//------------------------------//
// Chapter 2 - Waging War 
// Story: Beyond the Twilight Eclipse 
// by newmoonwinter 
//------------------------------//

The loud screeching of a F-35 rushed overhead, caused my pets to come into my room and wake me up. I groaned as I looked at the clock by my bedside, 05:37. It was law nowadays to have clocks on the 24hr setting rather the normal 12hr like it should be. Don’t get me wrong, military time is great for those who can make the translation in their heads. I’m still having to use my fingers. I sighed as I let out a yawn. Still half asleep, I dragged myself out of bed, tripping over Braith. You could say she’s like my sister, or rather the sister that I never had. I guess it’s the same way with Kero, my black cat. Though, with him, it’s more like he likes slapping me whenever I get into a slump or go too deep in thought.

I live in a dying town, not many people live in these parts, and the nearest store is a few miles away. Which is great… Okay, maybe not that great. All my old friends either joined with NAHA or IRL, or moved to one of the few scattered cities that were under the protection of the UF. Most of the schools were pretty well all shut down by now. Okay, I’m going to pause here for a moment. Those acronyms for the three factions are pretty funny. NAHA is also the name of a city in Japan; IRL can be assumed as the phrase, In Real Life; and UF is also the University of Florida. 

After hitting the washroom, I went downstairs to the main floor, flopped onto the couch, and turned on the television. Of course the news casters were talking about these visitors who had come to our world with some sort of friendship crap. Next thing you know, they’re attacking with their weird technology.

It’s been three years since those creatures emerged into our world. The land where the Royal Family once called home was gone, and some sort of dome had appeared the day they came to Earth. What was odd, was the location of the epicenter, Stonehenge. Almost a couple of months later, the British Isles and part of the surrounding continent were enveloped by this and reformed to a more - well, lets just say that island never looked more vibrant. Day in and day out the dome slowly grew bigger, not just in circumference, but in height as well. They were starting to call it, Salisbury Earth, as it resembled our own planet and the original location where this dome was created, but cleaner, I guess? It had stopped once it engulfed most of Europe, and part of the Atlantic Ocean. The radiation emanating from Salisbury Earth also expanded. What was weird was the fact none of the animal and plant life were affected, just us humans. Anyways, flights had to be rerouted around this barrier, and special carrier platforms were built in the Atlantic Ocean so passenger planes had a place to land and refuel. I hadn’t really cared. I mean, who would? The way these creatures looked, reminded me of a show I had been a fan eve past the time the show ran it’s final ninth season. I still contributed some artwork to the Brony Fandom, but I was more of an RPer than artist, going on adventures as my original character through my writings.

The news casters spoke about how the three factions “so called” failed in their attempts to make peace with these newcomers. Another excuse for them to use violence, I thought as I rolled my eyes at the announcement. Come on. Some new race appears out of nowhere, and the factions start firing on them. It’s almost comical, once again every attempt to hurt these creatures, either turn into rainbow explosions, puffs of smoke and flowers, or a bubble-like shield would surround them absorbing all of the explosive power. I let out a sigh as Braith laid down in front of the smoldering fireplace. It was almost winter, and the snow had only just started falling.

I shook my head as Kero hopped onto my chest. I quietly winced in pain, his claws kneading into me. As I continued watching the news. He curled up into a ball, and started purring when... *KNOCK* *KNOCK* *KNOCK* I let out a sigh hearing a loud rap at my door. It had been a long time since anybody had the decency to be polite. Usually they just bust the door open and barge in. The number of times I had to fix my front door was starting to get ridiculous.

I grabbed my cat, holding him with one arm as I got up, and turned off the TV. Braith hadn’t barked once, which was weird. She was one for letting me know if someone was at the door. It didn’t matter if it was friend or foe. I sort of shrugged at it, and went to the peephole to see who it was. I cocked my head seeing nobody at the door. Maybe someone was playing the old ding dong ditch prank? I turned to walk back to the couch when, you guessed it. *KNOCK* *KNOCK* *KNOCK*

“There better be someone there, this time.” I said as I once again look through the peephole.

I raised an eyebrow seeing a bit of pale yellow hair blow up in front of where I could see. It might’ve been some gust of wind. Since the barrier had appeared, weather had been going haywire all over the world. Another three raps later, I started hearing a really faint voice start talking. Kero, by this time, had wrapped himself around my neck, and shook his head.

‘You do realize you have a guest, right?’ Kero said. ‘It would be rude to leave them out there, especially if it starts snowing again.’

At this point, I had given up on thinking I was going crazy. Kero always was able to speak to me. My guess was, the world was already going crazy, so why not add talking cats into the mix, right? Anyways, periodically he would disappear for hours on end, returning and not really telling me where he had gone. Personally, I didn’t really mind that much, he had his collar on and he always found his way home.

‘Are you just going to stand there? Don’t be shy, open the door.’ Kero looked at the door.
“Easy for you to say, you’re just a cat. I haven’t really had company since my friends left.” I said rolling my eyes.
‘Did you want the cuff upside the head meow, or later.’ Kero hissed.

I rolled my eyes again and let out a sigh. I waited to hear the knocking before I finally answered. It took me a few moments to figure out who, or rather, what, I was looking at. The figure that stood on the front porch was no more than four feet three inches tall, I think. I mean, they came up to just above my waist. They started kicking at ground, their unusually large head looked down, as their pale yellow colored hair partly covered their face. From the quiet mumbling of the creature I could tell that it was relatively female. You could say my heart exploded, cause the next thing I remember was…

‘Oh come on, wake up.’ Kero said as he continuously swatted at my face. ‘You know, you are being rude just lying there.’
“Oh, my. I’m so sorry. Are you alright?” The timid creature crawled over.

Wait, crawled over? No. It was more like she was walking on all fours. Odd for something having the ability to talk, let alone walking on all fours.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Just had a bit of a head rush, is all.” I said.
‘You’ll have to excuse my master. She’s not much of a, morning person.’ Kero said looking right at the light crimson creature.
“Can’t argue there.” I said half jokingly.

I brushed Kero away from me as I put my hand to my forehead. Braith came over, whimpered a bit, then proceeded to constantly lick my face. 

Anyways, the air raid siren sounded off, as the whistles of objects falling could be heard. I shook my head and covered my ears. Explosions and flashes of light continued for what seemed like forever. The light crimson creature ducked down shaking, her moderate cyan colored eyes full of fear. Kero whacked me with his tail, as he scampered over to the frightened creature. He proceeded to nuzzle her and purr, eventually getting her to let out a smile. It was at this point I noticed a pair of feathered wings coming out of her back, just behind the shoulders.

‘And you call yourself a nice human. Here, a lady basically walks in your home, and you don’t do anything to comfort her when she’s scared.’ Kero glared and hissed at me before going back to comforting the frightened figure.

I stayed crouched on the floor of the entrance hall until the air raid siren went off giving the all clear. Finally, after being stuck on that floor for more than an hour, in a kigurumi no less, I was able to get up. Oh, how embarrassing, to be seen in my custom purple unicorn kigurumi.

“I can never get used to that. Ever since the prime minister declined the factions offers, we’re always in the middle of the crossfire.” I said as I slowly got up.
“Cross, fire? What’s that?” the pale crimson creature asked.
‘Let me put it this way, miss. Humans tend to fight among themselves for money, power, resources, or land. And those who are in the middle of the conflict generally are the ones who get hurt.’ Kero informed her.
“But why fight? Why can’t everypony get along?” She asked with a concerned look in her eyes.
“I’ve been asking that same question my whole life- wait, everypony? Don’t you mean everybody. Anyways, I never got your name, miss horse.” As my curiosity got the better of me.
“Oh, it’s Summer’s Day. I’m not a horse, I’m a pony. It’s um, nice to meet you.” Her voice trailing off.
“Oh, uh, you can call me Riley.” I said, trying to keep myself from passing out from the cuteness overload.

I invited Summer into the living room whilst we talked. She told me of her friends and how she found herself in our world. I was mesmerized at how she could talk, despite her mouth being all, different. A few times she used horse puns when explaining things. I didn’t really mind, do to the fact the fandom has a similar use of the puns. The place she came from was Equus, an odd name for a country, but then she corrected me and said that was the name of her world. She told me her country was called Equestria.

“Oh, so this Equestria place...” I started saying, “is everyone like you? I-I mean-”

She cut me off with a nod. “Yes, although, there are many other creatures that live there too.” I should've known. A brightly colored equine who can talk comes knocking on my door, so why not have some cartoon based country name. There goes my Bronyness again. Equestria can't be real, despite one of its citizens walking beside me.

I hadn’t really noticed my phone was ringing until Braith brought it over to me in her slobbery mouth. After wiping the drool off of the call display, I noticed it was from my work. It didn’t really surprise me that they would be trying to contact me. 

‘Let me guess, EDEN Systems want to talk with you about something. It’s not like this is the first time this has happened.’ Kero said before starting to clean himself. ‘I don’t really care if you go out, just remember to clean my bathroom and put out the mutt.’
“It’s not like there isn’t others they could call. And besides, I sent them my resignation. Someone else can deal with it.” I said, really ignoring my phone going off for the second time.
“Um, Excuse me? Is there anything I can do to help?” Summer asked staring at me with her bright azure eyes.
I look to her. “Not really.” I said trying to hold in the cuteness overload. “My companions seem to like you, so you’re welcome to stay.”

I got up, went into the kitchen, and started on my morning chores. I started the kettle for a fresh pot of tea. Summer followed along, as we continued talking. She looked at the state of the cat litter, took a deep breath and started cleaning it. It was interesting how she could pick things with her hooves. Last time I looked equines here didn’t have this ability, but there she was using the scoop with her hoof cleaning out Kiro’s litter. It wasn’t long after that when the air raid siren went off. These bombardments were starting to get more and more frequent. Kero and Braith ran into the kitchen, the sound of glass shattering and explosions echoed into the room.

‘Riley, this place is no longer safe for us. A human on the picture box declared a state of emergency, whatever that means.’ Kero said, as he once again comforted Summer nuzzling and purring.
I look to Summer. “Well, I guess it’s time to move.” I let out a sigh, turning off the kettle. I knelt down to Braith, who was shaking in fear. “Braith, listen to me. I need you to get that big duffle bag out of my room and set it by the- uh, make that take it to the back door. Knowing my luck the whole front of the house is destroyed.”

Almost on cue, we heard a groan and the front half of the house started collapsing. It was a good thing there was a second hallway to my room. I told Braith to be careful, she whimpered, and cautiously went to my room. Summer had a worried look on her face.
“Don't worry.” I said. “I trained her to be safe in case there was ever a tornado, and someone needed rescuing. I really don’t get all this fighting. It’s not like it solves anything.”
‘Humans are selfish and stupid creatures.’ Kero interjected, making me let out a sigh and stare at him with a raised eyebrow. ‘Let me rephrase that. Humans in general, not including my master, can do pretty stupid things like causing wars, and other senseless violence.’

Braith came back with my emergency bag in her mouth, a blanket and my old winter jacket on her back. I shook my head, as I grabbed the items off my dog. The bombardment of explosions got louder, as I knew the inevitable would happen soon. Kero nudged Summer.

“Summer, this place isn’t safe. It’s too cold for you to be like that. Cover yourself with the blanket, and follow me.” I said. I thought to myself, hoping that the garage and driveway were still intact so I can get in my vehicle, and drive to safety.
Summer nodded, fear still in her eyes. “I, uh, I hope my friends are okay.” She said as she grabbed the blanket with her teeth placing it over her barrel.

I hadn’t realized how big the blanket was until I saw it on her. After putting my coat on, I walked over and helped her adjust it to her size, tying it up in the front. By that time, Kero decided to jump on Summer’s back and curl into a ball. I grabbed my duffle bag and leashed Braith. I heard the loud whistle of something approaching from an unknown altitude. Braith pulled me towards the back door. I looked back to make sure Summer was following, letting out a sigh seeing her frozen in place. I put my arms through the handles of my duffle bag, let go of the leash, and walked back.

“Here, let me carry you. You can hold onto me.” I said as I slowly reached out to her.
Summer looked up at me then back to Kero. He gave her a nod, and proceeded to climb up my arm, and curl around my neck. “Um, are you sure it’s okay?”
I let out a sigh. “I know you’re terrified, and believe you me, I’m just as scared. But we have to go.” She looked down at the ground for a moment then back to me and nodded.

I picked Summer raising an eyebrow. The hell? Despite her size, she was really light. I mean, when Braith was that small she weighed at least twice if not three times as heavy as Summer. I groaned as I saw my dog scamper off back down the hall. ‘Braith, this isn’t the time for this...’ I thought. I continued to the back door, unlocked the many deadbolts, grabbed my car keys, and headed outside. Braith finally followed behind me, gumming my plushies in her mouth. That was so important? I shrugged my shoulders, making sure not to drop the miniature horse. My mind still denying me to admit what I was holding.

I opened the back door, both Kero and Braith hopped onto the back seat of the Jeep Compass, and kicked the door shut. I opened the front passenger door, carefully placing Summer onto the seat, moving the seat forward enough so she could reach the dashboard if she wanted to sit up. I quickly shut the passenger door then ran to the driver’s side and climbed in. Within seconds I got the vehicle started. I put it in drive, not bothering to hit the garage door opener, and slammed my foot to the accelerator. We crashed through the door, and down the driveway when another missile impacted my once beautiful home, turning it into nothing more than a pile of flaming rubble.

‘It would seem that we got out of there in time. My instincts are never wrong, you know.’ Kero said from the back seat.
“Yeah.” I looked over at the wide eyed mare. “This must be pretty frightening to see all this destruction, huh.” I swerved around a man running for his life.
Summer looked at me. “This is the most scared I’ve been since the time I stumbled into a cave of timberwolves. Your world is more violent than the Princess led us to believe.”
“Princess?” I raised an eyebrow. ‘Could she be talking about that princess? But that can’t be, that was a kid’s cartoon, right?’ I looked up for a moment as we started heading west on the 417. ‘God, please tell me this is some sort of joke.’
“She came to your world a few months ago before the gate expanded.” She said, starting to calm down. I hadn’t notice Kero hopping up to the front and started nuzzling Summer.
‘Of course. My world has gone to hell in a handbasket, and now all of this.’ *Whack* Kero slapped me. “Uh, thanks.” I let out a long sigh. “So this Princess of yours, she was here?”
“Yeah, She came in the hopes of friendship, but.” She looked down for a moment. “Why are your species prone to violence?”

A good question, one that I didn’t have the answers to. What could I say? I didn’t want to lie to her saying that most of the world wasn’t like that. I just kept my focus on the crater filled highway, making sure we got to our destination, wherever that would be.

Kero knowing my hesitation to answer looked up at her. ‘Not everyone is like my master. When something new, or scary comes around, humans use violence as a way of saying they will protect themselves if any harm comes to them.’ He starts licking Summer’s forehoof, as if he was trying to groom her.
“But that’s silly. We would do no such thing.” She said.
“Tell me about it. In all honesty, there’s probably at least 1% of the world who doesn’t like violence. But us as a species, aggression is just part of our nature.” I let out another sigh, as we turned into an ONroute. “Sorry, but this girl needs some food, and we’re low on gas.” I was glad the highway refueling stations were somewhat up and running. “I’m not exactly sure if they have anything you can eat. Most of these places just have a coffee shop, and a couple of burger joints.”
Summer’s ears perked up. “Coffee shop, like a bakery?”
“Well, sort of. I mean they have some pastries, like doughnuts, and muffins-”
I was interrupted when she put her hoof on my arm. “Can you see if they have a carrot or a blueberry muffin? And maybe something to drink.”
My eyes started tracking something coming in for a landing by the front doors of the ONroute. “I’ve got a better idea, lets both go inside and figure out our options both on what to eat and where to stop for the night.”
She gave me a concerned look for a moment. “But won’t I get strange looks?”
“I highly doubt that. Besides you’re not going to be the only equine there.” I looked at Kero. “Hold the fort make sure Braith behaves, and I’ll try to get something for the both of you.”
‘Make sure it’s some mowk for me. With the way you’re driving, I don’t want anything too heavy.’ I simply nodded my head.
I reached over to open the passenger door for Summer. “Are you going to be alright getting down?” 
She looked over the seat, the back to me. “I should be fine. It’s not that far to jump.”

I sat there and watched her hop down and out of the Jeep onto the concrete. I could imagine that would hurt her hooves. I watched as she got up on her hindquarters and tried to shut the door. Hearing her grunt, I got out, went over and shut the door for her. Kero pawed at the window, then laid down on the dashboard. Summer and I walked up to the rather simply built building. I watched her have this cute look of awe, as we entered. Sure enough the only thing that was still in business was the coffee shop and sandwich place.

After waiting in line, we both got our food orders, and looked for a spot to sit and brainstorm. The only spot available was near the pegasus I watched glide in earlier. My mind started to wander as I was trying to see what our next move would be. I had just lost my home, and this equine was looking for her lost companions. Whatever happens now, I’m sure it’s not going to be dull.