//------------------------------// // Chapter 2:The adventure begins! // Story: The empire of gears // by ShadyMcChangeling //------------------------------// There was a collective and audible "Gulp" from near all the ponies at the table. "A thousand warriors." Said Rainbow Dash. "M-m-matter of seconds." Continued Rarity. "All of em' gone." Finished Applejack. A frightful squeak came from Fluttershy. Four of the six ponies where shivering in their seats. A look of utter terror on their faces. "Twilight dear, do you think it's wise to go knocking on the door of a pony who took out an entire army!?" "I know it's risky Rarity, but if it works then we could gain a powerful ally." "And what happens if it doesn't work Twilight?" "Well Rainbow, we'll just have to hope that we can defeat them." "Well only one way to find out!" Said pinkie pie readying a blue cannon. "FIELD TRIP!" Announced pinkie firing the cannon. When they got off the train at the edge of the badlands everypony was nervous and on edge. Come on Twilight it can't be that bad. Thought twilight as they were traveling. I mean, what could go wrong? Oh. They could think we're invaders, we could accidentally offend their culture or they could think we're announcing war. Twilight was shaken out of her thoughts by Spike. "Twilight are you okay?" "Yeah Spike. Just wondering what could happen when we get there." "Don't worry Twilight everything is gonna be fine." "Rarity do ya have to wear that hat?" "Applejack do you honestly think I would go who knows how far without a hat to shield my lovely mane? You also have a hat too you do realize." "Well at least mine aint' got feathers stickin' out everywhere!" "Humph! you wouldn't know fashion if you saw it." "Why I oughta- wait does anypony else hear that?" There was a noise akin to that of a bee buzzing but much lower and quite distant. They were far into the badlands now, too far to call for help or run and hide. "I hear it too AJ. But where is it coming from?" Said Rainbow Dash. "T-t-twilight! W-w-what's that!?" Stuttered Spike pointing to a cloud of dust in the distance. There was at the front of the dust cloud a large bipedal.. thing heading right towards them. It then stopped right by the ponies. It stood almost three times as tall as the ponies. It had glowing purple eyes and metallic black...skin? Runes, glyphs, and lines ran all over the Thing, all glowing the same purple as the eyes. It's legs were like that of a goat but with claws at the bottom. It had a hawk like head. It had two sets wings, one that was like a normal falcon's but had protrusions that made them look like dragon claws and another that looked like two rings with flattened angled spokes. It's arms were like that of a Minotaur but it's forearms were a bit bulkier than the biceps. It then transformed its forearms into sets of two small cannons. "You have trespassed the territory of the city. Prepare to be destroyed!" It said in a deep and distorted voice. Twilight was about to fire a magic beam when the thing stopped aiming at the ponies. It then made an action like it was covering its right ear while staring blankly into the distance. "Is it broken?" whispered Applejack without taking her eyes off the thing. "Better not take our chances." replied Twilight in the same whisper as before. The thing then sprang back into action, grabbing them all via tail, arms, legs and wings. Rarity and Fluttershy shrieked, Rainbow and Applejack tried to fight back, and Twilight was panicking. the thing then spread its second set of wings and the spokes inside started spinning. they with the thing, where now hovering a short distance off the ground and heading at a rather quick pace across the badlands. "Okay twilight, let's try not to panic." Thought Twilight to herself. "Well, what if its taking us to a more painful death?!" "If it wanted to kill us it would have done it back there." "Or maybe it wants to put us in a cell and interrogate us for information" "Or it's taking us to the city." "Wait, what?!" "Just a hunch." "The mind is a maelstrom of thoughts. a council if you will, where only one will help in dire situations" The group had now calmed down and was making sure that everyone was alright. "AJ you okay?" said Rainbow "Yup, Fluttershy?" "I'm fine, what about Pinkie?" "Okey dokey loki!" "How is this thing hovering without flapping its wings?" "Ya' know that's a good question RD." "I'm quite surprised that none of us are hurt yet it said it would destroy us." said Rarity. "Maybe it changed it's mind." replied Fluttershy. "Does anyone know where we're going?" "Come to think of it, none of us knows Spike." "Well this is just great isn't it! We hear a spooky legend about a city in the badlands, we get captured by this thing and now where going to who knows where!" said Spike. "Hey, what's everypony looking aaaa-" ---To be continued---