One Day After The Manehattan Incident
“Aegis believes that you are a capable mare,” The interviewer said, taking Solemn Vigil from her thoughts. “Swift Step also vouches for you.”
Solemn pursed her lips before her eyes forced themselves away from the door beside her and towards the three ponies sitting across from her, backs straight as they could be with their muzzles tilted ever-so-slightly to the ceiling lamp. Canterlot high borns no doubt. They were the only ponies that could pull off an appearance of stark white coats, cream yellow in the case of the mare with the clipboard, and look totally pretentious while they did so.
If she didn’t know any better, Solemn would have said she was the princess of friendship herself, but the distinct lack of wings allowed that thought to vanish. Her clean cream coat was another stark difference, although her prim and proper raspberry mane was fashioned in an eerily similar manner. Solemn was torn, thinking the mare was either an avid follower of Princess Sparkle or the originator of her style.
The two ponies beside her were Royal Guards, battered and bruised after the endeavors endured the night before. A mare and a stallion, both white, one with a dark blue mane and the other with a maroon unkempt mane. The stallion held a worried gaze over Solemn, his golden eyes occasionally meeting hers. The bandage over his left cheek thankfully changed since the last time the two had seen each other, with only one splotch of blood spread across the middle rather than the whole bandage coated in it.
The mare still wore her breastplate, dented at the bottom of the chest and leather straps that were chafed and coarse. Slight stains of crimson covered her forehead and hooves, ruining her perfect white coat. The feathers of her wings were just as messy as her mane, strays jutting out in several spots, desperately awaiting preening.
“I am Moondancer,” The cream yellow mare said, holding a hoof against her chest. “I am from the Equestrian Bureau of Defense. I thank you for coming on such short notice. How is your mother? Aegis told me about a little about last night.”
“She’s recovering as best she can,” Solemn answered bleakly.
“I’m glad to hear it,” Moondancer wrote in her clipboard. “Aegis told me you held your own fairly well amidst the chaos. You even took down a Royal Guard. No easy feat for an untrained civilian.”
Solemn swallowed and cast a worried glance to the window on the door, the darkness of the halls and the secluded office allowing her to see her stained navy blue coat. She shuddered, knowing full and well that the guard she had ‘took down’ was no longer living. They didn’t see the wild look in their friend’s eyes when he struck the ground, the pure utter terror of what had just happened to him as his life came to a painfully abrupt stop.
“Was that the only pony you killed?” Moondancer asked, her eyes boring into Solemn over the rim of her glasses.
She remembered the streets were mostly empty for miles, but there were those who were lucky enough not to get dragged away. They were the ones who started attacking each other. Solemn didn’t know why her mother nor herself were affected as well as a small hoof-ful of other ponies in the area scrambling and running for their lives.
Snow crunched under her hooves and her lungs burned like the pits of Tartarus itself, but she kept going, carrying her mother’s mostly limp form on her back, her ears pounding from the senseless screams and shouts echoing through the vastness of downtown Manehattan. A group of ponies fought behind her, either chasing her and fighting each other or chasing her while fighting demons unseen by everypony who maintained their sanity.
A large chunk of the group must have broken off. When Solemn looked back, there were only two ponies there, faces shifting from looks of horror to that of pure agony. It was then she, quite literally, ran into Aegis. And it was then Solemn defended her mother from the two attacking ponies who had given chase since hellfire rained from above.
It was an old spell she had learned when she was younger. A simple blinding light spell which sprang from her horn in a brilliant radiance like an explosion of pure sunlight. The two ponies shielded their eyes, as well as the Royal Guards affected by the ghastly influence of the green haze.
Solemn’s horn began to glow once again. Her aura surrounded the two blinded ponies, lifting them up only slightly before slamming them down with all the might her magic would allow.
They didn’t even twitch once she let go of them.
“No,” Solemn said morosely.
Moondancer scribbled some more on her clipboard.
“I’m not sorry I did it,” Solemn Vigil admitted, bringing her vision to Moondancer’s. The cream yellow unicorn tilted her head slightly. “I’m only sorry I had to.”
“It’s a good attitude to have,” Aegis spoke, his voice still gravelly like he hadn’t had water in years. “I might have done the same in your shoes. I’m gonna miss those guys though.”
Moondancer raised a brow before her pen lifted once again and brought it against the paper on her clipboard. She nodded her head slowly, flipping through several pages and glancing at the various notes she had written down.
“If there’s any way I can help,” Solemn spoke. “Then...I will. At least to do my part for Equestria.”
“I have an offer,” The mare spoke. Solemn’s ears perked up, twitching and she brought her attention to her. The mare simply looked over at Aegis and Swift Step with an inquisitive gaze. “Aegis and Swift Step believe you to be a good candidate for the Royal Guard.”
It was a thought she had seldom entertain. Solemn may have wanted to join as a filly, but as she grew up, the idea seemed less and less realistic. She knew she wouldn’t have what it takes to make it through their rigorous training regimen. “Am I being recruited?”
“For the guard?” Moondancer replied. Solemn noticed her horn glowing slightly. “No. What I am about to tell you will not leave this room. Regardless if you choose to accept or deny the offer.”
Solemn swallowed again, but nodded.
“The threat that attacked Manehattan last night was caused by forces outside of Equestria and The Known World. Alien life, if you will.” Moondancer floated her clipboard down onto the cool, walnut tabletop. “As of 3AM this morning, Princess Luna has reinstated The Harmony Initiative, I am one of the many ponies enlisting the help of whoever is willing to join the organization’s ranks in order to repel this new threat against Equestria and The Known World.”
“I-I’ve been considered?” Solemn’s mouth and throat ran dry. “W-why me?”
“Because I’ve seen what you could do,” Aegis answered. “I vouched for you personally before Moondancer finished the same process with Swift and I. You might not think it, but you’ve got potential. I don’t think Swift and I would have made it out of the downtown district if you hadn’t come along.”
“That’s why we considered you,” Swift stepped in. “You patched us up pretty good. I’d say if you didn’t become a soldier, you could easily fit the bill for a medical pony.”
“These two hold you in moderately high regard,” Moondancer said. “The choice of joining The Harmony Initiative is yours.”
It was a chance to fight. Atone for the deaths she had caused the night before and protect Equestria. It truly was a chance to make some change and do better for the world. The Harmony Initiative, whatever it was, had the potential to do more than the Royal Guard could ever hope to achieve. Solemn Vigil thought only briefly before her worries returned to her.
What ifs plagued her mind. What if she wasn’t good enough? What if she failed everypony that would be counting on her? Surely, all her friends and family would be wondering where she had run off to. She wasn’t even allowed to tell them! Would she even know about it after she left the room?
What if mom won’t be alive after I leave? Solemn shook the thought from her mind. Somepony has to care for her mother.
“I’ll accept,” Solemn answered finally. The corner of the mare’s lips curled into a smile. “On one condition.”
The smile faded. “And that is?”
“My mother,” She said. “I want her safe. If you can at least do that for me, then I’ll join and fight.”
The mare thought for a moment, looking down at her clipboard and floating her pen, jotting something down.
“Alright.” She said, raising the clipboard and marking it with an elegant flourish with her pen. “I’ll see what I can do. Welcome to The Harmony Initiative. We’ll contact you shortly.”
***
Three Days After The Manehattan Incident
“My name is Moondancer. I come from the Equestrian Bureau of Defense.”
The charcoal stallion nodded simply, releasing a sigh.
“I’m sorry to hear about your losses,” Moondancer said in a low tone.
The thought that his parents were a part of the mess that took place in the city just three nights ago had already settled in, but hearing the mare speak the words forced an uncomfortable and dreadful atmosphere in the room.
“Lone Shadow, son of one of Canterlot’s most distinguished Royal Guardsmen,” She flipped a paper around her clipboard. “Decorated, to say the least. I am truly sorry about your parents. Equestria has lost a lot of good stallions and mares.”
He grit his teeth hard, almost cracking them under the sheer intensity of his anger and frustrations. Both mother and father—the two ponies who had not only ensured the defense of Equestria, but also the ponies who had raised him, taught him everything he knew; the principals of the Royal Guard and what it truly meant to be a good pony—were gone. Vanished, disappearing without a trace.
The train ride from his home in Canterlot had been arduous and fraught with visions of his parents’ mangled corpses somewhere on the streets, hidden under black tarps while the city police worked in tandem with the Royal Guard to understand completely what had occurred. Instead, Lone had ran the length of Manehattan, reaching Fort Shimmer in less than an hour after his train arrived and managed to compose himself before inquiring about the whereabouts of his parents.
The few who had remained in the fort had no answer. Some refusing to speak about the events while others openly admitted they hadn’t the slightest clue of where they could be.
He scoured the affected districts of Manehattan as best as he could without the official Royal Guard armor to grant him proper access to the quarantine zones, watching as ponies worked through the horrors stuck in motion. Ponies wrapped in some kind of green goop. Each quarantined zone was exactly the same. Lone began to wonder which of those ponies trapped in their green prisons were his parents, begging to be let out underneath all the material.
“We don’t know what any of this stuff is.” One guard said when Lone had asked about the bodies. “We’re finding more and more every hour it seems. I’m not sure if they’re even still alive.”
Lone hadn’t pressed the issue further. He left the scene in lower Manehattan and found himself in a cafe where ponies may as well have forgotten that an attack even took place in Equestria. It was like Manehattan was safe, as if Lone would go back to Fort Shimmer and find his parents were there the whole time, although he knew the chances of such were nonexistent.
It was during his third mug of coffee that two officers approached him. It was after that third mug that he followed them back to Fort Shimmer, in a secluded room in one of the lower levels of the fort where Moondancer had waited.
She could have been waiting there for thousands of years and she may not have minded it in the slightest. Her ears perked up at the sound of his hoofsteps clopping down the concrete floors of the hall before entering the room. Lone hadn’t returned the smile she gave him and judging by how quick she had gotten down to business, she may have taken offense to that.
“I’m gonna find the bastards who took ‘em,” Lone spoke through grit teeth. He willed himself to do nothing more than that; grit his teeth.
“If that really is the case,” Moondancer replied, floating out a golden folder. A single shining star in white stood out among all the plain yellow. “I may have something of interest.”
Lone tilted his head.
Moondancer floated up a golden folder, a single white glowing star decorating the back of the rather plain file. She opened it carefully, as if the slightest hint of roughness would tear and wrinkle the fine paper inside.
“Your family history is rather interesting, I must say,” Moondancer said while reading the assorted papers. “As is your own personal history. Graduated at the top of your class in Canterlot’s Royal Military Academy. Impressive, considering you had to deal with Windshear.”
Lone nodded. Of that, he was proud of. Some sleepless nights and weeks of studying was well worth the chance to get a ‘head start’ in things before officially becoming a Royal Guard. It was the same thing his father had done and his father before him.
“Now,” Moondancer placed the papers down gingerly. “Of course, I didn’t come all this way to speak to you about your history. Not completely anyway.”
The stallion shuffled in his seat. “So why am I here?”
“Because you want to know what happened to your parents,” Moondancer answered, pushing her thick framed glasses up her muzzle slightly. “The Royal Guards will work diligently to defend us all, but after the events of the attack, can we really hope to repel our enemies with nothing more than blades and shields?”
Lone Shadow opened his mouth to speak, but the words never manifested vocally. He had heard the reports. Hell, half of Equestria had heard them and the ENBN was probably still reporting news of the relief efforts and would be for the next week or so. Lone had even seen some of the outcome of the attack. Guards, officers and civilians either encased in prisons of green or, if any news reports were to believed, those unaffected by that had slaughtered each other in the streets like rabid animals.
Could the Royal Guard even begin to win against an enemy capable of such? Nopony even knew what it was the attacked Manehattan nor the magic involved to launch such an attack on a massive scale.
“Are you trying to get me to quit The Guard?” Lone asked, furrowing his brow. “To abandon my duty to Equestria?”
“The opposite in fact. What I’m going to tell you will not leave this room.”
Her horn gleamed slightly. Lone frowned. The moment he left the room, this conversation will have never happened. He would wind up thinking he was there asking for his parents’ whereabouts again until somepony brought up the subject of whatever it was Moondancer would bring up soon. It was a trick he had read about in books some time ago. Of course he knew the counter-spell and chances were he would activate it before leaving. He sucked in a deep breath.
“Okay.” He said. “I’m listening.”
“I have been sent on behalf of Princess Luna and Princess Twilight Sparkle to recruit ponies into a new military program.” Lone’s ears twitched. “The Harmony Initiative.”
“The what?”
“The Harmony Initiative. You will act as a soldier in its ranks. Your military record already shows you to be a distinguished and reliable pony to have in our ranks. The Initiative is the world’s first—and last—line of defense against this alien threat. I have been tasked with recruiting ponies into The Initiative.”
Lone cocked his head again. Alien. The word repeated itself in his head. It would explain much of what happened.
“So you’ve come to recruit me,” Lone motioned with a forehoof. “For this Harmony Initiative?”
Moondancer nodded. “It should be no surprise. After all, you are from a well known family from Canterlot, distinguished, the list goes on. Your name was pretty high on the list of candidates.”
“Did you know the attack was going to happen?”
“Nopony did. Nopony saw it coming. But The Initiative has been around for ages, of that I’m sure of. The organization has maintained a close eye on numerous ponies, griffons, zebras, even the changelings after their reformation years ago. In the event of an attack from the stars above, those with exceptional skill and those with the willingness to fight would be taken into Harmony’s ranks should they choose to accept.
“Which leads me to my next question,” Moondancer floated a paper before her and raised a pen which seemingly materialized from underneath the table. “Will you be joining us in our fight?”
It didn’t take long for Lone Shadow to find his answer. “Yes. If it means fulfilling my duty to Equestria and potentially saving my parents, I’ll join.”
With a quick flourish with her pen, Moondancer marked the paper before her before she stacked it on top of the other papers and closing them inside a folder. She extended a hoof.
Lone grasped it with his own, feeling her velvety smooth fur against his.
“Welcome to The Harmony Initiative,” She said. “We will contact you shortly.”
***
Four Days After The Manehattan Incident
Cherry Pop sat slouched in the seat and kept his eyes trained on the mug of coffee. This was probably the first time he and his ragtag group of friends had come to find the mayor not in his office. And probably the only time they’d be called there and not get an earful of his deceivingly high pitched voice for causing some sort of issue in the town.
“You requested a drink,” The mare spoke in her annoyingly official tone, perfectly accentuating every word and pronouncing them like they were delicate flowers without the slightest flaw. “Did you not?”
Her perfectly curled purple mane and tail beautifully dangled off swayed gently with the southern breeze of the Griffon Empire. Or was it a kingdom? It was further out east than Griffonstone and down south of the continent. The mare was drastically out of place in the town, dressed in an elegant, yet regal and professional blue short dress. Most ponies around town fashioned armor of leather or no clothing at all. Most ponies and griffons owned nothing more than a room full of their belongings.
To say the least, it was more than a miracle that this mare hadn’t been shot and killed for everything she owned the moment she set hoof in the town’s dusty border. She could even have been kidnapped in broad daylight just because of the snobbish way she had her nose stuck in the air. She must have been from Canterlot.
“I wanted a soda,” Cherry sighed. Nevertheless, he grabbed the mug with a hoof and took a sip. He wrinkled his nose and placed the mug down as gingerly as his hooves would allow. “Could’ve at least put some creamer or sugar.”
“I find it quite interesting,” The mare ignored Cherry’s disdain. “That any pony should accompany himself with griffon mercenaries. Griffons who, might I add, had preferred to keep themselves grounded.”
“Wasn’t my idea if that’s what you’re getting at.” Cherry rested a hoof against his head, leaning onto the table. “When I joined the group, they already clipped themselves.”
Any griffon mercenary band was a tough bunch to figure out. Some were all about honor and duty and traditionalist values of their homeland while others favored newer ideals, the spoils of a good fight, the coin to be made.
Then there were the oddballs, namely the griffons and earth ponies of Hantzsch. Cherry Pop didn’t exactly know the history of the group, but they practically adopted him when he had arrived in the Southern Griffon Kingdoms looking for work. Raiding raiders and catching criminals with the help of six others wasn’t exactly the line of work he wanted to indulge in, but it was rather rewarding.
In a week's time, Cherry Pop went from an unsuspecting Fillydelphia-born travelling rum merchant in Griffon territory into a silver-tongued mercenary who did nothing more than drink, do good deeds for others for a price, sleep and drink again. Not exactly the life he wanted to have, but it was a life of a certain luxury and freedom Equestria would never be able to allow. Sure, his parents were probably worried sick that their son hadn’t come back from a trip to the store, but this was his life and the life he was proud to be living.
“This band of ruffians that you travel with,” She grinned sheepishly as the ponies and griffons behind Cherry no doubt cast glares at the unicorn. “I mean no offense of course! But surely the muscle and brawn of your compatriots could be put into use for something good?”
“Uh, we are doing good,” Cherry said, raising an eyebrow.
“Why yes of course!” The mare lifted a set of papers in front of her. “Saving a hostage from a bandit stronghold deep in the mountains for example! Of course, ponies do need more than two legs to walk properly, so I suppose him losing one hoof is okay.”
“He’s still alive right? Besides there’s no way you can heal a leg shredded the way his was.”
“Oooor this one!” She pulled another paper out. “A group of wingless griffons and earth ponies turn in a notorious gang leader to the great city of Whitehaven, but alas...instead of facing a public trial like he was supposed to, one of our fateful heroes took it upon herself to execute the would-be prisoner in full view of Lord Angelcrest’s grand hall.”
“Bastard had it comin’!” The shrill voice of one Cherry’s companions called out. “‘E was a killa!”
The mare shook her head. “I mean really! Why are you all among the list of candidates?”
Cherry tilted his head. The mare’s eyes went wide and she held a hoof over her mouth with a quiet squeak. “U-uh, f-forget I said that! It was nothing! I’ll be on my way!”
“Candidates for what?” The mercenary band all asked in unison. The silver unicorn grinned sheepishly once again, a small bead of sweat rolling down her forehead. Her eyes danced between them all before sighing in defeat and composing herself; straightening her back and maintaining a regal demeanor.
“My name is Rarity,” she admitted. A dim blue aura surrounded her horn before simply vanishing. “I come on behalf of an Equestrian based organization. You have heard of the attacks on Manehattan haven’t you?”
“Aye,” the griffons behind Cherry said in unison. Otto, an armored tank of a griffon spoke up, the rumbling bass of his voice vibrating Cherry’s chest. “Nasty business, that. I say it was somethin’ foreign. The same thing that’s makin’ griffons disappear.”
“Otto,” Cherry turned to face him. “You can’t even read. How’d you even hear about it?”
“Lorin got one of them radios down at the tavern. It’s like one of you ponies are in the box an’—”
“Please dear,” Rarity spoke. “We all know how a radio works. Let’s get back on track now shall we? Your friend Otto is partially correct in his assumption. The attack was from—dare I say—an alien force.”
“How does this involve us?” Cherry asked.
“Because dear,” She raised several folders full of papers. “You and your friends are among the many Griffonstone believes to be able to prove of some use in repelling the impending alien threat. I have been sent to request your assistance, which you could most certainly deny.”
Cherry turned to face his band. Each looked with raised brows, exchanging nervous glances and scratching their heads. He noticed the uncomfortable way the griffons shuffled and twisted their beaks into a grimace. The earth ponies looked like this was their true calling, each one suppressing smiles and their overall excitement.
“Uh…” Cherry’s mind drew up a blank. He turned to the griffon flanking his right. She was a rough one. The black feathers from her now-gone wings were strung around a necklace full of all sorts of charms. She raised a talon and scratched her chin before her brilliant purple eyes met Cherry’s. He leaned close and whispered to her, “Eva—erm...Boss, what do I do here?”
She scanned Rarity, looking down at the folders while tilting her head. She opened her beak several times and closed it. She let out a sigh. “Money.”
“Pardon?” Rarity raised a brow.
“I’ll do it for money,” Eva said simply in the gentlest tone she could muster. The rasp in her voice was still there, but pitched higher than usual. Her ‘diplomatic’ voice as she called it. “No money, no help. We are mercenaries after all. The hell is this organization called anyway?”
Rarity bit her lip, her unease becoming more and more apparent. “The Harmony Initiative. I-I can speak to Lord Ebonwing about a payment. Does this mean you will grant us your aid?”
“Sure.” Eva said simply.
“Great,” Rarity said with an exasperated sigh. It was an elegant flourish that marked the papers inside the folders. She grimaced with each mark made, but sealed each folder before they vanished into thin air. She took that typical Canterlot posture of hers once again and hesitated before saying; “Welcome to The Harmony Initiative.”