> When Worlds Collapse > by MoonShine > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Introduction: A new evil > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- This is an alternate ending to the story ‘When Worlds Collide’. This story starts taking place during the calm period when the UEFDC have been defeated and Kieron is in the hospital. I would advise you to read ‘When Worlds Collide’ first to understand what has happened up to this point. When worlds collapse Kieron is laid on his bed in the hospital still unconscious, a nurse passes by as she looks at him to see how he is doing. The doors to the hospital open and a pony walks in, the pony was blue with white hair and wearing a hat, “I’m sorry but visiting hours have just ended, you’ll have to come back later” the nurse says to the pony. “Trixie is sorry but the princess has ordered for Trixie to use her great power to look into his mind to see if he is alright.” She replies before walking past the nurse over to his bed, the nurse closes the door and follows Trixie to Kieron’s bed. Trixie positions herself next to him and stares at him as he lays still in the bed, hardly even alive. She starts to use her magic to search through his mind, as she searches she finds disturbing memories about his past but all are disrupted suddenly as he suddenly grabs her horn causing her to open her eyes quickly and squeal quietly. “Go in my mind again and I will snap this from your head, Mule.” He insults her as he lets go causing her to fall back onto her rump. “Trixie is not a mule...” she replies as she gets back up and puts her front hooves on the bed, staring into his eyes, “Trixie is powerful and beautiful, you are wrong.” “Please....you’re in my face.” He says as he pushes her aside with his arm. She continues to stare at him. “How dare you insult Trixie...” she replies in an agitated tone, “Trixie came here to help you and all you do is insult her.” She adds before walking away with her head high. “Finally she’s gone...” he says whilst putting his hands behind his head to rest against the pillow, the nurse watching as he open one eyes to looks at her, “yes, can I help you?” he asks in a bitchy voice. “My...you are in such a nasty mood...” she replies before walking up to him, “Now that you are fine, you are to be released from the hospital.” She adds before walking away to check up on other patients. He gets up and takes a while to get his balance, “Wait, I’m sorry for being in such a bad mood, I don’t know why I was like that, please accept my apology.” He says as she tries his best to walk over to her. She knods as she gives him a small smile before walking over to the main door and opens it for him as he walks out into the vast land on Equestria. He walks out and heads for Ponyville, Moonshine is stood outside in the park watching him walk off as she was going to see how he was. She watches from the darkness of the park as he walks past, he looks over to her direction as if he knew she was there. He looks back ahead and continues to head to towards Ponyville, on the way she follows him and sneaks up to him, she soon gets really close to him, lifts a hoof to grab him, he suddenly turns to look behind to see nothing, he looks about to see if anything was there, he has the feeling that something was following him, he turns round only to be completely frightened by Moonshine who is in his face. “FUUUUUUU” He shouts as Moonshine covers his mouth to quieten him. “Shh, you’ll wake everypony up.” She says as he quietens down, “Sorry that I scared you, I think we should talk about you on the way back to the facility.” She adds as he looks at her, they then both head for the mech facility in the dead of night talking about the way how Kieron used to be when he was with SKULL and how the way he is now. When they get to the edge of Ponyville Kieron stops still, “Y’know, I do miss all the killing and pain I caused to others, the sneaking about and wars that I commanded, all o it was so much fun, I honestly miss it.” He says to her with a small smirk upon his face. She looks at him as he turns to look at her, “Are you alright Kieron?” she asks as he puts his head to his face as he groans quietly, “Kieron, what’s wrong?” she asks again. He lifts his head and lowers a hand to reveal one eyes staring at her creeping her out slightly. “I’m going to do it, my Master is awaiting me, SKULL will rise once more, and we have a planet to conquer.” He says before looking up to the sky and raising his hands, “MY MASTER, I AWAIT YOU!” he shouts as Moonshine fears the worst and backs off slightly before flying off to head for the library that has just been rebuilt. Kieron stands as an image of the GM appears in front of him, “MY master....” he says as he salutes by lowering onto one knee and putting his arm against his chest in a diagonal position. The image of the GM then walks up to him and places the cane on his shoulder, he stands up and looks into the eyes of the image, he presses a button on the back of his neck only for the remaining parts of his armour to fold round him, covering half his face and his chest along with a leg. He looks down at himself to look at the armour, “Let me just get prepared and then I will return to you my master.” He says before turning and walking off towards the mech facility. The image of the GM following him a little before fading as it walks with him. Twilight is sat on her bed as she get used to the peace from the war whilst it lasts, who knows, it might return one day. She watches out of her window as she can’t get to sleep from the thoughts of hoping Kieron is alright, her ears suddenly prick up as a rapid knock comes from the bedroom door, “TWILIGHT!” a voice shouts out, she stubbles as she falls off the bed and quickly rushes over to the door to open it to see Moonshine stood terrified about something. “What’s wrong?” she asks as Moonshine grabs at Twi’s shoulders. “Kieron...he’s gone mad...no, he’s turned back, he’s become his old self, and he’s evil again.” She replies in a shaken voice. Twilight takes a while to take in what Moonshine has just said. “Are you sure, he might just be a bit shaken from the battles.” She says as she grabs at Moonshine to calm her down. “No, you’re wrong, he HAS gone back, he had the same look in his eyes as what he did when he was about to kill somepony.” She replies. Twilight thinks about it for a while before accepting what Moonshine is saying. “If it is true then we need to warn the princesses.” She says before walking up to her desk downstairs and uses her magic to write out a letter to the princess. When done she walks over to spike who is putting some books away, he takes hold of it and blows at it with a green flame before returning to his last duties before bedtime. Kieron walks into the facility and immediately Mathis appears, “Ah, Kieron. How are you?” he asks as his hologram walks beside him. “Never better, Mathis. Get communications relays set up, I believe someone is expecting a certain person to give them a pointer on where to go. AKA, The Grand Master is expecting me to set up a starting point for his return.” He replies as he orders Mathis to get to work. “But sir, what are you on about. You want to help him?” he asks. “Of course, don’t you remember, I am loyal to him. That is what I was created for.” He adds as he walks to the armoury to fix his armour. When Kieron gets into the armoury he starts to fix his armour with the many pieces of equipment about, “It will be the end of Equestria, I, the Overseer of SKULL, the human that has killed so many people, now gone back to his old self to work with the Grand Master once again, the most powerful man ever. Equestria, Celestia, you all have no chance, now ready yourselves for the end. It will be over quickly.” He says as she laughs manically. > A new evil > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 2: A new evil Last chapter: “Of course, don’t you remember, I am loyal to him. That is what I was created for.” He adds as he walks to the armoury to fix his armour. When Kieron gets into the armoury he starts to fix his armour with the many pieces of equipment about, “It will be the end of Equestria, I, the Overseer of SKULL, the pony that has killed so many ponies, now gone back to his old self to work with the Grand Master once again, the most powerful stallion ever. Equestria, Celestia, you all have no chance, now ready yourselves for the end. It will be over quickly.” He says as she laughs manically. <30 Minutes later> Kieron finishes fixing his armour; he picks it up and presses a button causing it to fold up into a small backpack like shape, he put it onto his back and presses a small button that is on the back on his neck, the armour then instantly folds around him. He walks up to a mirror and looks at himself, the armour was jet black rather than the grey it used to be, it has dark red glowing eyes and a bulge on each arm with holes on the bottom ends near this hands. He walks towards the target range and lifts a hand to aim at a target, the hole on the right arm glows before a pulse cannon round fires obliterating the target into many small pieces, his helmet folds back revealing a large grin on his face as he lifts his arm to his face and looks at the cannon on his arm, he the swipes his left arm out to the side causing a purple laser blade to suddenly come out of the hole. He looks down at the blade and swings it round to hit a steel pillar, it cuts through it like it was butter, the pillar the creaks as the metal stresses from being broken. He looks at the blade as he raises his hand up before retracting it back into the arm, he then looks at his right arm and jerks it slightly causing a blade to come out of it, he then raises it up to make it retract, he reaches back and presses a button to make his armour fold up, he then walks off to the main room. When he gets there he sees Mathis stood in the centre of the room in an advanced mechanical humanoid robot, he looks over to Kieron, “If this is the path you choose then I will follow, I am a copy of the original Mathis, I was coded to follow you no matter the cause. I HAVE had my moments of doubting you but if this is the way you want to go then so be it. What will you have me do?” he asks as he knods to Kieron as a way of respect. Kieron smirks as he looks at Mathis, he then walks up to the main screen and looks at an image of Ponyville, “I think we shall cause some trouble, they have no idea that I am turning on them, let’s cause some confusion. Get that relay set up, I will go into town and stir it up a bit.” He orders before walking out of the room. “When is she going to reply?” Moonshine asks as she paces back and forth, almost making a ware line in the floor, “If he is turning on us then we need to get out of Ponyville and take refuge in Canterlot, we need to get as many ponies to Canterlot as possible.” She adds as she starts to panic. “Can I just ask, didn’t you work alongside him, killing people and causing destruction?” Twilight asks as she thinks about how she was once with SKULL too. “Well yes but I don’t anymore, I did enjoy it but I never got a kick out of it like he did, I got my kick from other things.” She replies with a little sexy look at Twilight. “Oh, ok...so what now?” she questions as she walks up to the balcony and looks out into the night-shadowed village. As she looks she can see the mech facility in the far darkness, lit up lightly like a faint shimmer in a dark room, “He has a mech facility right there too, and we need to get rid of it if we are to have more chance of surviving.” She adds as Moonshine walks up to the balcony and looks. “I will deal with that. I will destroy the facility, you get as many ponies out of here as you can, but first wait for the princess’ reply.” She orders before opening the balcony doors and flying off towards the facility. Twilight sits herself down on her bed as she waits for the reply as she watches Moonshine fly off into the darkness of the night. Kieron walks over the bridge in the park and looks about as he passes the river, not a pony was in sight, he looks about as he continues his way to the centre of the village, on the way he hears a voice come from the hedges not far from his location, he stops and listens before slowly, quietly making his way towards the noise, closing in on it. When he gets really close he stops and listens to get an accurate placing of where it’s coming from, he then looks exactly where it’s coming from, presses the button causing his armour to fold round him, the noise from it causes the noises in the hedge to stop. He lifts both arms and quickly lowers them cutting the hedge with his laser blades, the hedge now only a metre wide after being cut, he then puts a hand inside and pulls to the side to reveal two ponies in the bush, “WHAT THE HELL?!” he asks as it takes him by surprise. The two ponies were BerryPunch and Treacle Tart, “Treacle? What are you doing?” he asks as he looks to see Berry’s head down between Treacle’s hind legs. “Umm...I could ask you the same thing?” she replies as she blushes slightly, Berry freezes and Treacle closes her legs slightly, Kieron looks as his helmet folds back and he rubs his eyes as if he was seeing things. He then looks at the both of them then at Berry with a ferocious look. “I don’t like hearing noises it night, so I thought you might have been a member of SKULL.” He replies as he stares at Berry who for some reason then uses Treacle’s leg to hide herself as his stare burns into her head, “Why are you here, and why with her?” he asks as he points at Berry. “Because I can, are you alright Kieron?” she asks as she pushes Berry away slightly so that she can get up to look at him, wiping he legs a little, she stands right up to looks into his eyes, him staring at her....no, into her, “Kieron, your eyes...they’re red, back like when....oh god, you haven’t have you?” she asks as she backs up slightly knowing something is wrong. “No, I’m not; I am not that person anymore.” He replies before turning and walking away, she then watches as he disappears into the night, she then takes a moment to think about it as Berry tries to pull her back into the hedge, she resists a little as she looks into the darkness, she soon gives up to Berry and falls back into the hedge as it covers them back over and they continue with their business. Kieron soon reaches the centre of the village, as he walks about there is nopony to be seen, he walks over to the nightclub in hope that somepony will be there. When he gets to the nightclub he can hear some music, he opens the door and walks down to the second door, as he gets closer to the bottom door, his grin growing as he gets closer, he reaches out and goes to grab the door knob only to be greatly scared as it suddenly swings open and a trio of ponies walks out past him as he steps to the side, sliding down the wall having a small heart attack. “Oh hay there Kieron.” CarrotTop comments as she passes by. “It’s the pony that walks on his back legs all the time...” Derpy replies. “No, Derpy. It’s Kieron...the human.” Colgate corrects. They all walk past as Derpy looks back at him in confusion, they all leave through the top door, and Kieron uses the wall to help himself back up as he takes a breather. “How is it they can scare me like that? I must punish them for such an ordeal.” He says to himself before opening the door to the nightclub, he enters only to see the club completely empty, he looks about to see nopony about apart from the barmare gathering the cups from the tables. She looks over to him. “Hello there. You just missed the great fun, would you like a drink, I’ll stay open a little longer if you want?” she asks as he looks about before thinking for a bit. “Yea, go on then. Guess the ‘fun’ has gone now.” He replies. She makes her way over to the bar with a tray full of glasses; he follows her as he looks at her flank, “HA HA HA!” he laughs out loud causing her to stop and looks back to see him put a hand to his mouth. “What is it?” she asks. He shakes his head as if it was nothing, looking at her, Tell me now or you pay double for the drink.” She bribes. He stops laughing and lowers his hand as he stares at her. “How dare you speak to me in such a way, you should be punish for such disrespect to a commanding officer.” He replies whilst walking up to her and then pinning her against the wall with his hand round her neck. “I....I’m sorry, I never meant to be rude. I just saw you looking at my flank and then laughing.” She comments with a rough voice from the hand round her neck. He accepts her apology and lets her down; she straight away curls up on the floor whilst grabbing at her throat, he walks up to the bar and makes himself a drink, puts the correct amount of bits on the counter and climbs over to sit on a stool. “I must say, if you can make me angry just by taking to me that way, you would make a good member of SKULL.” He claims before taking a sit of the drink which causes him to suck his cheeks in from the sourness of it, “Christ, what is this stuff?” he says to her. She slowly gets up as he no longer looks like he wants to hurt her, she makes her way over to the bar and starts to clean up the glasses as he sits and thinks about whether he is making the right choice about changing back. “What I was laughing at...” he comments making her look back at him, “I laughed because my daughter Moonshine would have loved you, you have a fine body.” He adds causing her to blush slightly. “Erm...yeah, about that.” She says as her cheeks glow red, he looks up at her just as she puts a picture face down so that he can’t see it. He doesn’t think anything of it and continues with his drink, ‘Am I making the right choice? I WAS created to be loyal to him, and I DO enjoy the thrill of a kill but....I also vowed to protect the ponies of Equestria, what do I do?’ he thinks to himself before looking at the clock and putting his head on the bar top. “What do you think I should do?” he says out loud. She looks at him as she puts some glasses away under the bar. “Do what?” she asks as she pops her head up over the edge to look at his head on the table, he moves his head to look up at her, she puts her head on the bar on top of her hooves and stares into his eyes seductively. “Nothing, I’m thinking out loud again.” He replies whilst looking away then back into her eyes. The two stare at each other whilst he thinks hard about it. ------ Author’s notes – Where shall I go with this? Should Kieron attack the barmare and recruit her or leave her alone and go do something else? I’ll let you choose. > It begins > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 3: It begins Last chapter: “What do you think I should do?” he says out loud. She looks at him as she puts some glasses away under the bar. “Do what?” she asks as she pops her head up over the edge to look at his head on the table, he moves his head to look up at her, she puts her head on the bar on top of her hooves and stares into his eyes seductively. “Nothing, I’m thinking out loud again.” He replies whilst looking away then back into her eyes. The two stare at each other whilst he thinks hard about it. Kieron and the mare stare at each other without even blinking, he then lifts his head and looks away whilst putting a hand to his chin, he pulls out an earpiece from his pocket and puts it on his ear, “Mathis, get me the GM.” He orders as the mare watches him from the bar top. He gets up off his stool and stands in the middle of the club. “The Grand Master has been contacted, the relay point is set up, he is returning to us.” Mathis replies, Kieron stands and waits as a faint glow is seen in front of him, a light wind blows past him and the mare as the glowing gets brighter, paper and beer-mats flying away from the glow as the wind picks up speed, the glow soon reaches its peak and a figure steps out of it. The figure is human and has a black cloak and a golden mask over his face, in his right hand is a long, thin object, as the glowing dies down the mare can see the object and quietly calls out, “It’s the cane.” As she sees the cane’s cobra head come out from the glowing light. Kieron puts a hand to his forehead as he salutes, the figure then bows his head slightly allowing him to stop, “Welcome back Grand Master, I hope that you aren’t too eager to take this planet, we still have some major recruiting to do.” He says to the masked figure who reaches up to grab the mask and takes it off, the mare doesn’t even feel any fear from the current events as she still has her head resting on her hooves on the bar top. The GM looks around the bar to get his bearings and then back at Kieron. “Why here, why did you come here for me to arrive?” the GM asks, Kieron looks about. “Well, because it is quiet and there’s nopony about to see your arrival.” He replies, the GM knods to the side as he gets his point, he looks about to see the mare staring at the two of them, he walks up to her, she lifts her head to his attention. “What can I get you?” she asks calmly, he looks at her, eyes narrow but then lifts his head slightly and smirks as he admires her calmness and charms, he looks behind her at the many bottles of alcohols and points at a particular bottle. A vintage bottle of scotch, she looks at it, picks it up and blows at it to get the dust off, it has obviously never been used before, this pleased the GM knowing that it will be even nicer from never being opened, she walks over to the bar top and twists the lid off, she then puts it on the top before placing a small whiskey glass on the top. She pours the drink into the glass and pushes it towards him, he sits on the stool, places his cane against the bar and picks up the glass, swirls it round a little before raising it to his nose to take a whiff, then takes a small sip and exclaiming as the taste satisfies him, Kieron walks up beside him and sits on the next stool. “I like this mare, she’s nice, calm and sweet...” the GM says as he looks a t Kieron then to the mare as he takes another sip. Kieron looks at the mare and back at the GM. “Sir?” he replies as he can’t understand why the GM said that, he hates everyone but himself, so why does he like this mare? “What are you trying to say, sir?” he asks as the mare turns and starts to wipe the tops down and clean the place up. “I’m saying...” he comments as he puts the glass down and watches as the mare walks out into the middle of the club to pick up many glass off the tables, “I want to recruit her, to be my personal bartender.” He adds quietly, Kieron looks at him as he watches the mare, picking up the glass and taking another sip, “This scotch is very nice, you should try it.” He claims as Kieron gets off the stool and walks over to the mare. He tips her on the back causing her to jump slightly, she turns round to be almost face to face with him, and he steps back slightly to that he isn’t too close to her. “What would you say if I told you that you are now officially a member of SKULL?” he asks her as she looks into his eyes, seeing the red in then trying to fade over the grey colour that they normally are. “I would say ‘Do I get paid?’” she questions, he shakes his head, she then knods as she comments, “Then I will join anyway.” Kieron looks at her then back at the GM. “That was easy.” He says as he shrugs his shoulders only to be shocked as the mare tightly puts her legs round him and hugs, “Umm....what are you doing?” he asks as he looks behind trying to see what she’s doing. “Hugging you of course, silly.” She replies as she hugs more tightly, almost squeezing the life out of him. She stops and he gasps as she lets go trying to get his breath back. “Damn you’re strong.” He comments as he grabs at his sides. She then continues with gathering the glasses before making her way back to the bar and cleaning them up. The GM taking his last sip before the glass is empty; he puts the glass down and points at the bottle. “I must get myself some of that one day.” He comments before standing up and looking at the mare, “Do you have a name?” he asks. She looks back at him and knods, “Yes, my name is Claire. Nice to meet you, Grand Master.” She says as she looks at him for a while then continues with the washing up. Kieron gets up off the floor after getting over the pain, he walks up to the bar and says to both of them, “I think he should keep you here, undercover. To allow us to recruit more without anypony knowing.” He says, the GM knods in approval and Claire thinks about it before knodding to go with the idea. The GM then stands up and walks to the middles of the club and lifts his cane causing the glow to come back and he steps into it only to disappear, it then dies down quickly just as Lyra and Bon-Bon enter the club. Kieron looks at them as they walk up towards the bar, “Hay Kieron, what you up to?” Lyra asks as she sits on a stool with Bon-Bon next to her. “Not much, just about to go.” He replies as Claire quickly picks up the scotch and puts it away just as Lyra looks. “Oh thank you, I would love a drink.” Lyra asks but Claire looks back at her and shakes her head before pointing at the clock. “I’m afraid you’ve come too late today, I’m closing up now.” She replies. Lyra looks at her disappointedly, “I’m sorry but I get tired like everypony else...bye Kieron.” She says as she neatens the bar top and gets herself ready to leave as Kieron exits the club. Lyra and Bon-Bon slowly make their way out with Claire right behind them. Claire then pushes then out the door before exiting herself and locking the door; Kieron stood blocking the top door as Claire turns to face the couple, “Now, time to recruit two more, come here you two.” Kieron says as he pulls out a needle like object and walks towards them, “It’s time to make you one of us.” He adds as he grabs Bon-Bon by the head, Lyra goes to help her but Claire grabs her and pins her to the ground so she can’t move and forces her to watch as Kieron stabs the needle into Bon-Bon’s head, some liquid is forced in as a microchip flows into her head and imbeds itself onto her brain. “There, that should do it, now for the other.” He says as Bon-Bon stops struggling, he crawls over to Lyra, pulls out a new needle and strokes her mane a little as he looks into her eyes, Claire watching as she gets a strange feeling, as if she was enjoying this, Kieron slowly forces the needle into her head causing her to scream slightly from the pain, soon dying down as the chip imbeds into her brain. Kieron stands up and tells Claire to let go, “Right, that should do it. Now to activate them.” He says before pulling out a devise and pressing a button, a small beep emits from it as the chips start up and the two ponies get up normally as if nothing happened, “You now belong to us, you will live your lives normally but you will take orders from us.” He says to them, they both acknowledge him before he steps to the side and allows them to leave. Kieron puts a finger to the earpiece and starts to talk, “Grand Master, recruiting is going along quicker than expected, two more are ours now.” He says before lowering his hand and walking out the club with Claire close behind him, “I will see you tomorrow, sleep well.” He says to her before they part ways, he heads for him room in Canterlot since he hasn’t been there for a while; she heads for her house which is next to Treacle’s. Kieron wakes up as the sun shines through his window onto his face, he pushes the covers back and pulls himself out of bed, he walks over to the window and opens the curtains, he stands and looks out the window to see ponies walking about, he rubs his eyes before looking at the clock to see it saying that the time is later than he expected, 11:30AM. “What to do today?” he asks himself, he then goes and gets himself dressed, as he does his earpiece beeps on the table, he picks it up and he puts it on his ear, “What is it Mathis?” he asks as he continues to put on his clothing. “I have found and captured two ponies, they were snooping around, and I think they were looking for the generator room. I have put them in the prison area for you to deal with it.” He replies before cutting him off. Kieron takes off the earpiece and walks through the teleporter to get to the mech facility. When he gets there he immediately goes to the prison section. Once there he looks through the bars to see the ponies, he looks to see one of them is Moonshine and the other is Colgate. “Why are you two snooping around here? Moonshine, I thought more of you. Now, you know I have turned to be with the Grand Master so you have no choice but to be with him too. I leave this choice to you, you will either ‘punish’ Colgate or you can be left here with her.” He says before walking away to the main room. ----- Author's notes: Again guys, it's up to you. Shall Moonshine 'punish' Colgate or shall she not do anything and let Kieron come back later to do something? > A little trick > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 4: A little trick Last chapter: Kieron takes off the earpiece and walks through the teleporter to get to the mech facility. When he gets there he immediately goes to the prison section. Once there he looks through the bars to see the ponies, he looks to see one of them is Moonshine and the other is Colgate. “Why are you two snooping around here? Moonshine, I thought more of you. Now, you know I have turned to be with the Grand Master so you have no choice but to be with him too. I leave this choice to you, you will either ‘punish’ Colgate or you can be left here with her.” He says before walking away to the mane room. <30 minutes later> Kieron walks back into the room with Mathis by his side only to see Moonshine sat next to Colgate hugging her to reassure her, “My, my. I am very disappointed in you Moonshine.” He says as he walks up to the prison bars and rests against them with his hands holding some of the bars; he looks at them as they ignore him, he whistles to try and get their attention but they continue to ignore him, he suddenly jerks the bars causing them to make a loud noise that frightens Colgate who yelps as Moonshine holds on to her and shushes her quietly and calmly. “Moonshine, I know you too well, you DO want to side with me.” He says as he leans against the bars, she looks up at him sharply as she gives him a stern look as he looks away, she releases Colgate and walks up to Kieron. “You’re right, I DO want to join you...” she replies as Colgate pops her head up from the ball she’s forms with her body, “I do BUT I also don’t want to hurt anypony. I would rather keep them as my friends.” She adds. Kieron grabs at the bars suddenly startling Colgate, Moonshine staring into his eyes, “I know you too well, I know that if I leave you too in here for long enough you WILL ‘play’ with her, your cravings will get the better of you.” He explains as she looks down as Colgate looks at her in fear, her teeth chattering from the cold air in the prison plus the fear of being locked in there with Moonshine, the most well known sexually active pony in Equestria. “Yes, your right but I will try my best to resist that, I don’t have sex anypony when somepony tells me to, I do it when I want to.” She replies as she turns flank and walks back to Colgate who watches her fearfully, Moonshine sits down next to her and goes to put her arms round her but she jolts back as she is now unsure of whether to trust her. “My work is done here, she doesn’t trust you now.” Kieron says as he has a smug look on his face. She looks at him as he turns to leave, she flies into the bars and grabs them, growling at him, he quickly turns and grabs at her throat whilst pulling out a knife and holding it against her stomach, “I wouldn’t do that again if I was you.” “Try me, I know you wouldn’t, I’m your daughter, you don’t have the guts.” She says as she uses her grip on the bars to take her weight and stop him from choking her. “Oh really, I have two daughters remember.” He says before pushing the knife against her causing the knife to pierce her coat a little, she yells out a little as some blood starts to pour from the wound, he holds it there before he looks down and pulls it out quickly, let’s her go and turns to leave. Mathis stands and watches as he leaves, then looks at Moonshine. “He really has changed, I never would have thought he would do that.” He says before grabbing a bandage roll and throwing it in the cell and walks out, locking the door behind him. Moonshine stands and watches them both leave whilst holding at the wound but then let’s go and a small puddle of blood form below her as blood pours out of the wound for a second before slowing down to a dripping speed, Colgate watches but then rushes over to her and picks up the bandage with her magic and starts to unravel it, “No, don’t. I know he’s never done it before but I made the mistake of taunting him, now I must suffer the consequences.” She says to Colgate as she grabs the bandage and throws it to the side, “Ok, so we’re locked in a cell in a facility that has an evil man in it who is capable of killing thousands and there is Mathis. How do we get out of this?” she says to herself as she grunts a little whilst pacing to find a way out, Colgate stood watching. “I STILL haven’t had a reply from the princess, what’s taking her so long?” she asks Spike who is unnoticeably indulging himself on some ice-cream, “Moonshine’s been gone for a long time too...I hope she’s alright.” She adds as she looks out a window towards the facility, she then looks back at Spike as she gets no response and sees him going to take another mouth full, she uses her magic to take the scoop off him and the bucket and places them on a desk, “How many times do I have to tell you to not eat a whole bucket?” she shouts at him, she then takes a breath and calms down a little, “I’m sorry Spike, I’m just a bit worried about Moonshine.” She says before using her magic to lift the bucket to her, sticks her hoof in and pulls out a large lump of ice-cream before giving it back to Spike along with the scoop, she then walks back to the window whilst licking the ice-cream. “I think you should go look for her, Twilight. You never know what’s happened to her, she might not even be alive for all you know.” A sinister voice calls out to her, Spike not even making a noise as even his breath his disappeared. She looks back to see Spike floating in the air with the scoop shoved in his mouth to shut him up, she looks about to see nopony but then a figure walks down the stairs holding something pointing towards Spike, it was the Grand Master, his cane’s eyes glowing. “Let him go!” she orders him. “Tsk, tsk. No-one orders me about, you should be very careful, Miss Sparkle. I have your....pet in my power, I could kill him here and now, but I won’t as that would not help my plans.” He replies as he lowers the cane letting Spike down who immediately grabs the scoop and throws it away. “Ok, it’s official, I’m not having ice-cream for a month.” He says before walking behind Twilight as the GM walks down to the floor they’re on and sits on a small chair. “Not as good as my chair but it will do for now, as for Spike, that’s how you get him to stop eating the ice-cream, you should thank me.” He claims as Twilight gets angry with him and goes to step forward, “Ah, ah, ah. Control your anger, Miss Sparkle, we don’t want to do anything we will regret, do we now?” he says as she stops where she is as she knows he is right. He gets himself comfortable as he stabs the cane into the ground allowing it to stand on its own. He then looks about at the interior of the library, “A nice home you have here, small but decent. I think you should join us, in my opinion. You would make a useful asset.” He says as he clicks his fingers and Claire walks down the stairs and hands him a glass full of scotch. “What....why are you helping him?” Twilight asks Claire who looks up at her as she whispers something into the GM’s ear, she then stands up fully and stays by his side. “I am helping him because he is kind and he provides me with anything I require as long as I serve him.” She replies before she stands tall and holds the glass for him as he hands it to her after talking a sip, he stands up and walks over to Twilight who stays still, not even scared of him, he then points out of the window. “I think you should go see how she’s doing.” He says before walking back to the chair, picks up his cane and uses it to teleport himself and Claire out. Twilight then looks out of the window after looking about to see if he really is gone, she takes a moment to think about going to find her or not, after all he might be tricking her. She then makes up her mind, dashes about the library locking all the windows and doors, says goodbye to Spike before teleporting to outside the facility. Celestia finally wakes up from a hard night’s work; she lifts her head as she rubs her eyes, she gets out of bed and immediately walks over to the balcony, stumbling a little from being still a little groggy, she open the doors with her magic and looks down at the littered land of Equestria, she takes a deep breath before seeing a flash over by the mech facility, she looks hard but can’t make out anything, she then walks over to her desk to see something that normally isn’t there, as she gets close to it, it levitates over to her quickly and unravels, it was the letter Twilight sent. She quickly reads it and as soon as she finishes she dashes over to the balcony and watches to see a pony like figure slowly enter the facility, “Twilight....” she says to herself before rushing out the room to tell Luna the situation. When she gets there she knocks on the door only for Luna to quickly open them and dive at her, “Oh, sorry, sis’. I was expecting somepony else, what you want?” she asks as she gets of her and they both stand. “Kieron’s turned evil and is helping the Grand Master again. I’ve just seen Twilight going into the mech facility too, at least I think it was her, I wanted to tell you what I was doing before leaving. If I’m not back by lunch get the guards to lockdown Canterlot and set up defences.” She explains before heading off. “Wouldn’t it be easier if I went with you?” she asks as she walks next to ‘Tia. “No, I don’t want anything to happen to you. I will go alone.” She says before pushing Luna back a little, walks down the corridor and teleports out of Canterlot. Twilight sneaks into the facility through the front door, not the best idea but she keeps her guard as she constantly watches her surroundings for anything that might pop out at her, as she closes in on the main room a large figure exits from a dark corridor and walks up to her, “Miss Sparkle....” Zeldax says before she quietens him by putting a hoof over his mouth, she puts a hoof to her lips and take her hoof off his mouth, “What are you doing here, and why do I have to be quiet?” he asks whispering. “Kieron’s gone evil, he’s helping the Grand Master, and I’m here because Moonshine came here to blow this place up, but she never came back, do you know where she is?” she asks him quietly. “Yes, they’re in the prison, she’s with another pony called Colgate, I can lead you there without facing Kieron or Mathis. This way.” He replies before leading her into the dark corridor and towards the prison area of the facility. ----- Author's notes: What now? Shall Zeldax lead Twilight to Moonshine and Colgate and to the right thing. Or should he lead her into a trap that can be used for future plans? > High tension > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 5: High tension Last chapter: “Kieron’s gone evil, he’s helping the Grand Master, and I’m here because Moonshine came here to blow this place up, but she never came back, do you know where she is?” she asks him quietly. “Yes, they’re in the prison, she’s with another pony called Colgate, I can lead you there without facing Kieron or Mathis. This way.” He replies before leading her into the dark corridor and towards the prison area of the facility. As Zeldax leads twilight closer to the prison area a noise is heard from outside, two Havoc mechs on quad legs were unloading a large container, as the noises stop and they start to walk towards the Everfree forest, Mathis begins to talk through the speakers which sound through the whole facility apart from the prison area, “My core has been unloaded, sir. Moving it to the old, abandoned castle in the Everfree forest, whilst the transfer is in progress, I will temporarily be unable to communicate with you or do any surveillance.” He says before cutting off as the core is unplugged completely and the mechs walk away with the core in their grasp. Twilight looks at Zeldax who never returns glance, they both then wait a little before Zeldax continues onwards, “Now’s your chance to get them out, Mathis won’t see you. Just follow the corridor to the end and turn left.” He says before patting her on the back and heading back to the main room. Twilight watches as he disappears into the darkness, she looks the other way to look at the end of the corridor to where he said and makes her way there. As she gets closer to the prison she hears Zeldax’s voice, “Over there.” He says quietly from the darkness, Twilight immediately thought he was betraying her and picks up the pace towards the prison. When she gets there she tries to open the door but it’s locked, she pushes it but it doesn’t budge, she looks about for a way in, as she looks she peeks her head round the corner to looks down the corridor and gets a glimpse of a figure, she pulls herself back so she isn’t seen, as she thinks of what to do she can start to hear footsteps from the corridor, someone’s coming. She looks about frantically as she footsteps get closer, she looks up to see a small window, she climbs up to looks through and can see Moonshine on the bench with Colgate next to her, now that she knows what she’s looking for she closes her eyes and pictures the room in her head and uses her magic to teleport her into the room, just as the remains of the teleport spell disappears the figure turns the corner and looks about. Inside the room a quiet noise can be heard, Moonshine and Colgate look up quickly to see Twilight teleport into the room, “Twilight, what are you doing here, I told you to get everypony out of Ponyville.” Moonshine says as she gets up only to go limp a little from her wound but then gets up and walks over to the bars with Colgate right behind her. “You were taking too long, I’ve come to get you, but we have to be careful, someone was right behind me when I teleported in here.” She replies as she uses her magic to quietly open the lock on the door, then open the door letting them out, once out they all look for a way out of the room without going out of the door twilight came through as the figure might still be there. As they look about the click comes from the door making them all stop still and quickly look over to the door, the door clicks again but slightly louder, then again, and again, clicking more rapidly and more loudly, it clicks several times more before a loud bang comes from it, it sounds like someone’s trying to get in the room but then it stops and some footsteps can be heard. “Has it gone?” Colgate asks, Moonshine holding her before looking into her eyes. “I think so.” She replies before letting go and helping look for a way out, as they search a faint noise is heard from outside the room, it sounds like something charging up, Twilight slowly walks over to the door, puts her ear against it and listens, the noise getting louder slightly, she then climbs up and peek through the window to see something glowing and pointing at the door, her eye grow large as she notices and dives to the side as the noise stops and the door flies off its hinges causing the wall to buckle slightly from the great force that hit it. Twilight quickly gets up and rushes over to the others and stands in front of them protectively, the figure enters the room and out of the dust and looks about, Twilight immediately relaxes before rushing over to the figure, “PRINCESS CELESTIA!” she shouts in relief, the other then making their way over to her, Celestia in full power armour. “Twilight, Moonshine and your friend, I’m glad you’re safe...” she says in a calming voice, “I saw you entering here and read your letter, is it true?” she as Twilight as she lowers down to her height. “Yes, it’s true, Kieron has turned on us and is helping the Grand Master once again.” Twilight replies, “Why didn’t you reply to my letter?” she questions. Celestia looks away for a bit, “I’m sorry, it’s not like me to sleep in, I had a long night and had slept in late and so I never got your letter whenever you sent it.” She replies as she looks back at Twilight. “I think we should get out, Kieron will surely have heard that noise.” Moonshine interrupts the conversation as she barges past to head out into the corridor and looks about cautiously for anything suspicious, “All clear.” She says back to them. “No need everyone, he isn’t in the facility anymore...” Zeldax calls out over the speakers, “I have just found his dairy in the main room, and it isn’t good. Luna’s in trouble.” He explains. ‘Tia looks about as she listens, her helmet folding back as she looks to the ground before hearing Luna’s name. “Luna? Oh god.” She exclaims before dashing off to the main room, the others following close by, Moonshine flying to stop the pain slightly more than walking. When they get to the main room they can see Zeldax stood over the main console with a book in his hands, they rush over to him and he pushes the book so the side on the console so that they can see, ‘Tia walks up to him and starts to read the book, the other stood behind waiting. As she read through it she can be heard gasping and exclaiming, “Oh god.......no........oh no.....LUNA!!” she finishes before rushing off at full speed out of the facility with the other taking a few seconds to react but then follow her out. Kieron suddenly appears in the room with the Grand Master as they teleport into the room, “This is Celestia’s room, Luna’s isn’t far. Shall we?” Kieron says to the Grand Master who looks about at the fine bedroom before leaving with Kieron at the lead. When they exit the room some guards immediately notice the GM and charge them, he lifts his cane causing them to lift up into the air, he them grabs the cane with his other hand and holds it horizontally which holds the two guards against the side walls and then bones starts to crack as a force pulls them apart, soon ripping them apart limb by limb. Kieron watches as he fidgets and is giddy like a little child, the GM then looks back at Kieron, points ahead and he takes the lead, they soon come to Luna’s room, Kieron stands at the door and puts his ear against it, “She’s here.” He says before pushing a button on the back of his neck causing his power armour to unfold around him. He then puts his arms out to the sides before laser blade emit from them and he swipes at the edges of the door causing them to fall down but stay standing as the hinges are completely demolished, he kicks them causing them to fly back into the room, Luna diving out of the way to dodge them, she uses her magic to pick up a table and throw it at him, he swings an arm cutting the table into two halves both falling to the sides of him. The GM steps into the room with his cane pointing at Luna, “Ah, Princess Luna. You will be the help to our victory.” He says before using it to lift her us into the air, she uses her magic to hit him with a force that causes him to let go and her landing on the ground but before she could get back up Kieron was pinning her down, the GM then walks over to them and comments, “Come with me, you won’t be hurt....much.” before lifting his cane slightly and causing a glow to emit in the centre of the room, he then steps into the glow with Kieron holding Luna close behind, some guards spot them just as the glow fades away. “NOOO!” one guards shouts as he dives for the glow but passes right by as the glow completely disappears, “PRINCESS!” he shouts as he gets up and looks at where the glow was, “She’s gone....we need to tell Celestia, right now.” He says to the other guards before they both run off to find her. Just as the guards leave then room Celestia is running up the corridor towards them in full armour, “Guards, please tell me Luna’s still in there.” She says frantically and worried. The guards both shake their heads and she pushes past to look into Luna’s room, she stands at the doorway and looks into the room, Luna nowhere to be seen. “No....no, please, why Luna?” she asks herself as the other quickly appear behind her; she falls to her knees as she starts to fill up. “Princess, I’m sorry.” Twilight tries to reassure as she lies down next to ‘Tia and rests against her, the other stood watching. “I’m sorry to be rude at such a time but we need to set up defences if we are to have a chance.” Zeldax says in a deep voice. She looks up at him and quickly stands to come face to face with him as she doesn’t like his idea at first but only wants nothing more to get her sister back. After a little while she comes to terms with his idea and knocks slowly, “Fine, we need defences, Zeldax you go back to the facility and take control of it, even try to make a new AI that could help us or anything, we’ll start to set up the defences from the war....hopefully they still work.” She orders as Zeldax bows before running off, her and the other then rush off to start setting up the defences stated. The IRIS ship, Fenrir, hovers above the planet as it slowly moves in the calmness of space. The ship is huge, about three kilometres in length, possibly more. On the bridge the Grand Inquisitor is sat in a large chair, as he looks down at the planet through the glass flooring Kieron and the GM walk in, Luna tightly in Kieron’s grasp with a knife against her neck. “Grand Inquisitor, we have her.” The GM claims as he bows to him, the chair swings round and the old man looks at them before slowly getting up and walking over to them, he pats the GM on the shoulder to congratulate him and then walks over to Luna. “So, this is one of the ‘princesses’, my how.....quaint.” he says to her, she growls at him whilst jerking forward to try and get him but Kieron pulls her back and pushes the knife against her coat, “Now, now Kieron. I want her alive, not dead.” He says calmly. He looks into her eyes whilst he admires her fine mane, “I think you will do fine for our little plan.” He says before waving a hand to tell Kieron to take her away, Kieron and the GM then walk out of the room and he looks down at the planet once more before saying to himself, “This planet WILL be mine.” > A new princess > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 6: A new princess Last chapter: “So, this is one of the ‘princesses’, my how.....quaint.” he says to her, she growls at him whilst jerking forward to try and get him but Kieron pulls her back and pushes the knife against her coat, “Now, now Kieron. I want her alive, not dead.” He says calmly. He looks into her eyes whilst he admires her fine mane, “I think you will do fine for our little plan.” He says before waving a hoof to tell Kieron to take her away, Kieron and the GM then walk out of the room and he looks down at the planet once more before saying to himself, “This planet WILL be mine.” Equestria has been made into a impenetrable base ready for war, Canterlot has got the shield generators running from the war of extinction, as it has come to be called, the mech facility the Kieron once had has been overrun by the ponies and Zeldax now runs it along with a new AI he has created called Veronica. Celestia has changed; she is constantly patrolling the streets of Canterlot hoping that a human crosses her path so she can take her anger out of them; she is full of anger and rage for all humans, never trusting them again. Celestia is walking about the streets once more, constantly looking about cautiously for a human to pop out and attack her, as she gets close to a street square she stops and looks up into the night sky thinking about Luna hoping she is alright, hoping that those damn humans don’t hurt her. Trixie is out heading towards her house, as she passes the fountain in the middle of the square Celestia quickly look down at her, “You there, why aren’t you in your home?” Celestia asks harshly. Trixie stops and looks at her in fear, the princess stood in her armour but with the helmet missing, “I...I’m sorry princess, I....it won’t happen again.” She stutters as she goes to continue home, Celestia watches her as she walks by but as Trixie goes to turn and walk down another street she sees a figure peek out of an alleyway, the shadows covering it but only the head being noticeable, she looks hard and starts to head over to it. As she speed up it quickly turns to looks at her, the eyes glowing red, “Kieron.....” she says to herself just as she goes to run over to him he runs off into the alleyway with her in pursuit, when she reaches the entrance of the alleyway she can see him turn a corner, she flies up and lands on the roofs of the buildings, she runs along the rooftops as she watches where he is going, as she follows him he stops by the corner of a street and peeks round, he then looks about for her only to relax and walk out into the street. As she watches she sees a pony walking down the street towards him, the pony stops, it was the one from earlier, Trixie. She looks ahead to see Kieron walking towards her, she looks about frantically and back up slowly as Kieron closes in on her, she turns to runs away but as she turns Kieron is in front of her, she looks behind to see no-one there, “How did you...?” she asks fearfully, he looks down at her and punches her in the face, as she goes to face him after being hit he kicks her causing her to fall onto her side, he then walks up to her and puts a knee into her side as he pins her onto the floor, he then looks up towards the alleyway...waiting. Celestia crouches down as she too watches to see what he’s doing, as she watches she can see the shadows from the alleyway shifting, they move towards Kieron and Trixie, as they get closer a human figure forms from them, it was the Grand Master. Celestia goes to jump down but she stops herself as she wants to see what he’s doing here, the GM walks up to Trixie, Kieron leans back to allow him a gap, he places the bottom of the cane against her forehead and flicks the head of it causing a burst of energy to run through her. He lifts the cane and takes a step back, he waves his hand at Kieron to tell him to get off, and Kieron gets up and stands next to the GM. They both watch as Trixie slowly gets up and faces them, her face bland and showing no emotion, “Bow to me, pony.” The GM orders and just as he finished, Trixie bows to him, “You see Kieron, this way I have total control of her, using nothing but my voice. She is now a puppet to me. Your name, pony.” He explains to Kieron before asking Trixie her name. “My name is Trixie.” She replies, he then smirks as he gains a new member, “How may I serve you?” she asks, the GM smirks again but just as he goes to reply Kieron puts a hand against his arm and tells him to be still. “Something is watching us sir.......” he says as she stays still and listens, he takes him hand off the GM’s arm and quickly turns while pulling out a sniper rifle to aim at Celestia and right away takes a shot that just misses her, she rolls over and then jumps down into the alleyway, as he takes another shot and hits the brick wall behind her causing a few fragments of brick to fly off. He goes to follow her but the GM stops him by putting his cane in front of him to block him, he holsters his weapon and relaxes as the GM give him an order before using his cane to teleport him and Trixie away. He stands and watches as they disappear, he then turn his head to look down the alleyway, Celestia poking out to looks at him, he turns away and walks off with her following him from a safe distance. As he turns round a corner to head another street she rushes to the corner and peeks round, just as she does she pulls her head back as a knife flies past the corner in Kieron’s hand. She takes step back as he pulls his hand back to hide round the corner, next moment he is behind her and stabs her in the back leg as she goes to dodge, he pulls on the knife to tear her flesh a little and to pull her back, he then kicks he causing her to fall to the floor, he jumps up and goes to stabs to at her but she rolls out of the way so he hits the floor. He looks to the side to stare at her and he tugs on the knife but it doesn’t budge, she gets up and puts pressure on the wounded leg, ignoring the pain. She charges at him, as she get really close he give one last tug and pulls the knife out of the floor and swipes at her but she teleport away only to appear on the other side of him and still running, her head low and she stabs him in the side with her horn, lifting her head so he is off the ground, he punches her in the face a couple of times before she puts on the brakes and he slides off her horn into a wall and falls to the ground groaning. As he clutches at his side he gets up and comments, “You’re a bitch, you know that?” before putting his arms to his side and the laser blade emit from then, “I would like a piece of you now.” He says before jumping up and then kicking off the wall to launch at her, she stands still and waits for him to get close, as soon as he is right in front of her she uses her magic to push him to the side, he hits the floor but still on his feet, he looks up to see the remains of a teleport spell, he looks to his other side to see her appear, before she could get her next action done he point his am back at her and fires a pulse cannon at her causing her to fly back a bit, she uses this to her advantage and teleports again but this time using the momentum to land on top of him, crushing him slightly in her armour, he groans loudly as she lands on all fours into his back. “BITCH, YOU’LL PAY FOR THAT!” he shouts before rolling causing her to land on the floor next to him, he quickly gets up and goes to stab her with a laser blade, just as he raises his arm to strike his earpiece beeps, he uses his other hand to press it. Moments later he lowers his arm and turns, “It would seem I am need elsewhere.” He says before running off, she gets up and watches as he disappears into the darkness, she thinks hard as she has never seen him so quick like this, he seems more powerful and deadly, she then turns and continues with her patrol of Canterlot. Zeldax walks up to the main room desk and looks up at the screen to see a video camera showing the battle of Kieron and Celestia, cameras were put all over Equestria along with alarm towers, “How did they get into Canterlot, Veronica?” he asks her as her holographic image appears behind him. “I don’t know, Zeldax but I do know that there are no other reports of ponies missing or any attacks, of the ponies that HAVE been taken that would total to about three plus Luna. There isn’t any other that I have reports of.” She replies as he turns to looks at her then back at the screen to see the camera change to show Kieron running through Ponyville and towards the facility. “Stop him, don’t let him anywhere near here.” He order as she disappears and immediately some guard mechs run out of the facility and head towards Ponyville, some stopping outside. Kieron is running through the centre of the village, as he runs past the village hall two ponies run up to him and join him, “Nice of you to join in.” He says as they all run towards the facility but are stopped when a couple of guard mechs block their path, “Mathis....hack them, make them ours.” He says, one of the mechs then walks towards them but then stops and shakes as something takes control. “Control taken sir, it is ours, the other one is resisting, I’m sorry but I can turn it, I will use this one to fight the other and stop it from getting you.” Mathis replies as the mech turn and opens fire on the other mech that goes to attack Kieron. The ponies and he then run off once more for the facility. Celestia enters the castle and head upstairs to her room as she finally gives up for the night and goes to get some rest, as she gets to her room the TV lights up and Veronica appears on the screen, “Princess, it appears Kieron is heading for the mech facility. I will try my best to stop him.” She says as Celestia takes off the armour, puts it on the table and heads over to her bed, as she lays down on it and covers herself over she replies. “No humans deserve my trust anymore, kill him, all humans must die, destroy all humans.” > Return of nightmare: part 1 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 7 part 1: Return of nightmare Last chapter: Celestia enters the castle and head upstairs to her room as she finally gives up for the night and goes to get some rest, as she gets to her room the TV lights up and Veronica appears on the screen, “Princess, it appears Kieron is heading for the mech facility. I will try my best to stop him.” She says as Celestia takes off the armour, puts it on the table and heads over to her bed, as she lays down on it and covers herself over she replies. “No ponies deserve my trust anymore, kill him, all ponies must die, destroy all ponies.” Kieron reaches the facility and right away a mech starts to open fire on him, he runs about as he draws its attention, the two ponies then sneak past it and enter the facility, “Remember what I told you to look for.” He shouts as they enter the facility and he then runs right at the mech, jumps over it and stabs it with a laser blade causing it to fall down, he then stabs it with his other arm right in the head downwards causing it to fall right down and shut down. He then jumps off and heads for the front door, just as he grabs the door handle his earpiece beep, “Have you acquired it yet?” a voice asks him. “No, sir, I have two ponies inside the facility now, looking for the syrem.” He replies. “Good, you know we need that syrem, it will allow us to bring out the full potential of the weapon.” The voice explains before cutting him off. Inside the facility the two ponies sneak round the main room and head straight to the med-lab, when they get there they search everywhere for it, soon Bon-Bon finds it and they head out of the med-lab only to be greeted by Zeldax, they slowly make their way past him as he watches them, “Please Zeldax, we need this to help our friend, she’s been hurt and we were told that this could help her.” Lyra says to him as he knods to let them go, not suspecting a thing. They quickly head out of the facility and back to Kieron, they hand him they syrem and he looks at them with a proud look, “Good, he’ll be proud of you.” He says before looking up to the sky and pressing a button on his armour, not long after he is teleported away. Lyra and Bon-Bon then head back to Ponyville. The ship is large, with a large ball like structure in the centre and four long parts coming off at each side, the front and back are longer and wider than the sides and a tall tower like structure at the back, just behind the ball part, the front and back are in two parts right next to each other to form into one piece, the tower being the bridge. Kieron walks into the bridge with the syrem in hand, the GM walks up to him and he hands the syrem to him, “Here, as promised.” Kieron says to him as he takes it and smirks. “Good, on step closer to having the weapon ready, would you like to see it?” he asks Kieron who knods, they both then head out of the bridge, the Grand Inquisitor staring down at the planet whilst watching the consoles. <30 minutes later> They reach the front of the ship which has been changed into a large weapon, they walk up to a piece of machinery, the GM waves his hand to reveal it to Kieron who looks at it, he then walks round it to see Luna strapped to a table with her hooves tied down, some needles poking into her head and a piece of equipment attached to her horn, she is barely conscious as he walks up to her and looks into her drowsy eyes, she slowly lift her head and looks at him, he smirks before the GM walks up next to him and slowly pokes the syrem needle into her leg and then administers it to her. She slowly looks over to the GM just as he takes the needle out, after a few minute she starts to shake violently as it takes effect; she looks over to Kieron and uses her magic to push him back into the wall. “Kieron, let her use her magic, make her angry, the more she uses her magic the more we harness from her, let her power free.” The GM says to him as he tries to resist her magic she then uses her magic to pull him down onto the floor and start to pull at his limbs, he starts to groan as the pain gets too much for him, she uses her magic to pull more and more as bone start to brake and tearing can be heard from him, her eyes starting to glow. “That will be enough.” The GM says as he pulls a lever that activates the machine which immediately starts to literally suck the force out of Luna who drops Kieron as her magic weakens due to it begin drained from her body and fed into the machine, Kieron groaning in pain as he grabs his arm and pushes it back into place, then slowly gets up and watches Luna being drained of her force as he stands next to the GM who then pushes the lever back up to stop the machine as he has collected enough energy needed, Luna’s head goes limp as she feels weak. The GM walks over to another piece of machinery and points, “Kieron, you can fire it, just sit here.” He says as Kieron walks over as he waves his hand past the chair, Kieron sits in the chair and a large screen swings round and lights up to show a crosshair and power readings. A large door opens in front to show the front of the ship, he then grabs a joystick and pulls it to the right, the whole of the ship then rotates to turn and face the moon. He looks through the crosshair before grabbing another joystick and pressing the trigger, the weapon starts to power up as the magic from Luna starts to feed into it, he presses the trigger once more and the weapon charges up, soon come to full power and ready to fire, he presses it once more and the weapon goes quiet before firing a large beam of energy at the moon, creating a large hole in the side of it, the beam able to be seen from the planet’s surface, Celestia watching it from her balcony as she couldn’t sleep and was watching over Equestria from there. Celestia walks up to the TV and presses a button on the front of it, an image of Veronica appears on it, “Yes your majesty?” she asks. ‘Tia stands and points outside. “What was that light in the sky? That wasn’t natural...” she questions, Veronica looks past her and then looks back at her. “Oh, the beam, that was an IRIS ship firing a weapon, it hit the moon and has destroyed half of it.” She replies as Celestia stands wide-eyed, “Is there anything else you want?” she asks. “Yes, get the C.O.C and L.R.M.S ready. I feel like we may need them.” She order, the screen goes black and immediately some loud mechanical noises can be heard from outside, she walks over to the balcony to see the large door on the ground near Ponyville open and fold to the sides, once open a large cannon rises from underground, and a large missile array rises from the other doors. They soon come to full height, and Celestia watches as the turn and survey the night sky for hostiles. Kieron stands up out of the chair and looks at the large crater in the side of the moon, “Wow, I am so gonna LOVE this gun.” He calls out excitedly whilst hugging a piece of machinery. The GM walks up to him and has to literally peel him away from it, “Hay, this is my gun now.” He says as she relaxes and turns to face the GM, he looks over his shoulder and looks at the tired and exhausted princess strapped to the table. They both make their way out as Kieron looks at Luna whilst passing by, she returns glare with a pitiful look, he stops and goes back to stand in front of her, he looks into her eyes as she looks into his, his eyes red and dark, she lifts her head as she groans from the pain, “Kieron.....it hurts....it hurts Kieron....please don’t do....this.” she slowly gets her words out. “Do what, kill everypony in Equestria? No, I enjoy the suffering of you pathetic creatures, don’t think your small talk will make me feel guilty about what I’m doing...I don’t feel guilt.” He replies to her, before walking out of the room and shouting out to the GM, “So what’s the next target?!” Ponyville is already tightly sealed down as royal guards stop anypony from leaving without permission and without a scan by a guard mech, the big guns now fully operational and scanning the skies for enemies, guards mechs constantly patrolling the village in twos, royal guards in power armour at every major building, Library, Sugarcube Corner, Rarity’ house, Fluttershy’s cottage and even Treacle’s house. Twilight is walking to Rarity’s as she goes to have a sleep over, as she passes by Treacle’s house she bumps into Applejack who is pulling a cart of goodies to the village hall. She stops to talk to her for a little bit but after about a minute or two they hear a loud bang come from inside Treacle’s house, “What in tarnation was that?” Applejack asks as she lets go of the cart to stand next to Twilight and they both look at the house to see Treacle dart past a window but then another figure pass it, it then slowly come back to the window and pushes the curtain open to looks down at them. Twilight’s heart skips a beat as the figure looks at them with glowing red eyes, but yet it wasn’t Kieron, she knew that, so who was it? She thought about it for a while, Applejack staring at the figure, she looks at Twilight who then looks up quickly, “MATHIS! He’s after Treacle, they’re trying to turn her to be back with Kieron.” She calls out quickly as runs up to the door and tries to push it open. “Move aside Twi. I got this.” Applejack says as Twilight moves to the side and she walks up to the door, turns round jumps up with her back legs and bucks them at the door knocking it off its hinges. They rush inside and go to head up the stairs but Moonshine drops down from above and blocks their path. “Moonshine move out of the way, Treacle’s in trouble.” Twilight orders her as screaming from upstairs starts as Mathis begins the transfer. “Nopony orders me about, not anymore. I know Treacle is upstairs but she isn’t in trouble, she’s just being rehabilitated.” She replies as Applejack steps forwards, Moonshine’s head held high and proud. “Now listen here you, our friend need our help, now move your lil’ flank out of our way or I’ll kick your backside to the next world, ya hear me?” Applejack impatiently orders, Moonshine smirks and looks down at her to looks into her eyes. “Is that a fight I hear you wanting?” she says intimidating Applejack, AJ looks about confused. “No, I did not say that, I said for you to move, I don’t want to fight anypony.” She replies as the screaming stops and Moonshine walks down the stairs and moves out of the way. “Be my guest, but don’t be so sure she’ll be willing to accept your help.” She says as they dash up the starts, Moonshine then leaves and walks towards Canterlot. Applejack and Twilight get to the bedroom door; Twilight knocks only for a mechanical noise to sound then some glass smashing, they burst into the room to see Treacle curled up in a corner and one of her windows broken. They dash over to her and Twilight tries to reassure her, “Treacle, are you ok?” she asks her calmly and softly. “Ok? Of course....” she replies quietly, “Why wouldn’t I?” she asks a little louder, “BUT YOU WON’T BE!” she shouts just as she looks up at Twilight with a manic look on her face, Twilight rears back quickly as this wasn’t treacle at all, she never had that look upon her face, according to Kieron, not even when she was with SKULL. Celestia it still sat on the balcony hoping that she is doing the best she can to ensure the best protection for the ponies of Equestria, as she looks down at Ponyville she sees the outline of a figure flying towards her; she looks hard to see that it’s a pony but whom? As she watches the figure get closer she can see the long straight mane and tail, the figure gets really close but then suddenly disappears is it dive bombs downwards, ‘Tia loses sight of it for a moment, she looks over the edge of the balcony to looks for it but nothing could be seen, she looks hard for the pony but she soon gives up think nothing of it, she turns to go to see if she can get to sleep now. When she gets to her bed she hears a light breathing noise, as if something was watching her, she looks about to see nopony, the breathing getting louder as if it was getting closer, she suddenly pauses and then slowly looks upwards to see Moonshine almost nose to nose with her, “Moonshine, what are you doing?” she asks as she take a step back to get some room, Moonshine not answering but staring at her and with a large grin upon her face. Celestia knew something wasn’t right; she looks at Moonshine who levels herself out to look at the princess. Celestia went to walk over to her but Moonshine away dashes over to her, not to hug her or anything of the usual but as if she wanted to hurt the princess, Celestia steps out of the way causing Moonshine to crash into Celestia’s make-up closet. Moonshine quickly gets up and without Celestia noticing pikes up something and conceals it under her wing, she then charges at the princess who uses her magic to push her to the side, she uses this to help her get about and quickly ends up behind the princes, Celestia turns to face her but Moonshine wasn’t behind her, turn to look over by the balcony only for Moonshine to launch at her and pull out a pair of scissors from behind her wing and slice at the princess cutting her across the eye, she lands on Celestia’s bed as blood starts to pour from the cut over her eye, her eye itself was fine but she was a large cut about five inches long going across her eye, she turns to face the bed but again she wasn’t where she was expected to be. Celestia looks about frantically as she puts a hoof to her eye to wipe the blood off, as she pulled it away she could see Moonshine’s reflection in her blood, she looks above her bed to see Moonshine laid on top of the cover above the bed. “You know princess, there IS one thing I like better than sex, believe it or not...” she says as she turns to lay with her head hanging off the edge looking down at the princess, “I love to cause others pain and suffering, nothing pleases me more than to see other in pain, you the most.” She explains as she puts the scissors to her tongue and slides it along her tongue as she licks the blood off, cutting her tongue quite deeply but thinks nothing of it, not even a slight cringe. She then pulls the scissors from her mouth and drops them, “Our little fight was fun but I’m afraid I have to go, I will come back to play some more.” She says before flying out of the room laughing. Celestia watches as she flies off, “What is going on here, why is everypony trying to kill me?” she asks herself. > Return of nightmare: part 2 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Return of nightmare: part 2 Last chapter: “You know princess, there IS one thing I like better than sex, believe it or not...” she says as she turns to lay with her head hanging off the edge looking down at the princess, “I love to cause others pain and suffering, nothing pleases me more than to see other in pain, you the most.” She explains as she puts the scissors to her tongue and slides it along her tongue as she licks the blood off, cutting her tongue quite deeply but thinks nothing of it, not even a slight cringe. She then pulls the scissors from her mouth and drops them, “Our little fight was fun but I’m afraid I have to go, I will come back to play some more.” She says before flying out of the room laughing. Celestia watches as she flies off, “What is going on here, why is everypony trying to kill me?” she asks herself. Celestia wakes up and lifts her head off of her pillow to have the sun shining in through the balcony doors onto her face, she pushes the covers back and takes a look at the wound on her back leg, the wound had scabbed over and was no longer bleeding, she gets out of bed and walks over to her trashed make-up closet and crouches down to look into the shattered mirror, she looks into a large enough piece to see her own face, the slice across her eye was scabbed over but still fresh. She walks up to the balcony and opens the door, she looks to her right over to Luna’s balcony expecting to see her sister sat out on it but nopony was there, she looks down as her heart sinks with grief. She lifts her head back up and looks over to Ponyville to see it calm and peaceful like it normally is before the damn humans arrived, she then suddenly remembers about something she needed to do. She dashes over to the TV, presses a button to be greeted by Veronica, “Veronica, I want to update the reports, Moonshine has turned, please warn all ponies about her.” She order, veronica knods and immediately an echo can be heard from outside as the speaker towers around Canterlot and Ponyville begins to speak. “Warning all ponies, we have a new update on the reports, a pony known as Moonshine has turned, she is now one of SKULL, if she is seen please head for the nearest alarm tower.” She says as a holographic screen unfolds from the speaker towers and shows an image of Moonshine, in Ponyville Twilight walks up to one of the towers and replies. “Wait Veronica.” All the tower screens then change to show and image of Twilight stood apart from the screen she was speaking to, “I have an update too, Treacle Tart, she was converted last night, she is now part of SKULL, I barely got away.” She adds as the screen zooms in to see that she has a large scar across her cutiemark and a smaller one on her cheek. Celestia appears on the screen that twilight is talking to and asks, “Treacle Tart? Are you sure about this Twilight?” she knods to confirm it as Applejack walks up beside her with part of her mane torn. “I can confirm that princess, Twi here was attacked pretty badly.” She confirms as she puts a hoof on Twilight’s back to comfort her, Celestia looks down as she thinks about it. “It would seem things are just getting worse but the day.” She says before looking back at the screen as an image of Treacle appears in the corner of ever screen, “Veronica, put Ponyville in full lockdown, I want Havoc mechs patrolling it, guards mech guarding the streets and I want you to start taking supplies to every remaining town, village and city that stands so we start forming a resistance, I fear that SKULL my strike soon.” She orders before the screens go black and fold up back into the speaker towers. Twilight and Applejack look over to the mech facility as some loud mechanical noise come from it, a couple of minutes later a havoc walks out and heads for Ponyville, then about five minutes later another one walks out. Kieron walks in by himself, no-one knows where he is, he walks round to Luna to see her still tied up, her hooves now got red mark on them from the metal straps, he puts his hand on her face as she has her head hanging as she is asleep, he uses his hand to lift her head up to get a good look at her, her eyes closed and her mouth hanging down, her breath warm against his face, he closes his eyes as he feels her breath on his skin, he slowly opens them to look her once more before using his other hand to stroke her mane, after a few strokes he grabs a clump of her mane and tug hard. She wakes up suddenly and immediately starts to call out in pain, her head leaning to the side to where he is pulling, she opens her eyes to look down at him with her eyes, he grabs the top of the table and puts his legs against the table so that he is lifted off the floor and comes face to face with her. “Princess Luna......You are so beautiful...and here you are being used as our weapon, I think you’re a laugh. You aren’t merely powerful enough to be Celestia’ sister, you should be ashamed to call yourself a princess.” He insults her as he tug tighter causing her to groan, even pull back a little only for him to pull more, almost ripping some of her mane off. “Well, I AM a princess so deal with it, or would you rather me prove it?” she asks him as he rips out a little of her mane, tears in her eyes from the sharp pain. “Well, that would be very fun but you won’t be going anywhere, you are tied to this machine.” He says as he taps on one of the straps around her hoof, she looks down at the straps and starts to concentrate even if she was still a little weak, her horn glows from under the devise stuck to it, Kieron looks at her and sees the straps starting to give slightly, he then looks at her, his power armour unfolds around him and he punches her in the face to divert her concentration, the straps stop giving way and he drops down to start and tighten them again, her head hanging as she is knocked out. As soon as he finishes with the straps he walks past her and to the door, “You are such a laugh, I can’t wait to fight you for real, and then you can prove how powerful you claim to be.” He says before stepping out and the doors close behind him. <30 minutes later> Kieron walks onto the bridge and the Grand Inquisitor turns on his chair to face him, “Ah, Kieron...Would you stand by me please?” he asks quietly, Kieron walks up next to him as he swings his chair back around, “Grand Master 03 has gone down to the planet’s surface, he is paying their princess a visit, we can watch from here. Mathis, get us visuals.” He orders as a video image of the GM appears on the glass in front of them, he is walking towards the main doors of Canterlot, some royal guards in armour start to open fire on him but all the rounds are deflected by the power of his cane, he then raises his cane and the guards are smashed off each other before being thrown high into the sky, he walk up to the door and stops and looks back over his shoulder to watch as the two guard crash into the ground, dead. He opens the doors, steps inside and immediately an alarm blares as guards rush to the main hall to surround him, Celestia dashes to the first floor railing to see what the commotion is only to see the GM stood at the doors with about 20 guards around him, he looks at all of them one by one. They aim their guns at him; he smirks as he puts the bottom of the cane against the ground, “Using guns against an unarmed man is very unprofessional.” He says as he lifts the cane up and stabs it into the ground which also causes all of the guns to shatter despite being made of tough materials. The guards look at their guns as they fall to the floor in piece, they then look at the Gm who reaches over his right shoulder and presses a broach, then on the left shoulder to unclip his cape which then falls to the ground, he then puts an arm to his side as the other is put in front pointing to the grounds, “Who will be first?” he asks, one guard then musters up the strength to face him and steps forward, the guard take a second to get ready before he charges the GM who swiftly moves to the side and punches the guard right in the ribs causing them to crack and pierce the guard’s lungs, the guards stops and stands for a second before collapsing to the floor. The GM then looks about for his next target, Celestia then calls from upstairs, “Stop, he obviously isn’t here to fight you all, he’s here for me...” she then jumps down from the first floor and lands behind some of the guards who refuse to move out of the way, she uses her magic to push them to the sides as she walks up to the GM as her armour unfolds around her, her eyes glowing bright white, “Why have you come?” she asks him. He smirks whilst looking at her, “You answered that one yourself.” He replies in a cocky tone, he then turns his back on her and walks over to his cane, pulls it out of the ground and stands in a position as if her were about to fence, “En guard” he slowly says to her as she guards encircle them and cheer the princess on. She steps forwards and immediately he dashes forward at incredible speed and swings his cane hitting her leg causing her to tumble a little, she turns to face him and uses her magic to slam him down into the ground before jumping up and stamping onto his back hard, he shouts out in pain as she lift up to stamp again, using her other hoof to pin him down, he then picks up his cane and stabs it into her leg causing her to lift it up, he rolls over and flicks his legs so that he lifts up and lands on his feet, he then swings his cane with both hands in a golf hitting motion and thwacks Celestia in the chin, she falls back onto the floor, he jumps up and goes to stab the cane into her but she dodges just in time so that his cane hits the floor and sticks, he tugs of it but it doesn’t budge. She stands up and looks at him before using her magic to pull at his legs so that he falls face first into the floor, she then pulls at him so he slams into the wall then the floor and into the wall again, she then uses her magic to grab a table and launch it at him whilst he’s against the wall, he slowly moves his hand so that he aims at the cane, but it doesn’t move, the table hits of him and he falls to the ground, he lands on his knees with his fists against the floor, blood drips from his mouth. He lifts a hand to wipe the blood, looks at it then he slowly lifts himself to his feet, ready to fight more. Celestia watches as he stand up fully, he then quickly runs at her, she runs at him and the GM dodges to the side and jumps to kick her in the side causing her to fall into her side, he lands next to his cane and flicks it then tugs on it, it pulls out of the ground like it was nothing, walks over to ‘Tia and lifts it causing her armour to fold up away, he then raises the cane to strike down on her, she look up at him and as soon as he thrust downwards she moves out of the way but instead of hitting her in the side he catches her wing and tears a part of it off as the cane sticks in the ground and she’s pulling away, soon the whole wing tears off and blood spurts out of the open gash in her side, she lays on the floor and screams in pain as the pain overwhelms her and blood rushes from it. The guards then take action and swarm the area around her, some even rushing the GM causing his to retreat, taking the ‘trophy’ with him. As he runs out of the door, he uses his cane to teleport him out of there and to the Fenrir. The GM appears on the bridge laugh loudly, “YES, I HAVE FINALLY GOT A PIECE OF THAT PRINCESS!” he shouts victoriously, the Grand Inquisitor then stands and walks up to him. “So, is it done?” he asks, the GM looks up at him quickly. “I’m afraid not, sir but I can say, I have just severely wounded her.” He replies whilst pulling the wing from behind him, blood dripping from it. He chuckles as the Grand Inquisitor grabs hold of it and puts on a slightly amused face. “Well done Grand Master 03, you have done me proud, she may not be dead, but our chance of victory is now greater. Thank you.” He compliments before handing the wing back and sitting back in the chair, the GM then walks out of the room, wing in hand and Kieron closely following him. ‘Tia is rushed to the hospital as three guards aid her down the corridor, they soon come to it and burst through the doors, “BED...NOW!” one guard shouts as the nurses gasp in shock to see the princess being in the hospital to with being hurt. A nurse quickly clears a bed and the guards aid ‘Tia onto it as she looks around drowsily as the bloody continues to rush from her, her head starting to feel faint. They put her on the bed and the nurses immediately start to get all the equipment needed, a heart monitor, anaesthetics and some cleaning tools, they hook her up to the heart monitor and they watch as her heart rate slowly gets lower, another nurse cleans the wound and starts to close up the wound as quickly as possible without doing a bad job of it. ‘Tia looks about as the guards back off and take up position at the entrance of the hospital, the nurses dashing about as they try their best to help her, her eyes slowly close as she falls unconscious from the blood loss. Mechs now surround Ponyville, guard mech patrolling the streets and royal guards stood in armour at all the important buildings, all the speaker towers suddenly open and the holographic screens show an image of Celestia in the hospital, “Warning, the princess has been injured, all guards be on full alert, SKULL has struck, repeat, they have struck and the princess is in critical condition.” Veronica calls out through the towers. Twilight and Applejack watch the video as they see the nurses trying their best to save the princess, “God dang it. How did they manage to do that?” Applejack asks her as Pinkie Pie joins them. “Hay, what’s up girls? She asks before looking at the screen, “OH MY GOSH, THE PRINCESS, WHAT HAPPENED?!” she questions loudly, Twilight calms her down. “I don’t know Pinkie but they have really hurt her, and if I was right, they will attack again soon.” She replies as they all look at the screen, Fluttershy soon joining them along with Rainbow Dash, “Look at this girls, look at what SKULL has done.” She says as she points at the screen and as Rarity joins them, all of them staring at the dying princess. “Time to strike again Kieron.” The GM says as he walks up to Luna who is wide awake and watches them both come round to her, “Ready for another firing princess?” he asks her as he slides his hand across her face. She bite it and he pulls away to slap her, “Down girl.” He sharply orders, Kieron walks over to the seat and sits in it, the screen slides along, Luna starts to concentrate her magic as the GM walks over to the machine and flips the lever, the machine starts to whir as it begins to drain her power once more, she uses her magic to resist the draining somehow. “Grand Master, I’m reading a fluctuation in the draining speed...” Kieron says as he looks at the power reading on the screen, he then looks back at her, “It’s her, and she’s using her magic to resist it.” He adds as the GM uses his cane to be unable to use her magic briefly. The machine then fully charges quickly, soon coming to full power, “Ready to fire, sir.” He says as the GM walks over to him and points at the screen of the Everfree forest, Kieron then grabs the joystick and presses the trigger, the weapon charges up, gathering the power, the ship turns to face the planet, he presses the trigger again, the weapon then becomes silent as it fully charges, he looks down the crosshairs at the planet and grabs tightly as the joystick, Luna watching. He looks down the crosshairs with the GM stood watching, Kieron’s grin coming to a climax, just before he presses the trigger for the third and final time Luna says to herself, “I’m sorry ‘Tia.” > IRIS' breakdown > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 8: IRIS’ breakdown Last chapter: “Grand Master, I’m reading a fluctuation in the draining speed...” Kieron says as he looks at the power reading on the screen, he then looks back at her, “It’s her, and she’s using her magic to resist it.” He adds as the GM uses his cane to be unable to use her magic briefly. The machine then fully charges quickly, soon coming to full power, “Ready to fire, sir.” He says as the GM walks over to him and points at the screen of the Everfree forest, Kieron then grabs the joystick and presses the trigger, the weapon charges up, gathering the power, the ship turns to face the planet, he presses the trigger again, the weapon then becomes silent as it fully charges, he looks down the crosshairs at the planet and grabs tightly as the joystick, Luna watching. He looks down the crosshairs with the GM stood watching, Kieron’s grin coming to a climax, just before he presses the trigger for the third and final time Luna says to herself, “I’m sorry ‘Tia.” The shot fires and the beam quickly hits the Everfree forest, as soon as it hits the light blinds everypony that looks at it, the glow soon covering all of Ponyville and Canterlot, the glow soon dies down and the mane six look at where the shot hit, they could see the whole of the Everfree forest gone along with the mech facility, the observatory was only just out of the blast range, Dr Atom opens his front door and looks about, “What is all the racket about?” he asks, completely oblivious to the attack outside. He looks about to see the mech facility gone and as he walks out and looks behind he can see the remains of the beam disappearing into the air, he looks up to see the faint glow coming from the ship in the day shy, the sun glaring from directly behind it. He observes the beam as it finally disappears, he rubs his chin as the mane six run up to him, “I think I know what that is, looking at the technology that Kieron had before, I would say that it was a particle accelerator cannon.” He says to them just as they reach him. “Whatever you says Einstein, we have to get out of ‘ere.” Applejack replies as she begins to push him towards Ponyville, he walks with her but slowly as he looks up at the ship. “Sir, the shot wasn’t at full potential; just as we fired something interfered with the weapon.” Kieron says to the GM who looks at Luna who looks back with a grin full of success, he goes to walk to her but is stopped by Mathis. “Sir, we have a problem, IRIS soldiers are heading your way, I don’t think the Grand Inquisitor liked your disallowed firing of the weapon.” He says as the GM walks over to the doors, prays them open slightly and looks to see the soldiers walking down the long corridor all in step. He closes the door and head to Luna, places the cane on her forehead, she shakes her head about to stop him but Kieron grabs her by the neck to stop her, the GM then uses his cane to convert the princess so that she is under his control. Kieron then heads to a console and presses a few buttons, hacking into the main systems of the ship. “Lights out.” He says before pressing the final button and all the lights go out, in fact almost all electrics go offline, apart from the life-support systems and orbital navigation systems. The GM loosens straps and Luna falls to the floor weak but soon gets up as her grin goes from success in stopping the GM to a maniacal type grin. The soldiers open the doors slowly and turn on their torches, as they search the room they see the console that Kieron was using, it said on the screen ‘Power down, please connect to power supply’, they then search the rest of the room only to see Luna stood in the darkness over by the chair to fire the weapon, on soldiers raises his gun to aim at her, she looks over to him and her stare pierces a hole right through his head, her eyes tiny like pin-pricks. The soldier freezes temporarily before another soldier takes a shot at Luna who teleports behind them, uses her horn to stab one soldier, throwing him to the ground, then teleporting as the others turn, she appears above the floored soldier and falls down onto him, stamping on his head causing it to explode, she then jumps to the side as the others open fire, she lands by the console. One soldier reacts quickly and pulls out a knife to throw at her, just as the knife gets really close it is deflected by Kieron’s armour as he swiftly moves in front of it, he then puts his arms to his sides and Luna grabs one, he looks down at her hoof then up at the soldiers before quickly moving his hand forward to launch Luna at them, as the soldiers dodge the flying princess, they turn to face her, Kieron then suddenly appears behind them and stabs two of them in the back with his laser blades. He then drops the soldiers down as the three remaining open fire on him, he quickly move to behind the table that Luna was on previously, she jumps up and lands on one of them, the others aim at her and she looks up at them, just as they press the triggers the dives out of the way and the rounds hit the soldier, as they continue to fire but follow her they lift up into the air and then are ripped apart as the GM is stood behind them with his cane raised, aiming at them. The three of them then are teleported out as the GM swings his cane and a white glow appears behind him. Just as they enter it some more soldiers enter the room. They appear on the edge of Ponyville but out of sight of anypony, “Mathis, cut the life-support.” The GM orders, immediately Mathis cuts off the life-support systems on the Fenrir, the Grand Inquisitor already fled the ship back to the IRIS headquarters, the remaining soldiers on the ship being choked to death from lack of oxygen as the bay doors in the hangers are opened and all the ventilation shafts suck out the air. Soon the ship was littered with dead bodies and was silent. “It is done sir, the Fenrir is ours.” Mathis replies after he confirms that all IRIS forces on the Fenrir are dead, the GM then goes to walk away but he is stopped as a flash of light appears behind him and a person in similar uniform to the GM steps out with some soldiers in black armour. “Resisting IRIS is a tough move Grand master 03, but you weren’t the only one planning on it.” The person says to him. The GM turns to look at the person and then smirks. “Ah, Alfred, I always had the feeling there was something odd about you, now I know, you too wanted to go against IRIS.” He says before saluting to the Grand Master, “Two Grand Masters working together, Grand Master 01 and Grand Master 03. Come, we have a base to create, and I know just the place.” He says before walking off away from Ponyville, Kieron following with Luna right behind them, Alfred takes a second but then walks up beside them with his guards following, Kieron and the guards high-fiving and giving respect to each other before the GM says, “Mathis, bring the ship.” Celestia is finally stabilised, her blood loss stopped and her heart rate now at a steady figure, she slowly opens her eyes as a nurse is sat next to her watching the heart monitor, she slowly moves her hoof to put it onto the nurse’s chair, she startles the nurse as she jumps almost out of her chair, she quickly gets back up to see ‘Tia chuckling slightly and quietly, “Princess, be careful, you are in a critical state.” She says as Celestia looks over to the monitor to see it say that her heart rate is down to only 50BPM. She looks over to the nurse and slides her hind legs to get out of the bed. “Nonsense, I will be fine.” She replies as she pulls off the cables for the monitor, the nurse insists that she remains it bed but she doesn’t listen, “I am princess, therefore I do what I say, not you.” She says as she slowly slides out of bed and stands up, her legs wobbly at first but then after a few minutes she stands tall and proud but a little out of breath. She stands and looks about to see nurses helping the injured from the war, “Your princess lives, I stand before you as an insight that no matter....no matter what they throw at us, we.....we will survive.” She says out of breath, she then takes a moment to catch her breath, her body getting used to running on low blood. She walks over to the guards and slowly moves one out of the way so that she can get past, the guards staring with mouths agape, surprised to see her on her hooves to quickly, “Would you please join me guards.” She says as they look at her, she then stops and looks back, “I need to gain me strength.” She says with a slight look on her face before turning away and slowly walking off, the guards rush over to her and escorts her away. The GM stops and looks up at the large cloud city, he then turns to face Luna, “Let’s test out your power, I know that we can’t walk on clouds, so use your magic to allow us that ability.” He says before turning away and Luna starts to concentrate, her horn glows as she uses her magic to cast a spell on all of them, she soon stops and Kieron looks about on himself, just as he goes to says something the GM buts in, “Good, now let’s take this city.” He says before walking forwards, the others follow him. As they approach the edge of the shadow of Cloudsdale the GM uses his cane to teleport them all onto the edge of Cloudsdale itself, pegasi immediately start to fly away as they spot them, they all walk forwards as the Fenrir quickly descends down in the atmosphere, they all stop and turn to watch as the Fenrir rapidly slows down as it nears them, soon coming overhead causing air to rush past them with great force, pegasi are thrown about by the force, crashing into each other and tumble about, the SKULL team stood as if it were nothing, even Luna. The Fenrir soon comes to a stop over Cloudsdale, the GM then raises his cane and Kieron along with the guards are teleported onto it, “Kieron, get your mechs and get some gravitational pulse plating so we start converting this city. The bay doors of the Fenrir open up and immediately Havoc mechs start to pour out with them holding crates, they quickly come down and start attaching the plating to the city allowing for people and non-pegasi to walk on the city. The GM along with the others then head to the centre of the city, killing all those who stand in their way, once in the centre the GM stands in a podium and uses his cane’s power to amplify his voice, “Citizens of Cloudsdale, join us or suffer the pain that all those before have had, for simple minds, join us or die.” He says before walking to the edge of the podium and sitting of the ledge, Alfred then joins him. Cloudsdale has been fully converted, plating on all flooring, ponies from other remaining cities and towns have been allowed to join them, the city full of earth ponies and pegasi that have joined them, along with some Havoc mechs that patrol the city, Rainbow Factory has been converted from its previous task into a ship yard, it is currently creating ship known as the Malevolence. SKULL is no more, the Grand Master has created a new formation, known as SEA, the SKULL Equitorian Alliance, and all ponies that join are put through a conversion procedure and then tested to see if they are truly to him. Havoc mechs and jet fighters constantly pass by the city to keep a certain level of security around the city, turrets line the circumference of the city too, the GM’s new house now at the highest point of Cloudsdale, Kieron’s house not far below which is home to Moonshine and Treacle too, Alfred has his own close to Rainbow Factory as he keep check of the production, Luna has her own home but it is more near the edge of the city but is surrounded with guards and turrets to ensure her safety. Kieron is walking on the edge of the city looking down to watch the Havoc mechs pass by, as he watches he looks up to see Canterlot in the distance, he sighs as he thinks about the things he has done but then puts on a smirk as he loves what he has done, look at what they have achieved since he joined back with SKULL. Twilight and Fluttershy are heading to Sugarcube corner as they want to surprise Rarity since it is her birthday, “I think we got lucky, Ponyville has been completely rebuilt, and is heavily guarded, IRIS is gone and SKULL haven’t shown their face in three days, don’t you think?” Twilight ask as they reach Sugarcube corner. “Oh yes, I think this is going to be the best birthday for her ever. Just try not to jinx it.” She replies as she stops to let Twilight go in first, she then follows her in. Moments later they walk out, Twilight using her magic to levitate a large box behind her holding Rarity’s cake; they walk off towards the library. Kieron walks in as he has been called by the GM he walks in and immediately the GM says, “Ah Kieron, I need someone to make cloths for me, how would you think about going and getting me that pony called Rarity for me?” > How to crash a party > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 9: How to crash a party Last chapter: “Oh yes, I think this is going to be the best birthday for her ever. Just try not to jinx it.” She replies as she stops to let Twilight go in first, she then follows her in. Moments later they walk out, Twilight using her magic to levitate a large box behind her holding Rarity’s cake; they walk off towards the library. Kieron walks in as he has been called by the GM he walks in and immediately the GM says, “Ah Kieron, I need somepony to make cloths for me, how would you think about going and getting me that pony called Rarity for me?” <30 minutes later> Kieron is sat in his living room staring out of the window towards Ponyville, now and then seeing a Havoc mech and fighter jet fly by, he stands up and walks over to his wardrobe and pushes the cloths to the side and pushes a panel on the back wall, the back on it then hisses and then moves back by an inch before sliding to the sides to reveal a secret in his room that has a teleporter to his room in Canterlot, hopefully nopony ever goes there, and it is full of weapons, ammo cases, armour and equipment, he walks over to the armour and starts to put it on. As he is putting on his boots a voice calls from the front door, he quickly walks to the doors of the wardrobe and pops his head out to see Moonshine looking in through the front door, “Oh great, the last thing I need is her.” He says to himself before grabbing the wardrobe doors and slowly closing them as she walks over to the chair he was sat it before, as he gets them almost closed she feels the chair and notices it was still warm. She looks about the room quickly whilst calling out his name, he manages to get the doors closed and then walks back slowly to get into the secret room but as he does he knocks a few of the cloths causing the hangers to rattle, Moonshine sharply looks over to the wardrobe, as she gets closer he manages to close the doors to the secret room just as she opens the wardrobe doors, she looks in and searches it. “Ok, that is weird. I’m sure I heard a noise come from here, am I hearing thing?” she asks herself as she looks back into the room. Kieron then foolishly and automatically answers. “Yes you are.” He then quickly covers his mouth as he realises what he has done, he then rushes over to put on the rest of his armour as Moonshine starts to whack her hoof off the back of the wardrobe wall, he falls over a couple of time trying to get the rest of it on, but as he falls over for the third time he remembers that all has to do was put on the backpack, he gets up, shakes his leg causing the boot to fly off hitting the door which makes Moonshine jump a little before whacking the wall with more force and intention on getting in, she now knew he was definitely back there. Kieron quickly rushes to put on the backpack as Moonshine starts to move the doors as she pushes them back a little, as he gets one arm through, he activates the teleporter and jumps through before turning it off from the other side just as Moonshine gets the doors open, “Ok, I really am hearing things, he’s not even here...oh wait, a teleporter, what does he think I am, stupid? Oh no, I’m not.” She says to herself as she walks over to the console to activate it whilst looking at all the things he has in the room. He calms down as he surveys the room, nothing has been touched, or at least not a first glance, he walks over to the desk that normally would hold his syrem, he opens the drawer to see that there was a note, he picks it up and starts to read aloud, “To the one known as Overseer, this note is to tell you that after the Grand Master’s actions against the princess we have declared was with SKULL, well that won’t be with us then, SKULL is no longer...” he says to himself before turning the note to look on the back to see a mark, he knew that mark but can’t quite remember where, it was a pink star with little stars in the corners of the larger star, he puts the note down and leans against the desk, “Sir, I have just found a note, Equestria has sent us a declaration of war. I will have to even more careful now.” He says to the answer phone before lowering his hand and then walking to the door before pressing a button on the front of his left shoulder, “I hope this holds up.” He says to himself of he turns invisible. The doors opens and he steps out of the room into Canterlot, “Remember Kieron, the target is not of large resistance but if it is to get into a group of other ponies it may turn out to be more hindrance than expected.” Mathis says to him as he screws the stairs and jumps down 20 feet to drop onto a roof causing it to crack, tiles falls off and fly up, dust coming from the ceiling inside, the ponies jump as they look at the large cracks form on the ceiling and watch the dust fall down slowly. He stands up and walks off slowly as the cloaking shimmers slightly before correcting itself and fully covering him, a couple of royal guards heard the loud thud and rush over to where he was, they were Pegasus so they fly up to see the large cracks and tiles broken, one looks up to see Kieron’s room up there and then flew up and looked back down to know that it was the perfect angle to cause such damage, they both them fly off to the castle with the suspicion that humans may be within Canterlot walls. Moonshine activates the teleporter and her armour which catches on her wing a little causing her to wince as she flaps her wing about allowing the armour to fully cover her, her helmet folds up behind her head as she stops and waits for the sharp pain to go away, as she looks back she can see a single drip of blood coming from her wing, she watches like a dog with an insect and glares at it as it rolls down to the tip of her wing before dropping off, she then puts her hoof on it to scrap it up and licks it with her eyes closed to taste it, she lowers her hoof slightly as she thinks of the taste of Celestia’s blood, she smirks slightly before opening her eyes and walking through the teleporter. Once in Kieron’s old room she looks about to see that he isn’t there, she looks at the desk to see the note and reads it quickly as she flies over to the desk, she doesn’t even land but just hovers there as she reads it, when she finishes she flies to the front door and then crawls to the wall outside before climbing over and slamming onto the roof below like Kieron did, when she lands she can hear the roof groaning, just as she goes to jump out of the way the roof caves in and she falls into the house below, dust fills the room and she quickly gets up and flies up out of the house just as a pony spots her but doesn’t recognise her and thinks it was a new armour the royal guards are using. She lands on the corner of the row of houses to see ponies calmly walking up and down the street, as she crouches down and watches she sees a tile slide down a roof top and hit a pony on the head knocking her out, she looks up on the roof to see nothing but a slight distortion in the background at one point, she then presses a button on the side of her helmet which turns on the heat vision, immediately she sees the heat coming of something on the rooftop, she takes while to realise what it is as the shape of it is odd but as it starts to move again she knows it is Kieron, turns the heat vision off and then watches for an opening to fly over. She gets the perfect time as there are no ponies looking her way and flies over the street only for a gunshot to sound and a bullet to whiz past her, she stops and looks down the street to see a guard mech aiming at her. She quickly flies to the roof where Kieron was, once there the guard mech ceases firing and continues its patrol as ponies run about in panic from the gunshots, she gets up and peeks over the edge to see the mech walking away, she then looks over to the end of the houses, activates the heat vision in one eye and looks for Kieron who is jumping across rooftops towards Ponyville. She dashes over to the end quietly to keep up with him, he soon comes to the end of the houses and jumps down to the streets below only to blend in with the crowds of panicking ponies, she gets to the end and watches him as he walks off towards the entrance of Canterlot, she jumps down and follows him as she folds up the armour hoping to fit into the chaotic crowd without being noticed. Kieron manages to get out of the gate without being noticed, he then stands tall, walks up to a royal guard that was on the other side of the gate, reaches out and twists the guard’s neck snapping it and causing the guard to collapse on the floor, he then steps over the body and walks casually to Ponyville, Moonshine then soon reaches the gates, she quickly dives behind a small wall from out of the crowd so that nopony sees her, she peeks over to see if the coast is clear, she puts her armour back on and then follows Kieron all the way to Ponyville. <1 hour later, Ponyville border> Kieron reaches the outside border of Ponyville, he stops and looks at the many guard mechs that surround the village plus the many Havoc mechs patrolling the outskirts, he thinks hard before coming up with an idea, he raises his hand to his helmet, “Mathis, I have reaches the Ponyville border, I could use some bombardment for a diversion, shell the remains of the UEFDC ship to draw their attention so I can slip by.” He orders. Mathis then replies, “Yes sir, the Fenrir has just reached orbit, I can now survey Equestria’s surface, starting bombardment now.” The Fenrir’s main guns then turn to aim at the planet and start shelling the surface, Kieron waits a little to allow the shells to reach the surface, once they enter the atmosphere he sprints for the entrance to Ponyville, Moonshine chases after him as the shells start to explode in the distance, the shockwaves managing to reach them, the Havoc mechs race over to the area as the guard mech slowly walk towards it from their posts, Kieron then seizes the chance and runs at full speed for the opening, Moonshine not far behind. He soon reaches the entrance and barges through the barricade doors, dives forward to land on a guard and slices its throat then jumps up to avoid a gunshot from the other guard, he then lands in front of him and kicks the guard back into the wall, Moonshine then dashes in through the doors, Kieron spots her and leaves the guard for her to deal with, the guard not even noticing her yet, Kieron backs away and goes to walk away when the guard gets up and aims his gun at Kieron but he freezes as he feels something on his back and something between his back legs rubbing, he slowly looks back with a fearful look upon his face, he looks back and can see Moonshine resting on his back with one hoof down between his legs. Kieron then looks back and calls out, “Have fun you two, take him into somewhere more private Moonshine.” He orders before walking away as his cloaking reactivates. Moonshine then turns flank and walks towards an alleyway with her hoof tightly gripped on the guard, the guard calling out ‘ow’ multiple times as he walks backwards to follow her as the pain from being in such an awkward angle. Kieron watches then go into the alleyway whilst walking alongside the houses to avoid open areas, as he watches a pony turns the corner and he bumps into the pony, falling over her, they both fall to the ground with Kieron’s legs slung over the pony, he quickly gets up, looks about to see nopony about, grabs the pony by the horn and drags her to the alleyway. Once there he can see Moonshine already pinning the guard against the wall with her lips tightly locked against his with her hooves pinning his to the wall, his body cold and shaken against her warm and excited body, she stops to look at Kieron, “Ah, good your here, could you give me a hand, I need to tie him to the wall.” She says, Kieron then throws the pony to the side into a pile of bins and pulls out a rifle with a harpoon in the end, he aims it at the wall just above the guard’s hoof and fire, he reloads and then fires just below the hoof, ties the wires together and then does the same for the other hoof, Moonshine lets go to see the guard stuck to the wall, she look round to Kieron and knods to thank him before going on her hind legs to lock lips with the guard once more, one hoof on the side of his face, the other between his legs. Kieron looks back to see the pony slowly creeping away silently, he jogs over and grabs it by the mane, lifts her up and says, “Hello, Miss Sparkle...” she tries to get out of his grasp but he lowers one arm to allow a laser blade to emit from his armour, he then raises the blade up to her horn, “I wonder, you can feel pleasure from your horn but can you feel pain, now tell me where you were heading.” He says, she refuses to say anything, his impatience getting the better of him, just as he goes to slice her horn Trixie teleports next to them. “Stop Kieron, I will take care of this one, she shamed me a long time ago, now it is time for me to get my own back on her.” She says as Kieron drops Twilight and Trixie right away pounces on her, she lowers her head to have her mouth next to Twilight’s ear, “I will have so much fun with you, you have so much power, that power must be released.” She whispers before softly placing her lips on Twilight’s as one hoof lifts up to rub on Twilight’s horn and the other on Twilight’s face. Kieron stands shocked and confused thinking that Trixie was going to torture Twilight, he didn’t expect her to do this, he watches the two things going on before turning away and looking out of the alleyway, raises a hand to his helmet and saying, “Mathis, I need info, where is the pony known as Rarity heading?” Mathis takes a small while to find but then displays it on his helmet’s HUD, “The Library, perfect, and there’s many others there, this shall be fun.” He says to himself before heading to the library with his cloak once more turning on so that he is completely invisible to the naked eye. He soon reaches the library and just as he gets to the front door Spike opens the door and stares at Kieron, Kieron moves about as Spike’s eyes follow him, “You can see me?” he asks. “Yeah, shouldn’t I?” Spike questions in a slightly confused voice, Kieron looks down at the little dragon and thinks. “So you can see me, but I’m cloaked, I am invisible, I guess dragons can see cloaked units.” Kieron explains to himself before going to grab Spike by the tail but he scats back into the library, Kieron chases his inside forgetting about all the ponies inside. Spike runs about in the library as everypony looks at him in confusion, Applejack stops him, “Hay there Spike, what’s wrong?” she says as she lowers down to him. “Outside...the Overseer.” He replies out of breath. Rainbow and Applejack then head to the front door cautiously only to see no-body there, Spike walks up slowly behind them and then clams down as he see no-one. “Spike, you need to stop this, we need to keep this a surprise for Rarity, and we can’t do that if you’re running about like a lunatic.” Rainbow says before the three of them head back inside and close the door. Kieron sneak over to the table with the huge cake on it, “Oh my god, this cake is so big, I know I’m on a mission but I can spare a few minutes.” He says t himself as he pops his head up from behind the cake and slides his finger across the icing of the cake; Fluttershy walks past the table and sees a line down the cake. “Umm, Pinkie is there meant to be a line there?” she asks as Pinkie walks over to her, looks at the line and gasps loudly. “OK, WHO TOUCHED THE CAKE?!” she questions loudly, looking at the other ponies who look back at her in denial, “WHO?!” she asks again, just then Rarity walks into the library to see Pinkie in a rage, Pinkie turns to see Rarity, “Umm, surprise.” She says with a smile on her face. Rarity looks about with shock and happiness, “This is for me, oh thank all of you, you didn’t have to.” She says as she walks over to Pinkie, “My, that is a big cake; I simply couldn’t eat all of it.” She adds, just as she goes to pick up the knife Pinkie stops her. “I’m sorry Rarity but somepony has already helped them to it. I want to find out WHO!” she shouts as Rarity shakes her head. “It’s ok darling, the cake is fine as it is...” she says as she looks at the cake, she then looks at the long line in the icing, “Pinkie, you do know darling that that line isn’t merely enough to be a pony’s hoof, that Pinkie is a finger line, a human has been here.” She corrects, just then Kieron pops up from behind the cake still invisible. “Yes and a nice cake it is...” he says grabbing a chuck of it, everypony looking at the cake to listen to the voice and see the piece of cake floating, it then drops to the floor as Kieron lifts his arms to make an X shape with them, laser blades then emit from them, “Now it must go.” He says before swinging both arms out to slice the cake with a cross through the middle of it. Everypony looks over to the cake to see the pieces slide off and fall onto the floor, Kieron then looks up at all of the ponies, his armour’s cloak shimmers with an electrical effect, everypony then starts to scream and run about in terror, Rarity goes to run out of the library with the others but is plucked from the crowd of panicking ponies by Kieron who remains invisible, she screams a little as he pulls at her mane but he covers her mouth with his hand. He walks out of the library with her floating in front of him, so it looked to other ponies. He walks out into the middle of the open area outside and looks up, puts a hand to his helmet only for Rarity to struggle he pins her to the ground and puts a foot on her to stop her from moving, she uses her magic to throw gems at him that she was carrying but they bounce off him like rubber balls. He raises his hand once more and calls for evacuation, he looks down at the pony under his foot, and she uses her magic to then throw one last gem at him which causes his cloak to shimmer and then malfunction, turning off. He looks down at her, his helmet folding up and his face looks disappointed, she stares at him as he looks down at her, soon a plane flies over head before turning round quickly to land next to them, Kieron them shouts out, “MOONSHINE, TRIXIE, WE NEED TO GO, NOW!” he then grabs Rarity by the mane and walks onto the dropship with her dragging behind him, dirt covering her coat and her mane being forced out of shape. Moonshine and Trixie then dash from round a corner only to have several guards and guard mech chasing them, Kieron looks out to see them and pulls out a rifle to fire on the pursuers, some of the guards dive for cover as the mechs continue to chase down the ponies, Trixie uses her magic to teleport onto the dropship, it then begins to take off, with Kieron still firing on the mechs, Moonshine then flies up to grab onto the doorway and pull herself inside, one mech jumps up and grabs onto the bottom of the door, Kieron then drops his rifle and uses his laser blade to cut off the arm of the mech causing it to fall down into a building full of ponies, the village hall. The dropship lands just outside of the city centre on the open area of panel, Kieron then walks out of the dropship with rarity following tied up with rope that Moonshine and Trixie are holding, they all head for the GM’s house. They soon get there and Kieron opens the door to be greeted by the GM’s butler, Laurence, he allows them in and they head right for the bedroom, once there Kieron opens the bedroom door to see Claire stood pouring a drink for the GM who is sat in his large wingback chair, Kieron walks up to him and salutes before leaving with Moonshine and Trixie following him out. Once out the GM looks at Claire, “They’ve brought the pony sir.” She says as she stays by him, he looks round to see Rarity stood with the ropes still round her, “I will untie her sir.” She says before walking over to her and taking the ropes off. Rarity doesn’t even try to escape knowing that now she has been captured she has no way of getting out. “So darling, what is it you want with me?” she asks, he puts his glass on the table next to his chair and gets up. “I would like you to be my personal couturier. I am sorry that you had to be roughed around a bit like he did but you are here and unharmed, you will be giving your own place to live, we will make it identical to your old home, we will supply all that you need and can roam all of Cloudsdale as you wish, but you will make clothes for me when I say.” He offers, her eyes glimmer as she has never had such an offer but it didn’t feel right, “Oh and I will pay you for it.” He adds, this makes Rarity perk up a bit. “I’ll do it, but on one condition, I get to have my birthday now darling.” She accepts but only on one term. He looks at Claire then back at her. “It is your birthday? If I had known then I would have had something organised for you, my apologies, please go with Claire she will take you to a place where we can give you a fine party.” He says before sitting back down and Claire walks over to Rarity, ask her to follow and walks out of the room with Rarity following. A TV screen lights up in front of the GM with Mathis on the screen who then says, “Sir, we have trouble, Rarity’s birthday will have to wait, I have detected ships on the other side of Equestria, they’re back.” > The Rebirth > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 10: The rebirth Last chapter: “I’ll do it, but on one condition, I get to have my birthday now darling.” She accepts but only on one term. He looks at Claire then back at her. “It is your birthday? If I had known then I would have had something organised for you, my apologies, please go with Claire she will take you to a place where we can give you a fine party.” He says before sitting back down and Claire walks over to Rarity, ask her to follow and walks out of the room with Rarity following. A TV screen lights up in front of the GM with Mathis on the screen who then says, “Sir, we have trouble, Rarity’s birthday will have to wait, I have detected ships on the other side of Equestria, they’re back.” The GM is stood in is room staring at the screen with the leading ship of IRIS on the opposite side of Equestria, the leading ship is ¾ the size of the Fenrir but is by far almost as powerful, it was the Spectre with four destroyer class IRIS ships following it, the GM stares and watches as a smaller image of Kieron in the ship factory appears on the screen. “Sir, the Malevolence is completed; I am getting them to give it a test run before being put into service.” He says before quickly turning round to watch the large ship exit the factory slowly, the engines droning loudly as it passes by Kieron, “With the Fenrir in orbit and the Malevolence we should have a relatively good resistance to any force that those ponies put up.” He adds. The GM then replies, “Good but we have a much more dire matter, IRIS have returned.” he then lifts his hand and presses into the image of the IRIS ships and drags them over the image Kieron then let’s go causing the image to disappear, the image of the ships then appears on Kieron’s screen, he watches as he can see the ships come to Manehattan, the ships charge up their weapons and quickly send the city back to the stone-age. “Sir, I will start to get production into full blow.” Kieron says but he is stopped by the GM. “No, I want production to be at normal speed, they won’t attack right away, they haven’t got a tactic yet, start the productions now but don’t work them too hard, I want good quality equipment.” He orders before cutting the connection. “More scotch, Thomas?” Claire asks as she walks up to him and puts a hoof on his shoulder, he looks back to her and puts a hand on her face. “No, not yet, I must go see how our guess, Luna, is doing, she has been awfully quite lately.” He replies as he slide his hand off her face and turns to walk out of the room, “If you wish to accompany me then so be it.” He says before heading out, she quickly makes up her mind and follows him. Celestia is walking out in the park, as she is out a guard runs up to her and pulls out a little holographic screen on which Veronica appears on, “Princess, I have some bad news, SKULL or as they are now known, SEA have got a ship completed and are producing forces.” She explains, Celestia walks past a tree and looks over to Cloudsdale to see the Malevolence flying up into the sky, “There’s more princess, there is a reason for it, I have detected more ships over in the other direction, they are IRIS.” She adds as Celestia looks the opposite direction but can’t see anything, as she looks back to the Malevolence she can see the front of the ship gone and the cloaking working its way back, the plating on the ship flipping so cloak it. She looks down to Ponyville to see it fine and dandy, she then heads into the castle with the guard following, the guard now and then looking at the missing wing checking the wound to see how it is holding, they soon come into the castle and immediately head upstairs. The GM and Claire walk into Luna’s house, “Princess, your power is required once more.” He bluntly says as he enters, she is sat on her balcony looking at Canterlot. “I’m up here!” she calls down to him, he looks up the stair and slowly makes his way down after telling Claire to stay downstairs. Once upstairs he knocks on the door which creeps open slightly, he enters and can see her sat; he walks up next to her and sits on the balcony edge with her next to him, “Why must we fight?” she asks sorrowfully. “Because there are evil people out there, like me, I only want to take this world so that I have a home to live without any danger. IRIS wants to take it for a base to create large weapons and to kill you all, I’m afraid that fighting and war are a fact of human life.” He explains as he looks at and as she stares at the castle in the distance. “I wonder if ‘Tia can tell me if I have what it takes to finish her off, she is wounded, I can take her.” She says but he puts a hand on her shoulder. “Not yet, you will be, we just need to weaken her more, for now I need you to supply power to that weapon on the Fenrir again. Would you mind?” he asks calmly, she looks at him before knodding slightly then looking back at Canterlot, an explosion in the distance can be seen, it was a large blue explosion, “IRIS, they’re using Element X bombs, we need to act fast and weaken them so they can’t use them, otherwise we might not be seeing tomorrow.” He adds before raising his cane and teleporting the two of them and Claire aboard the Fenrir. Kieron gets into Ambush and closes the core, “Sir, I am going to take three mechs with me to forward scout the enemy force.” He says before activating his mech and heads out of the hanger with the three others following him, once out, they quickly charge up their boosters and skid across the central area of Cloudsdale before lifting into the air and flying towards the IRIS ships which are now in sight from Canterlot. They soon reach the airspace over Ponyville and Havoc mechs start to open fire on them but they dodge all the shots as they pass right over, the mechs stop as they notice that Kieron isn’t even bothering with them but are heading for the IRIS ships, in Kieron’s mech an image of Veronica appears, “I know you are the enemy but I will spare two mechs to help you with attacking them.” She says but he refuses the offer and cuts her off. They quickly reach the ships and jet fighters pour out of the ships, Kieron and the others dodging and flying about whilst returning fire taking down some jets, as they continue to battle the Spectre’s main gun charges up whilst turning to aim at Kieron, he turns to see it but returns to destroying jets, as the main gun gets to full power it locks-on to him but then a large beam hits it from above, passing right through it causing it to fall down and land, Kieron looks up to see the beam coming from space, Luna must have powered the weapon to full capacity, the beam was much larger than normal. The remaining two IRIS ships start to head back to Manehattan as they underestimated the force that SEA presented here, the ship that is landing crashes into the ground but once it hits the ground it locks down and mechs start to set up a perimeter around it along with some jets patrolling around it. Kieron and the others then head back to Cloudsdale; Kieron drifts off though by going to Canterlot instead to deliver a message. Celestia gets to her room and quickly rushes over to the balcony to see the ship dug into the ground with the mechs surrounding it, these mechs weren’t Havoc mechs, they were Devastators, they are quad legged with a core that is dome shaped with dual autocannons on both side, and they have two missile pods on the back of them. As she watches she turns round and goes to head for the TV, as soon as she is an inch from pressing the button some gunshots can be heard from outside, she turns flank and slowly heads for the balcony again, as she gets closer the gunshots get more rapid and some of the rounds wiz past her window, as soon as she steps out onto it Ambush pops up out of nowhere and grabs onto the sides of the balcony, the core then opens and the guard from inside starts to fire at Kieron who puts his hand up to block them with his armour on, he walks forwards calmly and hands a letter to Celestia who picks it up with her magic, surprised to see him here without attacking her. He gets back into Ambush, the guard ceases firing and Ambush flies off back to Cloudsdale, she heads inside and opens the letter, she begins to read aloud, “Dear Princess Celestia, I am writing this letter in an offer of truce, IRIS has returned and I fear that we will need all the power we can get, you and me both, I will try to fend them off for now till you come up with an answer, any units that your forces destroy till then are excused, but please make up your mind quickly, I don’t have all year. Yours sincerely, Thomas Percival Naythorpe (Grand Master). She puts the letter down and sits on a chair, the guard walks over to her and looks at the letter, she sits and thinks about it, “What shall I do? SEA now want to join forces with me to help defeat IRIS but I can’t trust them, once IRIS is gone they will only turn on us, with IRIS out of the way they will easily defeat us. I don’t know what to do. If I join then we may have more chance of surviving now, they will protect us...hopefully.” she says to herself. She gets up and walks onto the balcony and thinks about it, “The fate of Equestria hangs on this decision and I don’t know what to do...” she adds as she looks at the retreating ships then at the mechs heading for Cloudsdale. ----- Author's notes: Here is a small chapter before I go on holiday, I won't be publishing anything for two weeks now. I leave the decision up to you, shall Celestia accept the truce or shall she reject it and hope the ponies of Equestria can fend for themselves? > Species unite > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 11: Species unite Last chapter: She puts the letter down and sits on a chair, the guard walks over to her and looks at the letter, she sits and thinks about it, “What shall I do? SEA now want to join forces with me to help defeat IRIS but I can’t trust them, once IRIS is gone they will only turn on us, with IRIS out of the way they will easily defeat us. I don’t know what to do. If I join then we may have more chance of surviving now, they will protect us...hopefully.” she says to herself. She gets up and walks onto the balcony and thinks about it, “The fate of Equestria hangs on this decision and I don’t know what to do...” she adds as she looks at the retreating ships then at the mechs heading for Cloudsdale. Equestria is in a moment of peace, IRIS has backed off for now and are holding base at Manehatten after they decimated it to dust, Celestia has accepted the offer of truce and to his word Thomas has organised a protection act for the ponies, jet fighters constantly patrol the air space over Ponyville and Canterlot, Havoc mechs guard Ponyville, they stand all around the perimeter and act like a shield for the village while sniper mechs take camp on the roof tops of the castle, each of them will dual sniper weapons and plenty of missiles, the C.O.C and L.R.M.S are both constantly on full alert and scanning the skies, AAL (Anti-Air Laser) sites have been positioned all over Canterlot for any air attacks that IRIS may try, Cloudsdale has expanded, they now have a new shipyard, two new mech hangers, two new fighter production factories and storage centres plus three new weapons and armour development facilities. Both Ponies and SEA are fully armed and protected for any attack that IRIS tries. The ship that was downed outside of Ponyville has returned to Manehatten after being repaired, the whole city now in ruins but in the constant shroud of dust lies a large base in which IRIS resides, the three ships always patrolling the air above but in cloak, the base takes up three quarters of the ruins, the dust provides a visual cloaking to all eyes that try to look in on the base but along with that is some radar scramblers that stops any type of camera and radar from seeing the base, as if the base doesn’t exist. Celestia slowly opens her eyes only to have the bright sun shining on her face, she lift a hoof from under the covers and shields her eyes whilst lifting the other to wipe the sleep from them, once done she lowers her hoof and looks over to the balcony door to hear jet engine roar as fighters pass overhead, at the same time she can hear mechanical whirring as the mechs above turns as they search the horizon, one mech is situated directly above her room. She throws her head back onto the pillow whilst giving off a loud huff; she raises both hooves to her face before lowering them quickly to see a shadow swiftly move across her room, she pushes the covers back with her magic before making her over to the balcony, she pokes her head round the corner of the balcony door only to have a hand come flying towards her and grab her by the throat. “Hello princess, how are you this fine morning?” a voice asks her as the grip round her neck tightens, she coughs and splutters as she goes to talk but can’t get words out, the person then loosen his grip allowing her to talk, “Try again dearie, you were choking.” He says, she uses her hooves to grab at his hand so that she can get more comfortable than her current position. “Let me down Kieron, you know SEA and us have a truce. Now let me go.” She orders, her horn glows as she tries to use her magic on him but nothing happens, his helmet folds back, his face beaming with a large grin but also covered in scars, the most noticeable being the large one going down from his forehead to his cheek and covering over his left eye, “What has happened to you?” she asks as she calms down and for some reason shows some sympathy towards him, “Oh dear, could this be a delayed reaction to the Elements of Harmony?” she asks herself as he drops her and looks away. She uses her magic to lift a hand mirror over to him, “Here, take a look.” She comments softly whilst lifting it to his face. He grabs the mirror and slowly lifts his head to go and look at his reflection but just as he is about to see it the C.O.C fires at just above the castle, it hits something and a large ripple effect and then a large amount of static as a ship comes out of cloaking from the shells fires, the L.R.M.S then turns and fires on the ship as well as all of all of the mechs at Canterlot, Kieron drops the mirror but then quickly grabs it again before it hits the floor, he then throws it inside onto the bed. “That was close, that could have been seven years bad luck you know.” He comments before walking out onto the balcony and then looks up to see the ship passing over and sees the shield rippling as the multiple shots and missiles hit against it. He lifts a hand to his ear and speaks into the earpiece, “Mathis get the mechs to concentrate their fire on one point, that should create a whole in the shields for the C.O.C to get a clear shot, this ship won’t last long, it’s only a frigate.” A voice then acknowledges him, the mechs then stops firing as Celestia walk out to stand next to Kieron, she looks at the mechs which turn to follow the ship which starts to fire on Ponyville but is no use as anti-ballistic systems fire a couple of shells at the shots to deflect them, the mechs then find an opening and all fire at once at the same point on the shields, the shields ripple but as it makes its way back along the ship the ripple and shield begin to fade as the energy overloads and short-circuit the generators, all power on the ship goes dead, the cannons still fire though as they are manually firing. The C.O.C then fires at the ship and the resulting explosion rips a hole in the armour, people fly out of the ship, dead. Fires erupt from the ship as it fires again but the resulting shot from the ship causes the structure to cripple under the recoil and the cannons along with some of the underside of the ship fall down and collide with the Canterlot shields, it the slides down them and slams into the ground just outside of the city. As Kieron and ‘Tia watch the ship start to be blown apart Kieron falls to the ground just as a shockwave hits them from an explosion, ‘Tia thinks nothing of it at first, thinking that the shockwave must have just caught him off guard and caused him to fall but he never gets back up, she turns to look at him to see his eye tightly scrunched up and his nails digging into his scalp, “Kieron....hay....Are you okay, Kieron?” she asks in a soft voice but she gets no reply, after a few seconds, the all mechs and the C.O.C plus the L.R.M.S stop firing as the ship is destroyed but is now heading for Ponyville as it fall out of the sky, Kieron starts to yell in agony, ‘Tia not even noticing the ship but noticed the cease in shooting, she quickly gets up see the ship falling down to the village, she starts to concentrate her magic on it but something interferes with her magic stopping her from being able to use it, she then looks back to Kieron who has stopped yelling and is now floating in the air, arms out to the sides and eyes glowing bright white, she back off slightly only to see her room start to light up from behind her, she turns only to be blinded by a light brighter than the sun itself, a couple of seconds later the light suddenly disappears and the ship it no longer in sight, it has completely gone. She turns to see Kieron slump in a heap on the floor, “KIERON!” she shouts as she dashes over to him and slides to sit next to him, she puts a hoof on his forehead but then takes it off right away, his head hot like the sun, surprisingly he hasn’t died from overheating, just then conveniently Dr Atom rushes into the room. “PRINCESS...sorry, I should have knocked.” He says before looking down and backing away slowly. “Just come in Doctor.” She replies, he then walks over to her and looks at Kieron then back at her. “It’s started, I have just done some experiments and I have found that if the Elements of Harmony are used on a human there will be no effect, short or long term, but with him it is a completely different story...” he explains, she looks up at him wanting to know more. “He was a creation by the Grand Master, yes? Well, it would seem that because of his ‘circumstances’ the Elements have a delayed effect on his body, he is changing, Celestia, he is becoming a hybrid.” He continues to explain, ‘Tia looks at him sharply. “Wait, you mean...” she says, he knods to confirm, “How is that even possible?” she asks. “He is a creation of human origin, the Elements are a creation of pony origin, if both human and pony are coming together the one of two things can happen, they can either reject each other and kill the person or merge and create a hybrid, a human pony. After seeing what just happened I would say he is in the second phase, magic.” Atom explains before lowering down to Kieron and pulling out a knife, “Let me show you, he is currently unconscious, but watch.” He says before pressing the button on Kieron’s shoulder to fold the armour up, he then presses the knife against Kieron’s arm, nothing happens but he then sharply pushes hard and the knife penetrates deep into Kieron’s arm and the tip sticks out of the other side. At exactly the same time Kieron yells and his eyes open, his eyes glowing white again and the knife starts to go against Atom’s push,, the knife then slowly starts to slide back out of Kieron’s arm, even with Atom pushing down on it will all his strength, the knife then exits his arm and lifts up into the air with Atom still hold of it, he lets go to land but it ‘caught’ mid-air by a force that then causes his limbs to be pulled and spread out. “Kieron, I know you can hear me, let Atom go.” She orders as she watches Atom floating in the air, his legs all spread in different directions but not pulled any further, Kieron then gets up, his eyes still glowing, he walks over to Atom as if like a zombie, limp and stumbling, arched over with his arms slung down but his head up and looking forward. Once at Atom, he looks up at the pony before looking quickly to the right causing Atom to fly to the wall but then teleports and then reappears above the balcony with the same momentum; he hits the balcony floor with great force, knocking him out. Kieron then walks out of the room and down all hallway slowly in the same zombie like way, Celestia runs over to the bedroom door to watch him, when he gets to the end of the hallway the wall in front then starts to opens up like a door brick by brick, he walks through the gap and walks outside but doesn’t fall, the magic allowing him to walk on air, he teleports out of sight and the wall them goes back to its original form, Celestia ribs her eyes to check if she is seeing things and then heads back in the room to check on Atom, who groans but is fine. “He’s powerful; he just ripped a hole in a wall, brick by brick and put it back whilst walking on air and teleporting. This could be bad.” She explains top him whilst helping him up. “Yes, whilst he is unconscious, the power will grow to a climax where it will then be enough to change his genetic coding, they have strong bonds, then it will go to phase three, he will turn into a hybrid, he will then look like a human but will have magic and possibly even a pair of wings, he will end up like an anthro version of a pony, but with human looks.” Atom explains, ‘Tia not able to cope with the situation. “Well, how did a shockwave from an explosion cause this to happen?” she asks. He thinks for a moment before replying, “It must have needed a great amount of energy to bump-start the process. That’s the only explanation I have for that, sorry.” She sits down at her table taking a moment to comprehend with all that is going on; Atom sits down next to her. Ponies in Cloudsdale stop and all look in the same direction, Treacle and Luna both at a vegetable stall looking for things to buy for some things to cook, as Luna goes to buy a few apples she looks up at the stall owner only to see him staring gormlessly past her, they both then look about to see everypony staring at the same thing, they then push past some ponies whilst looking at them to know where they are going for this thing they are looking at, once past a lot of ponies they can see, Kieron slouched over with his head tilted to the side looking up at a pony he has lifted in the air, its legs all stretched out, he then lifts the pony up above the fountain that has a large spike on the top. The pony then cries out, “Look, I’m sorry man, I didn’t mean to bump into you, I didn’t see you.” But Kieron doesn’t take any not of it and throws the pony down onto the spike but keep the pony alive with the magic so it can feel the pain but not die, the pony screaming out at the top of his voice, all the ponies watch as they can see the pony sliding down the spike, the pain getting worse and worse but he still doesn’t die until Kieron stops him and then uses his magic to push the pony down the spike quickly and then rip him apart into tiny pieces. The crowd on ponies then scatter as some start to scream in fear. With Kieron being unconscious he doesn’t notice any of it and just limps along towards his house as if nothing happened. “Sir, we have a problem, Kieron has gone rouge, he has just killed a pony in the city centre, something’s odd though, he isn’t himself, and I have no life signs either.” Mathis explains to him. “Don’t hurt him, if we do nothing to him, he won’t do anything to us, unless something major happens, don’t attack him, let him be for now.” He replies. > The ancient secret unveiled > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 12: The ancient secret unveiled Last chapter: With Kieron being unconscious he doesn’t notice any of it and just limps along towards his house as if nothing happened. “Sir, we have a problem, Kieron has gone rouge, he has just killed a pony in the city centre, something’s odd though, he isn’t himself, and I have no life signs either.” Mathis explains to him. “Don’t hurt him, if we do nothing to him, he won’t do anything to us, unless something major happens, don’t attack him, let him be for now.” He replies. Thomas is sat in his chair taking a sip of scotch whilst looking out of the window towards Canterlot, a knock on the door gets his attention, “Come in.” He answers, the door swings open only for a waft of delightful smells to arouse his nose, “Ah Treacle, just in time, what have you brought me today?” he asks as she enters the room with a trolley full of both savoury and sweet snacks, Luna the enters behind her and shuts the door with her magic, “Princess Luna, why have YOU come?” he asks her but she doesn’t reply, still worried about the pony that got killed by Kieron. Just as Treacle places the trolley next to Thomas the TV screen unfolds and a hologram of Mathis appears behind all of them, “Sir, there is something wrong, Kieron has just got home, I’ve been watching him with all the surveillance I have, he’s hasn’t gone rouge, he’s dead. His mark is gone, I have looked and looked but it isn’t covered, it isn’t there full stop.” He explains as he paces, Thomas sharply turns on his chair to face Mathis with a worried look on his face, Treacle walks back slowly knowing that when Thomas has that face it can’t be good. “How is that possible, he can’t die, it isn’t physically possible for him.” He replies with a small stutter in his voice, Mathis shakes his head. “I overheard Celestia’s and Dr Atom’s conversation after the IRIS ship disappeared, Atom said something about the Elements of Harmony being used of Kieron and now he is changing. I don’t know much about pony history but I don’t think this is good, I have called for Celestia to make her way here, I have provided an escort, you should make your way there too.” He advises before shimmering and then disappearing fully. Thomas looks back out the window to see two Havoc mechs flying alongside Celestia’s chariot; he then looks back at the trolley full of tasty snacks, “I was just about to enjoy my meal too. Oh well, duty calls once more.” He says to himself before walking to the door picking up his cane along the way and leaving the house with Treacle and Luna close behind. Thomas is stood waiting outside of Kieron’s house as Celestia slowly approaches him, the chariot lands a few metres ahead of him and he greets her with a friendly welcome, the fact they were enemies four days ago wouldn’t be noticeable, “Shall we?” he asks calmly as Celestia walks up to him and knods lightly, he then turns and opens the door only to be presented with a dark room filled with candle light from the multiple candles scattered around the main room, ancient symbols written all over the walls and floor and in the centre of the floor was a pentagram like symbol that wasn’t one but looked more ancient style, Kieron was hovering directly above the centre of the symbol, his legs crossed and his hands on his knees, eyes shut and head lowered slightly. Thomas and Celestia enter the building, both confused and even slightly scared as they both feel a large surge of magical energy emitting from Kieron in bursts, they approach Kieron, the door slams shut behind them and locks all the candles suddenly go out and the windows already shut tight. Celestia steps forward in the pitch black and try to use her magic to light the candles once more but she can’t as something blocks her, maybe Kieron. Thomas then raises his cane as uses it to light them as well as the main lights, as soon as the cane finishes lighting the room Kieron lifts his head quickly and opens his eyes, “Ancient technology detected, that can mean only one thing, humans have arrived on this planet. Step forward human.” He orders but something is greatly different about him, his voice was hugely distorted like it was six voices talking in unison. Thomas steps forward as told and Kieron looks him up and down. “How have you come about our technology, and why have you brought it here?” he asks, Thomas looks at him narrow eyed. “We, Who’s we?” he asks, Kieron looks down and shakes his head. “Foolish human, you are talking to a creation of the ancient. Two ultimate creations were made, that cane and the one you now speak to, the Elements of Harmony...” Kieron replies whilst lifting his head up a little to look right into his eyes, still bright white. “But the Elements are powers used by the ponies.” Celestia butts in but is immediately slammed to the ground by a magic force; it was like having a car land in top of you. “Stupid pony, you do interrupt someone when they are talking. Now human, you may be thinking where you dear friend has gone but he is no longer, we has been exposed to a viable shell that needs filling, this body is now ours, we have freedom from the insolent ponies that use us for their own needs, this body is ours and we are free.” He explains as Thomas listens intently but smirk slightly knowing they are wrong, he steps back and turns to help Celestia up. He puts his mouth to her ear and starts to whisper something to her, “The Elements are foolish, not us. They underestimate Kieron, do you know the real reason why he is so hard to kill?” he asks her, she shakes her head softly as she watches the person ahead of her, “Some would call it persistence, others would call it strong will power, I call it stubbornness. Kieron won’t die because he is too stubborn to die, he has a mark like a tattoo on his left leg...” he stands up and talks normally whilst facing Kieron, ‘Tia stood next to Thomas. “The tattoo looks like a dagger with two snakes coiled round it, it changes colour depending on his mood, if he starts to die it fades, if he does die, it disappears fully, but Kieron is far too stubborn to die, his mark isn’t gone at all, you’re just hiding it.” He remarks as Kieron orders him to stop talking, Thomas getting to the Elements. “SHUT UP! You insolent human, you know nothing, we are the power of the ancients, a silly little human cannot overpower us, he will be dead for all eternity, this body is......what? What is this?” he stops as he feels something from inside as is something was trying to push out of his chest, “No, not possible.” He exclaims. “Right on cue, I knew he could hear me.” Thomas comments as Kieron falls to the floor with both fists and one knee against the floor. Kieron’s voice changes back to normal but he groan like when someone is trying to pull themselves out of a hole, “No, it is you who is foolish Elements, Thomas is right, I AM too stubborn to die, this is MY body, this is MY mind, this is MY life and I it isn’t MY time to die, not listen to me, get the fuck out of me body before I kick the shit out of you, I am the stronger one, I don’t need no fucking magic to be strong, the ancients were weak, they relied on pathetic magic to do things for them, I do not. Now piss off.” He orders, after a few seconds he groans loudly as the Elements fight his body and mind for control, he wriggles and writhes about as the fight continues. Thomas steps forward and puts a hand on Kieron as he stops moving, “Kick their ass Kieron, you are my creation and you can’t die, not yet, I need you, dare I say it, Equestria needs you.” He supports Kieron knowing he can hear him, almost as soon as Thomas stops talking; Kieron opens his eyes and looks up at his quickly. “Well then, let’s get to work.” He replies as Thomas stands up and offers a hand, Kieron grabs it and he pulls him up to his feet, “Pathetic ancients. I guess stubbornness DOES have its upsides.” He remarks before walking towards the door, staggering a little as he gets used to his body once more, he stops next to Celestia and puts hand on her shoulder, “Oh and I’m sorry about being discriminate towards magic users, magic IS useful, and I feel really weird, why do I feel weird, THOMAS why do I feel weird, am I meant to feel this?” he questions. “Mathis scan him.” Thomas says Mathis then appears in his mechanoid form and raises an arm to scan Kieron; almost right away he knows the problem. “Got it, it would appear the Elements haven’t left you at all, Kieron. They are simply residing within you; they have submitted to the more dominant creature, you are their master now. How about that, you’re the first human to have magic...” he comments before Thomas clears his throat to correct him, “Oh yeah, SECOND human, does that even count?” he asks pointing at the cane, Thomas knods, “Fair enough, no problems Kieron, you’re fine, you just have magic now.” He says before disappearing back to the Fenrir. “By the way, sirs, you may think you can relax now, well IRIS has other ideas, I have literally just detected movement over by Manehatten, twenty ships are heading this way.” Mathis adds over a small radio in Kieron’s room. “How many ships do we have, Mathis?” Thomas asks him as he stops by the door and looks out towards Ponyville. “We have only four ships, sir. They outnumber us five to one.” He replies. “Then it is an even fight.” Thomas comments before sniggering, “They will be the ones outnumbered, not us.” He says before leaving the house and walking to his own house, Celestia and Kieron look at each other for a bit but then Kieron’s expression changes as he knows what Thomas is on about, he then begins to laugh quietly before laughing out loudly, in fact really evilly. Celestia stands at stares at him fearfully. “Kieron, please stop, you’re scaring me...again.” she asks nicely. He stops and looks up at her with his eyes, keeping his head low. “You will find out soon enough dear princess.” He replies before walking out and sitting on the entrance step to his house. Celestia then exits the house and walks past him, giving him a nudge as she does, “Hey, d that again and I will do something I will regret, but I don’t know what that thing is yet......no wait, yes I do.” He comments whilst pointing at her, she taunts him by flicking her mane as she looks away and walks off slowly, it works and he gets up, walks beside and calmly says, “Tag.” Before running off towards the city dining hall, Celestia stands for a moment and watches his run off, she then teleports in front of him, this shocks him and he puts on full brakes, closes his eyes reactively and without knowing how teleports past ‘Tia, he then opens his eyes waiting for the collision and sees that she’s behind him, he stops for a small moment as they both turn to look at each other. “That’s new.” He comments, ‘Tia then quickly darts for him and he runs off at full speed again with her in close pursuit, “Why is this so scary?!” he shouts to himself as they both head off into the city, Thomas watches from his from door before turning to face Canterlot and watches, waiting. <2 hours later> Thomas is in his house in his chair with the same glass of scotch in his hand looking out of the window, Treacle and Claire both behind arguing over who is his best friend, after all Claire has got pretty close to him as his personal barmare, but on the other hand Treacle has always been friends with him, they get on really well. “Could you two please stop, I want to enjoy the peace whilst it lasts.” He says quietly to them, surprisingly they manage to hear him over their own loud arguing, they stop and look at him, “I would much prefer that you two get along rather than fight, as I said, I would like to have some peace.” He adds, treacle walks up to him. “Are you feeling alright, you are the same person right? You never want peace, you want war and death all the time.” She says confused by his remark. “That may be true but lately I have felt like war may be getting on a bit too much, I could do with a break from it all, only for a little bit.” He replies, Claire walks up to them and put a hoof in his shoulder, Treacle glares at her. As they exchange glares, Thomas slams down his glass, almost shattering it, they both jump and look at him, he gets up out of his chair and stares at the horizon past Canterlot, both of them look at the horizon to see a ship slowly coming into view, it was pretty big, then another next to it started to come into view, and another, soon a total of six were in view and more were starting to come into view behind them. Thomas then starts to mutter under his breath to himself, “C’mon, c’mon, a bit closer....bit more.” Treacle looks at him wondering what he wants them closer for, all twenty ships were soon in sight and slowly looming closer towards Canterlot, “You are free to open fire general.” He comments, almost instantly some fast moving rounds enter from orbit and hit against a ship, then more rounds, and even more, then even more, it must be from ad entire fleet for that many round to be firing. Some of the IRIS ships then slow down and begins to turn upwards to face space but as they do a large amount of ex-SKULL ships come out of cloak at the armour plating flips and they start to open fire on the IRIS ships, it was an ambush, all of a sudden large flames in the sky form as more SKULL ships descend from orbit, they were travelling quickly and can’t have been in orbit for them to move that fast, they must have been already heading for the planet’s surface, they then fire off a few more rounds per ship on the IRIS forces who start deploy as many mechs and fighters as possible, the descending ships then stop firing as they go into full lockdown, a system only meant for defensive purposes, it allows the ship to be virtually indestructible, the ships above the IRIS forces scatter and the charging ships impact the IRIS ship, they were on a suicide run, they crash right into the IRIS ships taking down most of them but the IRIS have powerful engine and activate emergency landing boosters that push upwards with a force enough to stop them and the SKULL ship still. The SKULL that hit then begin to fall towards the ground but then activate engine and join the ones above, they exit lockdown and fire on the weakened IRIS ships, mechs and fighter begin to leave the SKULL ships as they counter the IRIS offensive, they were in full blown war within a matter of minutes, no ships were giving up, all just as good as each other but then a large ship appears on the horizon, it must have been the size of the Fenrir. Thomas spots the ship and immediately barks at Mathis, “Mathis, what is that, how come you didn’t tell me about that one.” “Which one sir, the only ships in my view are the twenty IRIS ships that are currently in combat.” He replies, Thomas looks at the ships. “They must have a radar cloaking on them, time for plan B.” He says, Mathis acknowledges him. As the ship approaches the battle area the main cannon doors open up and the cannons lower, quickly charge and a large single beam of energy fire at the largest SKULL ship on the battlefield, the beam cuts right through the ship with ease, right afterwards a large, loud shockwave emits from above as the newly created Malevolence travel down from orbit at full speed, the engines at the rear glowing bright as they are put into overtime, the ship itself was fully automated. The IRIS capitol ship then slows to get a steady aim but then the ship suddenly boosts to flip over and the main guns get a steady aim on the Malevolence, it fire but only just misses as the Malevolence take evasive manoeuvres, the Malevolence soon coming to within two miles of the capitol ship, the IRIS ship firing more and more in an attempt to stop the charging ship, “I hope this works.” Mathis comments. “Mathis, you are a computer you have probabilities, you don’t need hope.” He corrects, the Malevolence then starts to have a large energy wave make its way back the ship, soon coming to the back and disappearing, the IRIS ship stops firing and the engines start to try and move but fails as the Malevolence suddenly rams into the capitol ship at the speed of light, the warp drive activated, the two ships almost instantly collide with the ground in a large inferno, a massive shockwave is created and ripples across the surface of the planet, knocking some of the ships out of the sky and disrupts their electronic, they then fall to the ground too, IRIS and SKULL. The Malevolence and capitol ship still burying deeper into the ground as the Malevolence tries to pass through the planet with its warp drive. The ground starts to shake from the strong force, Thomas watches in anticipation, “Well that went slightly different to expected but we still have the upper hand.” He says to himself before sitting down and grabbing the scotch, he then comments, “Give us your best Grand Inquisitor.” > The final push > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 13: The final push Last chapter: “Mathis, you are a computer you have probabilities, you don’t need hope.” He corrects, the Malevolence then starts to have a large energy wave make its way back the ship, soon coming to the back and disappearing, the IRIS ship stops firing and the engines start to try and move but fails as the Malevolence suddenly rams into the capitol ship at the speed of light, the warp drive activated, the two ships almost instantly collide with the ground in a large inferno, a massive shockwave is created and ripples across the surface of the planet, knocking some of the ships out of the sky and disrupts their electronic, they then fall to the ground too, IRIS and SKULL. The Malevolence and capitol ship still burying deeper into the ground as the Malevolence tries to pass through the planet with its warp drive. The ground starts to shake from the strong force, Thomas watches in anticipation, “Well that went slightly different to expected but we still have the upper hoof.” He says to himself before sitting down and grabbing the scotch, he then comments, “Give us your best Grand Inquisitor.” <12 hours later> IRIS ships have backed off after encountering the unexpected arrival of the remaining force of SKULL or now as it is known SEA, SEA ships surround Ponyville and Canterlot, shields are on constantly and fighters and mechs patrol the area, it was like a futuristic version of an Iron Curtain, nothing was going to get past. IRIS ships sit just off the horizon as a couple of ships join them, if SEA was to win they would have to do something and something quick as IRIS forces are constantly growing due to the base hidden in the ruins of Manehatten. Kieron and Moonshine walk up to the door, he knocks on the door and almost immediately an answer is heard from inside, he pushes the door open, they both walk in and are welcomed by not just the GM but another man is with him, “Hello Kieron...and Moonshine, oh Moonshine you will be interested with what is in that room over there...” he comments as he point to a room to his right, she looks at the door, makes her way over to it and opens the door, right away her eye open wide and mouth agape as she can see Treacle and Claire making out on the bed. “Treacle, since when did care about sex?” she asks but is completely ignored by the couple as they rub at each other and lips locked, “Thank you Thomas!” she shouts back to him before rushing into the room and closing the door, a huge grin on her face as she does. “Kieron, this is Talon General...” he says but is interrupted by Kieron who runs over to the Australian person and gives him a hug. “Rylie Carter! I haven’t seen you in years, where have you been all this time? Want a sandwich?” he asks, Rylie shakes his head to the sandwich, and Kieron then shrugs his shoulders and begins to eat one. “I’ve been orbiting Jupiter all this time after Earth got destroyed, it was heart breaking, seeing the world you have lived on all your live being suddenly destroyed, but at least I’m alive. Right, time to work, we have a war to stop, and some weird creatures to save, I mean how can horses fly?” he questions not understanding the new world. “They can fly because they have wings, idiot. And they’re ponies not horses. Seriously, how could you not tell that if it has wings it can fly?” he asks him like he was an idiot. “True, I never thought about the wings, and because of that I’m not even going to ask about the one in that room that has a thing sticking out of its head.” He comments, Kieron looks at him then over to the door that Moonshine entered and pointed, Rylie knods, Kieron then lowers his hands waves at Rylie. “Don’t worry about it, c’mon, we’re suiting up.” He replies. “Yes Kieron, you are suiting up, I want you to go to the IRIS base will all the Talons, destroy it, don’t even come back home if you have failed.” Thomas adds before the two of them walk out, Moonshine burst out of the room panting. “Did somepony say something to do with destroying things?” she asks as she lowers her head to catch her breath. “Yes Moonshine, I did, are you joining them?” he asks her as he raises his cane to close the door to drown out the moaning coming from the room. “Hard choice really, having a threesome with those two or getting to blow things up.......KIERON WAIT UP!!” she quickly makes up her mind and runs out after then, getting a cramp on the way out and collapses but then flies out. <30 minutes later, main mech hanger> Kieron puts on his helmet as Rylie waits for him, he twists it to lock it in place, he walks up to Rylie and pulls out his sniper rifle to check it, as he does Moonshine walks up to them in full power armour, Rylie stares at her stunned by how she looks in the armour, “I’m surprised mate, that pony actually suits the armour, it’s like it was meant for war.” He comments, Moonshine looks at him, Kieron turns to look at her. “You mean Moonshine? Yeah, she loves war and destruction. I’m thought everyone in SKULL know of her?” he asks, Rylie shakes his head. “Nah mate, not me. Just knew about these sodden creatures when I got ‘ere.” He replies, Moonshine walks over to him and whispers to him. “I’m his daughter and if you don’t be careful I might just do something you’ll regret.” Rylie rears his head to look at her, but then pushes her back with his hand on her face. “Mate, I’m a Talon general, you don’t have shit on me, and I could snap ya right ‘ere.” He comments as he pushes hard to get her back, she lands on her rump and immediately gets up and dashes at him, hitting him in the chest with both front hooves knocking him back by a few metres but staying on his feet. “Hay, pack it in you two, I don’t want any fighting on our own team, and IRIS is the enemy here, not each other. Moonshine you know better....well, maybe not but you definitely do Rylie.” Kieron barks at both of them, Moonshine slowly lands on the floor while he holsters his weapon, he walks over to her and grabs round her mouth, “One more slip up and I will find a way to permanently torture you, you’re getting on my tits.” He adds, Moonshine raising an eyebrow. Muffled she replies, “Ok, but you don’t have tits.” Kieron sighs and looks down before letting go and walking into the docked mech, Ambush. Moonshine then walks past Rylie who watches her as his helmet unfolds around is head, she walks over to the mech next to Ambush, Reaper, and gets into it, both mechs then close and power-up. Rylie stood watching as he can’t believe that the creature not only has its own armour but also has a mech of its own. He shakes his head before walking over to a large transport dropship and closes the door as all the other Talons sit in their allocated seats. The hanger doors open and the dropship leave with not just Ambush and Reaper alongside it but instead a whole battalion of mechs, 30 in total, all of them piloted by Talons, the huge force quickly pass by Cloudsdale city centre before all of them activate their overed boosts and shoot towards Ponyville, soon reaching it and pass right by, ponies watch as they fleet rush past at alarming speed, the floor even shaking slightly from the passing mechs. Some ponies roar with cheer as they watch, it was a huge moral boost for them to see SEA and Equestria putting up a good fight. The dropship and mechs start to approach the SEA ships that protect the village and castle, they pass right by, waiving in and out of the ships, they then head for the IRIS ships that sit just off the horizon, at their speed they quickly come into firing range of the ships, all the mechs scatter to draw the fire away from the dropship, the ships start to attack with everything they have thinking it is an attack on them, the mechs dodge and return fire, being too small a target for the large ships to hit. As Ambush head right for a ship Kieron gets a strange feeling within him, he then hears a voice in his ear, “You wish to bring harmony, let us help.” He looks about for the voice but then his vision blur before coming back with a red overlay and he can see in one eye the open area behind the ships, he concentrates on it and a glow starts to emit fro Ambush as the Elements use their power to aid him, soon all the mechs plus dropship start to glow and after about five seconds they disappear in a flash of light, only to appear on the other side of the ships, Kieron quickly calls all of the mechs to get back into formation and they continue to the base with no clue of what happened. “Thank you Elements, you may have just helped us win this war.” He thanks then as his vision blurs once more before returning to normal. “You are the superior one, we thank you for allowing us the ability to fight and serve, you are welcome.” They thank him, all six voices in his head. He then looks out of the window in front of him and heads for the base. <1 hour later> The base comes into sight and Kieron calls for a full stop. All the mechs halt as they look at the dust covered base, it was huge, “This is Overseer Fox, I require some backup, the hostile base is larger than expected, orbital strike should help us.” He orders, a voice on the other end of the communication confirms and a few minutes later a large beam emits from space and decimates half of the base, all the mechs then charge at full speed towards the base, Ambush stays and watches them go, a small screen appear on his HUD, “Thank you dear.” He says to the figure on the screen. “It’s alright; I like to help anypony who helps us first. Would you like me to join you?” the figure asks. “If you wish to princess, not my choice to make.” He replies, Luna then uses her magic and her armour unfolds around her, she then uses her magic again, teleports to above the base and drops down into the base, the dropship landing at exactly the same time to provide assistance, the mech flying overhead and firing on it as others hold back and bombard it. Two large beams then fire from behind Kieron, Ambush turns and he can see two SEA ships that have got past the IRIS ships and are opening fire on the base to assist them. Treacle and Claire slowly come out of the room to see light flashing from the window and against Thomas’ face, he looks over to them and smiles, “Good to see you two not fighting any more but when I say make up, I don’t mean like that. I meant to become friends....looks like you became very good friends.” He sniggers as he comments, and then adds, “I’m sorry but it is very funny, there is a war going on out there and you two are shagging each other.” They stand and look at him, he lifts his glass and shakes it a little, Claire gets the hint and walks over to the alcohol cabinet, pulls out a bottle, walks over to him and pours it into his glass, she then puts the bottle down on the on the table next to him. Treacle walks up to him, licks her lips and then, still under the influence of the pleasure, give him on the cheek, he right away grabs her round the mouth and shakes his head, Claire hadn’t even noticed as she was sorting the alcohol cupboard, somebody had been in and took a bottle as she rubs her hoof over the patch of clean area surrounded by dust. “You silly man, you’re meant to let me kiss you not cover my mouth.” Treacle says as she pulls his hand off, Claire looks over and can see Treacle’s back half with her front half blocked by Thomas’ chair. Treacle’s back-end wobbling as tries to keep stood up, Claire then knew that she was drunk, “Right, let’s...let’s try again, you’re meant...meant to kiss back this time.” She says as she closes in on him, his face full of fear as he doesn’t know how to handle the situation, Moonshine was bad enough, now he’s got her sister on him, drunk. Claire quickly dashes over to the chair and tackles Treacle to the ground, “No, you don’t kiss him. He isn’t meant to be kissed by anypony, you, me, Celestia, nopony at all.” She explains before getting up but keeping her pinned to the floor. “Oo, lookey here, two ponies...two and they both look the same, are you twins?” Treacle asks as she sees double for a short moment, Claire confused by the remark. “Never mind THAT, are you drunk?” she question, Thomas leans over the arm of the chair and looks at the two ponies to his left. “Do you mind, I am trying to drink here, Treacle you go to bed and please don’t ever try to kiss me again, Claire you can pull up a chair and sit with me for a bit.” He says, Claire then grabs at one of Treacle’s hooves and drags her into the room they came from as she looks about and giggles like a little foal, her head dazed and scrambled. Once at the door, she opens it, drags Treacle in and then leaves her on the floor, walks out, closes the door, walks over to a chair at the far end of the room and places it next to Thomas and sits down next to him, she rests her head on the side of the chair and imagines to be Thomas himself, Thomas staring out of the window at the raging battle with glass in hand against his bottom lip. The battle continues to rage on as the sun slowly sets behind the horizon, the red glow from the sun bounces off the many ships in the sky and off the many mechs and fighters like they themselves were glowing red, Celestia is sat on her balcony admiring the strange beauty of the glow against the machines that fill the sky with death, weapons and destruction. For some reason she starts to get a tear in her eye with happiness from the beauty, as the tear rolls down her cheek, Luna walks into the room and she quickly wipe the tear away to hide. “Sis’ time for the night, I hope that SEA can hold off IRIS long enough to survive the night, the low light won’t help.” Luna says as she searches the room for her sister. “I’m out here Luna...” she says whilst waving a hoof out to her side for Luna to see, “I’m just sat watching the battle, urging SEA on, as you do.” She adds, Luna peeks round to see her sat, she runs out the room and pushes in a trolley which is covered by a large cloth, she pushes it over to the balcony silently without ‘Tia hearing it, she pulls the cover back slightly and grabs a knife and something else, slowly walks towards ‘Tia, raises her hoof with the knife in tight grasp and suddenly thrusts down. ‘Tia gasps as she felt something behind her and heard a thud, she turns to be presented with a large knife, she looks about in confusion then notices the large cake in Luna’s hoof with the knife poking out of the top, “Happy Birthday sis’, you’re now however old you are, I’ve lost count, sorry. But here’s your cake, I put a hidden secret inside for you.” She says as she closes her eyes and tilts her head. “Umm...tha...thanks Luna, I’m sorry, you just startled me, I mean you had a knife and you were against us not long ago, I’m dreadfully sorry, thank you for the cake, it’s beautiful.” She thanks before taking the cake, putting it on the balcony floor and cutting off a slice for Luna to have then a piece. “I still am...” she replies before stuffing her mouth full of cake to hide what she said. “What did you say dear, you mumbled, I didn’t hear you properly?” Celestia asks, she looks at her sis’ to see her mouth full of cake, Luna points at her mouth and shrugs her shoulders, swallows and shoves another load into her mouth before ‘Tia could ask her again, “Slow down, there’s plenty of it to last us, we will live to see tomorrow, just slow down a bit or else you’ll give yourself indigestion.” She claims before using her magic to lift the cake and takes a bite, she drops it and a shocked expression forms on her face, “Luna, was this the surprise?” she asks as she pulls out a small tablet from her mouth, Luna shakes her head innocently. She throws the tablet away and looks down to see the cake squished on the floor after dropping it, she turns and cuts another piece only to see something inside, Luna’s eyes twinkle as she watches with great interest, “Luna, what is that!? WHY DID YOU?!” she asks, Luna face beaming, ‘Tia grabs the object and pulls it out, the cake sinks slightly. She lifts it to her face and Luna bursts out laughing with cake spluttering from her mouth, “You put a banana in the cake, a whole banana?” she asks as Luna is rolling of the floor, killing herself with laughter. The laugh starts to get a bit contagious as Celestia starts to giggle not knowing the joke at first but then realises something, “Oh, now I see. You put the banana in the cake because I always joke with bananas, so you decided to do a joke with one, I get it now...” she remarks understanding the joke now. “That was a pretty good little joke...” she adds before putting on a rather serious face, “...But for that you must go to the moon.” Luna immediately stops laughing and begs her not to, ‘Tia keeps a serious face, trying not to succumb to the cuteness of Luna’s face as she begs for mercy, after about a few minutes of begging she bursts out laughing, “Gotcha.” She says before falling back, front legs wrapped around her belly, Luna confused at first but then isn’t amused by it and uses her magic to electrocute ‘Tia a little before walking out in a strop, ‘Tia laughing so hard she gets a cramp in her side. The two ships continue to fire on the base as it tries to set up defences with shield generators, but they fail as the Talons blow them up from the inside, Kieron hovering in the air to watch everything go on and to check if everything is going to plan, a couple of IRIS destroyers then suddenly appear above the base, Kieron enters cloaking and rushes down to the base, both the SEA and IRIS ships start to fight each other. Ambush crashes through the roof of the base and lands in a barracks, he starts to open fire on them with machinegun fire, the ammo runs out soon after as there are too many enemies, the bulkhead armour then shuts over the ‘eyes’ and the assault armour activates destroying everything around him in a 30 metre radius, Kieron then opens the core and jumps out and runs off for the main generator supply room, he was going to blow the base up, all IRIS bases have a foolish button that activates a self-destruct system, that button is what he is going to press. In another part of the base Moonshine sees that Ambush is gone and she looks about frantically for Kieron, “KIERON!” she shouts as she runs down the many corridors in the base, shooting at any IRIS soldiers that get her way and almost Rylie as she bumps into him. “Got bad news pony, Kieron isn’t responding, I think he’s gonna blow this place up, I’ve called for a full retreat, I think you should to mate.” He order as he turns and fires on some soldiers before pushing at Moonshine to get her going, all the Talons in the base begin to head back to the dropship as the mechs take off and head away from the base, Kieron looming ever closer to the generator room with every second that passes by, Moonshine can feel a sort of grief filling her as she runs the opposite way towards her mech with Rylie close behind her. Kieron reaches the room and stops as he sees the button, he walks over to it and waits, he closes his eyes and listens, the Elements kicking in allowing him to hear small noises and far distances, he can hear the footsteps of the Talons running for the dropship and their weapons being thrown down in the dropship, he can also hear Moonshine shouting at Rylie to go back but Rylie not letting her and then activating the mech to go back to Cloudsdale, the boosters roar as the core closes, Rylie runs over to the dropship and closes the door, Kieron can ever hear the screams coming from the mech as it takes off. Tears roll from her eyes as the mech takes off and heads back to Cloudsdale the other mechs following closely along with the dropship, Kieron presses the button and the countdown initiates, he then pulls out a handheld computer and hacks the system to explode now. His finger hovers over the button to activate it, “I’m sorry Moonshine, tell Treacle I love her and take care of yourselves.” He says to himself before pressing the button, the base begins to shake as explosions start up around the base, a large antimatter reactor in the centre of the base then detonates, the resulting explosion engulfs the entire base and the two IRIS ships before swallowing in on itself and then bursting outwards with a faint shockwave. Cries of sorrow erupt from Moonshine’s mech as she watches the base blow up, the base now in complete ruins, it soon goes out of sight as the dust covers it from view and the SEA ships block her view as they join them behind the mechs. <30 minutes later, Cloudsdale> All the mechs dock in the hanger along with the dropship, the ships then take position over Ponyville to patrol the area once more, as soon as the mechs dock the cores open and the Talons jump out and walk out as they begin to relax, Moonshine on the other hand is banging on the consoles inside her mech, “LET ME GO BACK!!” she shouts to no-one in particular, Rylie then runs over to the mech via the gangway and pulls her out of the mech as she holds on to the console panel, not wanting to go. “I’m sorry Moonshine but we can’t stop what has happened.” He says as he finally manages to get her free of the mech and drags her out of the hanger, once out he sits down on some steps and gives her the biggest hug ever. Treacle, Claire and Thomas are walking towards the facility as they saw the returning force. “Rylie, is it done?” Thomas asks as they walk closer, he stops as he notices that Moonshine is crying, “What happened?” he asks. Rylie looks at him that could only mean one thing, Moonshine still crying at full blow, Rylie then replies with a quiet voice, “He didn’t make it.” > We live at peace > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 14: We live at peace Last chapter: All the mechs dock in the hanger along with the dropship, the ships then take position over Ponyville to patrol the area once more, as soon as the mechs dock the cores open and the Talons jump out and walk out as they begin to relax, Moonshine on the other hoof is banging on the consoles inside her mech, “LET ME GO BACK!!” she shouts to no-one in particular, Rylie then runs over to the mech via the gangway and pulls her out of the mech as she holds on to the console panel, not wanting to go. “I’m sorry Moonshine but we can’t stop what has happened.” He says as he finally manages to get her free of the mech and drags her out of the hanger, once out he sits down on some steps and gives her the biggest hug ever. Treacle, Claire and Thomas are walking towards the facility as they saw the returning force. “Rylie, is it done?” Thomas asks as they walk closer, he stops as he notices that Moonshine is crying, “What happened?” he asks. Rylie looks at him that could only mean one thing, Moonshine still crying at full blow, Rylie then replies with a quiet voice, “He didn’t make it.” Moonshine had slept in the middle of the living room floor all night, the cold night air still present in the bright room as the sun starts to rise up onto her face from in through the window, her eyes sore and still slightly damp, a line down her cheek has now dry from where the tears had dried up on her. A soft knock came from door; she doesn’t even wake as she must have cried herself to sleep late in the night, Treacle, who was now sober, stepped in to see her on the floor, a small damp patch on the floor surrounding her, she opens the door fully only for Moonshine to moan as she moves unconsciously as the sun shines on face. Treacle walks over to her and softly pushes on Moonshine side to wake her, “Hay sis’, time to wake up, they’ve got a search team out for Kieron.” She says quietly and softly as if she too had just been crying, her voice on the edge of cracking. Moonshine doesn’t respond at first but as soon as Rylie turns up at the door, Moonshine replies with her eyes still shut. “Go away; can’t you see I’m grieving here?” Treacle looks at her. “You of all ponies are the last one I expected to care, you screw everypony and so have no emotional link with anypony but yet you’re grieving, wow.” She claims before looking back to the door where Rylie has now gone, Moonshine gets up without her knowing, treacle then turns and goes to look down at her but gets the fright of her life to see Moonshine stood up staring at her right in her face, her breath warm and heavy. Moonshine stares at her for a short time before cursing at her, shoves her back with a hard push and then walks out of the house to find somewhere to be alone. Treacle rubs at her chest where she pushed her, sharply inhaling a little, she soon gets over the pain and heads for the door, “Moonshine wait, they’ve sent out a search for him.” She shouts out as she waves her head about looking for the pink mare. Moonshine then pops her from above the doorway giving Treacle yet another fright, “I doubt they will find anything, even if they do, I won’t want to see what they find, I will only cry again.” She says as she flips over to be the right way up and then lands in front of Treacle. Treacle leans to the side past Moonshine to see Claire and Thomas walking over to them, already seen the two of them, “Looks like Thomas is coming with some news, he doesn’t look happy.” She says before looking at Moonshine with her eyes and knods over towards the approaching couple. Moonshine snorts at her, for some reason she can’t explain she is really angry at Treacle, she turns to see Thomas walking with his cane swinging forwards then sticking in the ground then swing forward to do the same, Claire walking alongside in a black dress. They soon arrive at the house, Thomas bows his head as a sign on respect, and Claire just closes her eyes for a few seconds then open again, “We have just got word that the search team has found something.” Thomas says, Moonshine right away puts a hoof to each ear. “I’m not bloody listening to what you say.” She replies before flying off towards Ponyville for some peace. Thomas watches as she flies off, Treacle and Claire look at each other, Treacle not sure why Claire is staring at her. She then whispers, “What? Did I do something wrong?” Claire doesn’t reply but grabs her hoof and pulls her into the house for a private talk, Thomas turns round expecting them to be behind him but they’re gone, he looks about frantically for them. “Now where did they go?” he asks himself, walks over to the fountain and sits on a bench, he sits and waits....waits for the moment that his creation returns home to him, dead. “Is it truly possible to kill the immortal?” he asks himself, his cane in both hands in front of him between his open legs. Rainbow is passing by but doesn’t realise it to be him at first, she slows as she spots him to see his head low and a tear drip to hit the ground. “Ok, now I’ve seen it all, the war master Thomas Naythorpe, crying.” She calls out to him, he quickly looks up at her, and wipes his eye to hide it, “May I ask why you are crying, we won didn’t we?” she asks him, he knods but still with a sign of sadness within his expression. “Yes, we may have won but many didn’t win, many didn’t win the battle against death, my dear friend being one of them.” He comments before finally looking up into her eyes, Fluttershy then walks past on the other side of the fountain, “Good morning Fluttershy, I hope you will be attending.” He says to her, she stops and quickly hides behind the other side of the fountain, “Miss Shy, I can see your tail.” She peeks round to look at the both of them and smiles. “Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t see you there.” She replies as she comes out from behind it, “Will I be coming to what?” she asks as she uses her wings to hop over to them. “The funeral, didn’t you hear? The Overseer didn’t make it home; I intend to make a funeral.” He says before getting up and putting a hand on her head, then the cane head on Rainbow’s and then teleports them to Canterlot. The search team starts to come into sight as Thomas, Celestia and Luna stand at the front doors to the castle, the dropship and mech head for Cloudsdale but then change course and head for the castle, they soon arrive, the mech detached and went back to its hanger, the dropship slowly lowers down to the courtyard, Moonshine, Treacle and Claire then exit the castle to stand next to them along with Rylie. The dropship lands and the doors slowly open, two Talons walk up and stand just outside of the door, once opened they raise their guns to aim into the sky at a 45 degree angle, four Talons inside the dropship then exit with a coffin on their shoulders, more Talons to the side then raise their rifles as the coffins leaves the dropship and begin to fire single shots at three second intervals, stopping at five shots. The coffin approaches the castle doors and the Talons then stop, lift the coffin, stand to the sides to face the coffin and slide it along to come above a plinth on which they lower the coffin to lay on. Thomas walks forward to stand at a speech stand; he clears his throat and then begins as the vast amount of ponies and human watch, “This is a dark day, but a bright one too. Yesterday you may have known that IRIS was stopped once and for all, a war that may have only lasted a few months, but one that cost us the lives of many, one being my friend that now lays before me in that coffin...” his voice starting to break as he stares at the coffin, he closes his eyes to break the stare and turns his head away, “He was a very close friend, like family in fact, he never gave up, never refused a bit of fun, and always was there to live another day, but...but I guess everyone’s time comes eventually, and this...this was his time...” he adds as he looks at the huge gathering, “He was a brave guy, very brave, he would always go head first into a battle, literally.....I never would have thought in my life that it would come to this, us humans coming to this planet and be fighting our own race to help save some creatures that we would at first seen as heresy.” He says looking back at Celestia and Luna, “You will always be our friend, you will always be here, and you will always be thanked for what you did here, Kieron. From all of us, I thank you, and may we grant you peace.” He finally ends his speech. His head low, as he takes a couple of steps back, he suddenly raises his head and salutes as the Talons, SEA soldiers and Zeldax salute, the rifles firing again. The coffin is picked up and taken away towards the Canterlot cemetery, the crowd split to allow a straight path out; many place flowers and other gifts on the coffin as it passes by. The coffin soon going out of sight as it passes a corner, Thomas still saluting. “So what will it be now, Thomas?” Celestia asks as she walks up to him, he slowly lowers his hand staring at the last point he saw the coffin, “Will you still try to kill us?” she asks, he continues to stare but then slowly turns to face her. “No, no more blood shall be spilt on this planet; I have had enough war and death to last me. Equestria is safe now at last, I will order for all humans to get onto the ships and we will leave you to be at peace.” He says as he goes to walk away. “No, you won’t. You may have brought this war and death to our planet but at least you stopped it, you can stay, and since you have taken Cloudsdale I will allow that to be your home. Both human and equestrian shall live on this planet.” She replies allowing the humans the will to live on the planet and remain in their society. She walks up to him as he once more goes to leave, “Come, you have provided your funeral for him, now it is our turn to provide a ritual, he as much pony as he was human, it would be disrespectful of us not to.” She adds before walking off towards the cemetery, Thomas follows with Luna, Claire and the others close behind. They soon reach the cemetery and Celestia walks up to the grave that Kieron was about to be buried in, the crowds of ponies and humans, some crying other keeping a brave face, she stands next to the grave as some royal guards take over carrying the coffin, they use their magic to lift over the hole as Celestia stands with her eyes closed and head low, they lower it down slowly, “May you be at peace, you have saved our race from extinction and now we thank you.” She says before opening her eyes and the Wonderbolts fly overhead, the black lightning following. The coffin hits the bottom of the grave and a thud is heard, Celestia sharply looks at the coffin, peering over the edge of the grave, “Never mind, it must have been the coffin itself.” She says to the guards as they start pushing the soil back into the hole, one shovel full, two shovels full, three. After the forth, Celestia orders for them to stop, “Is he actually even in there?” she asks, she jumps down into the deep hole, murmuring starting among the crowd, Thomas jerks forwards as he is shocked at her actions. “PRINCESS NO!” he shouts only to hear a loud thud from the hole, then a loud crack, the coffin much have given way slightly from the impact, the next thing he hears is the cracking of wood as ‘Tia pulls up some of the boards, silence falls as she stops. A few seconds go by of silence and then she slowly raises from the hole, pulling herself up as her one wing flaps to help, once up she looks at the crowd then over to Thomas, “He isn’t there.” She says, the crowds then all gasp at the same time as if rehearsed, and Thomas walks over to her, pushing through the crowd. “What do you mean ‘he isn’t there’?” he questions her as he points at her, she turns and points at the grave, he looks at the hole, back at her, then back at the hole and walks slowly over to it, he stops before he could see in, then edges himself to looks over the edge only to see half the coffin ripped open and empty. He turns with a shocked expression upon his face, “Bu...But the search team found him, how is this possible, did they really find him?” he asks himself, Moonshine rushes past and jumps down into the hole. “That bastard better be in here!” she shouts out as she passes, Thomas tries to stop her but she is already down there looking in the coffin, she looks at the empty half, she shakes her head trying not to believe it, she stamps her back hoof in disbelief and a metal clang is heard, she looks back then pops her head into the coffin and pulls out a helmet, it was his, she knew it was. Moonshine flies up with the helmet in her grasp, she lands softly next to Thomas and presents the helmet to him. He shakes his head slowly as he takes the helmet, “All that remains of him, just this silly little helmet?” he asks himself before walking off through the crowd, and out of Canterlot. “WHAT’S THAT?!” Rarity shouts out as she sees something atop of the castle, Twilight quickly comes next to her. “What is it Rarity?” she asks, Rarity points to the roof of the castle only for the figure from before to be gone, “There’s nothing there.” She adds before patting rarity on the shoulder, the others of the mane six walk over and they all hug to comfort each other, Luna watches them then looks up at the place Rarity pointed at only to see a shadowy figure stood, it stares right at her before knodding once and walking back so that castle blocks view of it. Luna walks up to the mane six and gives a light hug before whispering to them, “She was right, there was someone there.” All of them quickly push away to look back up at the castle to again see nothing. “Ok everypony, I think we need to calm down a bit, ya’ll seeing things now.” Applejack comments, Rainbow knods to agree, Fluttershy then looks down as she lightly scrapes her hoof against the ground. “I saw it too.” She says quietly, they all look at her, she looks at Luna, “it was him, wasn’t it?” she asks, Luna shrugs her shoulders before giving them hug, all of them then walk off. <2 Months later> SEA have left Cloudsdale after Thomas and Celestia had come to agreements, they now occupy the ruined cities of Manehatten and the griffon city, humans live on one side of the planet leaving the ponies to live on the other, it is now like two worlds that never came together living on the same world. All of the mechs have returned to hangers to be dismantled, fighters standby in hangers and all the ships are in orbit completely surrounding the planet, ships allows adding to the shell as more are made, it is their way of saying ‘This planet it protected, don’t fuck with us.”, the Fenrir being above the Canterlot but still in orbit. The humans finally live at peace along with the ponies, trading and social lives have been made between the races but yet they still prefer to live among their own. High security facilities have been made by the humans for reasons no-one knows, at last there are no more wars and no more deaths. Everyone and everypony can live safely and peacefully at last. ------ Author's notes: Last chapter, story is completed. Thank you all.