//------------------------------// // Chapter Thirteen: Cinders and Ash // Story: Actions and Reactions: Saving Twilight Sparkle // by Lord of Flies //------------------------------// Two weeks later, mid June 4E 2010 Outskirts of Flankfurt, transition into the main city Spike’s clawed feet clacked against the cracked pavement of the road leading into Flankfurt. He stopped and stared at the ruined city in front of him. The city looked to be a mess, even Spike could see that. Very few buildings were intact, as many were blackened by intense heat. The streets were grey, where they should be black like the road underneath him. An unnamed dread crept into his heart. A smell, a bit like mint and tea, tore him away from looking at the ruined cityscape. The source of the smell was Princess Luna. A cigar, freshly lit, sat positioned between her teeth. Taking a puff of her cigar, Luna gestured towards the city. “Been a long time since I’ve been here, but I’m fairly sure that it didn’t look like this.” The cloaked unicorn strode past the two, speaking up. “Things change in a thousand years, Princess. You’ll find out about what caused this eventually.” “Aren’t you just a barrel of sunshine,” Spike muttered under his breath. “Actually, Spike,” Princess Luna replied, leaning in closer, “I think you’re talking about my sister, she’s a barrel of sunshine.” Spike sighed. Four years back, and she still doesn’t understand all of the colloquialisms yet. Princess Luna started walking toward the city, and she waved her hand forward. Behind Spike, the other Chosen and the Legionnaires started back into motion. Rarity came up to Spike and leaned against him. “Flankfurt looks like a scary place.” A smile spread across the drake’s face, and he draped an arm over the mare. “Don’t worry,” he assured her, “I’ll protect you.” “I’ll hold you to your word.” ************ “Okay, First Squad, spread out and investigate! Keep me informed of anything you find!” Apricot’s barked command sent her squad into motion. Fields shot into the air, sending plumes of the grey powder outward from where he took off. Malachite and his support trooper crossed the street, and headed into a burnt out grocer. Starshadow and her two support troopers walked toward what used to be a laundromat. The rest of the squad split off into pairs and began looking through some of the other buildings. Apricot kneeled, and picked up a handful of the powder. It fell between her fingers, and she noticed that some of it stayed on her palm. A sobering realization came to her as she stared at it. Ash, she thought. What could have…? A second realization came to her and the thought sickened her. No. There’s no way we could’ve done that to Flankfurt. The citizens here didn’t deserve that. “Sarge,” came Malachite’s voice over the radio, “you need to see this…” *** Apricot entered the grocer. A glint of gold metal caught her eye, and she walked towards it. Malachite was kneeling in front of something in the ash and his support trooper was searching behind the checkout counters. Apricot stood behind the corporal and looked over his shoulder. “Whaddya got?” The stallion pointed at the thing he was kneeling in front of, stood up, and moved to let his sergeant look closer at the thing in the ash. Kneeling, reaching out, and turning the thing over, Apricot would have gasped if she wasn’t a veteran Solar Legionnaire. Malachite tensed slightly as he registered what it was. It was the corpse of a Royal Guard wearing a suit of Mark Four Stormwinds Armor, frozen in an agonized pose. The armor and exoskeleton of the suit were blackened by intense heat, with the fabric parts burned away by the same heat. The pony’s skeleton, interred in the armor, was also blackened by the heat. “Poor fool roasted alive in his armor,” Apricot sighed. “Yeah. Bones are fused together at the joints…” “Think we did that to the city?” Malachite shrugged, “I hope not. There was nothing I knew about that would warrant this.” The trooper gestured around to the ruined room. He sighed and continued. “But, if there is something that warranted this, I hoped what we did destroyed that, too.” “Me, too,” Apricot agreed. “Me, too.” *** Apricot walked down the street, leading the squad toward Flankfurt’s city hall. Fields was still in the air, providing another perspective for the squad. “Sarge,” Malachite observed, looking around, “ash is thicker here.” “More poor citizens, then?” “Dunno.” Apricot nodded and gestured around. “Lord General wants to use the city hall grounds as a temporary staging ground for the expedition. Same thing as before, sweep and clear!” ************ Corporal Fields found himself in the mayor’s office. The interior of the office was the same as the rest of the rooms he checked. Ruined, everything inside burned, and ash everywhere. He sighed and started looking through the room. As he looked around the room, his vision settled on the mayor’s desk. Ash compacting beneath his feet, the pegasus crossed the room to it. He picked up the nameplate sitting on the desk and wiped the ash off of it. “Solid Script… Doesn’t ring a bell.” Tucking the nameplate into a pouch, Fields turned away. Something black and shining caught his vision. He bent down and picked it up. A shudder, caused by a nameless horror, ran down his spine. Just over forty-three centimeters long, it was charred by extreme heat. One end of the object tapered to a sharp point. A unicorn’s horn. If what he thought was correct, the horn would be a vital key in figuring out what happened to the city. *** Fields found his squad and the rest of the expedition in an assembly hall in the city hall. He swept his green eyes across the hall, looking for Sergeant Apricot. Spotting his sergeant standing at one of the conference tables, he jogged over to the table, calling out to the mare. “Sarge!” Apricot jerked her head to the side. “Yes, Fields?” “I found some things in the mayor’s office. Some things that I think might help.” Some of the Legionnaires in earshot turned to look at the young Legionnaire. The trooper, noticing the stares, smiled and chuckled, nervously. “Well,” the sergeant said, “don’t just stand there. Show me.” Fields hesitated for a moment, then set the two things that he found in the office on the table. “A unicorn horn and the mayor’s nameplate,” Apricot said, “rather mundane items, such as they are.” “Yes,” Fields agreed, “but we can possibly use the horn to see what happened to the city, if the last memory recorded in the horn took place at the same as whatever caused… this.” “And the nameplate?” “Once we got back to Canterlot, I was going to look up the records of all the mayors that served and now serve in the Empire. See if I can’t find him.” The corporal looked at his commander, raising an eyebrow. “Unless you’d rather I don’t?” Apricot raised a hand and waved it dismissively. “Oh no, feel free to once we get back.” ************ Princess Luna surveyed the ruins that were once the proud city of Flankfurt. “Princess,” one of the Night Legionnaires spoke up, “one of the Solar Legionnaires has found a unicorn horn that survived the destruction that happened here. Lord General Denarius wishes to speak with you.” Luna turned, nodded, and headed into the city hall, leaving the ruined view behind.