sleep now. Enjoy your time with Becket." Michael looked up to Celestia who flew away, then to Luna who gave him a warm smile. Her horn glowed and suddenly, the purple sky was turned into a deep shade of blue and the moon raised while his comlink gave a stuttered static. The sphere gave the stars a funny pink tint. Michael looked in awe at the scene, but then he remembered his guard and kept again an eye on Canterlot. Luna trotted next to him, who waved a hand to her "Hello Luna." "Are you enjoying the night?" Luna asked in hope. Michael moved his eyes over the shield. "...yes, it looks quite amazing." Luna was satisfied by his answere. Michael looked to her and asked "Why are you asking?" Luna said "Because I just wanted to know that. I was alone for a very long time..." "Yes, I know about that... do you not live in your sister's castle?" Michael asked. "Yes and No. I have my own room in this castle, but I have my own castle on the moon..." "What?" Michael said dumbstruck, "How can you survive in the vacuum?" "Sorry, but what is a vacuum?" Luna asked, giving him a puzzled look. "Aah... nevermind..." Michael muttered, realizing that she would have little to no knowledge about space. But then he hearsd something. It came from below. Princess Luna took a look and spotted Twilight galloping across the courtyard. "Who goes there? Stay indoors, Twilight!" Princess Luna yelled. But Twilight just galloped upstairs to a house, quitely seeming not giving a shit to the command of a princess. "What is she doing outside?" Michael said, looking through the scope of his rifle. "I don't know... but she looked worried..." Luna muttered. After some minutes, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie were trotted out of the house. They were dressed for the wedding and headed to the church. Some minutes passed by, but Twilight was nowhere seen... "Where is Twilight?" Luna asked to herself, as suddenly the door of the house were swinging open and a very angry unicorn galloped out. It's Twilight and she was running to the church. "Oh my... that looks not good. My sister, Shining, Cadance and the rest of the mane six are practicing for the wedding there..." Luna said. Even more minutes passed by. Then the mane six without Twilight, Princess Celestia and a very angry Shining Armor were walking out of the church. All of them wore expressions of misunderstanding and anger. Michael was confused "What the fu..." but he was suddenly interrupted by a green light. The green light came from inside the church. Meanwhile his comlink gave a metallic shush to his ears. After some moments, a pink alicorn with colourful mane stepped out of the church. Princess Cadance. And she wore an happy, but somehow evil smile on her face. She hummed a weird song as she trotted back to the castle. "But, where's Twilight?" Michael said after they waited for more than five minutes. "We need to get to the church as soon as...," *PING!* "...possible to...*vomit*" Michael fell on his knees as his stomach could not handle such a sudden change of position. "Oh... I'm so sorry for teleporting us to the church without warning you! I'm so sorry..." Luna exclaimed in shock. As Michael finished with emptying, he stood up and said "Never. Do. That. Again!" Luna nodded as her horn glowed, to clean the mess Michael did, but she was the reason for it. Michael looked around. He did not find something out of the ordinaries. But he smelled something... The scent he sniffed smelled like burnt plastic. Then he caught a glimpse of four corpse-like creatures. They were bipedal figures, quivering like mad with their bodies as they were surrounding a area in the church. As Michael narrowed his eyes to spot more of their features, they were vanishing in thin dust. Luna, however, did not saw them... He walked to the podest of the church and found a big, black puddle. It looked similar to the puddle where the floor monster has been, but as Michael stepped on it, nothing happened. But Luna knew it better. She recognized quickly what that meant. "Looks like someone was dragged through the floor... Oh no!" Luna exclaimed. Whopony that caused, it was forbidden dark magic. And mainly, it was used against Princess Celestia's student Twilight Sparkle. Michael added 1 to 1... then he asked "What is under Canterlot?" Luna shivered "Under Canterlot are the long-forgotten crystal caves... I can't teleport one of us down there because I don't know how they are looking... sorry!" Michael thought over the situation and the option they have, then he said "Do you know where the entrance is?" Princess Luna said "...yes." Canterlot, Crystal Caves -Music (Please open a new Tab)- "Luna? Can you hear me?" Michael asked through his comlink as he went further into the caves. "Clear and loud!" Luna said back. She increased the transmission power of the comlinks with her magic, so they could stay in touch, even when Michael would be in the deepest places of the caves. Luna flew back to her tower. Michael was equipped with his old reliable Patten PK470 Assault Rifle and Raab KM50 Sniper rifle. The entrance to the caves has been under the castle. Michael went for several hours now as he heard hoofsteps. He found cover behind a big crystal and switched off his flashlight to avoid being spotted. Three ponies of different colours were trotting through the caves. They don't spotting him... but their eyes were bright green. "Looks like they are possessed..." Michael determined, "Luna, I'm not alone... some possessed ponies are down here, too!" As they were far enough away, Michael came out from his cover and activated his flashlight. He decided to follow them, they seemed to led him to a significant place. Suddenly, his goggles were scrambling and they were displaying the "UNKNOWN ORIGIN" error. He looked to the ground. In the light he could see footprints... bloody human footprints. They followed his presumably path forward, were the ponies went. He looked up and caught a glimpse of one of the corpse-thingys in the air, before it flew backwards through the hallway where he has been. "She's here..." Michael muttered. He proceeded with his walking as suddenly caught something in his eye. It was a large object, lying in one corner of a crystalhall. He illuminated the object with his flashlight.. it was big, made of steel and has wheels... "This CAN'T be..." Michael exclaimed in shock. In front him stood a Dark Signal APC, propably even his own... Michael activated his comlink "What's going on here?! I found a vehicle from my world down here!" Luna activated her own comlink as she heard Michael "A vehicle from your world? Maybe Tia knows more about it, she lived longer than I have." Michael shook his head to get his thoughts right back on their tracks, then he approached the APC and examined the armored places. It had several cuts and bulletholes in it... He climbed on top of it and opened the hatch of the turret with ease. Then he stepped through hatch in the APC and looked at the instrument panel. Surprisingly, it had yet enough fuel... Michael opened one of the ammo/weapon boxes. His eyes went wide... he never saw this weapon before... He took this weapon in his hands and read the name of it... "Type-7 particle weapon... I know the Type-12 Pulse Weapon, but this..." Michael said and he turned around the weapon to examine it. Then he looked back in the weapon box... to search for a user manual. Every weapon he acquired had a user manual, but since the user manual for this weapon did not showed up in his goggles database, he expected to find it as a sheet of paper in the box. To his dismay, he did not find it. "Well, let's see if this still works!" He searched for the key and found it next to the seat on the floor. He put the key in the lock and turned it around... The engine stuttered for a moment, then it went off with a grunt. He turned it around again and this time, the engine went on. The rpm indicator showed constantly 900 rounds per minute. "Hell yeah!" Michae shouted in joyl, sits down in the drivers seat and switched on the flooodlights of the APC. The caves were illuminated brightly by the light. Shifting into the first gear, he began to drive through the caves. After some curves and crossings he found the three ponies from before. They were threating... A messy-looking Princess Cadance and Twilight Sparkle. As he approached the scene, all of them were looking with horror at the APC. The three possessed ponies were running away, screaming like little schoolfillys all the time. Only Cadance and Twilight were still standing on place, too shocked to move an inch... Michael opened the hatch from the turret and perket  out. Twilight and Cadance could not believe their own eyes. Michael smiled due of their dumstruck faces and yelled "Did somepony ordered a taxi?"  He opened the hatch at the rear end of the APC. Princess Cadance and Twilight were hesitating and exchanging worried looks, then they were stepping in. "Princess Cadance, by all respect, but your mane needs an haul of Celestias Mane And Shoulder Breeze effect.", Michael joked. Princess Cadance looked at him with a neutral glare, then she started to laugh "It's good to see you again, Michael.", her face changed to seriousness "Okay, we have a big problem now. Queen Chrysalis infiltrated Canterlot and her folk of changelings are trying to attack!" "...who's Queen Chrysalis? And what are changelings?" Michael asked as he sat down in the driver's seat. "Changelings are ponies, but insect-like. They can fly and change their form! And Queen Chrysalis is... well... the queen of the changelings.", Twilight explained as easy and short as possible. "Aha.." Michael said. Her explenation about a queen's folk infiltrating a whole town reminded him of the aliens from the film Aliens. After one hour and shooting some crystals with the turret, which were staying in the way of the APC, Michael found the exit of the caves and drove out. The road was off-road, but the APC had no problem with it... with the exception of Cadance and Twilight, who were groaning as their stomaches felt every stone and shake.  They went back to the church without any resistance. The Royal Gaurds charged at the APC, but they stopped immediately as they spotted Princess Cadance and Twilight stepping out from the vehicle. "Princess Mi Amor Cadenza?! We thought you are in the church!", a Royal Guard exclaimed. "No time for explenations! Equestria is in quite big danger!" As they were in front of the church, Michael stopped the APC and switched the engine off. Then he grabbed the particle weapon and opens the rear hatch of the APC (Stop Music Here) Princess Cadance, Twilight and Michael were stepping out and headed to the entrance of the church. "Here's the plan: You burst through the doors and confront the queen.", Michael said "While I will give you suppressive fire if something goes wrong!" Shining Armor and Queen Chrysalis, in Cadance form, were standing at the altar, facing each other. While Cadance smiled, Shining Armor just stared in the air mindlessly. Princess Celestia stood in front of them and said with a smile "Princess Cadance and Shining Armor, it is my great pleasure to pronounce you-" The door bursted open and Twilight ran in the church "STOP!" Fake Princess Cadance/Queen Chrysalis started to act crying "Why does she have to ruin my special day?" Shining Armor did not do any reactions. His eyes were glowing in a noticable green, but nopony wasted a thought about it. That meant that Queen Chrysalis had him under mind control. "Because it's not your special day. It's mine!", the proper Princess Cadance said as she stepped in the church. Michael Becket crouched to behind a bench and took out his sniper rifle, unlocking it. Fake Cadance/Queen Chrysalis was confused "What? But how did you escape my bridesmaids?" "Oh... we haven't seen them..." Twilight said mockingly with a grin in her face. Suddenly, a large green fire fountain engulfed Fake Cadance and she changed her form. She seemed to grow in form, her wings changed to insect wings, her skin changed to a black exoskeleton. Two big green eyes were opening on her charcoal face and a wide green smile appeared on it. She changed to her true form, to Queen Chrysalis, the queen of the changelings. All ponies were gasping in shock... then silence. Michael stood up from his cover, pressed his right hand on his mouth, his face went red. He could not contained himself longer... And he bursted out in howling laughter. "WHAT IS SO FUNNY?!" Queen Chrysalis bellowed loudly . Michael tried to calm himself down. However, he need almost two minutes for it. It was the first time for the the princesses and the mane six that they saw him laughing like that. Finally, Michael pointed with his finger at Queen Chrysalis and he chuckled to Princess Cadance "THIS? This is Queen Chrysalis? I expected something scarier!" Princess Cadance was confused "Uhm... yes she's the Queen of the Changelings? But why are you laughing?" Michael laughed "Look at her hooves... or what remains of it. It looks like it received a whole magazine of my AR. And her head. Why the hell she has got peas on her head, I mean... what the fuck?" Some ponies were starting to laugh, too, because Michael was correct in some points. Her hooves were similar to the appereance of a swiss cheese. And those 'peas' were symbolizing her crown.  Even Princess Celestia put a hoof on her mouth to suppress a chuckle. "SILENCE!" Queen Chrysalis shouted in rage. Everypony, even Michael went quiet with an instant. The ponies due of shock, Michael due of readying himself to 'neutralize' her if she did something funny. "Never ever in my whole life I have been so humiliated! When the wedding is over, I will enslave you ALL! And my folk will be here at any second!" Michael's goggles and comlink were scrambling. Again, the goggles were displaying the 'UNKNOWN ORIGIN' error as a long deep hum came out from his comlink -Music (Please open a new Tab)- Michael ran out from the church, leaving the princesses and Twilight alone with Queen Chrysalis. He ran up to his APC but not to enter it. He climbed on top of it to get a better view of the sky. As he ran out, Queen Chrysalis laughed "Yeah, yeah, just run. You can't hide from your fate!" Some moments later, a bright flash came from the church, but Michael was not interested in that. Suddenly, the shield, which surrounded Canterlot, shattered like glass. A big cloud, consisting of thousands of changelings, rushed to Canterlot like locust. They came down like little asteroids, inflicting a lot of damage to house, the streets and the castle. "So these things are changelings... how neat.", Michael muttered, as he drew out his sniper rifle. A changeling spotted Michael, bared it's fangs and flies up to Michael. He aimed with his sniper rifle at the upcoming changeling and squeezed the trigger...  *KA-BOSH!!!* The enormous sound of a .50 BMG cal round leaving the muzzle of a anti-materiel rifle ripped through the air. The whole body of the black changeling ripped apart like a grenade exploded from within. Michael quickly chambered a new cartridge into the weapon. Twilight runs out from the church with her friends, except Princess Cadance. Twilight heard that sound and rubbed her ears. "Woah, that was loud... Princess Celestia said...", her face frowned, "...that we should bring the elements of harmony. They are in the castle!" "Follow me, girls!" Michael shouted, entered the APC and sat down to the driver's seat. The mane six were entering the APC after some hesitating moments. Applejack asks "My... what's this thing?" Michael said back "No time for explanations. I will drive you to the castle! Please everypony takes a seat and strap on! This will be a shaky drive!" He slammed the gear shift and started to drive. Changelings came down from the sky like a attacking bird swarm, attacking the APC, but to no avail. Some missed the APC and those who landed in front of the APC, they were turned into flat green puddles as the heavy APC drove over them. Michael drove even faster through the streets of Canterlot, to the castle. *CRASH!!!* The APC crashed through the gates of the castle's courtyard. He stood up, opened the rear hatches and said "You all take the rest by feet... er... hooves! I'll cover you." They all were stepping out, but Michael climbed on top of the APC, lied down on his belly with his sniper rifle in front of him and looked through the scope at the mane six, who were galloping up to the castle. A big cloud of changelings surrounded the castle and some of them dived down to attack the group of ponies. Slow-mo On He aimed at the changeling who was the nearest and pushed the trigger again. KA-BOSH Then to the next... KA-BOSH The next... KA-BOSH Each shot was a well placed headshot. He was so concentrated that he did not noticed the changeling who was diving down to him... Slow-mo Off They were tumbling from the top of the APC. Michael let out a yelp of shock as the changeling pinned him down on the ground with his hooves. They looked much worser than Queen Chrysalis. The changeling bared his fangs, which were glistening with a green liquid. "Son of a... bitch!" Michael yelled, as he brought the changeling off from him with a single kick, before it could bite down in his throat. Then he unholstered a ACM46 pistol which he had found in the APC and shot at the changeling's throat. He changeling gagged and rattled as his green blood poured out from his throat. Michael left the Changeling dying with his fate and looked up, sighing in little relief as he saw the mane six entering the throne hall. He entered the APC again and drove out from the courtyard, back to the church. Again, he had been attacked by hordes of changelings, but their actions were futile. He stopped the APC with screeching wheels, before he opened the turret hatch. He readied the 20 mm grenade turret as he took aim at the closed entrance of the church. After he pushed the trigger, a enormous bark came from the turret as a 20 mm grenade blasted the thick wooden doors apart. The changeling who were directly behind the door were teared apart from the impact. He quickly left the APC, the particle weapon in his hands as he went through the entrance and shouted "Release Princess Celestia at once!" Queen Chrysalis turned to him. She was in a rough conversation with Princess Cadance. The pink alicorn were glued with green smile at the floor, she was forced to watch how Queen Chrysalis would married herself with Shining Armor. "Ah, the bald monkey. You can surrender if you want. Nopony can stop my right now and-" *SHZAP!* A pink beam hit the changeling who was flying next to her. His insides were cooked in a splits of seconds. Because of his exoskeleton, burned organ pieces were emerging out from every body openings and his eyes were exploding. Then the hollow body fell to the ground, some pink flashes were surrounding it. The Queen looked with utter surprise and shock at her dead child, then she looked back to Michael with a dreadfully glare. "Aah, you will regret this...", Queen Chrysalis growled in anger. Suddenly, Michael was surrounded by a green aura; his comlink went mad in noises and the digits in his goggles were messing around. Queen Chrysalis held him with her telekinetic as she laughed maniacally. "Fuck!" Michael yelled and he tried to break himself free from the telekinetic grip, to no avail. "Feel my power!" Chrysalis shouted as she slammed the struggling Michael against the wall. *SLAM* Michael fell to the ground, unmoving but still alive and awake. Princess Cadance and Princess Celestia were shrieking in shock ;Celestia's screams were muffled due of being in a slimy cocoon. Michael grunted in pain as he felt some of his ribs piercing themselves into his lung. Again, Michael was surrounded by the green aura and hurled against the wall. He lost his consciousness at that point... Queen Chrysalis laughed and she threw Michael a last time into a corner of the hall. A crowd of changelings walked into the church. In the middle of the crowd were six ponies, hanging their heads in sorrow. Twilight and her friends were not able to gather the elements of harmony at the right time as the throne hall were overtaken by a horde of changelings. Twilight thought about Michael. She hoped that he took 'care' about the Queen Chrysalis. Her hope was shattered to little pieces as she spots Michael lying in a corner of the church. "Michael!" everypony shouted, and Fluttershy rushed to him. She examined him with teary eyes. His wounds were really serious and blood expelled from them. Suddenly, Michael's eyes shoot open and he turned around. He gagged as he coughed up some blood. Again, he grunted in pain. Fluttershy warned him "Don't move... you have internal bleedings and..." Michael took a syringe from his pocket. He put the end with the cap in his mouth, pulled the cap from the syringe and spat the cab out from his mouth. Then he stuck the needle of the syringe in the pulse vein of his throat and injected the contents of the syringe. Fluttershy squaled an "EEP!", shocked of his behaving as he actually stuck something in his pulse vein. Immediately after, Michael felt better as the contents of the syringe took effect. His bones and wounds healed themselves in a few seconds. He stood up, wiped the dried blood from his face and growled "Im going fucking kill that cheesebitch!" But before he could unholster his pistol to pump the whole magazine into Chrysalis with well placed shots, his comlink gave a loud screech into his ears. And his goggles were displaying the 'UNKNOWN ORIGIN' error. To his horror, he heard a female scream, increasing in volume. Queen Chrysalis was talking with Princess Cadance about what she would do with Shining after the wedding, as she spotted Michael standing up. "Why you just won't die? Okay, now I will not be gentle with you...", she started to summon energy in her horn. That was a very BIG mistake... -Music (Please open a new Tab)- Suddenly, all banks in the church were pinned at the walls. Fortunately, all citizens had left the church as the changelings swarmed over Canterlot. All changelings, with the exception of Queen Chrysalis, were starting to vomit. Queen Chrysalis stared at her childs with confusion, normally they would digest everything with ease. But then she realized with shock as her childs did not look like they were releasing their stomach. They were releasing their pulping mass of organ through every body openings. And Michael knew the reason. Alma was liquifying the insides of the changelings. "What is going here?" Queen Chrysalis shouted utterly, as all of her changelings were falling to the floor. Their empty exoskeletons were smoking and spreading a awful smell to the environment. Alma appeared at the entrance of the church, engulfed in a rippling aura. Queen Chrysalis spotted her and released a green beam from her horn at Alma. It hit the psionic girl with great force, but she just disappeared in smoke and reappeared in front of Queen Chrysalis. Said Queen did not know what to do as she backed away from her in fear. Alma body dissipated in a cloud of red fog. The fog flew in Chrysalis body. She stumbled back as her eyes were rolling back in their sockets and she fell on her haunches. Her eye color went to blood red... With an instant, Chrysalis was hurled against the high ceiling. She shrieked in pain and remained there for a few moments, before she was hurled back to the floor. She screamed in unrestrained pain. She stood up, her hooves were wobbling.  "What is happening to me?" she turned to Princess Cadance, who could not move.  Princess Cadance just screamed in response as Chrysalis left eye started to spill out from it's socket. Chrysalis turned around and slammed her own head against the edge of the altar, causing a big wound next to her horn. Then she fell to the ground, shivering all over her body. Her exoskeleton started to emit creaking sounds, like crushing ice. A spider-web like green muster appeared on her body as she wrapped her forehooves against her body, hoping this would be the last resort from being splattered... *SPLAT!* Chrysalis body exploded in a green cloud. Pieces of her exo-skeleton were flying everywhere. Princess Cadance get hit by the green, warm slime and she screamed more and began to cry. Alma stood at the place where Chrysalis exploded, smirking happily. Then she just disappeared, like nothing happened. Shining Armor woke up from his paralysis and rubbed his aching head "Ooh... what happened?" His eyes were widening as he heard whimpering of Cadance "What is it... what happened to you?" Michael looked around at mess. Uncountable empty exoskeletons bodies were lying around the floor. Nobody could make a single step without stepping on one dead changeling. Then he looked to Princess Celestia, who still hung from the ceiling in her cocon, and said "Well...uhm... Queen Chrysalis..." "WHAT? Where is she?" Shining bellowed in anger as his horn began to glow. "You are standing on her...," Michael stated flatly. Shining looked at the ground slowly. The normally red carpet was grass green and wet. And then he realized that his whole body was dripping with a green liquid. Shining let out a yelp of shock "GAAH!" Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy helped Princess Celestia to get out from the cocon while Applejack and Michael were removing the slime from Cadance's hooves. She was still panting heavily and Shining embraced her with his foreleg. Princess Celestia was stunned. She never ever saw something such an gruesome act before. Not even someone like Queen Chrysalis deserved such a death. At that moment it was sure that nobody could continue the wedding to a happy and successful ending, this incident buried itself into everyone's mind deeply. "I think she didn't just kill her... it's more like she absorbed her...", Michael determined as he sat down on the floor, to catch his breath and taking off his goggles. Celestia asked him "What does that mean?" "...she is stronger than before now..." > Interval 09- Vengeance > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- "I feel so sorry for Shining Armor and Princess Cadance. They had to abort the wedding..." Fluttershy muttered in pity. They sat in the Royal Gaurd sector of the castle. Shining Armor decided to stay in Cadance's room to not to let her alone. She did not like Queen Chrysalis, but she could not bring the terrorfied face of the dead Queen out from her mind, before she died. It was filled up to the brim with pain and fear... INTERVAL 09 VENGEANCE Applejack looked over to Michael, who buried his face in his hands. "It's hopeless...", Michael muttered. Twilight heard his words and she walked "Don't hang your head down, we'll use the elements of harmony on her." "The best thing which could happen is Alma finds her peace... the worst could be that Alma absorb the energy..." he shook his head, "It's hopeless...", he repeated "The elements of harmony are stronger than Princess Celestia. There's no chance that Alma can survive this!" Rainbow Dash said. "Yes, I hope... but you can't kill easily someone who is already dead...", Michael muttered. Twilight was in thoughts as she heard what he said. If Alma would be really powerful enough to overcome the elements of harmony then they all were screwed up... She asked "Did you make attempts to... destroy Alma in your world?" Michael shuddered as he recalled the thoughts in his mind, then he said "Yes, we used a machine, called telesthetic amplifier. It's like the elements of harmony, it increases the...telepathic abilities of someone." "What happened in your world, before you end up here?" Twilight asked. Michael sighed and he started to tell her the whole story... ---- "Becket, power up the amplifier," Keira said. Michael went to the console and pulled the three levers. The console emutted a beep sound, to indicate that the amplifier was going to be powered. "That's it! According to Snake Fist, it will take a few minutes to reach full power.", Keira said as she went to Michael. The bridge extended to the telesthetic amplifier, which was open at that point. Then Michael went over the bridge and sat himself down on the chair. " Keira, I'm a little bit nervous.", Michael said as she strapped him in the chair. She tried to make him comfort "I would be nervous, too! But I believe that we make it out in one piece." Suddenly, the energy was switched off. Genevieve pushed the levers back and stumbled to Keira and the strapped Michael. Keira was confused "Aristide? What's wrong with you, we have to stop Alma!" "That's exactly what I intend to do!" Genevieve said and pointed the pistol at Keira. Keira looked to Michael and explained "But Becket is not strong enough without the amplifier. She will absorb him!" A grin appeared on Genevieve and she walked up to them "... and then we will lock them away..." Keira could not contain herself longer "WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU?! Why are you doing this?" "Without Alma I don't have any leverage. Without leverage, I don't have a future.", Genevieve explained. "I can't believe it! The city is a smoldering ruin!", Keira bellowed at Genevieve, "And you are worried about your fucking resume!" "Listen!" Genevieve said, but she was interrupted by Keira "No! You listen! We are doing the Halford's way!" and Keira turned to Michael... *BANG!* Genevieve released a 9 mm bullet into her stomach, in the unarmored section. The hit woman stumbled backwards on Michael. Then she fell to the ground and whimpered in pain. She curled herself together on the floor, until her movements ceased... "Keira!" Michael yelled in grief. "I'm sorry it came to this. I really am. I'm not a bad person. I just don't have a choice...", Genevieve muttered and stumbled to Michael. She smiled to him "You have a date with destiny, Sergeant Becket... let's not keep her waiting..." but suddenly her attention was put at something behind the chair... *SLAM!* A large tentacle hit Genevieve and she fell backwards across the bridge. She grunted in pain. Alma, in her mangled adult form, walked slowly from behind the chair up to Michael. She looked over to Genevieve, who summoned her whole strength to pull herself up to a button at the bridge and pushed it. Alma changed her appereance to her healthy version. With an instant, she leaned over to Michael. Tentacles were appearing everywhere in the teleshetic amplifier. Before Alma kissed the paralyzed Michael, she switched back to her mangled form... ...and then the true horror began for him... **** "So... she tried to rape... you?" Twilight asked, fearing that she could hurt his feelings due of the not so romantic encounter with horny Alma. "Yes... and everyone just cares about having a lot of money... the lifes of others don't count for the Armacham Technical Corporation.", Michael said. "Arma...kam... Technical Corporation?", Twilight said puzzled. "A company which manufactures armory and have his fingers in gen manipulation and biological warfare..." "Who was Halford?" Rarity asked. "Terry Halford was a scientist and..." Michael was suddenly interrupted by Rainbow Dash "Baaa... Egghead!" Michael raisesd his volume "And he gives me informations about how to destroy Alma... before a Assassin beheaded him!" he looked at her. He was slighty angry at her because she jumped too quickly on conclusions. Rainbow Dash's face went pale... "How we can destroy her... I mean Alma? Is there another option to the elements of harmony.", Twilight asked, hoping that there was an solution. "We will need a telesthetic amplifier... but on this world, there's no such a machine...." Michael said. Princess Celestia stepped in the roomhe said "Sergeant Becket, we all have to thank you. Without your help, the mane six wouldn't last longer under us..." Michael smiled "Well, to my luck I found that APC and...," his face frowned, "How the heck did a APC get here?" Princess Celestia hummed in thoughts, "Sorry, Sergeant Becket that I didn't told it to you earlier, but I didn't know that this is an vehicle from your world. When I was a little foal... my parents found that APC thingy in a chasm near Canterlot. They brought it to the courtyard of the castle. Well, it was my playground in my foalhood. But when I was older, I brought it to the caves and forgot it..." Michael fell back on his chair and he ran his fingers through his short, brown hair. "That means that objects from my world are teleported to this world, but to different timelines.", he said wondering. "How you managed to come to our world..?" Princess Celestia asked. Michael collected his memorys and says "Maybe Alma gained so much power because of... her... rutting on me, that her telesthetic abilities opened a portal or something in that way... with some 'help' of the telesthetic amplifier." Then he shook his head and looked to the princess "Haha... playground... you were playing on a weapon storage!" She raised an eyebrow "...weapons...?" "Yes, the APC contained a particle weapon, some firearms and some explosives... but that does'nt matter. We have a APC! That's a great gift from my homeworld! I'm surprised that the APC is still in a great shape...†"Uhm, my parents repaired it with their magic and made it unbreakable...", Celestia said. "Haha... I wondered why the weapons looked like they were manufactured just a day ago... and what now?" Princess Celestia said "Well, the real reason why I came to you is because it's time that we bring the mane six back to ponyville. My sister is already waiting outside..." ---- Princess Celestia woke up with a grunt of pain. She opened her eyes. The sun was already setting, giving the trees around her a chilling sight. The sky was cloudy.  She tried to stand up. Through her left foreleg drove a severe pain. It was not broken, but a big and deep cut was on her leg.  Now she knew what happened. -Music (Please open new Tab)-          The chariot chrashed into the Everfree Forest, because suddenly, without any warnings, the Royal Guards who were carrying the chariot, were dissolving in thin dust. And somehow she has lost her consciousness... She looked around and yelled for Michael Becket and the names of the mane six. No response. Then she heard a moan. It was Princess Luna, who moved some broken pieces from the chariot off from her body. Princess Celestia sighed in relief "Sister! I am so glad that you are okay..." Luna smiled weakly to her sister, as suddenly her ears were starting to bleed... "Luna...?" Princess Celestia asked, her eyes widening in shock. Princess Luna started to scream in pain as the flesh in her face melted off. She held her forehooves to her face... her eyes were spilling out. Her beautiful darkpurple mane fell out and her fur changed it's colour to black... because her whole skin began to bleed. *SPLOSH!* Her whole flesh exploded like a waterballon and soaked Princess Celestia's white fur. "LUNA!" Princess Celestia yelled. Luna's bloodstained skeleton stood there for some seconds, before it fell to the ground. While Celestia stared at the skeleton of her sister, Alma appeared in front of Celestia, in her children form. Alma liquified Luna's flesh, but slowly. Her eyes were showing pure unrestrained bloodlust. Darkness surrounded Princess Celestia and then she could not see anything... just two red glowing eyes, piercing through the darkness. **** "NOOOOOOOOOO!!!" Princess Celestia screamed, but she kept her eyes closed. Michael turned to the screaming Princess and started to shake her at her shoulders "Celestia! Wake up!" But Celestia continued screaming in her sleep while tossing herself around. The mane six and Princess Luna were looking in horror to Princess Celestia. They were on the way to Ponyville, as Princess Celestia drifted off to sleep. "Royal Guards! Land the chariot NOW!" Michael commanded and he turned back to Celestia. Then he did the propably worst thing but with the best intention. He lunged out with his right flat hand... ...and slapped Celestia's left cheek. Princess Celestia's eyes went open in one instant and she looks around. Her eyes were watering up as she yelled frantically "Where's my sister?" Princess Luna rushed to her sister and was about to ask her what happened, but Celestia wrapped her hooves around her little sister, silencing her. Then she felt a pain on her cheek and she looked to Michael. Then she looked to the mane six, who were looking mouth agape at Michael. They could not believe that Michael just slapped the Princess of the sun. "Did you slapped me?" asks Celestia, a angry hint in her voice. "Yes. You were screaming in your sleep and I didn't see another way to wake you up," Michael said. "... If there was really no other choice...", Celestia muttered, "I... suffered a very... bad nightmare... I saw that Alma killed Luna... It was so horrible and it felt so... realistic..." Celestia said and she held Luna even tighter. "Uhm... let's have a little break," Michael suggested. "Permitted." They all were stepping out, with the exception of the Princesses. The Royal Guards were unbounding themselves from the chariot and sat down on the ground to catch their breathes. They were somewhere in the Everfree Forest. But they did not know that were around the area of the Old Ruins. Michael looked around and tries to find out where they were. The castle was not far away, that meant that they were just three to four kilometres away from Canterlot. "When even Princess Celestia was psychically attacked by Alma, than that means Celestia doesn't have much time now...," Michael thought loudly to himself. Suddenly, the air in front of the chariot became distorted and it turned it's colour to black. Then six leg-less creatures with yellow glowing eyes were emerging from the blackness. They were emitting a steady growl sound as one of them floated directly up to one of the Royal Guards. *SPOOF* The creature just dissolved in blue smoke, but several lacerations were appearing at the body of the Royal Guard. The Guard screamed in pain and started to buck in random directions. The other five creature were heading to the princesses. Princess Celestia pushed her little sister behind her, an act of protecting her sibling. But before the monsters, called nightmares, could to any harm to the princesses, a steady very fast rythm of thunderclaps was heard and the nightmares were disappearing in blue smoke. Michael finished off the nightmares with a submachine gun which he had found in the APC. "Huh... its good that I'm ready for anything anytime..." Michael said and walked to the injured Royal Guard, to examine his wounds. "Oh shit... we need a medic.", Michael determined as he realized that the Guards wound was deep. Like on clue, Fluttershy rushed to the injured Royal Guard "I could take care of him..." Michael patted Fluttershy's head and went back to the princesses. They were still looking to the places where the nightmares came from. "Princesses... You are probably the next targets of Alma. She already attacked you psychically and physically," Michael said but the Princesses did not respond. Instead of that, they were looking to Michael with big eyes. "Princesses, is everyth...UNGH!" Michael as he is suddenly pushed to them by Celestia's magic and they hugged him. "Please, Michael... protect us from that monster! We don't know how to continue our lifes in safety..." Celestia sobbed, her hope of a peaceful life shattered slowly. Michael face was screwed to a painful grimace "Just stop hugging me and I'm able to protect you... from most threats..." Princess Celestia stopped hugging him and tried to plant a kiss on his forehead, but he dashed quickly out of her reach. "Sorry, but I am not used to be kissed..." Michael said, thinking about the kiss he received from Alma... "Uhm okay!" Princess Celestia muttered. After a half of a hour, they were ready to take off. The injured guard recovered a little due fo Fluttershy's grateful first aid work. The next day... Michael went into his chamber and placed the new weapons into his own little armory, which he found in the APC. He had now to add a Andra FD-99 Submachine gun, a ASP Rifle and a Type-7 particle weapon. A knock on the doors was heard and Michael quickly closed his cupboard where his weapons were placed. "Identify yourself!" yells Michael. He knew that this was ridicoulus to ask everytime who knocked on his door, but whatever. "It's us, the princesses!" Luna yelled. "Come in, highnesses!" yells Michael back. The door opens and Celestia and Luna are trotting in. "Sorry... but we feel safer when we are around you..." Celestia said. Michael sighed and thought to himself "Living beings are tending to die when they're around me..." "What is that?" Celestia asked and pointed at the ASP Rifle, which Michael had forgot to place it in the cupboard, with her hoof. Michael took it and said "This is a weapon from my world... can pierce through armor like butter. Think of my sniper rifle, firing automatic." "Oh...uhm...okay," Celestia muttered, hoping that he would only use it for dangerous situations. The princesses were sitting on Michael's bed, while he cleans his weapons. He put the ASP rifle apart and cleaned the weapon carefulle with a dry cloth. The princesses were watching his action with great interest. After a while he put the parts together and placed the rifle into the cupboard. *PING!* A scroll appeared out of thin air in front of her face. A wave of hope washed over her face. "It's from Griffon General Thor! I hope that he accepted our peace offer," Celestia said and opens the letter with her telekinetic. However, her face frowned as she was reading the text. "What is it, Tia?" Luna asked curiously. "No...I don't believe it... He sent us a ultimatum. He wants to accept our peace offer when I... WE leave the throne... If not, he will attack canterlot," Celestia said shocked. They do have enough problems. Alma, a dead changeling queen and now a griffon general wanted to kick the princesses from the thrones. Suddenly, the princesses were hearing a loud clap. They looked to Michael, who just facepalmed with a groan of frustration. "And again... a General who thinks he's totally awesome and can throw royaltys from their thrones... who is this guy?" "General Thor is a griffon. He comes from the Griffon State, which is a democratic land far away of Equestria.He thinks that ponies are not strong enough to coorporate with the Griffon State. And he thinks that alicorns are responsible for the weakness of the ponies," Celestia said, "And I he will try to attack us sooner or later..." "Don't worry Princesses. I will take care of him if he even tries to look at canterlot," Michael said. "Thanks Michael, but just don't be so rough.", Celestia said. He went back to his cupboard and took out his AR "So, now I have to make my rounds around the castle. See ya later, Tia and Luna!" and he went out from his room. "Enjoy your work, Becket. We will head to our rooms later!" Celestia said smiling. ... Some hours later and he finds nothing out of the ordinarys. At a crossing he meets female pony servant Serving Star, the pony who found the remains of a Royal Guard who has been killed by one of Alma's appariations. He said "Good evening, Mrs Star." She smiled and said "Good evening to..." She never managed to finish the sentence. *BANG!* Blood spread out everywhere. She fell to the ground, a big red hole was embedded into her chest. "Yes, I hit one!" someone yelled. Michael immediately flipped over a nearby cupboard to the direction of the enemy and searched cover behind it. He did this out of instinct and year-length practise. "30 Bits for the first who killed that bald monkey!" another enemy yelled. Michael peeker carefully over the cupboard, only to see two griffons. He knew what a griffon was, but he never saw one before... and they were carrying... winchester rifles? And they were seeming to wear white armor. Michael managed to get a look through a nearby window. A large crowd of flying creatures were flying to Canterlot from the west. But this time, it were not changelings. It were griffons. MANY griffons. And many of them were carrying rifles... > Interval 10- Encounter > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- -Music (Please open a new Tab)- The griffons were approaching Michael's cover, aiming with their rifles at the cupboard. "Come out and we'll make your death quick." A red little egg came from Michael's cover and rolled to the feets of the griffons. They were starting to laugh "HAHAHA... he so frightened that he made an..." *BASH!* The griffons were screaming in terror as the egg, or to be exactly, an Incendiary Grenade, exploded, causing a big fire. Large raging flames were engulfing the griffons, they were falling to the ground, grunting in pain and their burning flesh emitted a loud hissing sound, echoing through the hallway. Michael went out from behind the cupboard and switched his AR to "automatic" mode. He heard more shots in the distance and ran after the source. INTERVAL 10 ENCOUNTER As he sprinted through a hallway, he spotted a another griffon, who held a unicorn Royal Guard in his big sharp claw. The poor Royal Guard tried to struggle himself free, but to no avail. "Let.Him.Down!" Michael shouted. The griffon turned his head to him and dropped the Royal Guard "After I killed your pet, you will be the next!" and he sprinted to Michael. Michael immidiately shoot a burst from his AR to the upcoming griffon. To his surprise, his bullets were only bouncing off from the Dragonbone armor of the griffon. The griffon laughed "Haha, your bullets are weak as the ponies here!" Michael just switched to his ASP Rifle and aimed at the right lung of the griffon... *BADADAM!* The griffon screamed in pain as the three bullets pierced through his armor, through his right lung, and the bullets were still strong enough to come out from the backside of his armor and smashed a window at the other end of the hallway. Michael released another burst of his ASP to the griffon, finishing him off finally. Then he went to the panting Royal Guard "Hey, is everything alright?" The Royal Guard took some deep breaths and said "Yes, but he said that they will murder the princess of the sun..." Michael heard a sound, which came from outside of the castle. He looked through the smashed window and gasped in shock as he spotted Princess Celestia darting out from her balcony, leaping into the air and heading to the streets of Canterlot. After some moments three griffons in white armor were following her. "What the fuck is she thinking?! She will be a easy target for the griffons!" he yelled annoyed, switched the firemode to 'semi-automatic' and aimed at her attackers. Slow-mo On *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* Slow-mo Off The hit griffons were falling from the sky like stones. He reloaded his rifle by pulling out the empty magazine and pushing a new. The ASP Rifle, or to be exactly IDW-15, was a auto-loader, a weapon which can chamber a round automatically. He heard steps behind him, turned around and aimed at the intruder with one swift move. "Dammit Captain! Never do that again!" Michael said, lowering his ASP as he recognized Shining Armor standing in front of him. "Sorry, Michael... where's the Princess?" Shining said. He heard the alert and went after his duty as a Royal Captain. Michael groaned "Celestia left her room. She will be a easy target for the griffons!" Shining Armor said with a smirk "I know where she is! Follow me to the Canterlot Hospital!" Michael said "Hey, but before we go, follow me." and he ran back to his chamber. Shining Armor followed hims hesitating. He looked with curiosity at Michael's actions, as he opened the cupboard and handled him over his HV Hammerhead. Shining Armor took it with his magical grip. Then Michael put the particle weapon on his back, to be fully armed against heavily armored enemies. "The griffons are wearing some sort of strong armor, so we need the big guns.", Michael said as he went out. Shining Armor examined the weapon as they went out. The magazine was large to his eyes and the weapon looked enormous. He acquired an comlink from Michael that they could stay in touch. Some minutes passed by and they were out of the castle. Whole Canterlot was under the storm attack of a horde of griffon. At that point, some buldings were already destroyed and burning, giving Canterlot a post-apokalyptic look.   "Oh dear Celestia..." Shining muttered as he saw ponies running around while screaming in panic. Michael aimed at random griffons and brought them from the sky with a single burst. Their armor could not handle with these type of bullets. The ASP was the weapon of choice between the RAAB KM50 and the Patten PK470. Shining was confused "But... Dragonbone Armor is the hardest armor which exists..." Michael said "The ASP Rifle was originally designed to shoot at heavy armored vehicles. The bullets are very heavy and made of special steel. Due of that, only twelve rounds are fitting in the magazine." "Aha... LOOK OUT!" Shining called out as suddenly they both were attacked by two griffons. Shining was pinned down on the ground while Michael was smashed against a wall. His ASP fell to the ground. The griffon tried to choke him but Michael immidiately reacts by punching the bulky and muscolous griffons face, unfortanely to no avail. The griffon choked Michael even harder and shouted menacingly "YOU WILL DIE!" *KICK!* The griffon yelped in pain as he moved his claws to his private areas, who were throbbing in pain. Michael kicked the griffon in his nether region but he was not finished with the griffon yet. He unholstered his pistol, aimed at between the griffons eyes and pushed the trigger. The griffons jerked his head back as the 9 mm bullet pierced it's way through his brain, shredding everything in his skull to useless mass. Michael turned to the griffon who tried to sting Shinings eyes with his claws. He kicked the griffon's side of his body. Due of Michael's enormous strength in his legs and of the heavy boots he wore, some ribs in the griffons body gave up under the pressure. Michael quickly emptied the pistols into the griffon's unarmored section, namely face and legs. "Why you didn't use the AR?" Michael said. Shining stood up, wiping some dirt from his coat and said "Sorry... I was taken in surprise... Shh... do you hear that?" Michael tried to listen closely. Somewhere in a building is someone... or somepony and cries. "Let's help that pony!" Shining exclaimed, picked up the Hammerhead and ran into a alleyway. Michael followed him and activated his flashlight as he found with Shining Armor the alleyway too dark. There was a door at the wall of a house. Shining took position in front of the door and commanded to Michael "Wait here, I will be back in a few moments!" and he tried to open the door with his magic. It worked and the door opened. Again, a loud cry came from the building. Michael positioned himself in the middle of the alley. Shining stepped through the doorway as suddenly Michael's goggles were showing the 'UNKNOWN ORIGIN' error. Michael turns around. The room behind the door where Shining stepped in was brightly illuminated by a unknown lightsource... but Shining, likely unaware of that, went into the building. "SHINING!!! STOP!" Michael yelled. Too late... Just as Shining went through the doorway, the door slammed shut with loud resounding echo. Michael ran to the door and punched and kicked at it, only to realize that the door disappeared. He activated his comlink "SHINING! ARE YOU OKAY?!" To his surprise, he could hear Shining's voice "Don't be shy... let me help you *FIZZLE*... stop crying..." Michael yelled again "SHINING!!! DON'T APPROACH HER, RUN AWAY!!!" His goggles were showing the transmission power of Shining's comlink drained fast... "Don't cry... I'm *FIZZLE* here... *CRACK* there you are... *SSSHHHHH*" came from Shining's comlink. Michael's goggles were suddenly showing the 'CONNECTION TO ID [SHINING ARMOR] LOST' error... "FUCK NO!" Michael yelled and slammed his fist against the wall, "NOT AGAIN!" Canterlot, Hospital "How many ponies are wounded?" a worried and wounded Princess Celestia asked. A griffon managed to graze a bullet at her left foreleg and now she hobbled behind Doctor Dawn, a unicorn doctor pony. The doctor had bandaged her wound and he answered "We have 145 patiences at the moment, but I think we have enough rooms for more..." Princess Celestia looked around. She spotted a little filly who weeped bitterly. Celestia trotted up to the filly and sat herself next to the crying little thing and hugged it with one of her wings. She tried to calm down the filly "Shhh... don't cry... I'm here, nopony can hurt you anymore," and she smiled to the filly. The filly looked up to her with bloodshot tearfully eyes. "What is your name?" she smiled down to him. The filly sobbed "I-Indigo..." Princess Celestia said "That's a wonderful name... when this is all over, I will bring you to your parents." As Indigo hears the word 'parents' he buried his face into his hooves and started to cry again. "Don't cry... please. I promise I will bring you back to your..." Princess Celestia was suddenly interrupted by Indigo "...they were murdered...by her...we were in safety, but then she came, chuckled and...liquified..." At first, Princess Celestia did not seem to understand what the filly meant, but then her eyes were widening in realization... Suddenly, a nearby window bursted and a armored griffon with a rifle landed on the clean floor of the hospital. He immediately aimed from the hips at the princess and pushed the trigger... *BANG* The bullet did not hit the princess, but another pony... Indigo's chest ripped open and a splash of blood came out. Princess Celestia shrieked in horror. "Hey, you bastard of a lion and a bird!" someone shouted. The griffon turned to his left, only to see Michael Becket running up to him. Michael instantly pushed the trigger... *CLICK!* "Oh christ.", Michael sweared as he realized that he forgot to reload his weapon... The griffon instantly aimed at him in usage of the ironsights and pushed the trigger of his rifle... *BANG* "NOOOO!" Celestia shouted in rage as Michael fell to the floor. She leapts up in the air and holds the griffon with her magical grip. "WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS? YOU ARE KILLING INNOCENT PONIES!" Celestia shouted furiously as her eyes began to glow in anger. The griffon just shoot a death glare in her eyes and said "Servants of the weak! They deserve to die! They all deserv..." *BADADAM!* Both legs of the griffon were ripped from his body. Princess Celestia let the screaming griffon go. He fell to the ground and tried to crawl away, but his blood just spill out from his open veins like a hosepipe. After five seconds he went limp from the blood loss. Princess Celestia was confused. She did not know what happened. Then she heard a grunt and she turns around, to see a alive Michael Becket, who had reloaded his ASP and shot the griffon. "Oh man I hate this..." he growled as a severe pain shoot through his leg. The griffon had fired him in his left leg and it was bleeding moderately. "Oh god, you are hurt," she gasped and she helped Michael to satt down on a chair. He pulled down his trousers. Princess Celestia reassured him "Wait some seconds. The doctor will be right here!" Michael ignored her as he reached in his pocket, to pull out a pointed plier. "That will hurt," he said to himself. Celestia was confused "What are you doing?" But instead of answering her question, he sticked the end of the plier in his wound and moves it a little bit. He grunted in pain and gritted his theeth, hissing through them. Princess Celestia squeaked in shock, as he pulled the bullet with the plier. He remarked that the rifles the griffons were using are really weak. Then he threw the bullet into a trashcan and pushed his hands on the wound, trying to stop the bleeding. He looked to Princess Celestia "What is it? I had to do it!" Princess Celestia stands in front of him, mouth agape. She knew that it must have hurt a lot, but this action took her by surprise. After some minutes, the doctor came with a first aid kit in his mouth and examined the wound. He found the bulletwound empty and Michael stated that he brought the bullet out. After the doctor finished bandaging, Princess Celestia said quietly "We must get back to my castle as soon as possible," she blushed a little, "We must fly there..." "Okay... but I have very bad news," Michael said. "Is it about the flying? Are you not used to fly?" Celestia asked. "No, it's about Shining... Alma got him...and my Hammy," Michael said as he looked out of the window. Princess Celestia inhaled deeply at these news. She began to fear about Shining's health in Alma's deadly grasp. Then she says "After this little war, we will use the elements of harmony..." Canterlot, Princess Celestias Castle, Celestias Room -Music (Please open a new Tab)- "And what do you think about flying?" Princess Celestia asked as they were flying above Canterlot. Michael was green in his face, he did not enjoyed the flight at all "Uhmm... I don't know..." As they landed on the balcony, Michael immediately jumped from Celestia's back and ran in Celestia's room, his ASP/IDW-15 in stroke. "...It's quiet...", he said, "Stay behind me." They were walking out from Princess Celestia's room and heading for the throne hall. Princess Celestia expected that General Thor must be there since he wanted to took over the trone of Equestria and led the country to new grounds and a new society. "Stop!" Michael whispered. In front of the doors to the throne hall were standing three griffons in white and black armor. They were equipped with rather large axes. "The Death Guards!", Celestia whispered. She knew them, they were the best griffon guards ever trained. All who were trying to get past them were met with a fast but gruesome death. Michael sat down at the wall and checked his equipment. One proximity mine, three grenades and one shock grenade. He thought the mine would be a good choice, so he took it out and stood up "Celestia, whatever happen, stay where you are." She nodded silently. Then he stood up, proximity mine in his hands and went out from the corner. He was immediately spotted by one of the Death Guards. "TARGET SPOTTED!" the Death Guard shouted loudly. All of them raised their axes and dashed to Michael. Celestia peeked out from the corner and squeaked in shock as she spotted Michael just standing there... As the griffons were close enought, he threw the mine at one of them. The mine instantly sticked to the griffons armor... *BEEP!* *BASH!* The grenade exploded. The bodies of the Death Guards were ripped apart. Shattered bones, smashed organ pieces and some limbs were flying wildly through the hallway. Their armor was one of the strongest ever made, but could not handle with explosives. Michael swing his arms through the air as he coughed from the dust. The explosion did minor damage to the surroundings, but it vaporized some of the armor the griffons wore. Michael whistled, giving Celestia the sign to come out from her cover. She looked in horror at the mess, but it has to be done. Michael opened the door to the throne hall gently and peeked inside. He spotted a large muscolous frame of a griffon sitting on the throne, two Death Guards on the left and right side. Just rushing in would be a bad idea, due of the fact that these Death Guards were equipped with rather large rifles, almost looking like 20 mm cannons. The delays of his ASP rifle and particle weapon were way too long. "Celestia, I have a plan... but don't worry, everything's going to be okay." The General's patience decreased almost to zero as he was waiting for Princess Celestia. But then he grinned widely as the big doors are opening slowly and Princess Celestia trotted into the throne hall. "Aaah... Princess Celestia, my dear. I am so glad to see you... I hope that my Death Guards were gentle with you," he said snickering. Princess Celestia sighed, then she said "General Thor... please just settle this down and..." but General Thor did not let her finish her sentence "BE QUIET, ALICORN SCUM!!! I CAN KILL YOU HERE AND NOW, IF I WANT. YOU SHOULD BE GLAD THAT I'M IN A GOOD MOOD TODAY!!!" Princess Celestia just shakes her head and says "Okay... then we have no choice..." General Thor is confused "...'we'...?" Princess Celestia stepped to the side. Michael ran through the door and threw his particle weapon to her. She caught it with her magic and aimed at the left Death Guard. *SHZAP* The flesh of the Death Guard was burnt away in a split of a second, leaving just a black skeleton falling to the ground. The other Death Guard instantly rushed to Celestia, raising his big axe... *BADADAM!* The hit Death Guard wailed his claws up, like to trying find his head, which was not there anymore where it belongs. Michael gave the Death Guard a taste of his ASP rifle... literally, which resulted in a outwarded bloody shower. Michael approached the throne and aimed at the head of the General with his ASP Rifle. General Thor's eyes went wide "NO!!! I WILL NOT FAIL!!!" and he threw his axe at him. Michael rolled to his side, dodging the upcoming axe with ease, thanks to his Slow-mo ability, and aimed again at the General and pushed the trigger of his weapon. *BADADAM!* The head of the General exploded, the shattered helmet's pieces were flying everywhere. His body fell from the throne, rolled down the stairs and to the floor. "Anything else? I think not..." Michael said as he reloaded the ASP rifle. Then he turned to Princess Celestia, who was still holding the particle weapon with her magic. But her eyes went going wide...  Celestia looks up to him and said "I feel so... horrible... I killed..." Michael realized that she never killed a living being before "Hey... don't worry, you'll get over this. Sometime... sometimes we have to do things we don't and never like." His words were not helping her much, but it lightened her mood slitghtly. She smiled to him "Thanks...you saved my city and a lot of lives." Michael stated flatly "I'm just doing what I was trained to do.", and he grabbed his particle weapon from her magical grip. "...Shining Armor..." (Stop Music Here!) Princess Celestia, Michael Becket and some Royal Gaurds were walking to the room of Princess Cadance. Princess Celestia tried to open the door, but it is locked. "Cadance, it's me!" she yelled loudly. There were some grinding sounds on the door as Princess Cadance unlocked some locks of the door. The door opens and a worried Princess Cadance stood in the doorway. She asked hopefully "Is all over now?" Princess Celestia said after sighing "Yes... the city is safe again, thanks to Michael. And General Thor is dead." Princess Cadance sighed in relief. Then she asked with widened eyes"Is Shining Armor alright?" The face of Michael frowns. Cadance sees this "Is...he...?," she starts to cry, "What happened to him? Is he alive? Is he hurt?" Michael shook his head "I can't say that... I don't know... I'm sorry... Alma got him..." Princess Cadance hang her head down and started to weep bitterly before she hurled herself on her bed. Princess Celestia whispered to Michael "Take some rest, I'll calm her down." Michael nodded and went off to his own chamber. Princess Celestia walked to her crying niece and sat down next to her on her bed. She began to stroke Cadances mane as she thought for any words to calm her down. Princess Cadance was a flower of joy as she was brought to Canterlot, but nowl... "...he will come back," Michael said. She shivered a little as she said that. She knew that Shining will come back... but he will not be the same like before... Princess Celestia embraced her niece in a warm hug "I will send a letter to Twilight Sparkle... we will use the elements of harmony to defeat Alma for one and for all." A/N: The ASP Rifle exists in FEAR 2. > Interval 11- Climax > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Twilight read the news about the short war in Canterlot in the newspaper. There were big letters on the paper, which read: GENERAL THOR ATTACKED CANTERLOT- KILLED BY HUMAN SERGEANT MICHAEL BECKET Spike was working in the kitchen as suddenly he felt the urge to burp...  *BUUUURPS!!!* A green smoke comes from Spikes mouth, mixed with the sound of air released from a stomach and it materialized to a letter."It's from the Princess!" Spike exclaimed proudly. Twilight snapped out from her reading and jumped from her seat. She almost teleported herself to the kitchen and grabbed the letter from Spike's claws with her magic. Opening it, she started to read... My faithful student Twilight Sparkle, don't worry, we are okay, but I have very bad news for you: Alma has your brother Shining Armor. We don't know if he is alive or not. But I want you to do someting. Come to Canterlot with your friends, the bearer of the elements of harmony. Please come as fast as you can to me. Yours, Princess Celestia She read the letter over and over again. The tears in her eyes were getting bigger and bigger with each sentence.   Alma has her brother? What that meant? Spike walked to her and asked "Hey, why are you crying?"  Twilight wiped her tears from her eyes with her right forehoof and said, trying not to bother her personal assistant "Uhmm...it's nothing." "You are lying..." Spike said flatly. Twilight looked into his eyes and stifled just one sentence "Alma has my brother..." Spike's eyes were widening as he muttered "Oh dear Celestia..." Twilight told the story about Alma just a few days ago. He asked what happened in the hospital and Twilight could not just say nothing. She had to tell him the thruth. Twilight bursted out from her library and shouted back to Spike "Whatever will happen, stay in the library!" Some hours later Michael sat at a large table in the conversation room. At one end sat Princess Celestia, next to her sat her sister Princess Luna. They were waiting for the mane six. No one of them said word, too much fogged were their minds as they thought about the main topic, namely defeating Alma. Princess Celestia was in thoughts "I hope that the elements of harmony can bring back Shining Armor..." Of course she thought about Michael, too. He brought himself several times in life-threatening situations, just to protect her and her sister. Princess Luna looked over to Michael. He just sat in his seat and stared holes in the air. She did not know what he feels, but from the look in his eyes, he was deeply in thoughts. He thought about Shining Armor. Is it really that easy to bring him back from Alma? The thoughts of them were brought to a halt as the door were swinging open and six colorful ponies were galopping/flying to the big table. "We are here, Princess! We came by the fastest way we could.", they were yelling in unison. Princess Celestia smiled weakly and said "Very well. Now listen. Alma has Twilight's brother. We need him back and I want you to use the elements of harmony at him and Alma. But the first problem is, we don't know where Alma is..." Michael started to speak "Sorry for interrupting you, but I believe I know where she is!" All ponies were looking at him and Twilight asked hopefully "Where is she?" "I think she is in the Everfree Forest. I read in a book that there is a large amount of 'wild magic'... or in other words... paranormal activities. Maybe she is somewhere there.", Michael said. Princess Luna has an idea "Maybe she is in the old ruins... there is a lot of pararanorm... you know what I mean! I think you should look there at first." Princess Celestia thought for a while, then she said "We don't have much time. A chariot is waiting outside for you. Go to the Old Ruins and look out for Alma. If she is not there, then come back." They all were standing up and Princess Celestia led them to a large door. A big star with a hole was embedded in the door. Princess Celestia opened the door with her horn telekinetic and took out a fashion-looking box. She opened the box and five necklaces and a little crown were floating out. Every pony of the mane six get one of the necklaces and Twilight get the little crown. "Thanks, Princess! We won't disappoint you.", Twilight said determined. Princess Celestia nodded and said back "You are ready. My little ponies and human, now go to the chariot and save Shining Armor and Equestria!" The ponies were bowing deeply and trotting outside. Michael checked his equipment a last time. He had got a Andra FD-99 Submachinegun on his back and his ACM46 pistol in his holster, everything was fully set and ready to go. "Come back alive..." Princess Luna said quietly as Michael said goobye to them. "I try..." Michael said as he went through the doors. As he was outside, he could see the mane six waiting in the chariot for him. The chariot was made for war situations and therefore, it was not made of gold. It was made of reinforced iron to keep the passengers safe from projectils. Due of the heavy wheight, four strong pegasi Royal Guards were stripped on it. Not a moment after Michael jumped into the chariot, it leapt into the air. INTERVAL 11 CLIMAX Michael could see how nervous everypony in the chariot was. Twilights shivered a little and kept her gaze on her own hooves. Applejack and Rarity were holding their hooves together and Fluttershy curled up in a fetal position while Rainbow Dash hugged her. Pinkie Pie sang quietly a song under her heavy breathing: ...learn to face your fears... ...just laugh to make them disappear... ...ha ha ha... Michael was a little bit nervous, too, and said "Everything will be okay... just stay behind me and no one of you gets hurt..." With all sudden, the mane six were embracing Michael. From this close look, he spotted the fear in their faces. They would encounter a enemy which Equestria has never seen before. He returned the hug and hoped, the elements of harmony can defeat Alma. But only, if they survived. Everypony saw the horror caused by Alma. After 30 minutes, the chariot landed in front of the old ruins in the Everfree Forest. They all were stepping out from the chariot. The pegasi Royal Guards were staying nearby the chariot. Michael checked  the environment. The leaves in the trees were rushing and a weak wind blows through the forest. The old ruins were looking intimidating to the mane six. They all remembered the fight with Nightmare Moon, but Nightmare Moon was nothing in comparison with Alma...          Michaels goggles were scrambling and they were displaying the "UNKNOWN ORIGIN" error. That meant that they were on the right track to find Alma. They were stepping through the great doors of the old ruin. The walls were dirty brown... Twilight noticed that they did not have this colour at the last time they were here. Michael led the way, submachine gun in stroke. The mane six were following him as all of them were keeping an eye to any suspicious sound and changes to their surroundings. As they were stepping through the doorways to the big main hall, they all gasped, with the exception of Michael.          The place where the throne were once before, had changed. Instead of a big throne, there was a grassy hill. A swing hung from a tree, which stood on the hill. And on the swings sat a little human girl, wearing a red dress. Her hair was black and she hummed a little song. "Okay, now take your positions.", Michael whispered. Each pony of the mane six were nodding and they were taking their positions. Twilight stood in front of the formation while her friends took position behind her. Michael stood next to her, aiming at Alma. But before they could even start to concentrate on their element, Alma turned her head to them. With an instant, she stood in front of the tree, in her mangled adult form. -Music (Please open a new Tab)- Several objects which had been lying on the ground were flying now through the air, building a spinning tunnel in front of Alma. The ponies were gasping in shock as she ran up to them. She headed for the mane six, which were screamng in fear. Without blinking an eye, Michael moved in front of them. Alma ran into Michael... Michael tried to push her away, but she held herself at Michael's arm. At the same time, he felt his strength left his body slowly. Alma starts to attack him psychically and physically at once... He lunged out and smashed her head with the backside of his submachine gun. He should not have do that, but he had not any other option... She let him go and screamed "I HATE YOU!!! I HATE YOU ALL!!!" FLASH Michael found himself in a strange environment. The sky was orange and the clouds were moving rapidly from east to west, their shadows were visible on the ground. He stood in a large circular area. In the area stood a tree with a swing. Pieces of different buildings were sticking out from the ground, making it similar looking to the training area in the underground base where had he met the Replica Soldiers for the first time. "Where... we...are...?" someone asked behind him. Michael turned around and spotted Twilight, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Rarity and Fluttershy. Alma took them with Michael to 'her' world. He gasped in shock. They should not be with him! "That is not right... seek cover now!", Michael commanded as he pointed at a building at the far end of that place. They all were hiding themselves behind a large piece of a roof, with the exception of Michael, who began to walk around the area. The mane six were looking through a window at Michael who found a familiar pony... Shining Armor. He sat on his haunches, the HV Hammerhead lied on the ground next to him. Twilight spotted her brother, too, and ran out from her cover, followed by her friends. Her eyes were watering up in joy and she yelled "Brother! Shiny! We are here!" Shining lifted his head slightly and his ears were perking up. Michael approached him slowly, but he kept the weapon's sights at him. Twilight was confused "Michael? What are you doing? It's my brother and..." but she was interrupted by Shining Armor... -Music (Please open a new Tab)- "IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT, MICHAEL!!!" With an instant, he stood in front of Michael... ...and shoot one Hammerhead flechette into Michael's chest. "NO!" Twilight shrieked as she saw the flechette embedded in Michael's chest. The man stumbled a little, then he let out a bloodcurled scream as his left lung collapsed. He grabbed the flechette with both hands and pulled... And pulled. Until he held the bloodstained flechette in his hand before he throw it to the ground. The adrenaline rush numbed the pain, but he could feel the flechette like it was still inside. To describe how he looked like, words were almost failing. His armor had several cuts, looking like their origin came from claws. His fur was burnt, leaving just a dirty brown skin. His eye sockets were empty and his lips were missing and his mane was heavily burnt, too. The stallion did not looked like a captain of the Royal Guards anymore, more like a evil turned puppet of Alma. "IF YOU DIDN'T SHOW UP HERE, EVERYTHING WOULD BE THE SAME LIKE BEFORE!!!", Shining shouted and he bucked his hindlegs in the sides of Michael. He grunted in pain and spat some blood on the ground. Twilight shouted in anger and fear "What the buck are you doing? It's not his fa... AAGH!!!"  Shining appeared in front of his sister and slapped her face with his hoof "SHUT UP!!! BE GLAD THAT YOU ARE MY SISTER!!!" His voice sounded demonic, filled up to the brim with hatred. Twilight stumbled back, one of her lips had a little bleeding cut. Her friends were gasping as they watched her friend being slapped by her own very brother. Never, ever she was slapped or beaten by her own brother. She started to cry... Michael stood up and released a burst from his submachine gun to Shining. But Shining just dissolved in smoke as the bullets hit him. "Oh shit... YOU ALL! Seek immediately cover and stay there.", Michael shouted. The ponies awee nodding, before Rarity dragged the crying Twilight behind a building. A loud noise teared the silence and Michael shouted again in pain. He held his right shoulder, a flechette was sticking in it, and he turned around. Shining Armor stood severeal metres behind him, holding his Hammerhead in his magical grasp. Shining dissolved in smoke before Michael could do anything. Michael began to seek for cover as several ponyfied figures were appearing out of nowhere in the area. They all looking like Shining Armor, holding Hammerheads in their telekinetic and they were starting to shoot at Michael. The flechettes were barely hitting Michael as he jumped through a window to find some cover.  Michael quickly pulled out the flechette and started to figure out a plan how to defeat the phantomized Shining. He lifted up his head a little, to look through the window. The Shining-phantoms were approaching his cover while eliciting horrible groans. Twilight yelled to Michael from her cover "Please... don't kill him!" Michael yelled back "It's not able to kill him in this state, so remain calm!" and started to find any differences between the phantoms. One of the phantom was different from the other. This phantom stood on a container and he was not engulfed in smoke. He aimed from this position at Michael's cover, nothing more. Slow-mo On Michael stood up and fires at the phantoms. They all were just dissolving in smoke. Then he fired at the phantom who stood on the container. That was a big mistake... the phantom dissolvds in smoke like the others. Suddenly, new phantoms were appearing out from nowhere in the area. Slow-mo Off Michael ran out from his cover up to the cover of the mane six. He found them curled up behind a wall and shivering all over their bodies. Their eyes were filled with unshed tears. Pinkie Pie sang again her song, but she mostly cried the parts. "Girls!" Michael called out. They all let out a scream of shock. "Hey it's just me! Listen! Take your positions and start to summon energy in the elements of harmony! And shoot at Shining when I give the sign for it! Clear?" Michael yelled. He panted loudly due only having one lung left. They were nodding, before they stood up and walking out from their cover. Twilight took some deep breaths to collect her thoughts of having her brother back in her hooves and began to concentrate. The rest of the mane six were doing the same... "I WILL END YOUR SORRY LIFE!!!" Shining appeared again in front of Michael and bucked his hindlegs into Michael's stomach. He fell down on his butt and coughed. The phantomized Shining just trotted past him and stomped with his right hindleg on Michael's right hand. His hand gave a loud crack, but it was not broken. Michael looked over to the ponies as he made sure his hand was okay. They were still concentrating. Good. He stood up and found cover behind a pillar. Again, several mechanical clap were tearing the silence apart. Michael spotted the main phantom behind a window. He started to run to the piece of the building and found cover at the corner of it. He takes a deep breath, to prepare himself dashing out from the corner... but then he was thrown by Shining's magic to a small clearing. Michael immediately tried to stand up, but suddenly Shining jumped on his chest and pointed the muzzle of the Hammerhead at Michael's left eye. Before Shining could push the trigger of the weapon down with his magic, Michael blocked the trigger by putting a finger behind it, so that the trigger could not be pushed down. Michael summoned his whole strength in his arms and hands to turn the weapon around a little bit, to move the muzzle away from his face. "Michael!" Shining yelled. Michael looked up to Shining's face, still struggling. For a brief moment, the normal form of Shining Armor stood on him. "Make it stop!" Shining whimpered. That was the moment! Michael looked over to the mane six and yelled "SHOOT NOW! DON'T CARE ABOUT ME!" Twilight's eyes were glowing in a bright white. A big rainbow-ribbon came out from the gems in the elements and were connecting themselves to a large rainbow colured hurricane. Michael threw Shining off and rolled to the side. The rainbow-tornado hit Shining with full force and engulfed him. He screamed. FLASH (Stop Music Here!) They all were waking up at once. Michael stood up and rubbed his aching temples. One pony after the other were waking up. Rainbow Dash rubbed her head and groaned "Ugh... my head...". They were back in the old ruins... Suddenly, they all can hear the voice of a very familiar pony "Oh my... What happened... Oh Celestia!" Shining Armor was sitting on the ground and looked over to the confused groups of ponies. He did not remembered what happened. He opened his mouth to say something, but Twilight galloped up to him and hugged him hardly while she sobbed uncontrollably. "I'm so happy to have you back..." Twilight cried happily. "What happened... I don't remember...at all.", Shining stuttered. He suddenly spotted Twilight's cut on her lip. With all at once, his memories came back. He gasped and hung his head down "...I'm...so...sorry..." "Don't worry about it. It was not your fault.", she reassured him. Shining turned to Michael and noticed the bloody holes in his chest and shoulder. But before Shining could say anything, Michael waved with his hand "Nah, no excuses. A few stitches and I'm back." A faint whisper was heard and they all were turning back to the grassy hill with the tree and the swing. Alma stood in front of it, anger appeared in her face. "You don't look so though and creepy anymore. Let's go girls, we must deliver her the rest!" Twilight shouted as she and her friends were closing their eyes.The mane six were starting to concentrate again, as Alma looked over to Shining and... smirked. A rainbow-coloured tornado formed around the mane six and hurled towards Alma. It quickly engulfes her without any resistance. But as it narrows around her, it's colour changed to... blood red. And suddenly, the tornado exploded in a magical explosion. A rippling aura engulfed Alma and she smirked more. She has drained the elements energy to hers. The mane six and Michael Becket were suddenly hurled against the wall hardly. Twilight grunted in pain, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie were crying bitterly and Rarity just screamed louldy in terror, while Applejack and Rainbow Dash were struggling against Alma's telekinetic grip, but to no avail. Now the mane six were realizing it. Alma was much stronger than the elements of harmony, Discord and the princesses together. She could overcome them with ease... Suddenly, Alma just disappeared. -Music (Please open a new Tab)- Shining Armor was floating up in the air. He looked around confused as something held his limbs sprayed from his form. "Shiny!!!" Twilight screamed as she squirmed against the strong grip. To her horror, her brother was thrown at the ceiling by an invisible force. From the ceiling, he was hurled back to the ground. As he tried to stand up on all fours, he was literally kicked by the force at a pillar. "NOOOO!!!" Twilight shrieked. *GROOOORCH!* He was still alive, but several lacerations were on his body where pieces of bones came through. His hindlegs were then leaping up in the air. It looked like something invisible held him... he was pulled across the hall, to the entrance, which doors were opened. Michael, who was pinned at the wall, spotted something familiar creepy. In the entrance were standing several corpse-creatures, two were holding the doors open. As Shining spotted them, he started to yelp with his breath and tried to pull himself forward with his hooves. His bothering was hopeless... just as he was pulled through the doorway, the door slammed shut. *GROOOORCH!* Sounds of metal pieces slicing deeply into flesh could be heard and the screams of pain of Shining were booming through the closed doors. For some moments, there was silence. Just the sobs of Twilight, Fluttershy and Rarity were filling the hall with sounds. *CRASH!* Shining's bleeding body bursted through the doors and was thrown through the hall like a puppet until he stopped in the middle in mid-air. *CRACK!* His left foreleg was twisted in a unnatural angle. The joint of his leg broke with ease. Shining shrieked in pain, and screamed more as his right hindleg followed directly after. *CRACK!* Some bone pieces were bursting through Shining's skin. Then he fell to the ground. Immediately after he was smashed at the same pillar and was thrown at a window. The window bursted. Shining's bloodstained, mangled body hung in the window. Long, sharp glass shards pierced into his body, preventing him from sliding down. Everyone could see that Shining was still alive... his chest was moving up and down. The mane six and Michael were falling from the wall. Twilight collected herself together, stood up and galloped to her brother "SHINY! I'M COMING!" She began to summon a healing spell in her horn as suddenly... *GROOOORCH!* *SPLAT!* Shining's body exploded in a bloody shower. Twilight stopped in the middle of her galloping and looked at the bloody mess. Then she collapsed on the ground, started to scream at the top of her lungs in grief, tears were falling down from her face. She screamed in psychic pain, sorrow and anger. Her friends were galloping up to her screaming and crying friend. Michael just shook his head. He did not know what he should say or do... Alma reappeared at the hill. A big grin appeared across face. She enjoyed what she has done to Twilight's brother. Twilight looked up to her and cried loudly "YOU! WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS?! WHY ARE YOU CAUSING TERROR, DEATH AND FEAR?!" Alma said... nothing. The old ruin started to shake violently. "Is this an earthquake?!" Rarity asked panicked. But it was not an earthquake. Pieces from the roof were falling down, the next bigger than the last one. A big one crashed on the floor right next to Rarity, who jumped in the air in surprise. As they all looked to Alma, she began to walk towards them. Fire engulfed her and surprisingly, even the floor made of stone started to burn. "Let's get the hell out of here!" Michael yelled as he legged for the exit and outside. The mane six were directly behind him, panting in exhaustion and horror. The old ruin shook again and with all sudden, it broke down like a cardhouse. The walls were tearing apart and the roof fell into the ruin. Then a big fire swallowed the ruins and burnt them to blazing grotesque mass. The mane six and Michael were jumping into the chariot. Immediately after, the chariot leapt into the air, heading back to Canterlot... The ponies inside the chariot were hugging each other. Even Michael embraced Rainbow Dash and Rarity. He felt sorry for them that they lost Twilight's brother. -Ambience Music- Fluttershy cried her eyes out as she quivered all over her body. Pinkie Pie just stared at her yellow friend. She had no idea how to cheer her up in any way. Applejack buried her face in her hooves. And Michael sat down defeated in a seat at the right side with a empty look in his face. Twilight looked out from the chariot, to the place where the ruins had been before. Everything around the Old Ruin was going to swallowed by the large fire. And Twilight realized what that fire meant. The fire symbolized Alma's unleashed and unrestrained rage over all living beings. Just the center of the fire was untouched by the flames. This place included Alma's tree with her swing. "Looks like *hic* we can't defeat Alma...*hic*," Twilight hiccuped. She was not sure how the princesses would react to this bad news. Mainly, why Princess Celestia send her and her friends to destroy something which was already dead?  They did not even managed to injure Alma a little. *SLAM!* Suddenly, the chariot shook once immensely. It was like something hit the chariot. Michael almost fell from his seat. Fluttershy squeaked in shock. Applejack perked her head up and looked around "What was that sound?" The ponies were looking to the flying pegasi Royal Guards who were pulling the chariot. They did not looked like they noticed the impact. The equine passengers were distracted from the shake, only Michael spotted the bloodstained humanoid figure which was climbing into the chariot... -Music (Please open a new Tab)- Do you know the true meaning of fear? The End... > Interval 12- Epilogue > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Sister, look!" Princess Celestia looked up to her sister as she was sitting on her cushion, reading letters from her folk. "Yes, my sister, what is it?" "You won't believe, but the Everfree Forest is on fire!" Luna shouted, pointing with a hoof at the balcony. A black pillar of smoke reached up to the sky from a large distance. Like a flash, Princess Celestia sat up and galloped out of the balcony. She gasped deeply at the sight. The everfree forest was really on fire, but only a part of it. Namely where the Old ruins have been and a large area around it, at least two square miles. This area was covered in large raging flames, which were feasting greedely from the old trees. Her brain calculated the chances of Michael, Twilight and her friends, and realized it was zero... "Luna. Get your armor ready. We are going to attack Alma with all might." "For Equestria? "For Equestria." "But what about our friends? What happened to them?" Princess Celestia shuddered as she said "We can figure out later." She hated it to say it, but this time, her folk and country came first. Princess Luna nodded quickly, before she turned around and galloped back to her room. Princess Celestia glanced a few moments at the burning scene, before she turned around and opened her wardrobe. It was filled with dresses for the gala and delegations. She put them all aside and found the objects she was in seek. Her armor. She did it used once as the Griffonland declared a war against Equestria. The battle had been executed many hundred years before Luna transformed into Nightmare Moon and it lasted about three weeks. She only led a whole battalion but she did not had to kill anypony by herself. The armor was made of heavy iron, but there was a tiny layer of gold, to improve the presence of the wearer, namely her. She also found her golden helmet. The iron was very thick, to prevent heavy arrows to pierce through it. She was ready to wear them on, but she wanted to look how her sister was done with her own armor. Maybe she needed help, because this was the first time ever she wore a armor. She left her room, trotted up a tower to the Lunar wing where her sister's room has been. Knocking at the door, she asked loudly "Sister? Do you need help?" No response. It was against her will as she opened the door to her sister's room. "Luna...?" She stopped. The whole room was drenched in blood. Intestines and some bone fragments hung from the wall, and warm blood dripped from the ceiling. It was like a giant ballon with red paint exploded in the room. And someone stood in the middle of the mess. Celestia's eyes reflected the shape of a little human girl in a dress, slowly walking up to her... (Before you scroll down, click on this link and wait until the music starts to play!) > A word from the author > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hello community, here's Daniel aka justding. At first, thank you for your help! Without you, I would not have edited this story. But justding, we only liked and favorited your story! Yes, you all only read, liked and/or favourited this story. But it gave me motivation to edit this story. I did not need very long, just a little over a week. And yes, maybe the story still needs some work, but I think I've cleaned more than 80 percent of the errors and grammar mistakes I made when I was a unexperienced writer. I wrote this story because I noticed the lack of F.E.A.R. crossover which involved protagonists and antagonists of the game series. There are some F.E.A.R. crossovers, but none of them include Alma. There are plenty of Battlefield and Call Of Duty xover... I did not read one of them, because I don't like these games. And now I got an idea: Shall I write a one-shot story about TCB ponies interrogate Alma? Could end funny... for Alma, at least. I hate the ending of ur story. DISLIKE! MUAHAHA! I don't care. The story is a F.E.A.R. xover and like the games, it has an open/bad ending (F.E.A.R. 3 doesn't count, because this game is stupid, and Perseus Mandate is an exception). To this fact, I think these videos could fit as the story's main themes and also to intensify the dark ending: Thank you for reading the story and see you soon in my other stories.